Championship Spirit/Chaplaincy
Team Spirit
74“It’s not enough to have Christians riding together for support. We must serve all of cycling and do that by focusing on the spiritual lives of our elite and pro riders.” Tim Lagerborg, Founder of Team Ironclad, a faith-based non-profit for cycling
“Since [Team] Ironclad has been around, the spirit of the races has changed.” Racer noticing positive change
Australia's Pastor Lydeamore - only known elite cycling chaplain worldwide
Military chaplains encourage the troops in war and peace time regardless of denomination. Many professional sports teams have chaplains to support their athletes. Yet Pro Cycling has no chaplaincy, one of few sports that lack a designated ministration to buffet its “warriors” spiritually. Is it any wonder our sport is besieged and beleaguered?
Pro cycling offers the most high profile example to the rest of the riding community. Pro cycling drives consumer interest and burgeoning growth. Often we concentrate on niche groups in the sport by funding programs for this and that in order to grow it whilst our professionals remain unsupported in the essentials of body-mind-spirit. Our pro ranks experience tragedy, death, and temptation. Our pros suffer long separations from family and support networks. Our pros grapple with issues regular riders never encounter.
Our influential pros need positive influences. They are both venerated and vulnerable. While there’s a clear anti-doping message in my writings, there is no judgment. We ponder confession, forgiveness, and resistance to temptation not hatred of dopers. Some temptations at the pro level are understandable as its pressures are unfathomable outside the pro peloton. The hard ones of cycling face hard spiritual choices every day manifested in a highly physical realm. Just as support is available for training methods, strategic decisions, nutrition, sponsorship, mental psyching, and emotional counsel, wise advice regarding the ethical, moral, and eternal implications of riders’ choices must be a feature of the caravan.
Pro football has a chaplain for nearly every team. Some teams engage in organized study and prayer. Its members appear to be on a short leash for misdeeds, and solidarity is seen among its players league-wide. The correlation for football’s success is not just about gate proceeds. God has been invited into pro football. Pro cycling needs to send a similar invitation for team Spirit.
Prayer for Chaplaincy
“…the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” 75Isaiah 11:2
We pray for the peloton to receive spiritual counsel and care. We ask for resources to bring chaplaincy to Pro Cycling.
Ponder How could cycling be served by a moral and ethical support structure for its pros? Affirm I am influenced by the pros. Watch the sources of your inspiration and notice its correlation upon your decisions.
74Conversations with Tim Lagerborg. Team Ironclad started small with a core group of mountain bikers. They offered free spaghetti dinners at big races as a way to introduce their support to the race community while sponsoring elite riders. They merged with International Christian Cycling Club which broadened their base of support at the amateur level.
75The Bible, New International Version, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
good spin 
July 11, 2012 at 11:53 PM
As a cycling, former Youth Pastor, and as a now out-of-work teacher, I would love to serve in a role where I could minister to professional riders on a regular basis. Have you made any inroads into this area since posting this on the Internet? I would appreciate any info and/or help in realising this goal!
August 2, 2015 at 4:36 PM
Hi Neil,
I just read this comment – yes 4 years later! Obviously I haven’t checked the comments section of this blog for a long time – most are spam. Yes there has been some headway made on reaching pro cyclists. Athletes in Action has started a chaplaincy – so there’s a Bible study for pro men with about 20 members so far; and a new study just started for pro women. Todd Hendriksen is the one leading it. He’s a friend on facebook if you want to connect with him. I am also praying about Board development for Team Spirit, a nonprofit for work in the sport via coaching and athlete development based on biblical fundamentals. It hasn’t officially launched yet but if it goes, a first project will be in collegiate cycling. Thanks for your interest. Please connect via email for faster response time 🙂 beth@bethleasure.com
April 21, 2020 at 11:04 PM
[…] Tim Lagerborg, founder of ICCC’s Team Ironclad (a reference to Proverbs 7:17), a racing team within the club, sees strong parallels. “You have to be very disciplined (to race), but you have to be very aware of where you are physically…If you don’t really know the parameters, you’re not going to be in optimal shape. Same thing spiritually. If you’re out of balance, and you’re not looking at the big picture, you’re going to over-train in certain areas.” Lagerborg often rides after church, but many people on the team race Sundays. Riding is neither religious nor an extension of religious concepts for Lagerborg or Cody Newcome, the director of ICCC. […]