Found Myself Lost

The past few years have been marked by questionable decisions on two wheels. Tendinitis. Broken ribs. Getting hit by cars. But let’s not talk about that.

I’ve enjoyed playing bikes on pavement for most of my adult life, and used to consider myself a decent bike handler. But several years ago, after my years-long hiatus from cycling, I had the honor of meeting and friending Michael Marckx (a pro athlete with too many palmarès to list, not the least of which is creating the Belgian Waffle Ride). Through him and the broader community of adventure-minded friends he connected me with, I was inspired to eschew the usual roads (once upon a time I rode 10,000 miles / year just looping this lake) in favor of paths less traveled or not traveled at all.

“But why is everyone riding off road with road bikes?!” I pondered.

Like many things in life, I decided to find out for myself what all the fuss was about. While I’d horsed around on cheap mountain bikes on trivial trails over the years, I considered myself a pure roadie. The thought of riding loose and rocky roads on skinny tires with no tread and no frame suspension certainly gave me pause, but #yolo I guess. With only a handful of hours of practice riding road bikes in the dirt under my belt, I did my first Belgian Waffle Ride on my old 2010 Cervelo S1 aero bike on 23mm tubed slick road tires, clocking in at ~134 miles ~12k feet of climbing… with a large chunk of that in the sand, rocks, and gravel. Also, I found out at mile 60, at the end of a ~13 mile climb, that the reason my rear wheel was untrue (and dragging the brakes) was because I broke a spoke at mile 10. I never did bother to fix it.

Today, while I do still love smashing my road bike around, my best days are spent getting lost on the gravel bike, exploring trails that I can’t make sense of… or trails that require a bit more finesse than a MTB might, or trails that just try to eat me because only crazy people ride there without suspension and dropper posts.

May your adventures on two wheels also be powered by the occasional questionable decision. 🤔 🍻