Perceptions of body and self in motocycle sports: The case of Enduro riders

Abstract

What is this «tribe» whose members wearing their equipment participate in motorcycling racing crossing mountain trails of many kilometers? This article presents a case study, that of Enduro athletes in Attica. The main aim of the paper is to highlight and decode how Enduro riders, who are part of a wider community of sport motorcycling athletes, understand their relationship with their body. The assumption running through the text is that athletes are reflecting on and renegotiating their relationship with the embodied self through their engagement with sport motorcycling. In this context, we focused on Enduro riders motivation, the meaning-making of the relationship with the body, the relationship with the motorcycle and, finally, the gender through mainly identitarian perceptions. The findings of the research indicate that Enduro riders are revising and redefining their relationship with self and body through bodily self-transformation and, ultimately, the upgrading of the self.