Professional cyclist Sam Boardman has returned to the Escape Collective platform after a two-year hiatus from writing. Now racing at the ProTeam level with Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, Boardman details his transition from a domestic racer to an international competitor, addressing his self-imposed silence and the psychological toll of professional racing.
Boardman Returns to Escape After Racing at ProTeam Level
- Boardman is now racing at the ProTeam level with Modern Adventure Pro Cycling with considerably more experience under his belt.
- His return to Escape brings readers up to speed on what he has been up to the past two years, welcoming them back with trademark wit and humour.
The Silence Behind the ProTeam Transition
In a recent column for Escape Collective, Boardman explains that his absence from the page was not born of inactivity, but rather an intense, nomadic racing schedule. Since his last contribution in 2024, he has traveled extensively, competing across the United States and multiple European countries. He describes this period as a “psychotic, transient existence,” characterized by constant movement and a lack of permanence, with stays in any single location rarely exceeding two weeks.
Boardman notes that his withdrawal from public writing was driven by a persistent, internal struggle with imposter syndrome. Despite gaining experience in diverse racing disciplines, he felt his performance results—which often involved being dropped from the lead group—did not merit public documentation. He argues that he felt a disconnect between his reality and the expectations of his readership, leading him to abandon his social media recaps and written updates entirely.
Modern Adventure’s European Ambitions
The transition from domestic racing to the ProTeam level has been a defining factor in Boardman’s recent career path. This move was marked by the team’s high-profile debut at Paris-Roubaix, an event where the decision to compete was heavily debated. As veteran teammate Robin Carpenter observed in previous reporting by the Escape Collective, the opportunity to race the “Hell of the North” was something the team could not pass up, despite the significant technical and physical challenges involved.
Boardman reflects on this period as a time of intense personal and professional growth. While he previously used his platform to detail the “beautiful and the ridiculous minutiae” of the sport, he struggled to reconcile his desire to be authentic with his perceived lack of competitive success. He acknowledges that he had once believed in the value of documenting the suffering inherent in bike racing, but found it difficult to maintain that narrative when he felt his own performances were consistently falling short of the elite standard.
| Racing Metric | Contextual Impact |
|---|---|
| ProTeam Tier | Increased access to top-tier European UCI events. |
| Travel Frequency | High-volume, multi-continental racing schedule. |
| Primary Challenge | Psychological management of race-day performance anxiety. |
Navigating the Mental Maze
Boardman characterizes his last two years as a process of working through the "labyrinthine depths" of his own head. He suggests that the sport, which he identifies as increasingly “robotic and regimented,” often leaves little room for the candid expression of failure.
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