It seems like everyone is into cycling, doesn’t it? Basketball legend Reggie Miller loves riding, there’s Harrison Ford, a bunch of hockey players, and there’s Canadian former NFL tight end Luke Willson. Zdeno Chara also loves riding, but only for the Ironman races he does.
Super Bowl LX goes down on Sunday. And it’s a special one as former Super Bowl winner Willson’s former team, the Seattle Seahawks, are squaring off against the New England Patriots. Willson is also a huge cycling fan. Cycling and football may not seem to have that much in common, but according to the Canadian, there’s more than you think.
After retiring from the sport, he began riding, and loves it, riding 18-20 hours a week. In January, Wilson raced at the 2025 track nationals, taking 14th in the elite kilo, in a very quick 1:07. And if you follow his Strave he is often seen riding in good company, doing some monster rides.
“Just a couple of weeks after I retired, I went back to Canada to visit my parents. When I was there my dad asked if I wanted to join him and my mom for a bike ride around town,” he said in an interview with Strava. “I hadn’t ridden a bike since I was 10 years old, but I joined them. I remember sitting on the bike and thinking, ‘Man, I just retired from the NFL and now I’m riding a bike around with my mom and dad’.”
From there, the bug had bit and he got more and more into cycling.
Originally from Lasalle, Ont., he played for the Seattle, the Detroit Lions, the Oakland Raiders and the Baltimore Ravens. He won the Super Bowl in his rookie season, catching two passes for 17 yards in the Seahawks’ 43–8 win over the Denver Broncos.
1. Jerseys and Lycra
“When I started riding, everyone was telling me about the outfits, the jerseys and Lycra,” he jokes. “I was like dude, I’ve been wearing this stuff my whole life. Our football pants are really similar!”
2. Getting tackled and crashing
Of course, there’s far more tackles in a football game than crashes in a bike race (we hope) but the feeling of being tackled feels similar to biting it on the asphalt. “Getting smacked in football feels a lot like hitting the deck on a bike. The first time I fell, it was a wild experience…but strangely familiar,” Wilson says.
3. Sock etiquette
There are strong opinions about how to wear socks with leg warmers. Some people say it should go over the leg warmer, some say under….
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