You can now pay a 'mule' to earn your kudos - we went inside the murky world of Strava jockeys

We asked someone to ride 100 miles for us, and uncovered a network of moral dilemmas

The Strava app logo
(Image credit: Getty Images)

There’s an old Chinese proverb that people like to cite. You’ve almost certainly heard it. “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” It’s a lesson about imparting wisdom, of course, teaching others things so they grow as people, and in this case, are able to fill their stomachs.

That’s all well and good. But what if the man didn’t have to fish at all? What if there was a way he could kick back, relax, and pay someone else to return with the haul? Strava didn’t exist in ancient China, but if it did, the man might want to know about jockeys.

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Tom Davidson
Senior News Writer

Tom joined Cycling Weekly as a news and features writer in the summer of 2022, having previously contributed as a freelancer. He is the host of The TT Podcast, which covers both the men's and women's pelotons and has featured a number of prominent British riders.

An enthusiastic cyclist himself, Tom likes it most when the road goes uphill and actively seeks out double-figure gradients on his rides.