You might know Cyrus Monk from his plucky ride at Paris-Roubaix this year, or the podcast and YouTube videos he makes with other pros, or maybe for his love of a good breakaway. Maybe you heard about his heart scare earlier this year and his impressive return to form, maybe you’ve seen his music videos, or maybe you just know him for his long, flowing mullet. Either way, the Australian journeyman is one of the most interesting and well-rounded individuals in the peloton and a rider that is currently staring down the barrel of involuntary retirement.
A couple months back the 27-year-old found out via text message that his contract with Q36.5 hadn’t been renewed for next year, leaving him in career limbo. Since then he’s been doing what he can to get a ride for next year – he definitely wants to continue racing in the pro ranks. But as you’ll read, he’s not nearly as stressed about it all as he might be.
Now back in Australia, Monk caught up with Escape via phone on his long drive back from the Victorian High Country to his home in Drouin, about 90 minutes east of Melbourne. He’d been up in Bright looking at wedding venues with his fiancée Megan Armitage, herself a pro with EF-Oatly-Cannondale. In the following Q&A, Monk reflects on his chances of racing again next year, what it’s like finding a contract in this day and age as a minimum-wage rider, and, ultimately, what really matters in life.
Matt de Neef: You put a post on Instagram a month or so ago saying you’d been let go by Q36.5. What’s the time since then been like for you?
Cyrus Monk: I wouldn’t say it was a shock but it was definitely a turnaround from what I heard from the team earlier in the year in terms of my situation. Because I had the illness in the middle of the year, I knew then it was going to be tricky to get resigned in June, just because I didn’t know if I was ever going to race a bike again.
I was sitting there, not knowing why I was getting all these chest pains and getting short of breath walking upstairs and this kind of thing. Eventually I got all the scans done in Zurich, and then a lot of MRIs and everything. And basically the heart inflammation had dropped down, which was good, and slowly returned to training without having any pain. I haven’t had any problems since then. But once I actually returned, I got that text saying that I wouldn’t be able to be fitted into the roster for next year.
There’s two ways that people go when they get that kind of text. Either it’s, “Well, bugger this,” they go out and start drinking, partying, and just go, “OK, it’s over.” Or for me, it was more just “OK, may as well just do absolutely everything I can to get onto a new team.” It was pretty simple then. The best thing for me was just to perform as well as I could in the races for the rest of the year, keep focusing on the training, the nutrition, the recovery, do everything I can to be in the best shape for those races. And that’s obviously the best way to get noticed by other teams, get a spot on other teams – perform well in races. So that was quite easy to just focus almost entirely on that.
Then as the season was winding down and I had more time it became basically sending out as many emails as I could to get the word out. So just messaging everyone in the cycling world that I know.
I feel like I’ve messaged every single team I can think of that may have space and will want a rider like me. And then it’s almost a waiting game. Instead of sitting by the phone and refreshing my email every few minutes, I’ve just tried to enjoy the time back home, and keep my mind off it. I feel like I’ve done everything I can from my end, and it’s just a bit of having the right person think about me at the right time and pick up the phone.
MdN: Have you been looking at Continental teams as well?
CM: I’m by no means fussy. Cycling’s not something I’ve been getting a profit from until the last two years when I’ve had a proper pro contract. I’ve always enjoyed it in the past, being in Conti teams, and I’ve approached a lot of Conti teams in Europe. But I’ve found it’s tricky with Conti teams, because a lot of them are very nationalistic. A German Conti team will only take German riders, a French Conti team will only take French riders. They maybe have space for one rider that’s international, and then it’s generally a bit more who you know rather than what you know, and just having those close contacts to get your spot in there.
So then the next step for me was looking at teams in Asia. I’ve raced for an Asian team in the past [Meiyo CCN Pro Cycling Team in 2022 – see below – ed.]; I’ve done plenty of racing in Asia in the past and I really like that. So at the moment, that’s the closest lead I’ve got – a Chinese team that does a lot of UCI racing. They do a lot of racing in what’s called the China Pro League, which seems to be quite good at the moment.
It wouldn’t have been my first choice – I’d love to stay in Europe if that opportunity arrives, and basically racing at the highest level I can race at. But if it does happen that I end up racing for a Continental team, then I know that I’ll enjoy that because I’ve enjoyed it in the past.
MdN: Given Megan’s got a contract for the next two years and you guys have your place in Nice, if you end up racing for an Asian team, will you head back to Europe regardless?
CM: It’s hard to know exactly, because I haven’t signed for a team yet let alone planned out a program or anything, but the ideal scenario would be to train in Australia for the summer before my first race in Asia, go to that race, and then go to Europe after that. Basically chase summer like I have been doing for the last 10 years now.
We’ve still kept the place in Nice that we have together, that we’re renting there, and yeah, obviously it’s a bit of an expense when my future is somewhat uncertain but for me, it’s still beneficial to be in Europe that time of year, even if I’m racing in Asia, purely from a weather perspective.
MdN: You had a line in your Instagram post saying if you don’t find a team for next year “it’ll be time to put some other wheels in motion”. It feels like you’re pretty philosophical about the whole thing, and more so than a lot of riders might be. I think there’s a lot of riders that come towards the end of their career and cycling’s all they’ve ever known and it’s a very scary thing leaving the sport behind. It feels like things are a bit different for you.
CM: I think just the fact that I’ve never been … this might be a bit of a cliche, but I’ve never been just a cyclist. I’ve always liked to have something else going on to keep me busy. You can only ride 30 hours a week on a big week. Or 25 hours a week for me on average. So the rest of the time you have to do something.
For me I’ve really enjoyed doing some cycling-orientated things like coaching others, like writing certain articles to help people with their own training, like podcasts I’m doing now – that’s all very cycling-focused. But I also like the music side of things. I always want to have other projects happening. And then this year, when I had the health issues in the middle of the year, I had to spend a lot of time thinking about, “OK, what do I do if I can’t race again or even ride again?” So I’ve always had this backup plan in place.
There’s this idea that if you’re thinking like that, you’re not 100% all in or 100% committed to what you’re doing. But I sort of think it’s the opposite. If you’re 100% committed to something, and you have a bad race, or you get injured, or something doesn’t quite go your way, it’s so easy to then just fall in a heap and be a doomsdayer and feel sorry for yourself, and that’s detrimental to your performance and maybe your recovery in terms of getting back to the best level. To me, I always find if I have those other things going on that I can focus on, then when I have a bad race, it’s quite easy to take my mind off the race, go home, do something else for a few days, not think about bikes. It’s easy to then switch back on and focus for the next goal.
So I’ve always had that going on, and it sort of means that I’m not as stressed as I think others are in this situation. I have a lot of other people on the team that are being let go – the team’s had a big shake-up – and riders are being let go in similar situations to me and a lot of them are asking “how are you going with it?” I say I’d very much love to have stayed with the team. I’d love to find a team at a similar level that I can do the same races with, but if it doesn’t happen, and I’ve given everything I can towards that goal, and it doesn’t work out, then I have to be able to accept that and to be able to move on and still find other things that I enjoy doing.
I’m still confident that I can do that. It might not be what I would love the most, but it’s still something that I can enjoy.
MdN: So do you have a sense of what you would do for a job if you aren’t racing? Would it be a combo of things?
CM: Probably a bit of a mix. I’d definitely like to ramp up the coaching. I’ve coached more athletes in the past than I am now but I’ve found with the travel and the commitment to getting the best out of myself for the last few years that it’s been tricky to have any more than the eight to 10 clients that I have at the moment. But for sure, I’d have more space to ramp that up if it was the case that I wasn’t riding at such a high level.
Aside from the coaching side I’d like to work on the science and training communication. I think there’s so much stuff out there now that people can find and access on social media and on the internet. A lot of it is good stuff, but even more of it is just bullshit or stuff that’s not actually backed by any science or even what the best riders are doing. So to add to the good stuff, I think, would be beneficial to people.
Basically, if I can help more people find joy from riding their bike, then I’d love to do that. Obviously, then it comes to trying to monetize that in some way and I haven’t thought through exactly how I’d do that, aside from the coaching side. But that’s something I’m passionate about, and something that I enjoy doing – helping others find joy in riding their bikes and getting the most out of themselves.
MdN: It sounds like you’re reasonably confident that you will have a Conti ride next year, right?
CM: It looks like I’ll be able to ride at least at the Continental level. Whether that’s in Asia or Europe yet, I’m not sure, but I’m still keeping all fingers and toes crossed that I’m able to find a pro ride. It’s just whether a team has that spot, and I’m maybe one of the riders on their Excel spreadsheet that they’re ready to call when that comes up. If I’m that number I’d be over the moon with that.
And then also, even with 36.5. Obviously, I finished the season quite well and showed that I didn’t have those health problems that they were worried about in the middle in the year [Monk was third on GC for a good portion of the Cro Race in Croatia earlier this month – ed.] I think there’s a chance that that may switch around. Obviously, I’ve incorporated into that team well over the last few years, and it wouldn’t be difficult at all to slot back into that spot.
So hopefully that changes, but at the same time, I have to be proactive. I can’t just sit around waiting and hoping that happens, getting to December and not getting the call that I’m hoping for. So a lot of it for me is just doing absolutely everything I can to make sure that I’m in a position where I can enjoy what I’m doing next year. Hopefully that’s racing at the highest level possible.
MdN: You mentioned in a message the other day just how cut-throat it is at the moment trying to find a ride. Did you want to talk a bit about that?
CM: Every person I run into, the first question is “Oh, have you got a ride for next year yet? It seems like a brutal year.” And every year for a rider like me is a brutal year. It’s a bit different if you are a [Tom] Pidcock, for example, because, yeah, you might be changing teams, but you’re always going to find something. Whereas if you’re a rider like me, that on their best day is snagging a top 10 or being in front in the breakaway late in the race, I’m not someone that’s going to win five or 10 races a year so it doesn’t mean I have that job security of another team putting a contract on the table, even if it is a pay cut.
For me, it’s minimum wage or nothing. There’s a lot of riders in the same situation. That’s always the case, and it’s a bit of musical chairs at this time of year to fit into spots. I’ve always said to people that the biggest thing is just staying healthy and injury-free, especially in a contract year like my year this year. I wasn’t able to stay healthy. I can look back and think “Are there things I could do differently?” but at the same time I just got a disease in the heart muscle with a bit of inflammation there. I don’t know exactly what caused it, and the doctors don’t know exactly what caused it. I can’t really be too hard on myself looking back, but at the end of the day, if you’re a rider in my situation that has some health issues or a bad injury after a bad crash during the year in that contract year, then that can often mean it’s just game over. That’s your career done, and you can’t get back to that level again.
So for me, obviously I’d love it if that isn’t the case, but it often is the case for riders at my level of talent. If you just get unlucky in that contract year, then that could be it.
MdN: How does it feel knowing that? You seem to recognise your place in the sport really well, but I can’t imagine that’s the case for everyone.
CM: Part of me being philosophical about it is I’ve got more stressed about it in the past. When I got the stagiaire ride with EF [in late 2018 – ed.], I didn’t get sick or injured, but just through the circumstances of the Drapac sponsorship … EF cut ties with everything that had a Drapac label on it and that included me and I didn’t get the WorldTour contract that I’d been promised. And I was really bitter about that. At the same time, I was really bitter at Cycling Australia because I missed out on being picked for a few key events that would have got me noticed by other teams if I performed at those. So I didn’t get to race Tour de l’Avenir for example.
I was really bitter at the cycling world and found it really hard to be motivated when it felt like everyone was against me. But then at the same time, I think going through those experiences, looking back now, it doesn’t achieve anything being bitter at the person or a situation when it’s out of your control. All you can actually be looking at is your own actions and your own things that you’re doing. So the fact that I was being bitter and resenting certain organizations or people, and that I was then having this higher level of stress, not able to eat as well and not able to recover as well from training, is detrimental to performance.
So I think in a way if I can just basically step back from the situation, and be like “Right, all of these not-ideal things happened to me. There’s no point getting annoyed about those.” The only thing I can do is focus on my actions. My training, my nutrition, my recovery. If I do those to the best of my ability and it doesn’t work, then simply, that’s just bad luck, or whatever it is. But I can’t change that.
So that’s, I think, how I’ve managed to deal with it. I know others don’t feel the same way, and still maybe get that bitterness or get angry. And for some, that anger motivates them. For me, I find if I’m in a heightened state of stress because of it, then it’s detrimental to performance. And to me, I don’t want to be going out training or racing motivated by anger or proving someone wrong. For me it’s more about the intrinsic “I want to do everything I can myself”.
And on the subject of proving someone wrong – I like to do it for the people that have supported me to get to this place. So rather than saying “This team boss didn’t want me, so I want to go out and prove that I’m doing better.” It’s more “OK, my Mum at home and my friends at home all want me to still be able to do what I love, so for them, I’d like to go out and get my best result.” That kind of thing motivates me more rather than being driven by the fact that things haven’t worked out.
MdN: Was there a moment that helped you change your mindset like that? What helped you get rid of that bitterness and just focus on what you can control?
CM: I think it was a bit of growth. Also a bit of just being in some teams that are pretty poorly organized, which most Continental teams are. I don’t think people realize from the outside but Continental teams are really scrapping just to get to the start line. So being on those teams makes you really appreciate when you have a situation like I’ve had. And I know plenty of riders that are far more talented than me that never got to have the opportunities that I’ve had as well. So that for sure makes me appreciate what I’ve got.
And then the biggest, pivotal one, I’d say, would just be my dad dying a few years ago while he was riding, because that just put into perspective that really none of what I’m doing actually matters. Anyone that’s been through that will clearly understand that at the end of the day, me being able to do some bike races is nothing compared to being able to spend time with people that you love.
At times in the past, definitely, cycling’s felt like it’s everything, and me being able to have a good pro contract is the be all and end all. Whereas when something like that happens, it just puts it into perspective that at the end of the day, it’s just a sport and it is just a bike race.
And I think that’s also been beneficial to my performance, just thinking “OK, well, I want to do absolutely everything I can to be good at this. But if it doesn’t happen, I don’t have to cry about it. There’s more important things to be crying about or to be worried about.”
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