When I was a kid, all of my neighborhood friends would cruise around our town, population maybe 1200, in our Kmart Huffys like we owned the streets. We found ways to get hurt creating games like “bicycle freeze tag” or “who can make it down the slide first”. And the ultimate challenge was being able to successfully bike to the summit of Cemetery Hill (a quick detour to Strava showed me this was a whole 0.5mile and 200ft). At some point the Huffy was gone, probably sold off in the town yard sale, and bikes were forgotten about. It wasn’t until 2013 when I was re-introduced into the world of cycling. I picked up a used hybrid, flatbar, aluminum Cannondale for $300 off of Craigslist and set out of my first bikepacking adventure. The rest is history.
I came late to the party, starting my newly found passion at age 24. It was a slow start. Quite literally slow as I was excited to hit 14mph on the flat rail trail to Washington DC fully loaded with bike panniers weighing more than I did. But one bikepacking trip turned into two. Then I was commuting by bike. Next thing I know, I was just going for bike rides. And in typical cyclist fashion, one bike turned into two (All-City Spacehorse), turned into three (Surly Steamroller), turned into four (Canyon Endurace), etc… yah, you know how it goes.
I followed races like the Trans Am, looking up to riders like the late Mike Hall and even purchasing the video documentary Inspired to Ride. Cycling coverage was hard to come by for someone who knew very little about the world or anyone in it. I wanted in it somehow. So in 2019, I signed up for the 2020 Bike NonStop US (an alternative race to the Trans Am that takes less trafficked roads/trails). Then COVID hit. I like to think I didn’t race because of the pandemic, but I think in reality I didn’t do it because I wasn’t mentally ready. I stepped back and started researching other events and that is when I came across a little gravel race called Unbound Gravel (known as the DK at that time). Obsessed might be an understatement to my newly found passion. By the end of that week I was in communication with a local small bike shop in Pittsburgh (shoutout Waxwing Cycles) and I knew had to purchase my first gravel bike, an OPEN U.P.
I was 32 years old when I completed by first gravel race, GRUSK in West Virginia (50mile 4500ft). I didn’t know how to race or ride in a group with other people. I’m pretty sure I carried a potato filled burrito in my back pocket which I ate in the last 10 miles. I felt like my heart was going to explode by the finish line and I couldn’t stand for about an hour afterwards. Somehow in doing all the wrong things I still ended up in second place. But I needed it. I needed to feel that I belonged here. And I took that feeling and ran with it.
I moved to New England later that year and quickly got in with the local bike scene which thankfully was filled with very patient, super awesome, super strong folks. I learned how to climb. I learned how to bike with people. I learned what not to do when dogs chase you down. I had a lot of work to do with a goal in mind to be able to complete a gravel ride of 100miles and 10,000ft elevation by the end of the next year. I thought if I can bike that, I can bike anything. I achieved that goal. And now, at age 35, I am out to get as strong and as fast as I can be. I am very late to the party. But I’m at the party.
100 Mile Finish
N+1 doesn’t just apply to bikes. It is bike clothes, bike gear, bike food, bike blogs, bike fits, and now bike coaches. Since I spend most of my free time biking, it was a worth while investment to learn how to do it right. I have since started training with coaches of CINCH Cycling, Tom Danielson and Holly Matthews. I found this company online while researching for someone willing to coach a random adult athlete with no previous athletic experience to my name. I think they were somehow more psyched than I was about the inquiry. What a game changer. Since signing on, I am biking stronger and better than I ever imagined I could. I even made it to Unbound Gravel this year, snagging the 5th place podium for amateur women in my age category in the 100 mile race. Something that seemed so far off not long ago is now right in front of me. And I don’t know where this is going to take me. But I have so much more to give.
Copied from the SEEN.BY.SARAH blog post written by Sarah Skelly.