CARING FOR OUR COMMON HOME
Fr Iain Radvan SJ in conversation with David McMahon.
Fr Iain Radvan SJ, wearing his hi-visibility vest, takes a selfie before setting out on the next leg of his 700-kilometre ride from Warrnambool, Victoria, to Adelaide, South Australia in January 2022. His gear, weighing about 20 kilograms, can be seen neatly secured behind his seat. All photos with this story were taken by Fr Iain.
Any time you want to change gears, literally, you can turn to your trusty bike. How many gears does that have?
It has 27 gears.
The holy trinity, nine times over.
Hmmmmmm. That’s standard on most bikes now.
Do you have a bike rack on your car?
No. But I’m very good at being able to take the front wheel off and fit everything into the back of my car, which is a sedan. I still have to put the back seat down to fit the bike in, but I know where everything goes.
You did a recent trip to Streaky Bay (above), a town on the Eyre Peninsula. What were the highlights?
Winter was a bit late in arriving and I was riding along the cliff edges near Streaky Bay. I was a bit out of practice and found the hills somewhat challenging, but my spirit was willing. Because the winter cold hadn’t yet taken hold, I had beautiful blue skies and I could feel the warmth on my back. In fact, the weather was so mild that I even managed to take a dip in a rock pool (see photo below).
In a recent article you wrote for a JISA newsletter, you mentioned that it was a really meaningful, nearer-to-God experience.
As I wrote at the time, at the end of the day my inner eye was opened to see that God had been with me during the day outdoors. And not just tagging along, waiting for me to say some prayers – God was delighting in my own enjoyment. Surrounded by a beautiful environment, making use of technology for good, exercising my muscles, heart and lungs to their greatest extent, I was fully alive and fully engaged.
This is the aim and direction of all created beings, to be in harmony with each thing’s surroundings and with itself. God drives this inner, universal dynamic with love. It stands to reason, then, that God is doing the same when I am working at my full capacity, whether writing, teaching, marking papers, responding to a person’s sharing, or anything else. God was watching me that day and “saw that it was good”. And God’s delight directly increased my joy.
Have you always been a serious rider?
I’ve always had a bike and done some riding, but I wasn’t a serious rider. Then about four or five years ago it became a greater part of my life. Besides gardening, which I’ve always enjoyed, my next most enjoyable leisure activity is riding a bike. My bike is adapted for “cruising” on bitumen or off-road, with wide tyres and a soft, wide saddle. I guess you could say that I discovered relatively late in life that my body is built for the saddle.
What was the catalyst in that realisation?
Covid (laughs). During the pandemic I could ride anywhere. But I always did the right thing. I didn’t stop, didn’t go to a café or anything like that. I followed the rules and became a more committed cyclist. Now that the pandemic is behind us, I know that hour-long rides are good exercise, but those that continue for some days are even better.
What’s the longest ride you’ve undertaken?
When I relocated from Melbourne to Adelaide in January 2022. I rode from Warrnambool to Norwood parish, which was about 700 kilometres.
Happy as Larry! This is the Big Lobster, known affectionately as Larry, one of the landmarks in the South Australian town of Kingston. Fr Iain chose not to ride on the Western Highway during his 700km trip.
Were you carrying much gear with you on the bike?
About 20kg – a swag, one day’s worth of food each day, some cooking gear, one change of clothing, rain gear and a tool kit.
You rode all the way down the Western Highway? That takes a lot of courage. I’ve driven the Western Highway to and from Adelaide several times and I know what that entails.
I avoided that busy route! I took the train from Melbourne to Warrnambool and rode from there. I knew that from there I would be really committed to the ride! I put all my other personal stuff on a truck and the interesting thing is that I got to Adelaide at pretty much the same time as the truck, which was delayed a few days because of floods.
There’s a great tongue-in-cheek (and slightly misleading) headline in that tale – ‘Jesuit cyclist outpaces truck on interstate trip’!
(Chuckles). Some people asked me if I had plenty of opportunities to meditate. Er, nooooooo! I was absolutely focused on the road, the conditions, the traffic on both sides. I have a helmet-mounted mirror and that was really worth its weight in gold.
How often do you ride, given that you live at Sevenhill, an area of the Clare Valley with some serious gradients?
I try and keep my fitness up by riding to Clare and back at least twice a week. That route includes a steep hill which is probably an elevation of 50 metres over 200 metres (15?degrees). But even that is just a fraction of riding interstate! When things are going well, the legs go round, crossing the countryside and finding the space; that is God’s joy.
Fr Iain Radvan is Spiritual Director, Giver of the Spiritual Exercises and facilitates contemplative walks and pilgrimages with JISA’s Being with God in Nature ministry. He is currently Acting Director of JISA Sevenhill.
To enquire about becoming a Jesuit in Australia, contact vocations@sjasl.org.au and for more info, visit our Vocations page.