YES OR NO ON GRAVEL SUSPENSION? MATT PHILLIPS HAS THE ANSWER / P.

58

GRAVEL
GRIT, JOY, AND
THE PERFECT TIRE
PLUS LOTS MORE OF LIFE’S ESSENTIALS
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Julien Absalon et Louhanna Duplouy
 Colin McSherr y (magazine)

Hearst, 300 W. 57th St., NY, NY 10019. Steven R. Swartz, President & Chief Executive Officer; William R. Hearst III, Chairman; Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Executive Vice Chairman; Mark E. Aldam, Chief Operating Officer. Hearst Magazines, Inc.: Debi

Photograph by T H O M A S H E N G G E
VOL UME 6 4 // SUMMER 20 23

PG.

5 SUMMER | 2023 •
BICYCLING.COM
 Maintenance
Minute
Presented by 2023

BICYCLINLG
S U M M ER

GRAVE
Shifting The Blame SPECI A L

Derailleurs—how do they work? Or, as you

may be asking more frequently, why won’t
they work? Here are the basic adjustments
to check when your drivetrain is acting shifty:

• Indexing: This is the term used for the

overall position of the derailleur across the
whole cassette, and is adjusted using your
barrel adjuster. If you’re experiencing slow
shifting going up or down the cassette, this
is the thing to check.
• Limit screws: Once limit screws are prop-
erly set, they generally stay that way—but,
if you make changes to your drivetrain and
you’re having trouble getting into the high-
est or lowest gears, it may be worth a look. P.18 STAFF MEETING P.42 YOUR COMPLETE P.66 THE TRUTH AND
• Hanger: The derailleur hanger is always Bicycling editors take a deep GUIDE TO GRAVEL TIRES TRAGEDY OF MORIAH WILSON
a potential culprit. By design, this bracket dive into their favorite ways to Tire choice can make or break Friends and family of the late
can deform easily in order to protect the use e-bikes. your ride. Here’s how to pick the gravel racer try to make sense
frame and derailleur. This means a smack best one. PLUS: 9 gravel tires we of her murder—and celebrate
against a tree, a bike rack, or the ground love. By Matt Phillips her exceptional life. By Rowan
can throw your shifting completely out of P.24 TEAM AMANI Moore Gerety
whack. It also means it can be realigned IS UNSTOPPABLE P.48 MY 100-MILE ONE-DAY
using the proper tools. If your shifting is The members of Africa’s premier RIDE BETWEEN SANTA FE P.79 ALL THE GRAVEL GEAR
inconsistently bad across the gears, or if gravel racing team are forging AND ALBUQUERQUE YOU GOTTA HAVE
your hanger is visibly out of alignment with ahead after the death of their Is it really desert riding if Tire plugs, hydration systems,
the cassette, you may need the services of
founder. By Bill Donahue there’s not at least one flat tire frame bags—and more! By
a hanger alignment gauge.
and you don’t run out of water? Bicycling Test Staff
• Cable and Housing: Grit, and moisture P.34 HOW SOFIA GOMEZ By Evan Green
can accumulate inside the housing over VILLAFAÑE BECAME A
time, causing corrosion and degrading the GRAVEL RACING SUPERSTAR P.58 SUSPENSION ON P.88 MORE
cable’s performance. A sluggish or laggy The training, nutrition, GRAVEL BIKES? DISCUSS. A relieving postride back
feel at the lever may be a sign that your equipment, and fearless attitude There’s some great tech out
cable and housing require lubrication or
stretch, our latest hot take on
that make this 29-year-old there, but do you really need it? disc brakes, and other exclusives
even replacement. 1-2 years as part of a
responsible maintenance routine. off-road pro so formidable. The benefits, drawbacks, and for Bicycling members only!
By Rosael Torres-Davis scenarios where you’ll definitely
want it. By Matt Phillips
Need help with derailleur
adjustment, diagnosis, or repair?
Park Tool offers a full line of tools,
equipment and tutorials to help
repair and maintain your bike.
Visit parktool.com/repairhelp
for more info: Photograph by T R E V O R R A A B
 66
pg THE TRUTH AND TRAGEDY
OF MORIAH WILSON / Moriah
Wilson’s family marked the
anniversary of her death with
a celebration of her life. Start-
ing at Heaven’s Gate, a ridgetop overlook in
Vermont’s Kingdom Trails, the May 13, 2023
event stitched together key places in and
around the town of Burke that were impor-
tant to Mo. The overlook is where she started
mountain biking, says her mother, Karen.
An aid station was set up by the cemetery
where Moriah is buried; her headstone had
been in place for just a few days. An image of
a cyclist is etched on the front, a skier on the
back. The loop circled Burke mountain and
passed Victory Bog, where Moriah loved to
train. “Out in the middle of nowhere,” Karen
says. “It’s probably one of the last rides she
did in the area. It was the last one I did with
her, and she left me in the dust,” she says.
The event was meant to wrap its arms
around everyone, as Mo would have. You
could go long and push yourself, or go short
and focus on the afterparty. At the last
minute, the family decided to raffle off a bike
from Specialized. Proceeds from the week- MO W IL S ON ON HE R
WAY T O S E C OND
end went to Kingdom Kids, a nonprofit that
P L A C E IN R E B E C C A' S
Linda Guerrette

promotes access to biking and recreation for P R I VAT E ID A HO ,

local children.—Rowan Moore Gerety, writer S E P T E MB E R 2 0 2 1 .

8 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023

GO ON,
TAKE A HIKE.
VACATION
REAL
A
ON

GO EXPLORE
GO
 24
pg TEAM AMANI SEES
THE FUTURE / In the
beer line after last
year’s Vermont Over-
land, I found myself
chatting with a fellow racer. Casually
ignorant, I asked him how he did. “I
won the race,” he proclaimed. It was
John Kariuki (pictured). No Black
rider had ever won a major American
gravel race.—Bill Donahue, writer

10 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023 Photograph by K A N G - C H U N C H E N G

 34
pg THIS OR THAT WITH ROSAEL
TORRES-DAVIS, FEATURES EDITOR
 SOFIA GOMEZ VILLAFAÑE IS
NOT A DREAMER
Hydration Pack (1) Water Bottles
Unpaved Roads Singletrack (2)
1x 2x
Postride Beer Postride Tacos (3)
Cycling Cap (4) Trucker Hat
DNF DFL (5)
Carbon (6) Steel
Dropper Post (7) Rigid Post
Porta Potty Roadside
Tubes Tubeless (8)

(1) You get easy access not only to your water,

but also to snacks and tools. (2) Something
about trees and foliage hiding what’s around the
corner keeps me in the moment. (3) Beer may
be what my brain wants, but tacos, with a side of
rice and beans, are what my body needs! (4) You
can’t wear a trucker hat under your helmet.
(5) Finishing last means you spent the most time
braving the elements. That alone is a triumph.
(6) Steel is real, but carbon is light. (7) Droppers
for every bike! I even have one on my commuter.
(8) Once you master fixing a puncture with plugs,
you’ll never want to change a tube again.

12 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023 Photograph by T R E V O R R A A B

 48
pg HOME ON THE RANGE / I’m a
photographer and filmmaker
based in Albuquerque, New
Mexico. I frequently combine
my creative pursuits with my
passion for the outdoors—cycling, climbing,
backpacking, and snowboarding—to craft
authentic stories.
When it comes to photo gear for bike
rides, I usually reach for Sony’s full-frame
mirrorless cameras paired with a 24-105 f/4
lens. With the unknowns of any adventure,
I need versatility. I love a powerful 33 mega-
pixel sensor and zoom lens with range; plus,
it fits in my hip pack. I often leave the lens
cap at home so I have one less thing in my
way when I’m trying to get the shot quickly.
Other essentials include spare batteries,
camera cleaning supplies (dust blower and
microfiber cloth), and durable, high-capacity
memory cards.—Evan Green, writer and
photographer
Eric Arce

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 13

 34
pg SOFIA GOMEZ VILLAFAÑE IS
NOT A DREAMER / What does
the gravel superstar pack in her
saddle bag? When racing long
distances at off-road events
with little to no support, she leaves noth-
ing to chance, “especially at an event like
Unbound 200, where you only get support
twice,” she says. “You’re out there on your
own and need to be prepared to make your
bike work. I even keep zip ties in my hydra-
tion pack.” Here’s what else she carries to
every start line:

 Two spare tubes. “Tubolito Tubes are latex

and pretty lightweight.”

 Pedro’s tire levers. “They are bombproof

and lightweight. At home I also use Special-
ized tire levers that have metal inside to give
me a bit more stability when changing my
e-bike tires.”

 A dart tool and lots of tire plugs. “I carry

Dynaplugs, Genuine Innovations tire plugs,
and a Stan’s NoTubes dart tool. Some work
better for one type of cut than others.”

 Three CO2 cartridges wrapped in duct

tape: two in the saddle bag, one in her jersey
pocket with a CO2 head for quick access.
Why the tape? “Duct tape fixes everything,”
she says. “I’ve even seen it hold together
someone’s open flesh wound!”—Rosael
Torres-Davis, Features Editor

14 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023 Photograph by C A S S I D Y A R A I Z A

 58
pg DO YOU NEED GRAVEL
SUSPENSION? / Gravel riding
is not new. I posit that the
first bicycles were gravel
bikes. But as the roads near
the places where most people cluster
became paved, bicycles adapted to the
proliferating ribbons of tarmac.
What sparked this recent return to
cycling’s unpaved roots? Many things,
I suppose. Some riders never stopped
riding off the paved roads, and some
riders even turned off those gravel roads
and onto skinny trails—which birthed the
mountain bike.
“It took me four years to paint like
Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a
child,” is a quote attributed to Pablo
Picasso. I like to think that we’re remem-
bering how freeing it is to let go and get
dirty. I think gravel showed up at a good
time: the solitude, the exploration, the
challenge. It feels like all of cycling sud-
denly remembered that this whole riding
bikes thing is a gift and should be fun.
Hopefully, we never forget it.—Matt
Phillips, Senior Gear Editor

16 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023 Photograph by K E V I N S C O T T B AT C H E L O R


FEELING
THE BOOST
Sport fans and spectators alike need not read any
further. This is not for you. This is for those riders that
truly live for the pain; those athletes that eat, drink
and dream about going faster. And the first step is
finding the right nutrition to support your training.
Thanks to recent advances, scientists have found a
legal solution that can help athletes like you crush
your goals by boosting EPO production naturally.
EPO stands for Erythropoietin, a hormone that
gives blood a greater capacity for carrying oxygen.
Doctors first used EPO to counter red blood cell
loss that resulted from chemotherapy treatment in
cancer patients.
When synthetic EPO became available sever-
al decades ago, endurance athletes, especially
cyclists, started using EPO to gain an advantage
during training and races. The reason was simple:
with more oxygen being delivered to muscles, per-
formance and endurance improved dramatically.
In the mid-1980s, almost all of the governing
bodies in sports banned EPO. Unfortunately, en-
durance athletes in several sports worked to get
around these restrictions by using other blood dop-
ing techniques to mask EPO use.
The use of synthetic EPO has been extremely
controversial. Several star endurance athletes
have admitted using synthetic EPO and have
faced severe consequences. The subject of EPO
use has also gained significant media attention in
the last 10 years.
Fortunately, there’s a new legal way for cyclists
ADVERTISEMENT
to benefit from boosting EPO production. A com-
pany called Biomedical Research Laboratories has
developed a natural EPO stimulator specifically for
athletes seeking to gain an edge.
The product is called EPO-BOOST. Taken daily,
the ingredients in EPO-BOOST help the body nat-
urally boost circulating EPO levels. With a boost
in EPO levels, more oxygen can reach working
muscles resulting in dramatic improvements in
athletic performance.
The science behind EPO-BOOST is equally com-
pelling. Dr. M.T. Whitehead from the Department of
Health and Human Performance at Northwestern
State University conducted a 28-day double-blind
placebo-controlled clinical trial to test the effective-
ness of the key ingredient EPO-BOOST.
The research showed that the active ingredient
in EPO-BOOST increased EPO production by over
90% compared to the group taking the placebo. The
supplement group showed significant improve-
ments in athletic performance as measured by VO-
2max and running economy.
EPO-BOOST is not a miracle pill and it won’t
make you a world champion overnight. In fact,
most users will see that it takes 3-4 weeks to obtain
the full performance benefits of EPO-BOOST. Ath-
letes who use EPO-BOOST are sharing their results.
Pablo Santa Cruz, a category one cyclist, stated,
“I am very skeptical with nutritional supplements
due to the prevalent lack of clean manufacturing
practices and banned substance contamination. I
am very glad to have researched and tested EPO-
BOOST to my and my performance support team’s
satisfaction.  Particularly, I am very encouraged
with breaking through key power and speed thresh-
olds after 6 weeks of using these products.”
Mr. Cruz is not alone in his praise of the product.
Travis Beam, a top cyclist from North Carolina, used
EPO-BOOST in his preparation for his season. Tra-
vis stated, “starting the season I made several goals
to accomplish in my racing career. To achieve those
goals, I knew I needed something extra to support
my training. After a month of using EPO-BOOST
I started seeing crazy gains in my endurance and
power during training and my speed picked up to
the next level! I am a firm believer in these products
and cannot wait to see how these gains will help my
performance in events later this year.”
So EPO-BOOST provides a total solution for
athletes in all sports looking for improved energy,
endurance, and recovery. EPO-BOOST is legal
for competition. All ingredients in EPO-BOOST
are in compliance with WADA, UCI, IOC, and
NCAA rules.
A company spokesman confirmed an exclusive
offer for Bicycling readers. If you order this month,
you’ll receive $10 off your first order by using pro-
mo code “Bike10” at checkout. You can order
EPO-BOOST today at EPOBOOST.com or by calling
1-800-780-4331.

I N W H I C H W E C O N V E N E T H E E D I T O R S T O S O LV E Y O U R M O S T P R E S S I N G Q U E S T I O N S , C O N C E R N S , A N D E X I S T E N T I A L Q U A N D A R I E S
DO YOUR
GROCERY
SHOPPING ON
TWO WHEELS
I’m all in on e-cargo bikes. My weekly
grocery trip, which used to include a
12-mile drive, is now a gorgeous 13-mile
bike ride that I look forward to every
week. Because an e-cargo bike makes
riding with an entire week’s worth of
groceries for a family of three fun, I’ve
already replaced nearly 800 miles of car
trips in just a few months with it. When
I talk about e-bikes, the pushback I get
from folks often has to do with them
liking their current bike and feeling
no need to add an e-bike to the mix.
That makes complete sense, especially
if you’re already doing most of your
errands by bike. But for me, the e-bike
didn’t replace an existing bike or bike
ride. Instead, it replaced a second car.
Since getting an e-cargo bike, I’ve real-
ized how much joy and, more important,
riding it has added to my life.
DA N CH A BA NOV
Test Editor
GO THE DISTANCE YOU
NORMALLY WOULDN’T
AGENDA E-bikes allow me to venture much far-
ALL THE WAYS TO HAVE
ther than I would feel comfortable
riding on a regular bike (in fear that I
FUN ON AN E-BIKE
wouldn’t have the energy to pedal all the
way back). I’m from a pretty hilly part of
the Czech Republic, and thanks to my
family’s collection of e-bikes, every visit
Electric bikes enhance life in so many ways: They make pedaling home turns into an hours-long, two-
easier, can replace a bulk of your driving, and provide an opportu- wheel adventure to faraway places of
nity for people to get on a bike who might not be able to otherwise. my childhood I’ve not been to in years.
If we were to describe e-bikes in one word, it would be “fun.”
Just how much fun? Bicycling editors listed all the various ways PAV L Í NA ČE R NÁ
Senior Newsletter Editor
e-bikes make riding even more enjoyable.
18 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
BRAND CHAMPIONS
Dan Chabanov, Natascha Grief,
Gabe Ortiz, Trevor Raab,
Tara Seplavy
CONTENT STRATEGY
Christine Anderson VP, Growth
& Strategy; Erica Murphy Senior
Director of Content Strategy and
SEO; David White SEO Manager,
Membership; Sean Abrams SEO
Manager, Commerce; Kori Williams
SEO Analyst
DESIGN + PHOTO
Jesse Southerland Creative
Director; Amy Wolff Photo Director;
Colin McSherry Senior Art Director;
Bridget Clegg Senior Digital Art
Director; Alyse Markel Art Director;
Eleni Dimou Senior Designer; Tom
Messina, Hunter Young Digital
Designers; Trevor Raab Senior
Photographer; John Hamilton
Photo Editor; Richard Moody
Associate Photo Editor; Thomas
Hengge Photographer; Dustin
Fenstermacher Commerce Photo
Editor; Barry Knoblach Producer
FEATURES
Leah Flickinger Executive Features
Director; Louis Mazzante Senior
Features Director; Savannah
Jacobson, Jennifer Leman Senior
Editors; Chris Hatler, Rosael
Torres-Davis Features Editors
NEWS
Andrew Daniels Director of News
Content; Dan Beck Deputy Editor,
News; Natascha Grief News Editor;
Aly Ellis Deputy Editor, Social Media;
Julia D’Apolito Associate Social
Media Editor; Taylor Vasilik Video
Producer
OPERATIONS
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Operations; Bree Pulver Content
Production Editor; Bridget Hughes,
Dresden Diaz Administrative
Assistants
REVIEWS
Will Egensteiner Director of
Affiliate; Colin Aylesworth Deputy
Editor, Expert Reviews; Zoë Hannah
Deputy Editor, Commerce; Kevin
Cortez, Micki Wagner Commerce
Editors; Amber Joglar Digital
Content Producer; Mike Epstein,
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Reviews; Leanna Yip Copy Editor
SERVICE
Brian Dalek Director of Service
Content; Mallory Creveling Deputy
Editor, Health & Fitness; Donna
Raskin Senior Health & Fitness Editor;
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Editor; Monique Lebrun Associate
Health & Fitness Editor; Pavlína
Černá Senior Newsletter Editor
TESTING
Jeff Dengate Director of Product
Testing; Tara Seplavy Deputy
Editor, Gear; Matt Phillips Senior
Gear Editor; Dan Chabanov Gear
Editor; Gabe Ortiz Maintenance and
Repair Editor
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Content; Jimmy Cavalieri
Production Manager; Pat Heine-
Holmberg, David Monk Senior
Video Producers; Laura Chiarella,
Ken Kawada, Video Producers
CONTRIBUTORS
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Selene Yeager, Whit Yost
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Bill Strickland
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SUMMER 2023
Trevor Raab
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
  ALL THE WAYS TO HAVE FUN ON AN E-BIK E

HEARST MAGAZINES ADVERTISING

PERFECT INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP

Patricia Haegele Food, Pharma, Liquor,

A NEW TRICK CPG & Pet; Haley Bachmann Fashion

& Luxury; Jennifer Levene Bruno
Home & Design; Chris Peel Travel, Tech,
For my first e-MTB experience, I was invited to Finance & Outdoor
the launch of the new Liv Intrigue X Advanced E+ CATEGORY LEADERS
Elite in St. George, Utah. We spent two days getting Karen Deutsch, Dan Fuchs,
Christine L. Hall, David Hamilton,
familiar with the bikes and its e-assist modes. Once RW Horton, Bridget McGuire,
I started riding, the bike felt a lot like a regular Jeanne Noonan, Joanna Nowack,
Sara Rad, Julie Spitalnick, Bill
mountain bike—it’s actually the lightest e-MTB Upton, John Wattiker, Tara
Weedfald
in its category—and the assistance provided by its
motor, surprisingly, felt quite natural on the trail. BICYCLING
Kim Tan Vice President of
One of the most remarkable aspects was just Marketing; Sarah Hemstock Brand &
how pleasant it was to navigate new terrain (with Content Strategy

caution, of course), such as a deep sandpit at the HEARST MAGAZINES

bottom of a descent followed by a punchy little
climb I could ride on the first try. And then I
went at it again to do it better, faster, and with
more thrill.
This made me realize that, more often than not,
what I lack when riding my “acoustic” mountain
bike at home are torque and speed, as opposed to
skill (in most scenarios, in the type of riding I do).
The ability to make the most out of your available
riding time provides a great boost in confidence. It
also gives a feeling of productivity when it comes
Todd Haskell Chief Marketing Officer;
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to skill development. HEARST MAGAZINES, INC.

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COMMUTE
Gilbert C. Maurer, Mark F. Miller
I typically ride the 13 miles to our office a few Publishing Consultants
days a week. The best part is, 95 percent of the
HEARST MAGAZINES

TO WORK ride is on a car-free trail along the river, where

my biggest nemeses are geese protecting their
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BREAKING of time, I usually have to work up a sweat. To

stay fresh, I borrowed an e-bike from our stash
300 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

A SWEAT a few times. While it isn’t any quicker, due to

the surface and traffic of the trail, it’s nice to
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just be able to hop on in my street clothes, pedal for 50 minutes, and
turn up at my destination feeling and looking as fresh as I started. ATTENTION, RETAILERS

Trevor Raab (commute); Jef f Clark /Cour tesy LIV Cycling (tricks)
Sell BICYCLING in your store,
risk-free. Call 800-845-8050 for
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KEEP UP DURING I’m not the fastest cyclist on a regular bike, but an
e-bike levels the playing field. So when I’m riding
makes me feel like a kid again—I can’t help but
smile. It’s like you have this supercharged strength

A GROUP OR
with people from the office or with friends and and you’re bound to have a great time.
family, it’s easier to ride at the same speed and for
M A L LORY CR EV E L I NG
FAMILY RIDE
the same distance, thanks to that turbo boost. The
Deputy Editor, Health & Fitness
best part is that every time the power kicks in, it

20 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023

FEELING
REJUVENATED
Life really does fly by. Before I knew it, my 50s had ar-
rived, and with them came some new gifts from dear
ol’ Mother Nature—frequent knee pain, stress, low
energy and sleeplessness. Now, I’m a realist about
these things, I knew I wasn’t going to be young and
resilient forever. But still, with “middle-age” near-
ly on my doorstep, I couldn’t help but feel a little
disheartened. That is until I found my own secret
weapon. Another gift from Mother Nature.
It began a few months back when I was complain-
ing about my aches and pains to my riding buddy,
Ben, who is my same age. He casually mentioned
how he uses CBD oil to help with his joint pain. He
said that CBD has given him more focus and clarity
throughout the day and that his lingering muscle
and joint discomfort no longer bothered him.
That made even this self-proclaimed skeptic
take notice.
But I still had some concerns. According to one
study in the Journal of the American Medical As-
sociation, 70% of CBD products didn’t contain the
amount of CBD stated on their labels. And, as a
consumer, that’s terrifying!
If I was going to do this, I needed to trust the
source through and through. My two-fold research
process naturally led me to Zebra CBD.
First, I did a quick online poll—and by that, I
mean I posed the CBD question on my Facebook
page. Call me old fashioned but I wanted to know
if there were people whom I trusted (more than
anonymous testimonials) who’ve had success us-
ing CBD besides my buddy. That is how I found
out that Zebra CBD has a label accuracy guarantee
which assures customers like me what is stated on
the label is in the product.
Secondly, I wanted cold hard facts. Diving deep
into the world of CBD research and clinical studies,
I came across Emily Gray M.D., a physician at the
University of California at San Diego (UCSD) Medi-
cal School and medical advisor for Zebra CBD who
is researching the effects of CBD. Dr. Gray wrote
“early results with CBD have been promising and
we have a lot of research underway now. I’ve had
several patients using CBD with good success. It’s
important that you know your source of CBD and
how to use it properly.”
After hearing it from the doctor’s mouth, I re-
turned to my online poll and was amazed by the
number of close friends and family who were al-
ready on the CBD train. Apparently, I was the only
one without a clue! And funny enough, a couple of
friends who commented were using the same brand
as my buddy—Zebra CBD. There was no consensus
as to why they were using CBD, but the top reasons
given were for muscle & joint discomfort, mood
support, sleep support, stress and headaches, as
well as supporting overall health & wellness.
Eventually, even the most skeptical of the bunch
can be won over. With a trusted CBD source in
mind, I decided to try it.
When I viewed Zebra CBD’s selection online, I
was impressed by its array of products, including
CBD oils called tinctures, topicals, chewable tab-
lets, mints and gummies. After reading on their
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Allow
Yourself to
Explore

Find out more about the Hammerhead Karoo 2 by visiting hammerhead.io/products/hammerhead-karoo-2

On his social media channel—which he
calls Fernwee—competitive cyclist
Martijn van Strien posts weekly videos
about cycling that include tips, race
insights, and humorous commentary.
They also feature stunning vistas of his
travels. Recent destinations have included
Colombia, Belgium, Spain, Rwanda, and
the Scottish Highlands, as well as his
home country, the Netherlands. Soon,
he’ll be off to Greece for a blend of
racing, camping, and exploring. Apart from
races, which are planned routes, van Strien
appreciates being able to use his travels to
discover new terrain. Like any cyclist, he
finds there’s a balancing act between safely
planning for a trip and remaining open to
the spontaneous possibilities of the open
road. Fortunately, he has several robust
strategies that help him feel present and
adventurous, without getting lost. Here’s
what he does before and during his trips.
— the fly, so van Strien can enjoy impromptu
RELY ON GOOD PEOPLE... AND TECH
When considering a new place to ride,
van Strien draws from numerous sources,
spending a few hours online doing
research that includes comments from
other cyclists and local residents. Once he
has an idea of the general area where he’d
like to ride, van Strien uploads cycling-
friendly routes into his Hammerhead
Karoo 2 cycling computer—or uses his
research to build his own right on the
device. Once the route is set in the Karoo 2,
he can add points of interest. “For every day
I’ll be in a destination, I plan a basic route
and it only takes about five minutes to
make,” he told Bicycling.
—
PACK FOR ANY WEATHER
Part of the challenge—and the
enjoyment—of doing new routes is the
unpredictability of the weather, especially
if van Strien is visiting multiple countries
in one trip. “You need to be strategic and
anticipate all weather conditions so you’re
not uncomfortable for hours during a ride,”
he said. Whether his day brings sweaty,
sticky summits or torrential winter storms,
van Strien can trust his Karoo 2 to power
through with him, thanks to its protective
Rain Lock feature.
—
DON’T ALWAYS STICK WITH THE PLAN
Even with a programmed route, van Strien
rarely sticks to it completely because
he appreciates being able to improvise.
“Often, I’ll see a path or trail that just
looks cool and I get excited to go check
it out,” he said. The Karoo 2 reroutes on
exploration and then easily return to his
previously planned route. “Having that kind
of flexibility is what helps me stay present
and enjoy what I’m seeing.”
—
PROGRAM HOME FIRST
No matter where he’s riding, the most
important safety step for van Strien is to
set “home” in his Karoo 2 first. That might
mean a familiar landmark, his camping
spot, or a hotel as a starting point. “That’s
what gives me the confidence to go
wherever I want, because I know I’ll never
end up really lost,” he said. “That allows
me to roam and feel free.”
 SEES
THE
FUTURE

24 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023

 BEFORE HIS
DEATH LAST
YEAR, SULE
KANGANGI HAD
AN AMBITIOUS
PLAN FOR
TURNING
EAST AFRICA
INTO A CYCLING
POWERHOUSE.
HIS KENYA-
BASED TEAM IS
COMMITTED TO
DELIVERING ON
HIS LEGACY.
BY BILL DONAHUE
Kang- Chun Cheng (riding , Wangai, Kipkemboi, Langat, Kariuki); Adrian Morris (Akinyi, Mungai)

A T R A INING R IDE
NE A R I T E N , K E N YA ,
A P R IL 2 0 2 3 .
OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE
F R OM L E F T: E VA N
WA NG A I , N A NC Y A K IN Y I ,
S A L IM K IP K E MB OI ,
GE OF F R E Y L A NG AT,
K E NNE T H MUNG A I ,
A ND JOHN K A R IUK I .

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 25

 T OP : GE OF F R E Y L A NG AT DURING A
S T OP ON A T R A INING R IDE NE A R I T E N .
B O T T OM: T HE A R E A S S UR R OUNDING
I T E N OF F E R P R IME C ONDI T ION S F OR
HONING OF F -R O A D GR AV E L SK IL L S .
OP P O S I T E : JOHN K A R IUK I ON A
MIDR IDE B R E A K .

So Sule sold secondhand clothes. He

swept the veranda at a local shop. He herded
cattle. School wasn’t an option—he couldn’t
afford the tuition—and Kapsuswa was in
the process of being demolished on account
of crime, which forced Sule to couch surf,
moving from the home of one alcoholic
uncle to another. Sometimes he had a mat-
tress; sometimes his mattress got stolen.
Every few days, Sule would visit his
grandparents. His grandfather had been a
janitor; the steady work had granted him
financial security. He was old by the time
Sule was a teen and would get around slowly
on a black upright singlespeed bicycle—a
Black Mamba, as such workhorses are
called in East Africa. From his grandfather,
Sule got a sense of what a happy, stable
life looked like, and he wanted to create
something similar for himself. He worked
in a print shop and a convenience store. He
took his grandfather’s bike and put a seat
on the back, to transport paying customers
around Eldoret.
Then in 2007, Sule pieced together a
road bike. He stepped up his training until
he was often doing 150-mile rides, and he
started to race. In 2016, a pro team, Kenyan
Riders, recruited him. He raced in China,
the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. He
taught himself English, zeroing in on one
new word a day: “exertion,” for example,
and “exhaustion.”
Meanwhile, as Sule married and started
a family, he tried to grow bike culture in
East Africa. He coordinated a Black Mamba
racing series. He pushed to attain better prize
EARLY JUNE , FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, A TRIO OF AFRICAN PROS LINED UP FOR GR AVEL’S money for African riders at races—and grew
most prestigious, most intensely fought race. Unbound Gravel takes riders through the leery of elite road racing, in which riders
Flint Hills of eastern Kansas, along winding prairie roads littered with sharp rocks and climb the ranks via an arcane points system
steep climbs. Kenya-based Team Amani sent John Kariuki, a 26-year-old Kenyan, along that awards them for competing in races that
with two Ugandan teammates, Charles Kagimu, 24, and Jordan Schleck, 20, to face off are almost invariably held in Europe. When
against the world’s top gravel racers on the 200-mile course. he launched Team Amani in 2018, his goal
There was a gaping hole in the Amani lineup, though. The team’s founder and captain, was to empower East African cyclists, both
Sule Kangangi, was not in Kansas. male and female, as they vie for dominance
Sule was a visionary and a leader in African cycling. He’d had an inauspicious early in gravel and mountain bike racing.
childhood; neither of his parents were a meaningful presence in his life after age 11. He In August 2022, Sule traveled to the U.S.
essentially raised himself. His sister went to live with their grandparents while he stayed with Kariuki and Schleck, aiming to compete
behind in Kapsuswa, a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Eldoret. He was old enough in three major stateside races—the Leadville
to find work, the thinking went, old enough to contribute financially to the family. 100, SBT GRVL, and finally the Vermont

26 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023 Photography by K A N G - C H U N C H E N G

SULE TAUGHT
PEOPLE TO
BELIEVE IN
”
THEMSELVES.
THAT’S WHAT
HE DID, AND
HE HELPED SO
MANY PEOPLE.

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 27


Overland, a roughly 59-mile ordeal that
climbs about 7,500 feet through small towns
and forests around Windsor, Vermont.
More than 1,100 riders lined up for the
race on a cool, cloudless late-summer day.
I was one of them, fighting to a 211th-place
finish among men. In the beer line later, I
found myself chatting with a fellow racer.
Casually ignorant, I asked him how he did.
“I won the race,” he proclaimed.
It was John Kariuki. No Black rider had
ever won a major American gravel race, and
Kariuki’s teammate Jordan Schleck had
sweetened the moment by finishing third.
But Sule never made it to the finish line.
Two hours into the race, Kevin Bouchard-
Hall, a physical therapist riding just behind
him, found him lying beside a tree in a fetal
position with blood coming from his mouth.
“The fork on his bike had snapped off,” says
Bouchard-Hall.
Bouchard-Hall suspects that Sule hit the
tree, but no one will ever know precisely
28 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
what happened. Sule died on the way to
the hospital. He was 33 years old. His team-
mates, who had gotten news of the crash
and assumed it meant a fracture at worst,
were stunned. “We were crying,” Schleck
says. “We couldn’t seriously believe this
had happened.”
Suddenly Sule’s three young children
had no father, his wife became a widow,
and his dream of launching East Africa as
a power in gravel racing was shrouded in
question marks.
“MORE COFFEE, SIR?” The waiter’s voice is
tentative—it’s a delicate moment. Sule’s
widow, Hellen Wahu, is sitting at the Goshen
Inn in Eldoret, crying a little as she remem-
bers her husband. “Sule taught people to
believe in themselves. That’s what he did,
and he helped so many people,” she says.
Wahu explains how Sule often visited an
S UL E K A NG A NG I AT
T HE T R A K A G R AV E L
R A C E IN GIR ON A ,
S PA IN , A P R IL 2 0 2 2 .
OP P O S I T E : T E A M
A M A NI R IDE R , S E T H
H A K I Z IM A N A , R IGH T,
R A C ING IN T HI S
YEAR’S TRAK A.
orphanage and how, later in his life, he
informally helped support nine widows in
Eldoret, visiting each woman monthly to
deliver provisions like cornmeal and soap.
His biggest contribution, though, involved
teaching other African cyclists how to flour-
ish. “Sule showed them it’s not about what
a sponsor can give you,” Wahu says. “It’s
about what you can do for yourself right
now. He had so much hope.”
I’ve come here to Kenya to gauge whether
Sule’s hopes for Team Amani can out-
live him. In some ways, it seems like the
answer is a certain yes. There’s the team’s
1-3 finish at last summer’s Overland. And
a few months before that, while Sule was
still alive, Meta, the parent company of
Facebook, shot a high-action, minute-long
ad that featured Amani riders swooping
through both the Kenyan highlands and
Zwift-like virtual realms as it suggested that
technology can bring equality in cycling.
Still, when it came to shaping a vision
for the team’s future, Team Amani had
been almost 100 percent Sule. The idea
took root in 2018 when Sule began talking
to an American human rights lawyer and
amateur cyclist, Mikel Delagrange, who
co-owns Lola Bikes & Coffee, a cafe in The
Hague, Netherlands, where he worked for
the International Criminal Court.
For years, the shop had sponsored African
road cyclists, and the two men had conversa-
tions about whether road racing was a good
fit for African riders. Africa has been home
to road squads like Team Africa Rising and
Bike Aid for well over a decade, and although
they’ve attained a few shining moments—
Eritrean rider Biniam Girmay won a stage
of the Giro d’Italia last year while fellow
Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot held the
polka-dot jersey for four consecutive stages
in the 2015 Tour de France—success has
been sparse. At Delagrange’s suggestion,
Sule began looking into whether gravel
might be a better fit.
Still, Delagrange was hesitant to get
involved. Having spent a decade working
in Africa, he’d become disenchanted with
international development projects. “They
just reinforce the power dynamics of the
colonial period. I didn’t want to be another
American with a project in Africa,” says
Delagrange, who now lives in Switzerland
and works for the United Nations.
Finley Newmark
Delagrange’s take is hardly new. Critics
of aid to Africa point out that while the
World Bank has spent billions to foster
development there, more than 50 percent of
its projects—such as wells, schools, roads,
and dams—have failed amid local chaos
and corruption. Meanwhile, in Kenya, a
nation renowned for its world-dominating
”
“AT MOST RACES,”
KARIUKI SAYS,
“WE’RE THE ONLY
distance runners, organized athletics still
seems tied to European colonialism. Many
BLACK RIDERS OUT
elite Kenyan runners, for instance, live and THERE. I THINK
train in camps owned by companies based
in Europe. And these camps have hardly PEOPLE WILL PAY
engendered stability. Currently more than
70 Kenyan runners are banned from com- ATTENTION.”
peting because World Athletics suspects
them of doping. And the 2021 murder of
world-class Kenyan runner Agnes Tirop
by her husband and coach, Ibrahim Rotich,
also Kenyan, has brought new attention to a
troubling dynamic: Female athletes in Kenya
are so vulnerable to attack by money-hungry
men that a group, Tirop’s Angels, has formed
to combat the problem.
Many argue that what’s needed in Africa
are not boutique projects—bike teams, say,
or fair-trade coffee schemes—but rather
economic and political stability that’s built
slowly, over decades.
But Sule’s visions for a gravel team were
infectious. “They weren’t focused on the
Tour de France,” Delagrange says. So he
resolved that he’d be in the “back seat,”
raising funds and helping with logistics,
while Sule split his time between riding and
masterminding Amani’s rise.
Between 2019 and 2022, as Delagrange
landed sponsorship deals with Wahoo and
Factor Bikes, among others, he made 20
visits to Kenya. In 2021, he and Sule headed
up the inaugural four-day Migration Gravel
Race, which saw top Europeans racing
locals on the rubbly red dirt roads of the
Maasai Mara, a Kenyan national reserve.
(Sule finished second, beaten only by Dutch
legend Laurens ten Dam, and then won the
race in 2022.) They got East Africans entry
into elite Zwift races and began planning
a home for Team Amani.
Iten, population 42,000, is a mountain
town in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, where
it sits an hour northeast of Sule’s native
city, Eldoret, and plays host to numerous
elite running camps. Sule and Delagrange
planned to build a world-class cycling facil-
ity for the team. Called Amani House, it
includes athletes’ quarters, replete with nine
tiny parallel bedrooms and two bunkrooms.
Next to the house, they envisioned a pump
track to entice local kids into cycling, and a
clubhouse containing a performance center

Photograph by A D R I A N M O R R I S SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 29

full of Wahoo Kickrs and a bike-themed cafe
that could lure tourists who might want to
hire an Amani rider to guide them through
the surrounding farmland and forests.
The Amani project seems viable, even
to those acquainted with the challenges of
growing cycling in Africa. “Other teams,
they’re looking for shortcuts,” says David
Kinjah, who’s been coaching with Safari
Simbaz, a Kenyan development group, for
two decades. “They think they can just turn
Kenyan runners into cyclists, but there
aren’t shortcuts. You have to build a culture,
like they’ve done with running here, like
they’ve done with cycling in Italy.”
Amani is working on that, Kinjah believes,
with the pump track and with plans to give
bikes to local kids and host weekly races.
“They’re being smart,” he says. “They’re
not wasting lots of money on travel. They’re
doing virtual races. They’re letting their
riders stay home and face the world.”
30 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
X AV E R INE NIR E R E
R ID IN G IN T HE
T R A K A G R AV E L
R A C E , IN GIR ON A ,
S PA IN , A P R IL 2 0 2 3 .
OP P O S I T E : S A L IM
K IP K E MB OI S N A C K S
ON A M A NG O
MID R IDE ( T OP ) .
E VA N WA NG A I
PA U S E S DURING
A R IDE NE A R I T E N
( B O T T OM ) .
Delagrange attributes Team Amani’s
savvy to Sule, whose early life demanded
resourcefulness. “He listened. He observed.
He studied everything—course routes,
nutrition plans,” Delagrange says. “He
brought intelligence to everything he did.
Nobody can fill his shoes.”
Last September, after Team Amani
buried Sule in Iten, Delagrange spent four
hours with the riders, equivocating over
whether the Amani project should continue.
“I told them, ‘I don’t want to do this alone,’”
he says. “I asked them, ‘Can each of you pick
up a piece of Sule’s mantle?’ And they said
yes. It was the silver lining to a bottomless
pit of sorrow.”
By the time I visit in December, Team
Amani is still in a transition phase. The
pump track is finished, a jet-black ribbon
of asphalt swooping across the red earth.
Groundbreaking for the athletes’ house is
slightly delayed. And the team is still with-
out an official captain. “Sule’s absence is
forcing others to lead,” Delagrange says. But
the group is widely dispersed. Several of the
11 riders live in Iten, but Olympic mountain
bike hopeful Nancy Akinyi is in Nairobi, six
hours away, and others are in Uganda and
Rwanda. It’s impossible to discern whether
one of them is quietly leading or whether
there’s a power vacuum steeped in sadness.
I N M A N Y WAYS ,Iten is a typical Kenyan
market town. Women sit on the ground
downtown, selling socks and underwear
and used T-shirts as motorbikes weave amid
trucks spewing black clouds from their tail-
pipes. But Western tourists are everywhere,
nearly all of them runners on pilgrimage to
their sport’s holy land. You see them out on
the chaotic streets, doing errands or sipping
cappuccino at the High Altitude Training
Photograph by A D R I A N M O R R I S
Centre, an athlete-focused retreat founded
by world champion runner Lornah Kiplagat.
The hills and forests are nearby, sometimes
enchantingly blanketed in fog.
John Kariuki, last summer’s Overland
winner, lives and trains in Iten, and when he
and I meet for dinner, his manner is suave,
nonchalant. A slight, wiry man, deep-voiced
with a bushy beard, he begins by telling me
he ’s a country music aficionado, a fan of
Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton. At the U.S.
race just before Overland—SBT, in Steam-
boat Springs, Colorado—he persuaded
Delagrange to buy him a cowboy hat at
a Western apparel shop. Then his eyes
alighted on a pair of leather boots. “If you
buy me those boots,” he told Delagrange,
“I’ll win Vermont Overland.”
Delagrange acquiesced, and, about 20
miles into Overland, Kariuki thought of
the boots as he surged into the lead. Pay
the boots! he said to himself. Pay the boots!
The words danced in his mind like a mantra
as he rattled over roots and rocks, never
once getting passed, until he finished with
a four-minute lead over runner-up Adam
Roberge, a Canadian.
In the wake of that victory, Delagrange
began to see Kariuki as Sule’s heir apparent.
“He has a quiet confidence,” he says.
Kariuki grew up in Nakuru, a city of
421,000 situated about 100 miles southeast
of Iten, where, he tells me, shrugging, his
earliest years were “average, not rich, not
poor. I had shoes. Most of the kids around
me couldn’t afford them.”
Kariuki left school in 10th grade and
then landed an apprenticeship with an
auto mechanic. He commuted to work on
a battered mountain bike. One day in 2015,
as he was riding along, a roadie zipped by
him—a Black rider, all kitted up. “I’d never
seen a road bike, and I couldn’t believe
that someone was going faster than me,”
says Kariuki, then an avid soccer player. I spend a week in Iten meeting other to the road two kilometers away with a large
He chased the guy up a hill, and after they Amani riders, each with a story. Twenty- sack of it on his back. His life was so focused
reached the top, nearly even, both gasping, year-old Joel Kyaviro came of age amid civil on survival that, he says, “I didn’t even know
the roadie suggested Kariuki join Kenyan war in Congo. “In 2012, when I was 10, a Nairobi existed.” His muscles were honed,
Riders. “That’s when I started training full bomb fell into our home and killed one of though, and Kenyan Riders discovered him
time,” Kariuki says. “It was a tough decision my brothers,” he says. “Every time fighting when he was 13. He has now raced in more
to quit my mechanic job, because I didn’t broke out, we ran into the bush and hid.” than 20 countries.
know if cycling could pay the bills.” Salim Kipkemboi, 24, is from the coun-
I ask him if he thinks East African cyclists tryside just outside Iten. When he was 10
can accrue superstar status and become years old, he had to quit school. He began
visible in the bike world. “At most races,” selling firewood by the roadside. He cut IT’S EARLY DECEMBER,and the Amani riders
Kariuki says, “we’re the only Black riders trees down with a handsaw, chopped the are tapering in preparation for the first
out there. I think people will pay attention. wood and then, when he had enough wood Kenya National Gravel championships,
I hope they will.” to sell, he made four or five trips a day out set for December 18. The event is hosted

Photography by K A N G - C H U N C H E N G SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 31

 GRAVEL RACING IN EAST AFRICA
IS A NEW THING. IT’S LIKE A BABY.
IT NEEDS SPECIAL CARE.
jointly by Amani and the Kenya Cycling
Federation, a controversial—and, some
argue, tradition-bound—group that has
had the same chair, Julius Mwangi, for
more than 30 years.
The 63-mile race is open to all comers,
with an entry fee set at 500 Kenyan shillings
(around $4) to welcome the masses. It seems
likely that a large contingent of European
and American expats will show.
What do I have to lose? I sign up, and
soon Kariuki is handicapping my chances
as he sizes up my hunched 50-something
physique. “You’ll definitely beat all the
other mzungus,” he says, invoking the
Swahili word for white person. “They only
train on the weekends.”
Generously, the Amani guys let me tag
along on a few rides. It’s sunny most days.
We’re almost on the equator, but we’re also
up above 7,000 feet, so the temperatures
are pleasant, around 65 degrees. Most of
the children we pass as they walk to school
are dressed in uniform-issue V-neck sweat-
ers. Some wear parkas as well. Other kids,
upon seeing our little peloton, sprint to the
roadside to hail us. Kariuki revels in this
heroes’ welcome. “Yeah, yeah!” he shouts
to our small admirers in Swahili. “You guys
are running fast!” When we encounter a
group of children splashing about in a river,
he shouts, “How’s the water?”
There’s an ease to these rides that’s
refreshing. Back home, there’s always some
goober pushing the pace or hyperfocused
on gear or tire pressure. Here the focus is
on the riding rather than on who has what
component. Amani’s athletes all race on
quality Factor bikes, sure, but when a part
breaks, it might take three weeks for a new
one to come. One morning, as I ride with
Geoffrey Langat, once a top inline-skate
racer and now an ultradistance specialist
on Team Amani, the rear wheel on his
disc-brake bike is out of commission.
He’s replaced it temporarily with an old
rim-brake wheel, the disc-brake calipers
taped to his frame. “I just have to be a
little careful on the hills,” laughs Langat.
(Langat went on to take fourth in the 350-
mile Unbound Gravel XL on June 3, 2023.
32 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
”
Kariuki, Kagima, and Schleck placed 22nd,
35th, and 70th, respectively, in the 200.)
Later we pedal into the Bugar Forest, just
outside Iten, as shafts of morning sunlight
filter down through the conifers onto a
narrow, winding dirt path.
As the race date approaches, I book a
hotel room near the start line. Then one
morning I get disappointing news: Kenya’s
gravel championship race has been can-
celled. The pandemic is in check. Why
has this happened? I write to Delagrange.
“Sule’s absence,” he responds, “has never
been more acutely felt.”
Eventually I learn that negotiations
between Amani and the Federation have
been less than harmonious. Delagrange
assumed that Amani’s riders were ironing
things out, as Sule once did. He sends the
riders a rueful WhatsApp message apologiz-
ing for the cancellation. He writes, “It seems
my efforts at delegation have failed.” The
note appeases no one; it just irks the riders.
“It was last minute, just four days before
the race,” Geoffrey Langat says one after-
noon as we’re standing by the pump track.
“People were already driving there. Mikel
wants riders to have more responsibility,
and we’re willing. But we’ve never done this
before. Someone has to teach us.”
The riders’ discontent will diminish in a
few days, like a lover’s temper cooling after
a quarrel. But in this moment, it’s a very
real part of the ambitious, stressful Amani
juggernaut. “Sule was good at politics, at
dealing with the Federation,” John Kariuki
says. “But it wasn’t easy for him. Sometimes
he had to train at night. Gravel racing in
East Africa is a new thing. It’s like a baby.
It needs special care.”
I ask Kariuki if he spoke at the long meet-
ing after Sule’s burial. “Yes,” he tells me, “I
said that we have to show the world that this
is not the end of this team.”
LATER THAT MONTH, Overland race director
Ansel Dickey sends out an 800-word email
meant to stoke enthusiasm for the 2023 race.
The note quotes the ancient philosopher
Marcus Aurelius but does not mention
Sule’s death. Kevin Bouchard-Hall, who
spent seven lonely minutes sitting with Sule
post-crash, is stunned. “There wasn’t even
a mention,” he says. “Not a word.”
“I can see why Kevin responded as he
did,” says Dickey, when I reach out for com-
ment. Sule’s death, he says, was a “new and
terrifying experience for me, and I’m still
trying to decide what’s the best thing to do.”
Delagrange makes Team Amani’s stance
clear: “We don’t hold Vermont Overland
responsible for Sule’s death.” He notes
that after last year’s race, Dickey, who is
primarily a filmmaker, released a poignant
16-minute film, Amani in America, that lin-
gers on the triumph of the team’s stateside
journey, delivering, for instance, a slo-mo
take of Kariuki getting splashed with cham-
pagne at the Overland finish. Delagrange
calls it “a beautiful tribute to Sule.”
Delagrange is more focused on Amani’s
future. He says he’s going to stop pressuring
the riders to assume the tasks Sule handled.
He says he wants “everyone to bring to the
project the gifts that they have. They have
a world of capacity.”
Hellen Wahu, Sule’s widow, has computer
skills. She honed them long ago, after Sule
helped her land a job at a print shop, and
in March she relocates from Eldoret to Iten
so she can work part time for Team Amani,
coordinating the construction of its new
buildings. Her kids are enrolled in Iten
schools now. One morning, she sends me a
video of her oldest child—Lance, 11—ripping
it up on the pump track.
The athletes’ quarters are now built and
slated to open in June. Delagrange is seek-
ing $200,000 in corporate funding for the
performance center. He’s hired support in
Kenya to assist with team management,
a nutritionist from Harvard University
is volunteering time, and the team is in
talks with several coaches. Meanwhile, as
I call Delagrange every few days, he keeps
talking about a new visionary, a young
cyclist named Jean Hubert, who was born in
Rwanda during the country’s 1994 genocide,
in which more than 800,000 people, mostly
from the Tutsi ethnic minority, were killed
Photograph by K A N G - C H U N C H E N G
by Hutu militias. University-educated and
bike-crazy, although not a racer himself,
Hubert, 29, still lives in Rwanda and runs
a startup that makes apps.
Along with Delagrange, Hubert is intent
on giving Sub-Saharan cyclists autonomy.
“Most of these riders, they’ve never fin-
ished high school,” he says. “Their lives
have been difficult.” In his nation’s capital,
Kigali, under the auspices of Team Amani,
he’s just opened Spoke Academy, which
will see a few Rwandan cyclists spend-
ing six months learning communication
skills—how to send emails, for instance,
and how to network with sponsors. Even-
tually Amani hopes to have 30 teen riders
studying at the Academy. “We don’t want
F R OM L E F T:
GE OF F R E Y L A NG AT,
JOHN K A RIUK I ,
S A L IM K IP K E MB OI ,
A ND E VA N WA NG A I
A F T E R A T R A INING
R ID E IN I T E N .
to just look to mzungus for our future,” he
says, explaining the focus on education.
Hubert is now on Amani’s board of direc-
tors, and he plans to replicate Spoke Acad-
emy in Kenya. “Sule was my friend,” he
explains. “We’re indebted to him. We have
to make sure we finish what he started.”
Still, I have to wonder: Will the team
ever completely shrug off the scars of its
founder’s death? Can it eventually sail
smoothly along as it endeavors to carry
young Africans beyond the pain and frag-
mentation wrought by colonialism?
One morning I have a long conversation
with Hubert. He shares that he lost his
father in the genocide and that his school-
mates, many of them orphaned, turned to
drugs and alcohol. I come away feeling that
I’ve been misguided in looking for Team
Amani to transcend Sule’s death. The pain
and the fragmentation that shrouds this
team may last in some form forever. What’s
meaningful is the struggle away from it, no
matter how lurching, no matter how flawed
and how human.
“We will keep asking riders to take the
lead,” Hubert says. “We want to build citi-
zens that have confidence in themselves,
and that’s hard to do—the donor mindset
is very rooted. Unrooting it will take a long
time. But it will happen. Trust me. It will.”
For more on Team Amani and how you can
support its efforts, visit TeamAmani.com.
SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 33
 B y R o s a e l T o r r e s - D a v i s
p h o t o g r a p h y b y C a s s i d y A r a i z a

Sofia Gomez

e
r
re a m
a D
ot
Is N

34 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023

V i l l a f a ñ e

The gravel
superstar is
outspoken,
fearless—
and laser
focused on
success.

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 35

 r e e l e a d i n g w o e n
t h m the last five-mile push to the finish line. The top women in this
h e
T pedal the undulating hills of Fort Ord National Monument on California’s
Monterey Bay, answering one another’s accelerations as they streamline in and
out of chaparral clusters and oak woodlands. The group stretches and recoils
as the riders dive into descents and negotiate the corners, dried-up ruts, loose
rocks, and sand that could take them out of contention.
Fans edge the start-finish stretch of the 2022 Fuego 80K XC race at the Sea
Otter Classic cycling festival in Laguna Seca Raceway, where the pro racers
are soon to arrive after two laps of an old-school cross-country course. The
race is the first in the inaugural Life Time Grand Prix series, six off-road
courses—mountain bike and gravel—where 60 professional racers will battle
it out for a $250,000 prize purse.
The Fuego course, which gains 5,700 feet of elevation with its short punchy
climbs, is traditionally flowy, with a few blind turns, grassy mounds, and sand
dunes that spill onto the tracks. It’s not a technical course—no drops, jumps,
or rock gardens—but it is fast. There are only two sections where riders can
attack: Hurl Hill, a steep half-mile stretch of singletrack; and Lookout Ridge,
36 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
which is less steep, but at two and a half miles long, it can take
up to 20 minutes (if you are in race shape) to complete before
race ride it in 15 minutes or less.
It’s now the riders’ last time over Lookout Ridge, its crest
illuminated by an early April sun that reveals the trio slowing
down as the grade kicks up again. The drone shot shows Alexis
Skarda struggling to stay attached. And as the sun grows hotter,
the rolling ribbon of dirt between Sofia Gomez Villafañe and
Moriah Wilson in front of her gets longer. Already driving a hard
pace, Sofia’s legs go silent to her demands.
Just two weeks earlier, Sofia had returned from South Africa
atop a wave of confidence after a dominating performance at the
Absa Cape Epic alongside her Specialized Factory Racing teammate,
Haley Batten. The pair had won the general classification in the
seven-day, 430-mile mountain bike stage race, putting 12 minutes
between themselves and the second-place team—and more notably,
a gap of 47 minutes to multi world champion Pauline Ferrand-
Prévot and her teammate Robyn de Groot, riding then for BMC.
But this time she’s on her own, and she finishes 20 seconds
behind Wilson. “That’s the last time I am giving up like that to
a competitor,” Sofia says later to a rolling video camera, clothes
changed and Specialized baseball cap on, lit in a dramatic confes-

sional fashion. The recording would eventually appear in “Call
of a Life Time,” the docuseries that followed a select group of
riders, including Sofia, taking part in the Grand Prix.
The 29-year-old with dual Argentine and U.S. citizenship
admits that self-doubt is her toughest competitor. “I want to race
and know that I gave it 110 percent, and [only] quit when my legs
are truly messed up, not when my mind is willing to give up.”
Over the next month of training in preparation for the Garmin
Unbound Gravel race in early June, Sofia will run through sce-
narios in her head, visualizing anything that could happen come
race time—and how she will respond to each challenge. She’ll
picture herself repeatedly accelerating past the discomfort to
close imaginary gaps.
Starting and finishing in Emporia, Kansas, and traversing the
area’s infamous Flint Hills, Unbound is arguably the toughest race
in the Life Time series. And at 200 miles, definitely the longest.
It’s the first time Sofia will race that distance. And after some
of the hundred-mile days her coach prescribes, she asks herself,
“This is only half of Unbound… What have I gotten myself into?”
On race day, Sofia opts for a hydration pack, a saddle bag, a
top-tube bag, and a set of aero bars on her 52cm Specialized
Crux. Once in position, she rockets over the rutted, rubbly dirt
that cuts through the Kansas prairie, her small frame hovering
over the cockpit in prayer position against an ominous gray sky,
shoulders relaxed, back flat.
Determined to shake off the disappointment of Sea Otter, Sofia
wants to make a statement, but it’s a heavy burden. The weather
doesn’t help: torrential rain, and eventually enough mud to force
riders off their bikes for clumsy running; some lose shoes to the
muck. She focuses on breaking the race into more manageable
50-mile blocks. With 80 miles left, Sofia leads the women’s race,
clocking an almost 10-minute gap to 2021’s winner, Lauren De
Crescenzo. (Moriah Wilson, who had been leading the Life Time
series after her win at Sea Otter, had been tragically killed in May.
For more, see page 66.)
As she crosses the finish line, she stretches her arms high
above her head as if reaching for something no one else can see.
Caked in mud, dust, and grit, she curtsies and bows to the crowd.
Emporia’s new gravel queen has arrived.
“MY DAY-TO-DAY LIFE IS PRETTY DULL,” SOFIA SAYS
as she pulls the rear wheel of her S-Works Epic from her bike
bag, the rainbow-grease iridescence of the SRAM Eagle cassette
glinting in the sun. “When I’m not riding, I’m either prepping
meals, stretching, walking the dog, or resting.”
It is the last day of March 2023 in Tucson, Arizona, where she
shares a home with her partner, Keegan Swenson, and their dog,
Sometimes I forget how
good I am. I’m finally at the
point where people see my
name on the start list, and
they’re like, ‘Oh, shit.’

OU T S IDE HE R HOME IN T UC S ON , A R I Z ON A , A P R IL 14 , 2 0 2 3 .
S OF I A W I T H HE R S P E C I A L I Z E D S -W OR K S DI V E R G E S T R
Wally, a chocolate Lab rescue. Their main home is in Heber City, Utah; Sofia
bought the Tucson place in 2021 so they’d have somewhere to train over the
winter. The suburban one-story is simple and comfortable; the decor gives off
vibes of a modestly priced Airbnb. Outside, there is a shed, a wild and flourishing
garden lining the adobe-wall fence, and a pergola with a set of chairs and a table.
In her kitchen cabinets Sofia keeps a stash of samples from Ritual Chocolate, the
Utah-based company where she works as an administrative manager.
Still jet-lagged after returning only a couple of days ago from another edition
of Cape Epic, where she and Katerina Nash placed third, she has just finished
lunch on the pergola after a morning training session on the road.
As one of the youngest kids in a household of eight, Sofia learned to care for
herself early on. “I was always independent,” she says. She recalls fixing break-
fast at 4 or 5 years old, stretching her arms high above her head, barely able to
reach the kitchen counter. When her mom, Claudia, would come home from the
weekly grocery run, Sofia would sneak into the kitchen to get first pick of the
fresh fruit—not to enjoy right away, but to hide from her teenage siblings. “But
then she would forget,” says her brother Julián Gómez Villafañe, with whom she
is close. “You would grab a towel from the closet, and instead, you would find a
banana or an orange rotting between the linens and wonder how it got there.”
The family had moved from Buenos Aires in 1983 to Esquel, a small Patagonian
town in the northwest part of Argentina’s Chubut Province. “[Esquel] is very
beautiful and very remote. We all grew up there,” says Julián. “Matías is the
oldest; then comes Ana, and then me. With five years in between, then came
Caro, immediately followed by Sofi, and as a surprise came Benjamín. Two sets
of kids, 100 percent hermanos.”
Dad, Álvaro, worked as a veterinarian for the military and had a passion for
fly fishing. Claudia, who came from a family of sailors and merchant marines
with strong ties in the U.S., was the founder of Esquel’s only bilingual school,
which she ran for 18 years. To accommodate the growing family, they made
additions and changes to the house as each kid arrived. A formal dining
room was added with a bedroom above it. Sofia shared a small room with her
older sister Caro. “Bunk beds on the sides, like a little hallway. And then we
had little desks and our closet. Our coat hangers had our names,” she says.
Esquel is surrounded by the snow-dusted peaks of La Zeta, La Cruz, and
La Hoya—a majestic backdrop for a childhood of summers spent at lakes and
rivers, of camping, fishing, and cooking outdoors over a fire. “Sometimes, when
there was a bluebird skiing day, my dad would invite us to skip school and ski,”
Sofia says. “Sometimes I would say no, because I loved school.”
Claudia says her daughter has always been a planner, a pragmatist. “She
was very analytical too,” she adds, explaining that even during school recess,
Sofia would be found standing on the sidelines observing the other kids. “She’s
analyzing, ‘What’s going on here?’” Teachers would joke that they knew who
their next principal would be.
But Esquel’s outdoorsy lifestyle couldn’t make up for the disadvantages of
Argentina’s struggling economy and education system, and in 2005, when Sofia
was 11, the family relocated to Los Gatos, California. Settling into their new
life in the Bay Area wasn’t particularly easy or emotionally uncomplicated.
Back in Esquel, she’d gone to a small school with fewer than 200 kids, and
everyone knew everyone else. But her
new school had three to four times as
many students.
“I didn’t really fit in,” says Sofia. She
tells the story of how in a geography
lesson in a classroom full of well-off
tech kids, the teacher had asked how
many continents there were. Sofia raised
her hand with the same good-student
impulse she had back in Esquel, only
to get the answer “wrong” while her
classmates laughed. (Under the model
SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 37
 Dreams are imaginary.
I don’t have dreams, I have goals.
A goal is achievable.
38 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023

Key Workouts
that make
sofia gomez
villafañe
unbeatable
TEMPO POWER BUILDER*
 30 min warmup easy spin
 3 x 15 min Zone 3 with 10 min rest in between
 20 min cooldown easy spin
MAKE IT HARDER
 Build up to 3 x 20 min intervals, with 10 min rest
in between.
 Build up to 6 x 20 min with 10 min rest after each
of the first three efforts, and 20 min rest after
each of the second three.
 Build up to 4 x 40 min with 10 min recovery after
the first effort, and 20 min recovery after each of
the next three.
*This workout is best done on flat or rolling terrain.
CLIMBING POWER
 40 min warmup easy spin, including a 10 min
effort at a low Zone 3
 5 x 8 min Zone 4 with 4 min rest in between
 15 min cooldown easy spin
MAKE IT HARDER
 Build up to 4 x 12 min, 3 x 16 min, and 3 x 20
min with 5 to 10 minute of rest between efforts,
depending on how your legs feel. (For a more
advanced workout, do the intervals at Zone 5.)
ENDURANCE WITH 30 -30s
 10 min warmup easy spin
 20 min of hard endurance at 70 to
80% of FTP*
 6 min of 30 seconds at 120 to 160% of FTP
and 30 seconds of recovery
 Optional: Repeat x 2 starting from step two
 15 min cooldown easy spin
The goal of this workout is to teach your body
to recover from hard accelerations at a hard
endurance pace.
*FTP (functional threshold power) is the average
power output that a rider can sustain for an hour,
and acts as a measure of your current fitness. FTP
can be calculated with a 20-minute test.

taught in Argentina, North and South America are considered one continent.)
W E E K LY S HO O T OU T R IDE . “ I T ’ S B A S IC A L LY T HE H A R DE S T G R OUP R IDE IN T HE W OR L D ,” S HE S AY S .
S A G U A R O N AT ION A L PA R K , A P R IL 14 , 2 0 2 3 . ONE T HING S OF I A L O V E S A B OU T W IN T E R ING IN T UC S ON I S T HE
Undeterred, at least academically, Sofia made the honor roll by the first or
second month in her new school. “She was very focused about trying to figure out
how to do everything better,” says Álvaro. Part of that included trying to fit in.
By the time Sofia was in high school, she was waking up early to fix her makeup
and tame her naturally wavy hair with a flatiron before school. She would make
a conscious effort to reel back the “voseo” and Neapolitan ring of her Argentine
accent, trying to transform herself into someone she thought others would like.
But at some point, she says, she stopped caring about pleasing people. “I just kind
of woke up one day and said, ‘Fuck it. Like, these aren’t people that are going to be
in my life for the rest of my life. I’m wasting my time. I could be sleeping more.”
AFTER “CALL OF A LIFE TIME” AIRED THIS WINTER, SOFIA
received a flurry of messages on social media from viewers who were put off
by some of her comments in the docuseries, in which she said things like, “I
haven’t been challenged in the way that I thought I would,” and, “I think I am
the clear favorite.” Some went so far as to label her a “bitch.”
It’s hard to imagine anyone reacting negatively to that kind of confidence
from a male competitor. “There’s a double standard on male versus female
athletic professionals,” says Sofia. “When a man speaks with a high level of
confidence, it is praised, but when a woman says the exact same words, they
are taken as the opposite.”
Sofia says she hasn’t watched the series but makes no apologies for her
professional approach. “I think people were a bit shocked at the level of com-
petitiveness and fearlessness that I bring and how I see [gravel racing] as a
job rather than a lifestyle. I do treat it very professionally, and I’m very aware
that I’m paid to win bike races and perform. I’m not being paid as a lifestyle
athlete or to be an influencer,” she says.
Of the active siblings, older sister Caro had been the first to show a talent
for mountain bike and cyclocross racing. But then 15-year-old Sofia, who’d
been part of her sister’s entourage from race to race, voiced interest in giving
it a try. According to Julián, Caro, in typical sibling fashion, made a remark
that insinuated that Sofia “would probably not be very good at it.” Sofia bit
her tongue and remained quiet, but gave her sister a look that said, You will see.
And so an informal rivalry between the sisters was born. “I had that [rivalry]
with Matías,” says Julián, who was in his early 20s at the time. “That type of
challenge can be really motivating.”
Julián helped Sofia find her first mountain bike on eBay, an older Trek he
got for about $400. At her first race, Sofia’s drive to prove her sister wrong was
front and center. “I just went super hard. I won by four and a half minutes, and
I was so pumped,” she says. Later she would work a part-time job at Trail Head
Cyclery in San Jose, where she saved enough to upgrade her mountain bike.
It wasn’t long before Sofia joined the NorCal High School Mountain Bike
League, all while continuing to make the honor roll and serving in the leader-
ship group at her school. According to Claudia, she didn’t like how certain
things were run in the league. “And so she gave
some ideas to how to better organize the team,”
she says. “She had some ideas on how to recruit,
and they let her run with it.”
The friendly rivalry between the sisters contin-
ued as they began racing cyclocross. In her fresh-
man year of college, Sofia and Caro would travel
to ’cross races in Las Vegas and Los Angeles in
addition to their Bay Area events. They also went
 These workouts use the on to represent Argentina in the 2016 Cyclocross
Coggan Power Zones. If
you’re using heart rate or
rate of perceived exertion
raced in the Pro field and Sofia in the U23.
(RPE), follow the QR code Like her dad, Sofia fancied the mountains and
for a conversion chart. outdoorsy lifestyle. After graduation, she left Los
SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 39

How Sofia
Got So Good
at Gravel—
And How
You Can Too
Sofia Gomez Villafañe’s recipe for
off-road success has been defined by
regular adjustments to her training
plan. Having focused her early career
on mountain bike racing and cyclocross,
she was used to the 20- to 90-minute
efforts of the short track and cross-
country events where she developed
her solid off-road skills and explosive
speed. During her college years, she
dabbled in road and off-road disciplines,
taking what she needed out of each.
With the guidance of coach Carmen
Small, she developed her endurance to
succeed in stage races like Cape Epic
and ultradistance one-day events like
Unbound Gravel 200 by building vol-
ume during the base season, as most
road professionals would. Then she
fine-tuned the engine with training
races and lower-priority events in the
late winter and early spring. “We had
to train my tempo power and ability to
ride at a high level for long periods, but
we also kept a lot of VO₂ intervals that I
call ‘selection makers,’” Sofia says. “The
race plays out by who can make what
selection and who missed it.”
Other strategies included calibrating
her nutrition to her training loads and
needs, knowing the difference between
low-volume weeks and recovery weeks,
and better understanding the process
and science behind her training.
If you’re new to gravel riding, she
says, “get familiar with your equipment.”
Make sure your bike is in working order
ahead of training and events, and learn
things like your preferred tire pressure,
how to use a plug kit, and what tools
you need to make a quick handlebar
adjustment. Most gravel races are self-
supported with few aid stations.
As for the riding, if you come from
a road background, get comfortable
with the slipping and sliding that occurs
when traversing loose terrain. If you
come from a dirt background, you must
really learn the tactical aspects of rid-
ing in a peloton. “If you can meet in the
middle and take the best from both, it
makes you the most well-rounded ath-
lete out there and the hardest one to
beat,” Sofia says.

 Gatos for Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. The location checked for granted.” (Small, in offering her services, told Sofia she wanted
the boxes of topographical comfort, and she could not only pursue a sensible to pay forward all the help she’d received herself over the years.)
IN HE R T UC S ON NE IGHB ORHOOD .
WA L K ING WA L LY ( “S HOR T F OR WA L L A C E ,” S HE S AY S )

profession (exercise science with a minor in business administration) with the
help of a small scholarship and a part-time job, but also ride with the collegiate
cycling team for fun.
In Durango she met Keegan Swenson, an up-and-coming mountain bike
racer from Utah. “At 17, Keegan had the discipline of a professional athlete,”
says Julián, who considers Swenson family. During those years, Sofia played
the role of supportive girlfriend during Swenson’s journey to pro, a path she
says she had never entertained for herself. “It’s never been my dream to be
a bike racer,” she says.
IT WA S N ’ T U NTI L 2 015 THAT SO FIA B EG AN TO
imagine that there might be a loftier goal within her reach. During a midweek
’cross practice, she was approached by Carmen Small, the former U.S. time trial
champion and member of two world championship TTT squads, who currently
works as a directeur sportif for UCI Women’s WorldTeam Team Jumbo–Visma.
Small, who’d been watching Sofia consistently climb up the ranks at local events
in Durango, boldly proclaimed: “I can make you an Olympian in four years.” At
the time, Sofia was aiming to win collegiate ’cross nationals and not focusing on
a pro career. “I most definitely did not see her vision, but I did really want to win
collegiate cyclocross nationals,” she says. “I said yes and got to work, because if
someone was going to donate their time to help me, I was not going to take that
“When I first started training with Carmen, we had this big
goal of going to the Olympics, but she was like, ‘We have to build
you up and make sure we don’t cook you, because that’s what
allows you to have a successful and long-term career.” Small
delivered on her promises, and Sofia went on to compete in the
2021 Tokyo Olympics as the first woman since 2004 to represent
Argentina in XC mountain biking. She finished 23rd in the XCO
race where Switzerland’s Jolanda Neff took gold. (And, yes, she
did win collegiate ’cross nationals back in 2015.)
That was also the year Sofia tried gravel racing for the first
time, when she jumped into a few events to experience firsthand
what all the fuss around the emerging off-road discipline was
about. Her mountain bike and ’cross background served her
well. On her first try, she won Utah’s Crusher in the Tushar and
North Carolina’s Belgian Waffle Ride in Asheville. And after her
decisive 2022 win at Unbound 200, she finished second to Haley
Smith in the overall Life Time series standings.
“[Carmen] is the reason I am a professional cyclist. She invested a
lot of time and resources into me, and nothing had strings attached.”
And that investment has continued to pay dividends. “Sometimes
I forget how good I am,” Sofia says. “I’m finally at the point where
people see my name on the start list, and they’re like, ‘Oh, shit.’”

40 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023


IT MAY NOT BE SURPRISING THAT THE SELF-RELIANT
little girl who hid snacks and whose motivation to race grew out
of sibling rivalry is now forthright about what her success means.
“I’m not a dreamer. Dreams are imaginary, I don’t have dreams,”
Sofia says. “I have goals… a goal is achievable.” And her goals for
her cycling career go beyond winning. “I definitely want to cause
change and growth within the women’s peloton,” she says. “Not
just be someone defined by her results, but somebody that did
something meaningful, and it helped somebody along the way.”
When she’s done racing, she says she would like to work with a
women’s development team out of Argentina.
Just like her goals, the standards to which Sofia holds herself
can scrape the clouds. Not only as a cyclist, but as an advocate
and change maker too. She wants to be a role model to Julián’s
kids, ages 15, 12, and 10. His eldest, Francisca, is already involved
in NICA and even raced the JV Sea Otter Classic this April, where
she got second place. Sofia knows that in a world where athletes
are judged not only by their talent but also by their behavior, they
have power, or at least the means to influence and cause change.
Still, she is a student—and a pragmatist—at heart, and always
wants to know how she measures up to a new challenge, and what
she needs to do to get there. In addition to Carmen Small, she
works with Alan Murchison, a sports nutritionist and Michelin-star
chef. For each workout in her Training Peaks schedule, Murchison
A R E IDE A L F OR G R AV E L T R A INING .
T HE UNPAV E D R O A D S IN S A G U A R O N AT ION A L PA R K
puts together a detailed recipe for a meal to complement her training. Gener-
ous amounts of turmeric for recovery. Coconut milk for the medium-chain
triglycerides and fatty acids ahead of a big day. Hefty amounts of cinnamon to
assist glucose in moving out of the bloodstream and into cells. The marginal
efforts in her everyday life that she will later turn into gains.
As for 2023, she is aiming high. She is racing the Life Time series for a second
time—in April, she avenged last year’s second place Sea Otter finish with a
triumphant victory in the Fuego XL. And she took a hard-fought second at
Unbound on June 3.
More significant to her, though, is chasing the rainbow stripes of the UCI
Gravel World Championship in Italy this October. There she looks to dethrone
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. “I would rather win rainbow stripes over $25,000 of
Life Time money, you know?” she says. “Having that jersey literally means you
are the best in the world.”
Back in Tucson, outside the home she shares with Keegan and Wally, with
the overflowing garden, the adobe fence, the pergola, and the secret stash of
chocolate, she props the rear wheel against the table to reinstall the disc rotors.
A hummingbird weaves in and out of the lush plantings; the dog reclines in
a sunny spot. Sofia moves on to the front wheel, installs the rotor, and then
mounts the frame onto a mechanic stand. She slips in the thru-axles, tightens
them, and gives each wheel a little spin to check for rubbing. Her right hand
sits on the shifter now, and she pushes the pedal with her left listening to the
clicks and watching the derailleur nudge the chain from the bottom cog to the
top. With a squeeze of the brake lever, she silences the soothing whir of the
freehub, then removes the bike from the stand and rolls it into the shed.
SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 41
t h e u lt i m a t e

BY MATT PHILLIPS

42 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023 Photograph by T R E V O R R A A B

HOW TO PICK G R AVE L TIRE S 
Bicycling editors evaluated tires in three general
categories: knobby, mixed, and slick. These are tires
we’ve ridden and recommend. We’re showing three
options in each category, so you have choices based
on your brand preferences and the shop you frequent.
Nerd out on these tech details and use them to
guide you toward the ideal tire for your riding. If
you simply want to know what gravel tire to buy,
we’ll tell you that, too.
Most of these tires come in several widths. We
suggest about 40mm for most gravel riding. This
width offers a good blend of comfort, traction, and
weight—and it fits into most gravel bikes, with good
mud and debris clearance. You can size up for more
comfort, float, or traction. Or size down for less
weight and to get a more connected feel to the road.
If your chosen tire comes in different casings, we
recommend standard. Choose the extra-tough casing
if you ride in places with a lot of sharp rocks, or if
you just want extra protection. Just know you’ll roll
slower. Avoid ultralight casings—they’re best left for
groomed and clean surfaces—unless you’re willing
to gamble with flats for a smoother, faster ride.
Knobby tires are best when riding on soft
surfaces (dry or wet) and rocky terrain. Knobbies
ensure the most traction on the softest surfaces
you’ll encounter, as long as you’re willing to sacrifice
speed elsewhere.
Mixed tires are our top recommendation for
most rides, most places, and most conditions. You’ll
likely find these tires on our gravel bikes. They may
not be perfect everywhere and on every ride, but
they’re more than likely to work serviceably well
across a wide swath of surfaces and terrain.
Slick tires are the best choice if your primary
conditions are hard-packed dirt or routes with lots
of tarmac. You might also choose slicks if you’re
willing to give up some traction on softer sectors
for more speed on the hard-packed bits of a ride.
TEST TIP One counterintuitive bit of
advice: Slicks are often the
best choice for dealing with sticky “peanut
butter” mud. In these conditions, knobs only
provide more surface area for mud to cling to,
effectively turning your knobbies into slicks
wrapped with a ton of super-heavy mud. Slicks
in muddy conditions often pick up less mud. And
slicks can be more easily scraped clean with a
stick or wooden paint stirrer.—M.P.
T I R E P R E S S U R E  Some quick words on tire
pressure, which is at least as important as tire choice.
This is an area where many riders make mistakes,
according to several of the experts we contacted,
who say you’re probably running too much pressure.
Sean Cochran, marketing manager for Schwalbe,
explains that finding an appropriate pressure is
the most common issue he sees gravel cyclists
struggling with. “Riders tend to err on the side of
running a high pressure to protect against flats,
but the high pressure, in turn, leads to poor ride
quality, difficulty staying on the proper riding line,
and ultimately increased punctures.”
You can ride “amazingly low pressure” in a
tubeless gravel tire, says Panaracer’s Global Go-To
Guy, Jeff Zell. On the other end of the pressure
scale, check your tires and rims for the maxi-
mum pressure, and do not exceed that number.
And if you’re riding on hookless rims, note that
the maximum pressure for this kind of rim/tire
interface is 72 psi.
The right pressure varies with tire width, surface,
and system, as well as rider, bike, and gear weight.
Many experts pointed to the pressure calculator on
Silca’s website as an excellent reference—one that
Bicycling’s editors endorse as well.
SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 43
TEST TEAM RECOMMENDED
KNOBBY
1 casing material. However, because casings are typi-
1 / PIRELLI CITURANO
G R AV E L M / $ 8 5
700X35–50C, 650X45–50B
This true do-it-all knobby is
surprisingly efficient on firmer
surfaces but has excellent grip
on softer terrain. It’s a good
choice if the conditions are vari-
able or unknown.—Matt Phillips
44 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
2 tubeless application. Finer and more tightly packed
2 / WTB RADDLER
$66–$77 / 700X40–44C
WTB’s Raddler is one of my
favorites when the gravel is
extra chunky and sandy. Its tread
pattern allows me to stay roll-
ing through the slickest of mud
patches and the driest of sand-
pits.—Gabe Ortiz
3 plies are more durable but heavier and slower), some
3 / MAXXIS RAMBLER / $70
700X38–50C, 650X40–47B
The knobbiest gravel tire in
Maxxis’s line, the Rambler offers
predictable grip on unpredict-
able road surfaces. It rolls well
for a knobby, and it also has the
durability we’ve come to expect
from Maxxis.—M.P.
C A S I N G  The tire casing (sometimes called
carcass) is everything below a tire’s tread rubber.
Like tread rubber, a thinner casing is more
supple and rolls faster than a thicker one. But
thicker casings, despite being slower rolling and
stiffer riding, are more durable. And if you’re
running tubeless, thicker-casing tires (usually)
retain air better.
Most gravel tire casings feature additional layers
of material under the tread, in the sidewalls, from
bead to bead, or some combination of the three.
These layers make the tire more puncture-resistant
and less likely to cut or tear. But as a rule, when
more of these layers get added, the tire gets slower
rolling, stiffer riding, and heavier.
Many brands offer gravel tires with multiple
casing options. Commonly you’ll find a “standard”
or “light” casing, and a more durable casing identi-
fied with words like “plus” (not plus-sized), “tough,”
or “endurance.” A few brands offer tires in a third
casing, often marked “extra light” or similar.
Often, tire makers reference TPI (threads per
inch) in tire specifications. Some brands call it EPI
(ends per inch), which is the same. This measure-
ment refers to the cords—individual fibers—that
make up the casing fabric. Greater TPI usually
means the fabric uses smaller-diameter cords
packed more tightly. A lower TPI indicates larger-
diameter cords packed more loosely.
TPI usually refers to a single layer (ply) of the
cally made by folding plies over themselves (more
brands’ TPI numbers are the result of multiplying
the thread count of a single layer of the fabric by
the number of layers. For example, a brand may
market a 180 TPI casing that is three layers of 60
TPI fabric. In our opinion, this is bogus marketing.
A higher TPI typically equates to a more supple
tire—smoother riding, faster rolling, more grip—
than one with a lower TPI. But smaller-diameter
cords are also more fragile and break easier than
larger cords.
Higher-TPI casings can also be troublesome in a
cords mean less rubber can flow between them
during the tire’s molding process in manufacturing.
The result is a more permeable casing that requires
more sealant to make it airtight.
The bead is the bottom edge of the tire’s casing,
where it interfaces with the rim. Because of recent
changes to rim technology, the tire bead is where
things can get spicy.
T U B E L E S S  Tubeless, tubeless-compatible,
tubeless-ready, and non-tubeless are terms you
should familiarize yourself with before purchasing
tires. Tubeless bicycle tires, in general, offer better
protection against flats. Tubeless reduces the chance
Photography by T H O M A S H E N G G E
of flatting when riding lower pressures. Lower tire
pressures offer better comfort and more grip (and
may reduce rolling resistance).
The tire is just one part of a tubeless system,
however. The rim must be tubeless-compatible,
equipped properly with sealing tape (or a strip), and
fitted with the necessary air valve to use a tubeless
tire. You need the whole system to ensure that the
tubeless tire works as intended when mounted.
Most tubeless gravel tires today are marked
tubeless-ready or tubeless-compatible. It means the
tires require liquid sealant (typically latex-based) to
hold air. This sealant offers the additional benefit
of sealing small-size punctures or cuts in the tire
as you ride. You can use a plug to fill bigger holes.
TEST TIP As Bicycling senior photogra-
pher Trevor Raab learned while
racing the legendarily tough Unbound Gravel in
2022, no matter what tires you pick, there in your workshop when installing.
is always the risk of getting a puncture.
“Keeping a plug in your tool kit saves you time
and headaches when a flat happens, especially in
a race. Often the plug fixes the puncture. But if all
else fails, you can still install a tube.” You can find
one of our favorite tubeless plugs on page 80.
If you prefer, you can skip the whole tubeless-and-
sealant thing and simply ride tubes with tubeless-

TEST TEAM RECOMMENDED

MI X ED
Most tire makers call out hookless compatibility
on their packaging or product information. And
many wheel makers keep a database of “approved”
hookless-compatible tires that they recommend for
4 use with their rims.

S I D E W A L L S  Due to the current popularity

of tan and natural-color sidewall tires with gravel
riders, this topic needs further explanation.
The typical casing fabric in its natural form is
5 cocoa brown. A tan or black (or other color) sidewall
has something added to create that color.
Of the colors, a black sidewall is usually the most
durable and longest lasting. That’s because the black

4 / AMERICAN gravel racers, the Path-

CLASSIC KIMBERLITE
$45 / 700X35–50C,
650X47B
American Classic’s tires
are more than great deals;
they’re solid tires too. The
Kimberlite is mixed tread
with a smooth, quiet ride
on harder surfaces and
decent cornering grip in
6 700X31–38C, 650X47B
lower-traction situations.
Add a nicely damped
ride, and this is a good
all-arounder for harder
conditions.—M.P.
5 / SPECIALIZED
PAT HFINDER / $ 3 5 – $ 7 0
/ 700X32–47C, 650X47B
A favorite tire among
finder has a slick tread
down the middle for
straight-line speed, and
a light progressive knob
pattern on its shoulders
for grip in the corners.
—Dan Chabanov
6 / VITTORIA TERRENO
DRY / $26–$61
Originally a cyclocross
tire, the Dry features a
fish-scale pattern in the
middle that provides a
surprising amount of
grip on steep gravel
climbs. And the corner-
ing knobs inspire even
more cornering confi-
dence.—Trevor Raab

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 45

 TEST TEAM RECOMMENDED
SLICK
7 T R E A D  Let’s simplify tire tread choices down
8 While slicks may seem out of place on a gravel
9 best overall choice for most riders.
7 / PA N A R A CER GR AV ELK ING
(SLICK) / $60–$65
700X23–43C, 650X38–48B
This is a go-to, everyday-use,
lightweight gravel tire that won’t
break the bank. It’s at home on
the road and packed gravel and
fits a wide range of bikes.—T.R.
46 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
comes from adding a thin layer of essentially tread
rubber to the sidewall. It also increases the sidewall’s
resistance to breakdown from UV light. If you want
the most durable and longest-lasting tire, especially
if your region is sunny, get black sidewalls.
A natural brown sidewall, in theory, is the lightest
and most supple because it has less additional mate-
rial. But while fashionable, it’s also the least durable.
to three categories, although I acknowledge that
there’s a lot of overlap and blending between them.
The three general types of treads are smooth (slick),
mixed (semi-slick), and knobby.
More rubber increases weight, and thicker tread
rubber rolls more slowly than thin tread rubber does.
Almost always, whether slick or knobbed, more is
heavier and thicker is slower.
Friction is what all tires seek to both maximize and
minimize. More friction means more grip, which you
want for propulsion, braking, and cornering. But more
friction also means more rolling resistance, which
eats power and slows you down. The game is picking
a tire that rolls as fast as possible, whenever possible,
with enough grip at the ready to control the bike.
bike, they work surprisingly well on many firm
unpaved surfaces. Consider using slicks if you often
ride long tarmac sections between gravel segments.
Slicks are light, smooth, and comfortable. And
they are the fastest-rolling tires for your gravel bike.
They also have the thinnest tread rubber, which
makes them more vulnerable to punctures. But as
conditions get softer and slippery, slicks struggle.
A mixed/semi-slick tread typically has a smooth or
minimalist tread pattern in the center of the tire, with
knobs on the shoulders. The idea is to make a tire that
rolls well on various surfaces but offers a little more
bite on softer surfaces, especially when cornering.
Because mixed tires usually have thicker rubber in
the middle, they often have better flat protection than
a slick. The drawback to these tires is that they’re
neither as fast as a slick nor offer as much traction
as a knobby. But because gravel riding often involves
putting your tires on multiple surface conditions
throughout a single ride, a mixed tire is often the
A knobby gravel tire looks like a baby mountain
bike tire with prominent blocks across its entire
8 / VITTORIA TERRENO ZERO 9 / RENE HEARSE BARLOW
$26–$61 / 700X32–38C, PASS / $74–$90 / 700X38C
6 5 0 X 4 7 B While many other Supple, fast, and low rolling
slick gravel tires have a fully resistance allow the Barlow
slick tread, the Zero’s edges to handle everything from
Thomas Heng ge
have a fish-scale pattern fast group rides on pavement
for extra confidence when to hard-packed dirt and mild
cornering.—Tara Seplavy gravel roads.—G.O.
 tread surface. Larger-size knobs mean more bite
on softer and slicker surfaces. These are the most
confidence-inspiring tires because they offer the most
bite when traction is at a premium. They’re also the
most flat-resistant in rocky terrain. The drawbacks:
They’re heavier and slower rolling.
The dirty secret about tread patterns is that many
of them, literally, are made for looks. But even a tread
designed simply to look good can work reasonably
well. Raised tread blocks of almost any sensible size
and shape are pretty effective when put to dirt. And
that is one reason why there’s such a staggering
variety of knobby tread shapes.
A knob should work by punching into softer
surfaces. Knobs provide more biting surface and
improve traction for propulsion, braking, and cor-
nering. The space between the knobs also can work
like cleanouts, allowing loose soil or water to escape
the contact patch.
Taller knobs punch deeper into soft dirt. And
bigger and thicker knobs also offer more protection
against flats. On hard surfaces, however, the taller
the knob, the more it flexes, which leads to a squirmy
feel and increases rolling resistance.
TEST TIP
Test editor Dan Chabanov
explains that it’s important to
consider your priorities when choosing
the right tread for a gravel event. “If you’re
racing, consider optimizing your tread for the
course’s primary terrain type. At Unbound,
where much of the course is fast enough for
drafting, I chose a tire with fully slick tread down
the center for lower rolling resistance.”
C O M P O U N D  Of all the topics here, com-
pound is the one you have the least say about. That’s
because no gravel tire that we know of comes with
a choice between, for example, a sticky high-grip
compound and a fast-rolling compound. Whatever
gravel tire you buy, the compound is the compound.
Many companies treat their compounds like a
state secret, offering few specific details about their
component materials or properties. But, universally,
tread rubber is a blend of several materials.
“The two primary materials used in making a
tread compound are natural rubbers, typically a
form of latex, and synthetic rubbers, which tend
to be a mixture of butadiene rubber and styrene
butadiene rubber,” explains Chris Clinton, American
Classic’s president.
Some brands use additives (like silica, graphene,
and carbon black) to create the qualities they’re
looking for. “The mixture of rubber makes the
biggest difference in the overall performance, with
Trevor Raab
fillers aiding in strength, abrasion, tear resistance,
wear, and rolling resistance. Additives aid with
environmental durability and aging, improve how
fillers mix with the rubbers, and improve the vul-
canization process,” Clinton says.
The goal of the compound is a balance of wear,
grip (wet and dry), hysteresis (the difference in
speed between deformation and the return to origi-
nal shape), and durability. Together, these create a
compound that, in concert with the casing and tread
pattern, results in the tire performance qualities the
designer seeks. That’s why compounds may differ in
slick tires and knobbies from the same manufacturer.
If a brand calls out its compound, it is usually
with a number: 60A, for example. This number is
the rubber’s durometer (hardness). The lower the
number, the softer the compound. Generally, softer
compounds offer more grip but wear sooner; harder
compounds roll faster and last longer.
Some tires use multiple compounds, such as a
harder compound in the middle of the tire for faster
rolling and longer wear, and a softer compound on
the edges for more grip. Compounds may also be lay-
ered, with a softer compound on top of a harder one.
W I D T H  A wider tire provides more cushion to
absorb bumps and puts more rubber on the ground
for more traction. Wider tires, at the correct pres-
sure, also roll faster than narrower tires on rougher
road surfaces. But a wider tire also weighs more and
increases aerodynamic drag.
Then there’s the mushy subject of “feel.” Wider
tires have a floatier feel and provide less feedback,
and they can make a bike feel softer and less reactive
when sprinting and cornering. Many riders prefer a
narrower tire because it offers more feeling of the
road underneath them and imbues a bike with a
more positive and direct feel.
A bicycle’s frame and fork also dictate tire width.
Check the manufacturer specifications for maxi-
mum tire clearance. (This dimension assumes a
frame not fitted with mudguards.) This number is
the widest tire (measured when inflated on a rim)
T HE BICYCLING T E S T
T E A M R ODE A ND R A C E D
D O Z E N S OF G R AV E L T IR E S
A C R O S S A VA R IE T Y OF
T E R R A IN T O DE T E R MINE
OUR NINE FAV OR I T E S .
room for mud and debris clearance.
if it looks like sticky mud is in the cards, you can
improve clearance by fitting a narrower tire.
If you’ve purchased a gravel bike in the past few
years, there’s a good chance it’ll fit a 700c x 40mm
tire, give or take a few millimeters. However, as
gravel frames evolve, tire clearances are growing.
Bikes that fit a 700c x 50mm tire are not uncommon.
D I A M E T E R  Most gravel bikes sold today
come equipped with 700c wheels (the French size),
also known as 622mm in metric and 29-inch in impe-
rial. Adding to the confusion, some brands refer to
this size as 28-inch. Another size you’ll likely see is
650b, aka 584mm or 27.5-inch.
Most (but not all) makers of frames, tires, and
wheels will tell you that a larger-diameter wheel
rolls more efficiently than a smaller-diameter wheel.
But smaller wheels are lighter and easier to build a
smaller-size frame around. So many brands’ frames
in small or extra-small sizes use 650b wheels.
Many gravel frames can fit wider, higher-volume
tires on a 650b wheel than on a 700c wheel. That’s
why most 650b gravel tires come in widths at the
higher end of the spectrum—typically 45mm and
up. And because a higher-volume tire on a smaller-
diameter rim can have a similar circumference as a
smaller-volume tire on a larger-diameter rim, many
bikes see little difference in handling by swapping
in a fat 650b setup.
Historically, if you wanted to fit the widest tire in
your gravel frame, you needed 650b wheels. However,
brands are evolving their gravel bikes to fit wider
700c tires. Otso’s Waheela C, for example, fits up
to a 53mm tire in either 650b or 700c. These new
wider-tire-equipped bikes expand the versatility
and capability of gravel bikes into more challeng-
ing terrain.
SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 47
 IN SE A RCH OF…

48 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023

NESTLED BETWEEN THE RIO GRANDE
and the Sandia Mountains is the largest
city in New Mexico and the place I call
home, Albuquerque. To the north is Santa
Fe, the state capital known for its Pueblo-
style architecture and vibrant culture.
It’s a little over 60 miles by car between
them, but I was curious to find out if
the two cities could be linked by public
transportation and good old-fashioned
human power.
My friend Alex pieced together an epic
104-mile route traversing the high desert
via bike path, ranch road, and county
highway shoulder. We decided to take a
train from Albuquerque called the New
Mexico Rail Runner Express—a play on
roadrunner, the state bird. We’d get off
at Santa Fe and head home on our bikes,
hopefully before sunset. Alex roped in his
buddy Joe, and we all questioned whether
the route would even be publicly accessible
as we traced faded doubletrack cutting
across the desert on the map.
I’d been mountain biking for years and
was accustomed to punchy 30-mile XC
rides, but I’d just gotten a gravel bike and
had begun to see how fast-rolling rubber
could rack up the distance. Still, I had yet
to pedal 100 miles in one push and won-
dered whether I had what it takes to com-
plete a century. “Buy the ticket, take the
ride,” wrote Hunter S. Thompson, which is
exactly what we did—in this case, a $1.50
ticket aboard the first Rail Runner north-
bound to Santa Fe on a Saturday morning,
and then a monumental ride back home.

T HE S A NDI A MOUN TA IN R A NGE , JU S T E A S T

OF A L B UQUE R QUE , C A ME IN T O V IE W ON T HE
HOR I Z ON A R OUND MIL E 6 0 ON T HE RIDE . I T WA S
A SIGH T F OR S OR E E Y E S B U T A L S O A D A UN T ING
RE A L I Z AT ION OF HO W FA R WA S L E F T T O G O .

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 49

 THE RAIL RUNNER EXPRESS
IS NAMED AFTER THE
ROADRUNNER, NEW MEXICO'S
OFFICIAL STATE BIRD.

50 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023

 T OP : E A C H R A IL RUNNE R C A R
HOL D S UP T O E IGH T B IK E S ,
A ND T HE R E IS NO E X T R A
C H A R GE . B O T T OM: T HE
T R A IN P UL L S IN T O S A N TA F E
A N HOUR A ND H A L F A F T E R
L E AV ING A L B UQUE R QUE .
F R OM HE R E W E OP T E D F OR
P E D A L P O W E R T O M A K E T HE
R E T UR N T R IP. OP P O SI T E
PA GE : B IK E S , C OF F E E , A ND
GR E E N C HIL E B R E A K FA S T
B UR R I T O S : A C L A S SIC NE W
ME X IC O MOR NING .

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 51

52 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
 NE A R T HE C I T Y
L IMI T S , T HE S A N TA
F E B IK E PAT H
T R A N SI T ION S F R OM
PAV E ME N T T O GR AV E L
A S I T W IND S T HR OUGH
S A G E B R U S H H A B I TAT.

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 53

 T OP : R A R E LY U SE D C OUN T Y
R O A D S SL IC E T HR OUGH
T HE 6 0 , 00 0 + A C R E S OF
C A ÑON B L A NC O R A NC H , A
GR AV E L GRINDE R ’ S DRE A M.
B O T T OM: C A C T U S T HOR N S ,
G O AT HE A D S T IC K E R S , A ND
SH A RP V OL C A NIC R OC K A RE
A B UND A N T IN NE W ME X IC O .
B E ING P R E PA R E D T O F I X
A P UNC T URE IS A MU S T.
OP P O SI T E PA GE : DOING M Y
B E S T B A L A NC ING A C T F OR
A R IDING SE L F IE AT
T HE H A L F WAY P OIN T !

54 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023

 IS IT REALLY DESERT
RIDING IF THERE'S NOT AT LEAST
ONE FLAT TIRE AND YOU DON'T
RUN OUT OF WATER?

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 55

56 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
 T OP : SMOO T H PAV E ME N T
WA S A R E P R IE V E F R OM
RU T T E D R O A D S A S W E R A C E D
A G A IN S T T HE S UN. B O T T OM:
E N JO Y ING T HE B A C K R O A D S ,
JOE A ND A L E X DE B AT E D
W HE T HE R W E E NC OUN T E R E D
MOR E C O W S OR C A R S ON T HE
R IDE . OP P O SI T E PA GE : T HIS
G A S S TAT ION IN T I JE R A S WA S
A N O A SIS A F T E R A 2 0 -MIL E
S T R E T C H W I T HOU T WAT E R .

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 57

 Do You Need Gravel
BY MATT PHILLIPS

S U S P E N S I O N P R O V IDE S
A DDI T ION A L T R A C T ION A ND
C ON T R OL . D O Y OU NE E D I T
F OR Y OUR GR AV E L R IDE S ?

58 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023 Photography by K E V I N S C O T T B AT C H E L O R

»
L A UF ’ S 3 0MM-
T R AV E L GR I T F OR K
HAS EXCELLENT
B UMP S E N S I T I V I T Y
WH I LE TH E A PPE A L O F LI G HT A N D STI FF C A R B O N
A ND I S L O W
gravel bikes is undeniable, these bikes are expen- M A IN T E N A NC E .
sive. Recently, though, a tiny brand out of Iceland
lowered its prices and now offers some of the best
deals available for gravel bikes.
Lauf’s Seigla Rigid gravel bike (with a traditional
carbon fork) starts at $2,240 and tops out at $5,640
for the SRAM Red–equipped model. Those are
killer prices for a carbon gravel bike with good
build kits and impressive specifications—massive
tire clearance (57mm front and rear), mountain-
bike-influenced geometry (longer front center
and slacker head angle), 10mm of engineered flex
(“travel”) in the rear triangle, and a SRAM UDH
derailleur hanger (for direct-mount rear-derailleur
compatibility). Plus, it is reasonably light: Lauf
claims 1,163 grams for a painted medium frame.
Lauf’s prices are so great that you’d pay far more
for a comparable build from Trek, Specialized, or
another legacy brand. In fact, when it comes to
pricing, Lauf even spanks consumer-direct brands.
The top-of-the-line Seigla Ultimate with SRAM
Red XPLR—plus a power meter, carbon rims,
carbon bar, and carbon seatpost—stickers at
$5,640. That’s much cheaper than similarly
equipped bikes from big-name brands. Trek’s
Checkpoint SLR 9, for example, sells for $12,250.
And the Lauf is cheaper than the consumer-direct
Canyon Grail CF SLX 9, which has a similar build
and sells for $7,000.
It’s not just Lauf’s prices that grabbed my atten-
tion. There’s also that 10mm of rear travel and the
brand’s signature Grit 30mm-travel suspension
fork. Are we about to fully jump into the era of
affordable gravel suspension? Because at Lauf’s
prices, the Seigla makes this extra bit of technol-
ogy tempting to consider.
Now in its third generation, Lauf’s eye-catching
Grit fork uses glass-fiber leaf springs—six leaves
per side—to realize 30mm of travel. This system WHAT IS painful riding for the rider.
Suspension mitigates
is also light, with the Grit weighing about 360
grams less than forks like the RockShox Rudy
or Fox 32 TC. Other benefits to the Grit include
SUSPENSION? these potential distur-
bances and partially dis-
sipates the bump force
zero setup and zero maintenance. Plus, the Grit is  Bicycle suspension is a component or system before it reaches the rider or the bike.
very reactive to small bumps because it eschews that allows a bicycle to roll more smoothly over While the word “suspension” suggests a
the added friction of a sealed air-spring system. rough surfaces and limits the shock transmitted system of pivots, levers, and shocks (dampers),
The Seigla with the Grit fork starts at $2,590 and to the rider’s body. or the sliding motion of a suspension fork, sus-
peaks with the $5,990 SRAM Red Ultimate build. Essentially, bumps are sudden and (mostly) pension can be far less complicated.
With these amazing prices and compelling tech- vertical changes in direction that lift or drop The deformation of pneumatic tires provides
nology, I dialed Lauf to get a Seigla Ultimate with the bike and rider. This sudden disturbance suspension—and is a big reason we put fatter tires
a Grit suspension fork. Then I set out to test it on transmits shock to the rider and unsettles the on our gravel bikes than on our road bikes. The
my local gravel roads and singletrack to determine bike, causing the tires to momentarily lose con- flex of a bicycle’s frame, fork, wheels, handlebar,
if suspension is the next great leap in tech or a tact with the ground. In severe enough cases, and other parts create suspension (even “rigid”
condition-specific tool not all riders need. bumps can cause damage to the bicycle and frames and forks flex), though we often refer to 

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 59


S U S P E ND T HE B IK E OR S U S P E ND T HE R IDE R ? MO O T S ’ S L ONG -R UNNING Y B B MIC R O S U S P E N S ION
S Y S T E M ( T OP ) S U S P E ND S T HE B IK E W I T H 2 0MM OF R E A R T R AV E L . S P E C I A L I Z E D ’ S 3 0MM-T R AV E L ,
H Y DR A UL IC A L LY D A MP E D S T R S Y S T E M ( B O T T OM ) S U S P E ND S T HE R IDE R .
 it as compliance. Even the bending of
riders’ arms and legs is suspension.
Some degree of suspension is neces-
sary to make a bicycle work. Riding over
even small pebbles would be difficult if
the bicycle and rider were completely
rigid. And while gravel bikes are effective
at dealing with some bumps, the speeds
modern gravel bikes can attain—and the
terrain they can tackle—easily exceed
the limits of these most basic suspension
60 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
forms. That’s why we now see more intri-
cate suspension systems on gravel bikes.
Not everyone wants or needs next-
level suspension for gravel riding. It has
drawbacks, too. And its nontraditional
looks and extra weight are nonstarters for
many riders. A well-designed rigid frame
rolling on a set of good tires is surprisingly
capable, but it can’t match the performance
of a bike equipped with advanced suspen-
sion in rough terrain at high speed.
WHY NOT
SUSPENSION?
 Although suspension can, in some situa-
tions, improve speed and comfort, there are
still reasons to avoid it.
For many riders, suspension is not neces-
sary. You can grit your teeth and hang on,
or ride slower through the roughest bits of
your rides. And if the bulk of your riding is
on tarmac-smooth dirt, suspension might not
seem necessary for the trade-offs it presents for
those brief moments of added speed, comfort,
and control.
Riders who prefer a traditional-looking bike
(a gravel bike with the look of a road bike) often
shun suspension. Whether it’s a full-suspension
frame with links and a shock or a suspension
seatpost, suspension does not provide simple,
clean lines.
Suspension not only looks complicated but it
also adds complexity—and more parts needing
maintenance. There’s damper oil and seals that
need to be changed occasionally. Plus, suspen-
sion has pivots, axles, bushings, bearings, seals,
air chambers, and more. It involves more parts
that wear and more bits that can break.
Suspension often adds weight. The RockShox
Rudy suspension fork weighs around 1,200
grams, while the Lauf Grit weighs about 850
grams. A rigid carbon gravel fork is much lighter:
Enve’s Gravel Disc Fork comes in around 520
grams. That’s up to a 680-gram difference just in
the fork. There’s an even bigger weight increase
when it comes to full suspension.
Another reason to forgo suspension: your
wallet. The costs of the increased engineering
and parts required will show up in the final
price. For example, Niner’s MCR full-suspen-
sion Shimano GR X 800 2x gravel bike sells
for $8,000; Niner’s rigid carbon RLT 9 RDO
with the same build sells for $6,100. And you’ll
pay for suspension’s complexity when it needs
service—expenses a rigid bike does not have.
Many of these drawbacks are not found on the
Seigla. It’s priced better than most rigid bikes.
And the Grit fork requires no extra maintenance.
 BOB AND BOUNCE—
IT’S WHAT
SUSPENSION DOES
 Adding suspension introduces something that will move in response to a rider’s weight
as it shifts. Bumps aren’t the only thing that causes, for example, Specialized’s FutureShock
to move: As you pedal and steer a bike, your body constantly shifts weight around, inducing
motion in the system.
Seatposts will bounce, and forks will bob. Riders can find this off-putting because it
makes them feel less connected to the bike and the terrain, or like it’s sucking up energy
that could be going toward moving the bike forward. The latter is almost entirely perception
rather than reality. But we’ve heard many riders state that, especially when working hard,
the extra motion feels like an efficiency sponge.

SUSPEND
 There are two main suspension philosophies it is the most popular philosophy employed on
in cycling: suspend the bike or suspend the rider. gravel bikes.

THE
Suspending the rider floats the rider’s contact Another plus is that aftermarket suspension
points (saddle and/or handlebar). Suspension seatposts and stems may be installed and removed

RIDER
seatposts and stems fall into this category—as with relative ease; that way they can be used as
do designs like Specialized’s FutureShock system needed for a ride or event but removed to save

OR THE
(found in the front of the Diverge and both ends weight and return the bike to its original profile.
of the Diverge STR). Trek’s IsoSpeed Decoupler By suspending the rider, the bike’s chassis is

BIKE?
seat tube is also a form of suspension seatpost. mostly the same as a rigid gravel bike. There’s no
Suspending the rider typically results in a sim- interruption between the bottom bracket and rear
pler, more compact, lighter system. That’s why axle, and the fork doesn’t move. Proponents claim
this makes the bike feel like a “normal” gravel bike
when pedaling or steering. And the rider is more
NO T A NE W C OME R
comfortable and able to pedal through rougher
T O DR OP B A R S —
R O C K S H O X F OR K S terrain because their butt and hands are slightly
W ON PA R I S - decoupled from the bike as it bounces and jolts
R OUB A I X IN 1 9 9 2 , below them. Also, suspending the rider doesn’t
1 9 9 3 , A ND 1 9 9 4 .
alter a bike’s steering geometry. A rigid fork’s length
remains constant, while a suspension fork’s length
changes as it reacts to bumps.
But suspending the rider has its limits. Most
notably, it is less effective at damping bigger-size
impacts or keeping the tires in contact with the
ground when compared to suspending the bike.
Suspending the rider is more about rider comfort—
which can save energy—than it is about improving a
bike’s traction, control, and speed in rough terrain.
At the rear of the bike, suspending the rider
works only when that rider is seated. When they
stand, the benefits disappear. Another drawback
to suspension seatpost/seat tube systems is that
the rider’s position relative to the bottom bracket
and reach to the bar is constantly in flux. Some
riders find this distracting and uncomfortable. 

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 61

  Hood rotation is a drawback to single-pivot
suspension stems: When these react to a bump,
the angles of the hoods change. Parallelogram
suspension stems—Vecnum, Cirrus—don’t have
this issue. But these systems are more likely to
have noticeable flex, often felt when climbing out
of the saddle or sprinting.
Suspending the bike places the wheels on mecha-
nisms that allow them to displace in response to
impacts. There are many examples of suspension
forks—Lauf Grit, RockShox Rudy, Fox 32TC, BMC
MTT, and Cannondale Lefty. And there are many
gravel suspension frames, such as the Niner MCR,
Moots YBB, Cannondale Topstone, and BMC URS.
The Lauf Seigla has the Grit suspension fork,
of course. And at the rear, it has a combination of
both suspension philosophies. The pairing of the
extreme seat angle and shorter seat tube, which
exposes more of the post’s length, encourages more
flex along the post and seat tube—thus falling into
the “suspend the rider” bucket. The brand also C A NNOND A L E ’ S T OP S T ONE C A R B ON L E F T Y B IK E B L UR S T HE L INE B E T W E E N GR AV E L A ND MOUN TA IN B IK E T E C HNOL O G Y, M A K ING
says the rear axle has some vertical movement— I T A GR E AT F I T F OR R IDE R S W HO L IK E T O E X P L OR E L ONG -F OR G O T T E N DIR T R O A D S OR T E C HNIC A L S ING L E T R A C K .
suspending the bike—from flex in the seat tube,
seatstays, and chainstays. Even if it fits, a suspension fork is a longer lever. for sag, and the 32TC is 26.5mm longer than the
These systems do not provide the Seigla with If a gravel frame was designed around a rigid fork, Crux’s stock fork.
much rear travel; it’s on the order of 10 to 20mm adding a longer fork may increase the forces on the A 20mm increase in fork length reduces the head
in total, depending on how much seatpost is bike beyond what the designers considered during angle by about one degree. A 54cm Crux has a 71.5-
exposed. But it does so without a pivot, like engineering. You must confirm that your frame’s degree head angle, resulting in 67mm of trail with
Cannondale’s Topstone, or a full-blown rear- manufacturer permits using a suspension fork. its stock fork (401mm axle-to-crown and 50mm
suspension system with pivots, linkages, and a Steering geometry is another area where adding offset). With the 40mm-travel and 50mm-offset
shock, like Niner’s MCR. a suspension fork to a bike causes noteworthy 32TC installed, the Crux’s head angle (with the
There is one drawback to the Lauf’s system, changes. A longer fork raises the bike’s front end fork at sag/ride height) would change from 71.5 to
though. The laid-back seat-tube angle means and alters its steering geometry. 70.25 degrees, and the trail would go from 67mm
the saddle moves dramatically rearward as the Using Specialized’s Crux as an example, the to around 75mm. More trail usually means heavier/
saddle goes up. I needed to slam the seat all the stock fork’s axle-to-crown length is 401mm. The slower steering and a more stable feel. If your head
way forward, with a zero-offset post, to achieve Fox 32TC’s axle-to-crown length is 435.5mm isn’t hurting enough, consider that a suspension
my proper saddle position relative to the bottom (40mm travel). Subtract about 20 percent travel fork’s length constantly changes as it cycles through
bracket center. its travel, which means head angle and trail also

’
My long experience with mountain bike suspen- change as the fork goes up and down.
sion makes me believe unequivocally that suspend- There are other changes when adding a longer fork
ing the bike offers more benefits than suspending to a bike. The bottom bracket height changes and the

AT THE REAR OF THE

the rider. Not only does a suspended bike improve
traction and control—letting it maintain momen-
tum on rough surfaces—it also isolates the rider for
increased comfort. And the rougher the terrain, the
greater the benefit of suspending the bike (versus
suspending the rider) becomes.
But if you feel tempted to throw a suspension
fork onto your gravel bike, there’s more to consider.
The first is finding out if a suspension fork will
literally fit. The Lauf Grit, Fox 32TC, and RockShox
wheelbase gets longer. Fit also changes. A longer-
length fork slackens the seat-tube angle, increases
stack, and shortens reach. Typically you can offset
BIKE, SUSPENDING THE reach and stack changes by dropping the stem or by
changing its angle and/or length. But these changes
RIDER WORKS ONLY correct fit only, not steering feel and bike handling.
Plus, if you care about aerodynamics, gravel
WHEN THAT RIDER IS suspension forks have more frontal area than rigid
forks, suggesting more significant drag. Reducing
SEATED. WHEN THEY drag can make a big difference in long races, espe-
Trevor Raab (Cannondale)

Rudy are available only with a tapered (1¹₈-inch to cially if riding solo. So, many racers aren’t likely to
1¹₂-inch) steerer. So your frame needs a compat-
ible head tube. STAND, THE BENEFITS add drag unless it’s such a bumpy parcours that the
benefits of the suspension outweigh the drawbacks.

DISAPPEAR.
62 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
SHOULD sense. But there’s a huge terrain variability in there,
which means a wide variety of optimal gravel setups.
and lost, and not necessarily for the event as a
whole,” McElveen says. And for the typical gravel

YOUR “Gravel bikes with good geometry, a nice com-

pliant seatpost, and some good, wide tires at low
event he enters, “I don’t think suspension is nec-
essary if you’re someone chasing a podium at the

GRAVEL pressure offers crazy comfort and capability these

days,” says Payson McElveen, a top elite gravel
front of the race.”
But McElveen doesn’t rule out suspension

BIKE racer. And I agree.

I think there’s a tendency for riders to overequip
entirely. The Rule of 3—a 100-mile race in Arkan-
sas that features a mixture of tarmac, gravel, and

HAVE themselves. Simplicity is one of the best things

about a bike, and it makes more
no-joke mountain bike singletrack—was an event he
mentioned as a good use case for a suspension fork.

SUSPENSION? sense to have the right equipment

 Gravel riding is so diverse that blanket statements
become impossible. My loose definition of gravel
riding is anything unpaved (or mostly unpaved)
from the point where a road bike isn’t appropriate
until the moment a mountain bike makes more
for the conditions you’re spending
most of your time in rather than
buying gear that would come into play only in
extreme moments you rarely encounter. In those
situations, you can either slow down or just walk.
“For racing specifically, I typically select equip-
ment based on where I think an event will be won
Gravel pro Molly Cameron embraces suspension
for many gravel events: “I can truly throw my Niner
MCR into the craziest terrain and trust that my tires
will stick to the ground and the bike will stay upright.”
She adds, “I don’t have to slow down or brake into
corners as much as I would with a rigid fork.”
I also can point to gravel events where suspen-
sion was the smart choice. I was happy to have 

L A UF ’ S S E IGL A
GR AV E L BIK E A ND
G R I T F OR K R E F L E C T
A S HIF T IN GR AV E L
R IDE R S ’ NE E D S .

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 63

 MORE
GRAVEL
 it at Grinduro. But for the more traditional gravel
races, 42mm tires at the correct pressure was all BIKES  Do you need a suspension
bike? These three great full-
the suspension I needed.”
The Seigla makes a compelling argument for WITH suspension gravel models
approach suspension in distinct
embracing a gravel bike with suspension. Two
rides on one of my local roads demonstrate why.
A fire road descent—with plenty of rocks and
SUSPENSION ways to fit the needs of
different styles of gravel riders.

deep ruts that alternates between hardpack, sand,

and some high-speed corners—was featured in a 1 / SUSPENDS THE RIDER 2 / SUSPENDS THE BIKE 3 / SUSPENDS THE BIKE
gravel race I completed last year. I raced my rigid SPECIALIZED DIVERGE STR / MOOTS ROUTT YBB / CANNONDALE TOPSTONE CARBON
$6,700 TO $13,000 $10,265 TO $14,300 LEFTY / $4,250 TO $8,500
Cervélo Áspero with Panaracer GravelKings and
tire liners. I bounced and jolted down the descent Best for: Efficiency-obsessed Best for: Riders who love a Best for: Gravel riders who
until I cut my front tire in several places. This racers who love long rides. bike with classic lines and a bit often stray onto rougher roads
resulted in a lengthy repair, and I rode across the The Diverge STR leans into of extra comfort. and love underbiking single-
finish line with the tire liner draped across my bar. Specialized’s well-regarded There’s a reason the Moots track trails.
The first time I took on the descent on the Seigla, FutureShock suspend-the- YBB softtail rear-suspension With 30mm of rear travel
it was a no-drama cruise—and I also PR’ed it. It rider technology, with a system has been a staple of paired with Cannondale’s sig-
is one of the rowdiest gravel roads in my area, but 20mm-travel-front/30mm- the brand’s bikes for so long: nature Lefty 30mm-travel fork,
I do ride it regularly. And there was no question travel-rear system. Both ends It works. The simple and low- the Topstone Carbon Lefty is
feature hydraulic damping maintenance micro-suspension a bike for riders who want the
that in these conditions, the Seigla was superior
and easy-to-reach switches system in the seatstay yoke benefits of suspension’s extra
to a rigid gravel bike.
that let the rider stiffen the offers 20mm of travel on top of comfort and control and who
It was also more enjoyable and less punishing to suspension on the fly. titanium’s already damped ride. accept its compromises.
ride, with better control and handling. That means
longer, more comfortable rides.
As impressed as I was by the Seigla’s performance
on the roughest bits of gravel and singletrack, I
was also struck by how speedy and reactive it felt
on smoother sections of dirt and even on tarmac.
The movement of the Grit suspension fork was
noticeable and somewhat distracting when climb-
ing out of the saddle on smooth surfaces. There’s
no lockout on the Grit, so if you’re in the “rigidity
equals efficiency” camp, this is not the fork for you.
The Seigla with the suspension fork does carry a
weight penalty. If you’re obsessed about your watts
per kilogram and want the fastest time to the top
on the smoothest climbs, the Lauf will slow you
down. It’s also not a notably aerodynamic bike.
Perhaps that’s why I saw those PRs only when
riding the Seigla on the roughest roads and single-
tracks I frequent on gravel bikes. Notably, they didn’t
appear on the steepest climbs or fast roads with
plenty of wind exposure. It wasn’t that the Seigla
was significantly slower than my lighter Áspero, just
that the easy extra speed I saw aboard the Seigla in
some terrain wasn’t a universal benefit.
My gravel riding increasingly strays from well-
traveled gravel routes. I’m often exploring rough
and more remote roads and trails as I seek more
adventure and less civilization. But I still want a
bike that feels quick and suitable for the occasional
gravel race I jump into.
And that’s why the Seigla, with its suspension,
is a perfect gravel bike for my rides.
1

64 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023

 2
Trevor Raab (Cannondale)

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 65

 The Truth and Tragedy of

For a few short, electric years, she took gravel racing by storm.
Then she was gone forever.

B Y RO WA N MOOR E GER ET Y
Dominique Powers

66 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 67
 TH E R E ’ S A V I D EO O F M O R I A H WI L SO N FRO M AU G U ST 1, 2 0 21, AT
Rooted Vermont, the only race where her family got to watch
her compete professionally. It’s six seconds long, taken through
a car window.
Moriah charges across a forested hillside from right to left, fast
enough that it’s hard to make out she’s climbing. Her jersey flashes
green and white, a blur of gravel beneath her. In the background, an
unbroken canopy of maple, birch, and evergreen. A thick blond braid
falls from her helmet like a rope. Moriah’s limbs are splayed over
the bike frame, legs pumping. As races go, it had been a rocky day:
She’d lost her chain, gotten a flat, and nearly missed a turn, falling
well behind the leading women. Now, she was battling back toward
the front. Each time race vehicles pulled ahead of the pack and
waited for it to pass, here came Moriah, overtaking another rider.
The video was taken by a woman she’d never met. Caitlin Cash
worked as a project manager for a tech company in Austin, Texas.
But a year into the pandemic, she and a group of friends had
bought an old inn together in East Burke, a tiny town in Vermont’s
Northeast Kingdom, about 45 minutes from the Canadian border.
The Kingdom Trails, a network of a hundred miles of singletrack,
was just across the street. For Cash, who raced on weekends and
had a close circle of cycling friends, the inn was one more way to
integrate her passion for biking into the routines of her life. That
68 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
weekend at Rooted, she was pitching in to help the organizers with social media.
As she watched Moriah race, she was moved to tears. Subtly, a bit mysteri-
ously, but undeniably, Moriah was smiling through the grueling effort. Who is
she? Cash wondered. So much poise, so much grace, so much grit.
Later that day, Cash found Moriah’s family cheering along the course and
talked with them long enough to realize they were neighbors back in East Burke.
Over the next couple of months, as she vacuumed, repainted, and made trips to
the store, she found herself stopping to chat with Moriah’s mother, Karen, in
town, or going on bike rides and stacking firewood with Moriah’s brother, Matt.
In late October, Cash traveled to Bentonville, Arkansas, to do the 53.2-mile
“Lil Sugar” at Big Sugar Gravel and screwed up the courage to introduce her-
self. The 103.8-mile “Big Sugar” was the first big race Moriah, known as “Mo,”
had won. That night, Cash approached her in a crowded bar. Mo met her eye
through a scrum of admirers and gave a tiny, friendly wave. “Cash!” she said.
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you!”
Within a few weeks, Mo was crashing in Cash’s apartment in Austin, stringing
her laptop cord across the kitchen, swapping career advice and wine recommen-
dations. They didn’t ride together—Mo was tough to keep up with—but they
both loved to cook; Cash an empty-the-fridge kind of chef, Mo, a methodical
Dominique Powers
gourmand who shopped for the ingredients in each new recipe. Mo worked from
the kitchen, Cash from the loft, and during the day, they kept up a steady banter
workshopping the wording of texts and emails from either end of the stairs. A few
weeks later, Cash was up in Vermont again, at the Wilsons’ for Christmas, pulling
 lip balm and Toblerone from a stocking that had belonged to Mo’s grandfather.
All the while, Mo was winning almost everything she lined up for: Big Sugar.
Gravel Hugger Rock Cobbler. Second at Leadville and Mid South. First in the
Belgian Waffle Ride by more than a half hour, first again at Sea Otter. In May, she
was back in Austin, staying with Cash, and preparing for Gravel Locos on May
20th in nearby Hico, Texas, another race in which she was, yet again, a favorite.
O N T H E M O R N I N G O F M AY 1 2 T H , K A R E N W I L S O N L O O K E D U P F R O M T H E
loose dirt of her potato beds: a police officer was pulling into the driveway. He
said, in so many words, your life will never be the same. Her daughter, Anna
Moriah Wilson, had been shot and killed in Austin, Texas, the night before.
Back in Austin, Cash waited for the phone call from Karen she knew would
come. The previous evening, when she’d returned home from dinner with
friends just before 10 p.m., Cash had walked into her apartment and found
Mo unresponsive and bleeding on the bathroom floor. She’d frantically called
911 and begun CPR. Paramedics arrived and tried to save her, but Mo was
pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
As Cash waited for Mo’s name to become public, she braced for the moment
when the world found out about the horror she was trying to make sense of.
She wanted to support the Wilsons, but there was stuff she couldn’t bring
herself to talk about, photographs she couldn’t bear to look at. For Karen, and
Mo’s father, Eric, the bigness of the loss, its permanence, its totality, hit them
with a force that was hard to explain at human scale. “This is like the 9/11 of
our life,” says Karen. Even in the depths of grief, the Wilsons had things to
do: conversations with police, and then, the prosecutor. Decisions about their
daughter’s belongings. A cascade of media requests. There was even, only
days after Moriah had been killed, a statement to be crafted to reassure fellow
cyclists at Gravel Locos that what Moriah would have wanted most was for
them to race their hearts out.
Still, it was hard to feel like competition mattered. In Hico on May 14th,
the race took off slack and somber, a two-wheeled funeral procession for the
first eight miles, the only way the riders could reconcile what they were sup-
posed to be doing with the crater in their midst. “There was just no racing in
me, I mean, the entire 150 miles,” says Sarah Sturm, who had raced alongside
Mo for Specialized.
In the days that followed, there were times Cash felt incapable of getting
dressed or remembering to eat. The wind felt different. Colors were different.
Time dissolved. She tried to reassure herself that she’d been there for Mo until
the last. With tears in her eyes, pausing on each word, she told me during a
video call in October: “I did not give up.” Laying low at her father’s house in
another part of Austin, Cash sat and stared at the driveway, wondering if the
bullets had been intended for her instead. She called the police repeatedly,
frantically, looking for any information about suspects or a motive.
As word began to spread about Mo’s death, unsettled female cyclists sent warn-
ings to one another, worried that Mo had been tracked down by someone watching
her workouts on Strava, and questioned what was safe to post on Instagram.
I M P R O B A B LY, M O ’ S N A M E B E G A N T O R I C O C H E T A R O U N D T H E W O R L D AT
the center of a plot that felt utterly disconnected from the person she had
been. “Love triangle,” Sturm says. “If I see that printed in one more headline,
Cour tesy Matthew Wilson
I’m going to scream.”
The details seemed ripped from the tabloids: On the afternoon of Wednes-
day, May 11th, Mo went with Colin Strickland, a top men’s gravel racer with
whom she’d had a brief romantic relationship, for a swim at the City of Austin
Deep Eddy Pool, then dinner at a nearby restaurant. Strickland dropped her
off at Cash’s home at around 8:30 p.m., then left MO ON HE R WAY T O W INNING
T HE 2 0 2 2 S E A O T T E R C L A S S IC
on his motorcycle. Within two minutes of Mo’s
F UE G O 8 0K . I T WA S T HE F IR S T
arrival, security cameras on the block captured E V E N T IN T HE L IF E T IME GR A ND
footage of a dark-colored SUV driving past the P R I X , A ND HE R V IC T OR Y M A DE
building with a large bike rack on the back. HE R T HE S E R IE S L E A DE R G OING
IN T O UNB OUND IN E A R LY JUNE .
Police later reported that the vehicle—a black B E L O W : T HE W IL S ON FA MILY
Jeep Grand Cherokee—was registered to Strick- AT C HR I S T M A S T IME IN 2 0 2 1 .
land’s longtime girlfriend, Kaitlin Armstrong,
and that Armstrong owned a gun—a gift from Strickland—the
ballistics of which matched the three bullets that killed Mo.
The next day, Armstrong was arrested and held on a misde-
meanor warrant for not paying a Botox bill in 2018, only to be
let go because her date of birth didn’t match the date recorded
on the warrant. That Friday, Armstrong sold a black Jeep Grand
Cherokee at a CarMax in South Austin for $12,200.
On Saturday, she flew out of Austin, changed planes in Houston,
and boarded a Southwest flight to New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
The very next day, using someone else’s passport, Armstrong
traveled to Costa Rica, stopping in Jaco Beach before she made
for Santa Teresa, a vacation destination on the Pacific coast for
the likes of Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen.
Strickland, meanwhile, was interviewed by investigators and
later issued a bizarre statement. The website for the vintage trailer
business he’d shared with Armstrong was taken down. Inevitably,
as the search dragged on, brands made their awkward entry into the
fray—sticking by Strickland, or dropping him, or posting tributes
to Mo. It was hard to know what to think. “There are so many ques-
tions, and the first person you want to blame is Colin—because
he’s the thread,” Sturm says. “But he didn’t do the thing.”
As American authorities widened the scope of their search,
Armstrong spent the better part of a month bouncing among
hostels and yoga studios in Santa Teresa using several aliases,
according to the United States Marshals Service.
On June 29th, Costa Rican authorities going door to door found
Armstrong at the hostel Don Juan with her red hair dyed dark
brown and a bandage on her nose—a wound from what she said
was a surfboard accident.
Armstrong was brought to San José, where she eventually
SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 69
 C A I T L IN C A SH HOL D S ONE OF acknowledged that she was, in fact, the fugitive
MO ' S P R OMO C A R D S S IGNE D : investigators were looking for and was then
“ R IDE H A R D , H AV E F UN .” S HE
K E E P S T HE C A R D ON HE R
transferred to the custody of U.S. Marshals, who
brought her back to Texas. She remains at the
R E F R I G E R AT O R . O P P O S I T E : C A S H
OU T S IDE HE R HOME IN A U S T IN , Travis County Correctional Complex, where she
T E X A S , NO V E MB E R 2 0 2 2 .
is being held on homicide charges with a $3.5 mil-
lion bond. Her trial is set for late October 2023.
Grief for those who knew Moriah through cycling became a
strange untangling. She was kind, retiring, a baker of banana
bread, a lover of all things maple, a week away from turning 26.
How can you shield the memory of someone like that from the
shadow cast by her murder?
You might say that all this is demonstrative of another tragedy,
or even many entangled tragedies, both private—in that Strickland
lied to Armstrong about his whereabouts on May 11th, and had
deleted text messages from Mo and disguised her number in his
phone—and public, in the sense that no one sets out to become
the kind of person capable of shooting someone else to death.
There’s no monopoly on terrible consequences from a terrible
event. Yet in its own way, the temptation to fit a suspect into the
frame of Mo’s life is a tragedy that compounds the loss. It’s the
same with so many senseless killings—the feeling that the world
has not only robbed you of a person you loved but forced you to
grapple with its cruelty and ugliness in a way that will forever
be tied to their memory.

F O R C A S H , E A C H D AY B E G A N W I T H A G O O G L E S E A R C H :
M-O-R-I-A-H W-I-L-S-O-N. If she had no choice but to grieve
in the shadow of tabloid intrigue, she wanted, at least, to know
what information was out there, what cruel detail was being
speculated about.

Glam Yoga Teacher Says ‘NOT GUILTY’ of Love Murder,
Secret Life Revealed.
Costa Rica Arrest Photo Reveals Accused Cyclist Killer’s
Disguise.
Alleged love triangle killer Kaitlin Armstrong’s bizarre
meltdown.
Day 38, and they still hadn’t apprehended her? Cash learned
to avoid the Daily Mail, and to set a goal each morning to make
it to dinner.
The Wilsons tried to shield themselves. Karen shut out the
internet and pored over her daughter’s journals instead. “I’m
totally focused on Moriah,” she says. “And on surviving, and
breathing, and eating.” Eric stayed in touch with the prosecu-
tors and culled the news when he had to for information about
Armstrong’s defense strategy.
Matt, who was 24, and a week away from graduation at Ver-
mont’s Middlebury College when his sister was killed, took the
lead in communicating with the outside world. Grief ushered in
a new set of questions about his future. It was daunting to think
about the life he’d imagined postgraduation, or even to decide if
he still wanted the same things. There was talk of a foundation,
some way to secure a public legacy for a sister who should have had
a lifetime to secure it herself. Is that what he wanted to do? He still wasn’t sure.
The night after the race in Hico, Matt lay awake feeling as though Moriah
was plugged into his brain, not a voice so much as a presence, responding to
his thoughts before they were fully formed. He roused himself in the morning
and piled into bed with his parents where they held each other and cried. It
was their new routine. “Did you feel that last night?” they asked each other.
Unbound Gravel turns the downtown of Emporia, Kansas, into a festival.
When I booked a trip to the Flint Hills a few days ahead of the race last June,
the closest room to be had was 25 miles down the interstate. The hills were
a lush green, the rivers a swollen, deep brown. On the way into town, you
pass towering bean silos that stand in for a skyline and a sign that reads:
“Righteousness makes a nation great, but sin is a cancer to all people.” Down-
town, the sidewalks were clogged with banners and people carrying cups of
beer at 9 a.m. Carrying gold pom-poms, Emporia State University students
posed for pictures at the starting line.
Mo’s absence was palpable. The field had taken a deep hit: In 2021, Unbound
came at the early end of her meteoric rise through the sport, and she’d finished
ninth. Now, after the season she’d had, as one photographer on the course
put it: “That’s a podium spot that would have been filled.” Event organizers
distributed “Ride Like Mo” stickers to all 4,000 participants to display on
race day. Among the light poles festooned with posters of past winners, Colin
Strickland’s likeness was nowhere to be found.
The day’s conditions were fast—cool and dry, without much wind—until all
of a sudden, they were dreadful. “I thought of Mo when I was hurting,” Lauren
De Crescenzo told me after the race, reclining in the shade of a pop-up tent near

70 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023

the finish line, helmets and water bottles and shoes
littering the pavement nearby. She’d finished second in THERE WERE TIMES CASH FELT
INCAPABLE OF GETTING DRESSED.
the women’s field, and she teared up as she recapped
the silent pep talk she’d given herself as the course
turned to mud under hard rain, some 150 miles into
the 200-mile course. “It’s a privilege to be able to do
this,” she’d said. “You chose to come here, and—Mo THE WIND FELT DIFFERENT. COLORS
WERE DIFFERENT. TIME DISSOLVED.
should have been here.”
During the announcer’s patter over the PA as the
intervals between finishers stretched, he mentioned
in passing that the women’s winner, Sofia Gomez
Villafañe, had started the day ranked second in the Life Time Grand Prix She pleaded with police for permission to go back to retrieve
series—and finished in first. What he left unsaid was that Unbound was only some of her things. When it finally came, she could hardly bear
the second of the six races in that series: Moriah Wilson had won the first. to cross the threshold.
(For more on Sofia Gomez Villafañe, see page 34.) For Karen, the first weeks of summer passed in a blur. In June,
Cash brought a single suitcase with the things Mo had with her in
Texas. Friends drove Mo’s car from San Francisco to Colorado,
I T T O O K M O N T H S F O R C A S H T O O U T R U N G U I LT A N D C O N F U S I O N , T H E then shipped it from Colorado to East Burke, Vermont, packed
feeling that things might have been different if she’d come home earlier, or if with stuff from her apartment.
she hadn’t gone out at all. She’d resisted leaving Mo’s side for as long as pos- Moriah’s belongings sat undisturbed for days. Slowly, as she
sible that first night and got to the police station in a daze around midnight. It found the strength, Karen also found comfort from holding the
was only later she realized she’d been questioned not just as a witness, but as things her daughter had held, burying her nose in the clothes
a potential suspect. Cash’s home became a crime scene, and, once the media she’d worn. Near the end of her life, Moriah had been especially
got hold of an arrest affidavit revealing her name and address, a public desti- taken with the book The Second Mountain, by New York Times
nation. Reporters lurked by the front door. There were attempted break-ins. columnist David Brooks, which centers on the challenge of bal-

Photography by J O A N N A K U L E S Z A SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 71

 T HE W IL S ON FA MILY P L A N T E D ancing life’s first mountain—ambition, career,
A N A P P L E T R E E IN ME MOR Y OF family—with the taller one behind it: the quest
MOR I A H AT T HE K INGD OM T R A IL S
to live a moral life. “I’m not gonna do the first
IN LY ND ON V IL L E , V T. OP P O S I T E :
T HE FA MILY ON S E P T E MB E R 2 3 , mountain and the second mountain,” Mo had
2 0 2 2 , NE A R T HE S P O T W HE R E told a friend. “I’m gonna do both mountains
T HE T R E E I S P L A N T E D .
at the same time.”
Leafing through Moriah’s dog-eared paper-
back, Karen hung on each of the underlines Moriah had made,
clinging to every scrap of her daughter’s mind. When Cash’s
birthday came around, she bought another copy as a gift, and
went through it in ink, underlining the very same passages.
Moriah and her brother were reared on the slopes of Vermont’s
Northeast Kingdom, dominated by a handful of families known as
ski-racing dynasties. Moriah’s father, Eric, had grown up nearby
and skied for the U.S. national team; his sister, Laura, competed
in cross-country skiing in the winter Olympics. Moriah entered
her first ski race at 8 years old. On race days, the Wilsons would
leave home in the dark and stop on the side of the highway for
Egg McMuffins—a rare indulgence.
Among the competitors Mo faced on the local youth skiing
circuit was Mikaela Shiffrin, who would go on to be the best in
the world. Moriah, whose best result was seventh in downhill at
U.S. nationals her 11th grade year, wasn’t a skiing prodigy by the
standards of Northern Vermont, but she did have the drive to work
as hard as anyone. “Ever since she was a little girl, she wanted feeling of the lactic acid washing over my muscles,” she wrote.
to wear one of those green Dartmouth ski suits,” Karen told me. The ritual of reclaiming Moriah’s things was alternately nurturing and
In the world of United States skiing, Burke Mountain Academy soul-crushing for Karen: the bike gear, the race bibs, the unfinished to-do
is a kind of cousin to the Florida training grounds where Andre lists, the Google calendar in which Moriah had plotted out her days for the
Agassi and the Williams sisters honed their ground strokes, a high next six months. As Karen unpacked the bags over the course of the summer,
school where the loftiest goal isn’t Harvard or MIT so much as certain things took on a pride of place: She rested Moriah’s bike helmet on top
the Olympics and the World Cup. The student body is talented, of a stack of cookbooks in the kitchen, next to the dried-up bouquet of flowers
tiny—no more than 15 or 18 kids in a class—and, due to skiing’s sent by her colleagues and teammates at Specialized. The outfit she’d worn on
expense, largely white and well-heeled. her last ride was stored in a plastic bag until, awake in the middle of the night,
Moriah was the rare local kid who’d had the run of the school Karen realized that if she didn’t take the clothes out to wash them, they’d start
since she was born, when her father was a ski instructor there. growing mold. Freshly laundered, they went on a hanger on the wall of Karen
She took part in Burke’s winter ski sessions as a middle schooler and Eric’s bedroom. “Sort of sacred,” she says. The oversize Dartmouth ski
and entered full-time in ninth grade, a skinny 14-year-old with a team T-shirt that Moriah wore to bed each night—the same dark green she’d
runner’s build. Even then, coaches noted her unusual power on a dreamed of wearing as a little girl—Karen keeps that under her pillow.
bicycle. Mountain biking is a cross-training staple for skiers: low-
impact but demanding of the same muscle groups. On early morn-
ing training rides, Mo seemed to thrive on hills while other riders
would fall back. “All the boys would come into breakfast after AT T I M E S , S P E A K I N G T O T H O S E W H O K N E W M O F E LT L I K E R E S E A R C H I N G
the ride, and Moriah just killed them all,” says Kraig Sourbeer, a a candidacy for sainthood. She seemed cocooned from the base impulses that
coach who dabbled in mountain bike racing after a professional define so many of us. She was a thoughtful friend, a paragon of discipline, a great
career on the U.S. Ski Team. Sometimes, he and the other coaches listener. Pressed for a memory of what passed for mischief in Mo’s world, her
wondered if she was in the wrong sport: Whatever her talent on best childhood friend, Keara Kresser, told a story of when, in middle school, Mo
the slopes, it was obvious that they’d translate well to cycling. had extended a break from class by leading the other kids in running extra laps
Teachers remember Moriah’s quiet self-assurance and diligence. around the school’s barn, when the teacher had said they should only run one.
In a milieu defined by privilege and high-level competition, she By then, a perfectionist streak had begun to torment her, to the point that
was that uncommon breed of teenager who never groused about she spent long afternoons redoing a poster project after spotting a single small
“duty night,” when rotating student groups mopped up and washed error. In sixth grade, her mother says, it got to where she couldn’t bring herself
dishes in the dining hall, and never rolled her eyes at a difficult to write a complete sentence because of the pressure she felt to write the right
workout. When, early in her sophomore year, she went down on sentence. “Her teachers took all her homework away,” Karen says. Moriah
Burke’s training slope and tore her ACL, she seemed to relish the began baking banana bread after she got home from school as a kind of therapy.
chance to dedicate more time to strength training, logging every At a slalom race in Colorado during a postgraduate year at Burke—a common
rep in a series of notebooks in tiny, immaculate handwriting. After step for skiers looking to make the national team—Moriah tore the ACL in her
she was killed, Burke included Moriah’s 12th grade end-of-year other knee. In a journal entry written during her recovery, Mo seemed to will
reflection in the school newsletter, and the whole community got herself to optimism: “I know god has a plan for me.” It was the same thought,
a glimpse of her uncanny lust for exhaustion. “I love that painful recast in a mother’s hope and grief, that struck Karen when the police showed up

72 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023 Photography by O L I V E R P A R I N I

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 73
SHE SEEMED COCOONED FROM THE BASE IMPULSES
THAT DEFINE SO MANY OF US. SHE WAS A THOUGHTFUL
FRIEND, A PARAGON OF DISCIPLINE, A GREAT LISTENER.
outside their home a week before Moriah’s 26th birthday. “God’s
spirit was very much alive in her,” Karen says. “When the officer
told me she had died, I instantly shot into the sky.” Looking up at
the clouds, she screamed: “I know you have a plan.”
Life at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, was
a version of the world Mo had always inhabited: an idyllic New
England town where dozens of Burkies had gone before her, and
where life was structured according to the rhythms of ski racing.
She found friends, joined a sorority, majored in engineering, did
well. But she was beginning to see the ceiling close in on her
skiing dreams. While her knee healed, Mo spent her freshman
year “free skiing” while her teammates drilled for competitions.
When she finally returned to racing, she seemed always to finish
just outside of contention for a berth in the next “carnival” race,
as the intercollegiate circuit is called: Those spots were reserved
for each team’s top six competitors, and Dartmouth’s team was
among the best in the country.
So Mo did what she did best: She worked. She pushed her team
on long training rides in the fall and spring, spent more time in the
74 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
weight room. Mo made top billing for the team, finally, in a makeup race late in
her senior year. It was the last ski race she would enter. “All of that transpired
into her drive—she had all of this unfulfilled podium time, and it made her
want it and fight for it that much more in the biking world,” Karen says. “She
wanted it so badly.”
Sometimes Cash couldn’t help but think it was stupid to be mourning a
woman she’d known scarcely six months. But that’s how it was. Karen was in
awe of the sisterly, soulmate feeling she observed so early in her daughter’s
friendship with Cash. Their six months had been the same six months in which
Moriah had gone fully pro, launched a newsletter, and decided to quit her job.
Cash became a window into the moments she’d missed as Moriah began to
make her mark on the world. “There was so much I wish I had talked to her
Meg McMahon (Rooted Vermont)
about,” Karen says.
Cash had lost her own mother to leukemia 10 years earlier, and Karen came to
think of her as a second daughter. “We both have this missing piece,” Cash says.
Over the summer, they spent time together in Vermont, holding each of Moriah’s
things as Cash filled in trivia from weeks living in close quarters in Austin. This
was her favorite sweatshirt. That face wash? Made by a Vermont company Moriah
liked and had thought about approaching for sponsorship. Picking up Moriah’s
Photograph by J O A N N A K U L E S Z A
toothpaste, Karen noticed the reusable plastic tube—a small daily habit, signaling
a commitment to the environment. She’s using it now and gets a little reminder
of her daughter “every time I squeeze it,” she says. “There are so many things
like that, where as I pull it out, it speaks to who she is.”
M O ’ S F I R S T- E V E R G R AV E L R A C E WA S A L O W - K E Y A F FA I R N O R T H O F
San Francisco called the Old Growth Classic in the fall of 2019. She’d spent
her life using a mountain bike as transportation, and in rural Vermont, nearly
all the roads were gravel. Now Mo was eager to test a lifetime of compliments
about her “engine.” Just back from a three-week bike trip in Europe to celebrate
finishing college, she met up with an old ski teammate from Dartmouth, and
told her, “Liv, I’m in really good shape—like, the best shape of my life.” She
came in second overall.
Cycling was a second chance for Moriah to reach for the athletic firmament,
and, for the first time, a chance to do it on her own terms. Gravel was a wel-
come change from the hierarchies of skiing. At big gravel races, everyone lined
up together and waited for the report of a single starting shot. They camped
in vans and shared Airbnbs, traded notes on tire selection, or how to handle
sketchy parts of the course. Afterward, they drank beer and sprawled on the
ground together, whether they were wearing the same sponsor’s kit or not.
More than once, people I talked to told me stories about riding with Mo for
an hour or two during a race, and then, essentially, telling her to leave them
in the dust. At Unbound in 2021, Jess Cerra found herself beside Mo on the
ragged back half of the race, pedaling furiously into the wind and occasionally
passing groups together, with Mo out front, taking the brunt of it. Eventually,
she blurted out, “Who are you? You’re so strong!” To Cerra, it seemed like
Mo was reluctant to draft off her, in case she tried to shoot out front, so she
made it clear: “I’m not gonna race you at the finish. You’ve earned that spot.”
Gravel riders often refer to the mix of nomadic training and hustle on
the racing circuit as “privateer life,” a succession of photo shoots, contract
negotiations, and self-promotion against the backdrop of intensive train-
ing. For many women, it’s also the portal to a sisterhood borne of inequity.
Gravel replicates the imbalance among men and women across most sports:
the same races, the same brands, with more lucrative contracts for the guys.
And in a way that’s familiar across all kinds of unconventional professions,
it’s also a life of blurred lines—are your fellow racers friends, colleagues,
competitors, all three at once?
Mo and Strickland met on the racing circuit and had a romantic relation-
ship during a visit she made to Austin in October 2021; at the time, Strickland
later told police, he and Armstrong were on a break. The following January,
though, according to text messages Strickland shared with police, Mo still
seemed unclear about his intentions. An affidavit police drafted in support of
Armstrong’s arrest noted that Strickland said he’d been helping Mo find new
sponsors. It also quoted Strickland saying he concealed Mo’s contact info in
his phone and admitting that he’d lied to Armstrong about his whereabouts
the night Mo was killed. During questioning by police, Strickland called Mo
“the best female cyclist in the country, and possibly the world,” drawing a
contrast with Armstrong, who he said was frustrated at not being able to
keep up on his training rides. Sarah Sturm, Mo’s Specialized teammate, sees
a pattern. “Certain men in the industry wanted to almost take credit for
‘discovering’ Mo,” she says. “That hasn’t sat well with me.”
Mo spent two years readying herself for privateer life, holding down a full-
time job as a demand forecaster at Specialized and crisscrossing the country on
weekends, gradually growing comfortable in the skin of a professional racer, still
taking red-eyes to make Monday morning meetings. The personal branding part
didn’t come naturally to her—reading her postrace dispatches on Instagram, there
was no way to tell whether she had finished last or destroyed the field—but that
was part of her appeal, too. Perhaps that was L E F T: MO K E P T T HI S B A ND A NN A
F R OM T HE ME T E OR C A F E W I T H
part of why the women who raced alongside her
HE R W HE N S HE T R AV E L E D . A F T E R
seemed to revel in her success. Mo was doing it MO ’ S DE AT H , HE R MOM G AV E I T T O
all just to stay on the bike. C A I T L IN C A S H . R IG H T: MO DUR ING
R O O T E D V E R MON T IN 2 0 2 1 ,
A L ONG S IDE L A UR E N S T E P HE N S .
ON MO’S BEDROOM DOOR IS ONE OF HER OLD KINDERGARTEN
projects: her name spelled out in dry pasta glued to construc-
tion paper. When we spoke by phone in October, Karen said
she hadn’t been avoiding the bedroom really, just trying to give
herself a break from breaking down. She looked in from the hall
every time she left her own bedroom. But inside the door, “I end
up crying pretty hard,” she said. “This morning I went in and I
did fold the last bit of dirty clothes of hers that I washed. And I
didn’t break down crying.”
Mo’s inner life remained a puzzle to those who knew her best,
even to her mother. The first time we spoke, Karen said, smiling,
that she found her own daughter “mysterious.” The family had
been reading through a small stack of journals Mo left behind—a
habit she kept up mainly when she was homebound, recovering
from an injury. Keara Kresser, whose parents introduced Moriah’s
mother and father to one another, grew up making mud pies with
Mo in the backyard, lying in the grass after long summer bike
rides, playing school—Mo always liked to be the teacher—and
being let loose on a ski mountain with only a walkie-talkie as a
tether to the adult world. Through all this, Mo’s joy was of the
pensive, quiet kind. With alert, brown eyes and a creeping smile
that sometimes flashed in moments of embarrassment, she seemed
always to be processing the world with such focused attention
that she didn’t often share her thoughts out loud. She rarely
showed anger, or stress, or shared moments of vulnerability and
introspection. “I spent a lot of my childhood wondering what was
on Mo’s mind,” Kresser says.
As an adult, Mo grew more voluble on long bike rides, but
even then, conversations tended to the practical. Long training
rides were an occasion to strategize: workouts to plan, dates and
car rentals and lodging arrangements to go over. “With Mo, it
was...what does the next week, month, three months look like?”
says her onetime boyfriend, Gunnar Shaw, a fellow Dartmouth
ski team alum, who had often ridden with her. “Very few of her
conversations were ruminations on life.”
Becoming a public figure posed a challenge to the person Mo
had always been. In time, it was one she began to embrace. If being
a public figure was part of being a professional bike racer, didn’t
that make it just another kind of workout to master? In her last few
months, she had become close with Allen Lim, founder of the sports
nutrition company Skratch Labs, who formulated drinks for Mo’s
races, and often prepared prerace dinners or to-go breakfasts of
rice balls with eggs and bacon and a hint of maple syrup. The two
liked to watch people giving speeches on YouTube, and sometimes
played a game they’d devised on shakeout rides called “Tell me your
life story in four minutes or less.” Each time, Allen’s prompt would
change Mo’s hypothetical audience: “Okay, now you’re talking to
NPR, to college skiers, to trans women cyclists, fourth graders.”
Sometimes Mo would sit and ponder it without responding—Mo
“listened and talked with her eyes,” Lim says—sometimes she’d
burst out laughing, and sometimes she’d practice saying out loud
that she wanted to go to the Olympics in cycling. And that she
SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 75
 FACING THE CRUELTY
OF A LIFE CUT SHORT,
WE MOURN A HERO,
THAT THEIR LEGACY
Meg McMahon

MIGHT SOMEHOW
AVENGE THEIR DEATH.
76 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
wanted to go for her dad, who had missed his berth by one spot.
In late October, Karen returned to her job teaching literacy at Burke Town
School, where she has taught for 10 years, sticking to her plan to finish the year
and retire in the summer of 2023. The last time she’d spoken to her daughter,
Karen had been in her classroom on a quiet afternoon in May after school let
out early. Usually when they checked in before a race or about a flight home,
Moriah scanned emails or went silent, too preoccupied with work and a brim-
ming race calendar to focus. Every once in a while, Moriah would call during a
low moment, overwhelmed with emotion. “I was the safe one where she could
just melt down,” Karen says.
But Moriah had recently given notice to Specialized so she could race full-time.
And Karen could hear the change on the phone. “She was just bubbling over,”
Karen says. She talked about wanting to move back to Vermont, build community
in the place that had shaped her, open a café in Burke. Of everything she was
looking forward to, she seemed most excited about a planned trip to Kenya in
June for the Migration Gravel Race, hosted by a group of Kenyan cyclists who
race as Team Amani. “To be in their space and see their world and see a different
kind of life—just the whole thing, it’s so much bigger than getting on a podium
here,” Karen says. “It made me so much more proud of her—as a human being.”
As the Wilsons form the outlines of what the Moriah Wilson Foundation will
become, her journals have been a compass: not finished or complete thoughts,
but a sense of direction. One of the entries in the last journal she kept outlined
her goals for a life in cycling: to “inspire people to ride bikes and be active”
and “promote positive body image awareness for women, and female athletes
in particular.” Matt thinks about a story his sister told him about winning a
race and watching a scrum of press crowd the top men’s finishers even as they
ignored Mo and the other women. “There was so much that can be done and
should be done, that she was gonna do,” Matt says.
The family put together a website with a short mission statement only weeks
after Moriah was killed: To promote healthy living and community building by
supporting organizations dedicated to expanding equitable access to recreation,
sports, and educational programs. But Karen had been thinking of other lines
from Moriah’s journals, too, like simply, “Kindness and empathy can change
the world.” She wants to sift through them again to immerse herself in Moriah’s
thoughts, make sure the foundation’s work encompasses the things her daughter
cared about most. “It’s more than getting somebody a bike,” she says. “Dollar
for dollar, how can we help people? That’s gonna be an evolving question.”
T H E T R I A L H A S R E M A I N E D O F F I N T H E D I S TA N C E F O R T H E W I L S O N S M O S T
of the time. Whatever small measure of closure or justice they can expect from
a verdict, it’s still dwarfed by the everyday reality remade by Moriah’s absence.
For Caitlin Cash, who still can’t escape the feeling she might have protected Mo
the night she was killed, knowing she’s likely to be called as a witness means
one more chance to show up for the friend she lost.
Staying close to cycling has been a way for the Wilsons to reveal more of the
dream Moriah had cherished quietly and only just started to share publicly. In
August, Cash accompanied Matt and Eric to the event where she’d first met the
family the year before. Karen was at home with COVID-19, somewhat relieved
that she couldn’t go. Rooted Vermont was much heavier with meaning now, its
course pinwheeling around Cochran’s ski area in Richmond, where Matt and
Moriah logged countless hours learning to hold tight turns and set an edge on
ice in their ski racing days.
Cash and Matt had promised one another that they would take a break from
the prerace hubbub whenever they needed to, but in the moments leading
up to the race, they found themselves cracking up on the starting line. Nei-
ther one had the required functioning navigation unit; the Wilsons had lent
Cash Mo’s custom pink Specialized S-Works Diverge, but she realized only
belatedly that she’d forgotten to pump up the tires or MO AT R O O T E D
V E R MON T IN 2 0 2 1 .
charge the electronic drivetrain. Matt had forgotten to
bring a bike jersey. “It took an entire village to get us
on that start line,” Cash says. They couldn’t help but laugh and
think of Mo, who packed every calorie she’d need into labeled
baggies before she boarded a plane to get to a race. “Mo would
think this is ludicrous,” they agreed.
A few weeks later, I met the Wilsons at a sidewalk café in San
Francisco. Karen wore a fleece embroidered with Moriah’s name
and finishing time at Leadville that Moriah had given her after the
race. “She was the kind of person who did not want to advertise
her time on her arm,” she told me.
Even getting on the plane and touching down in California
had been a struggle. The last time they’d come West was to
visit Moriah in April 2021. Now, their week was filled with firsts
without her—bike rides on some of Moriah’s favorite terrain in
Mill Valley, dropping in on Gunnar at home near the place they’d
lived together. “People have said it gets harder,” says Eric, as the
awful busyness of those first weeks subsides: Time goes on, and
you still don’t see the person you miss.
The week before, the Wilsons had met a trio of the Team
Amani cyclists who’d managed to land United States visas. As
we talked, they’d just learned that Saturday, Sule Kangangi, the
team’s 33-year-old captain, had suffered a fatal crash during
Vermont Overland. He was the father of three young children,
and Karen could still picture the pretty wife Sule had shown her
on his phone. It was another layer of grief, but she welcomed the
thought that Moriah and Sule might get to meet in the hereafter.
(For more on Kangangi and Team Amani, see page 24.)
The cliché is that only the good die young. But maybe the truth
of loss is that the departed live on through the love that echoes
among those who knew them. If you’re lucky enough to live
until 90, the strongest echoes of your voice in the world—your
parents, your siblings, your colleagues, your friends—may have
already grown faint. Even your children will say yours was a life
well-lived, that your time has come.
That’s almost impossible to say about a 25-year-old. And so,
left with the task of seeking justice where none can be found,
we proclaim our love as boldly as we can. Facing the cruelty of a
life cut short, we mourn a hero, that their legacy might somehow
avenge their death.
Back in Mo’s childhood room, beyond the door with the maca-
roni nameplate, Karen picks out cherished flannel shirts to give to
Moriah’s cousins, bike outfits and cute jeans with holes in them for
Cash. Karen and Moriah wore the same size, and Moriah’s scent
is threaded through Karen’s dresser drawers now, too. Each day,
she chooses something to pick up and breathe in. “Sometimes it
makes me cry, and sometimes it makes me smile,” she said, seem-
ing, as we spoke on the phone in October, to do a bit of both. “I do
wonder,” she said, “what’s it gonna be like when the scent is gone?”
It’s often the most emotional part of her day: the one sensa-
tion that conjures not just Moriah’s memory, or her way of being,
but her visceral, physical presence. She marvels at how strong
and sweet Moriah’s scent still is—even after going through the
laundry—sometimes rubbing off on her own clothes, lingering
longer than seems possible.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MORIAH WILSON
FOUNDATION AT MOWILSONFOUNDATION.ORG.
SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 77
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 BY TARA SEPLAVY

E S SENTIAL

GRAVEL EQUIPMENT OFTEN com-

 bines elements of parts or accessories
originally intended for mountain bike
or road use—so you can often repurpose what
you already use on the road or trail, with excel-
lent results. But to improve your experience on
gravel rides, look for brands that design and
sell dedicated gravel products. Since no two
riders—or gravel rides—are the same, choose
what meets your personal needs and riding
conditions. On the following pages, you’ll find
some of the most important factors to consider
in various categories when choosing provisions
for your next gravel adventure—plus the prod-
ucts we recommend.

ADIPUR A BAGS

Photography by T R E V O R R A A B SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 79

  Whether you
ride a full-sus-
pension gravel
bike with a f lat
bar or a rigid one
with a drop bar,
having something that properly fits your
bike and safely holds your gear should be
your main concern when choosing a bag.
Other variables to consider include the
type of environment you usually ride in, the
length of your rides, and the kind of riding
you do. These factors can help you decide
on the type of bag you need, the features it
should have, and the level of weatherproof-
ing you require.
As you research a bag’s material and con-
struction, you’ll find that some companies
use Cordura fabric exclusively, while others
80 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
employ custom-milled materials, often
boasting their sustainability. But if weather
protection tops your list of must-haves,
look for a bag with laminated fabric (which
improves waterproofing) and waterproof
closure mechanisms.
Apidura exceeds the bike bag needs of
most riders by using custom-milled lami-
nated materials and waterproof closure
systems. The brand also offers volume-
specific bags that accommodate a range of
bike sizes, bike setups, and journey lengths.
I equipped my bike with Apidura bags
($50–$200)—everything from the full
frame pack to the saddle pack, bolt-on top
tube pack, fork pack, and more—for a bike
trip in Japan during spring monsoon season.
They kept my gear dry through five-hour,
80-mile rainy days.—Gabe Ortiz
 We’re officially in the age of tubeless systems, which
have many benefits but also some drawbacks. One
benefit of tubeless tires is that they don’t flat as easily
as tires with tubes—and smaller punctures can usually
heal themselves using the sealant inside the tire. But for
punctures, cuts, and tears that the sealant can’t fix, your
next line of defense is a plug. The concept of a plug is the
same as the one employed to fix a car’s tire after it picks
up a nail: Jam a sticky plug (or plugs, if needed) into the
hole to stop it from losing air.
When it comes to plugging a puncture, speed is your
friend. The faster you get it done, the less air and sealant
you lose. So the ideal plug should not only be effective, it
should also be easy to reach. Which is why we’re fans of
the Dynaplug Covert Drop ($125) system.
Dynaplug plugs are easy to insert, and the sticky
“viscoelastic” rubber effectively fills holes and seals the
tire. Plus, the plugs are durable and stay put, so they can
also be a long-term fix. (Trim the tails if they’re causing
a notable hop when rolling.)
The company offers several carriers for its plugs, but
the Covert system puts them most easily at hand. Taking
the place of bar-end plugs, the Covert fits into most flat
bars and drop bars. (Internal diameter must be 18.4mm
or greater.) Tightening the carriers’ set screws is a bit
finicky, but once they’re in, you don’t need to mess with
them again until it’s time to upgrade your bar tape.
The Covert’s plugger tool spins in and out of its carrier
with a few turns, so the plugs are ready at a moment’s
notice. Each plugger tool has two preloaded plugs (the car-
rier is two-sided), and extra plugs are easy to stash in a bag.
Dynaplug sells the Covert Drop in pairs only, so if your
bike has an electronic-drivetrain junction box in one of
the bar ends, you’ll have a spare or an extra for a different
bike.—Matt Phillips
 Gravel rides and events involve all sorts of distances,
terrains, temperatures, and weather. Even if you’re riding
in a well-supported event with aid stations, it’s up to you
to carry your riding essentials, plus whatever else you
might need if things don’t go as planned. And preparation
all comes down to what you think you might encounter.
Long gravel rides usually require more hydration than
you can carry in two water bottles on your frame. Tucking
an extra bottle in a jersey pocket is awkward, and bottles
are prone to falling out on bumpy roads. Your best solution
is to carry hydration on your body with a backpack, hip
pack, or vest. Typically, a large-capacity, trail-riding-style
backpack is overkill for gravel riding, even for longer races
or rides. And hip packs aren’t for everybody.
Our favorite hydration pack is the Evoc Hydro Pro
1.5 + 1.5L Bladder ($130). It combines a small backpack’s
carrying capacity with the fit of a vest. Unlike a large trail
pack, the Hydro Pro doesn’t feel awkward on your back as
you ride, especially during long days in the saddle.
The Hydro Pro features chest storage with two zippered
and two mesh pockets, so your immediate essentials (like
gels or energy chews) are within reach. The back of the
bag has additional storage, allowing you to carry extra
clothing layers, repair items, or snacks that don’t fit in
your chest pockets. Lastly, two clips position the water
hose close to your chest to help keep mud and dirt from
getting inside your bite valve.—G.O.

an Android operating system as its base,

 The two biggest names in cycling-specific
navigation devices are Garmin and Wahoo.
Each brand offers several options in various
sizes and with a range of features, uses its
own ecosystem of mobile apps, and functions
uniquely with its operating system. If you
like to analyze data or want solar charging,
look at Garmin. If you prefer a simple, effi-
cient information display, choose Wahoo.
But for the simplest preplanned and on-
the-fly navigation experience and easiest-
to-read maps, the Hammerhead Karoo 2
($400) is our choice. Hammerhead uses
which looks great and works efficiently. In
fact, once you get used to its menus and
layouts, you might find it hard to return to
other systems. Plus, Hammerhead keeps the
Karoo 2 fresh with regular software updates
to the device.
The Karoo 2’s size is in the Goldilocks
zone—its 3.2-inch screen is big enough for
easy navigation but not so big that it gets in
the way. Perhaps the only knocks against the
Hammerhead are that it’s a bit heavy (137
grams), it lacks compatibility with Shimano
Di2 drivetrains, and it has slightly shorter
battery life. We routinely get eight to 10
riding hours per charge, which is more than
enough for most outings.—Tara Seplavy

SUMMER | 2023 • BICYCLING.COM 81


 A handful of brands offer gravel-specific
helmets, but most of these are little more
than road helmets in a less-flashy color.
Some gravel helmets offer additional fea-
tures, such as visors or extra coverage for
the back of your head, and most employ a
system like MIPS to lessen rotational forces
on the head in a crash. Many gravel racers
also opt for aero road helmets to reduce drag.
But for most gravel riders, a helmet designed
for road or cross-country mountain biking
works perfectly fine.
When selecting a helmet, every rider
might have slightly different fit or style
needs. So what works great for you might
82 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
 Two basic features separate
gravel shoes from their mountain-
biking cousins.
First, gravel shoes forgo screw-in
toe spikes or studs.
Second, gravel shoes generally
use a more flexible footplate, which
makes walking in the shoe easier.
The amount of tread, f lex, and
stiffness you need in your gravel shoe depends greatly on
the type of gravel riding you do most often. If your main
focus is gravel racing, or you ride long events with little or
no time off the bike, look for shoes geared toward pedaling
efficiency. But if you’re a rider who loves exploring new
roads and trails—and often find yourself hike-a-biking for
extended periods on your rides—it makes sense to look
for a shoe with extra tread and a bit more flex.
The Specialized Recon ADV ($225) is a perfect example
of a gravel shoe that does a bit of both. It uses a full carbon
footplate for pedaling efficiency but adds much more
flexibility near the toes, allowing for great walkability
and all-day comfort. Specialized used a pared-down tread
pattern on the bottom, similar to what the brand uses on
its top-of-the-line S-Works Recon. These features make
the Recon ADV a perfect middle ground for riders looking
for good pedaling efficiency and comfort compared to
dedicated gravel-racing shoes.—Dan Chabanov
not work for a friend with a different head
shape or hairstyle. You want a helmet that
vents well and doesn’t weigh too much for
long days on the bike. (For this reason,
we usually avoid trail-style mountain bike
helmets for gravel rides.) Specialized, Giro,
POC, Lazer, and many other brands make
helmets that very nicely meet this need.
While marketed as a road lid, the Smith
Network ($180) has a few standout features,
making it a particularly intriguing choice for
gravel riding. The MIPS-equipped Network
extends lower on your occipital bone than
some other road helmets, providing extra
protection for the back of your head. The
Network also ships with an optional visor.
Unlike the visors found on mountain bike
helmets, this one is fabric and shaped like the
brim of a cycling cap to help keep rain or sun
out of your eyes. Smith offers the Network
in 17 colors, so there’s one to match every
rider’s fashion.—T.S.
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 Gravel riding happens off paved roads: It’s right there in
the name. But rougher roads mean a rougher ride. And while
wide gravel tires and gravel frames with engineered compli-
ance help smooth things out, sometimes it’s not enough.
Sometimes you need suspension. The easiest way to add
it to an existing bike (as long as the seat tube is round) is
with a suspension seatpost. It offers additional comfort to
your body, lets you stay in the saddle and keep the power
down while rolling through rougher terrain, and helps keep
you in control. However, unlike a frame with rear suspen-
sion, these benefits apply only when the rider is seated.
Suspension seatposts come in two basic types: tele-
scopic and parallelogram. The telescopic variety looks
like a traditional seatpost; a parallelogram’s links make
it much more obvious.
Increased bump sensitivity is an advantage of the
parallelogram design compared to a telescopic post, pro-
ponents claim. Plus, parallelogram posts are often easier
to maintain and adjust for a rider’s weight.
Our favorite parallelogram posts are Cane Creek’s
all-road eeSilk and gravel eeSilk+ ($220). The eeSilk+
is the longer-travel version (35mm versus the eeSilk’s
20mm). The eeSilk+ is available with an aluminum or
carbon mast. The latter saves about 50 grams but costs
$100 more, so we recommend sticking with aluminum. The
post’s listed setback is 12mm, but that number increases
when the rider sits on it.
The post stays smooth and quiet over the long term,
even when subjected to bad conditions. The action bibs with thigh pockets, as the back pockets
smooths bumps without being overly bouncy when laying become hard to use with a jersey.
down power on climbs. It’s an easy and effective way to The Velocio Utility Bib Short ($300)
improve your gravel rides with minimum fuss.—M.P. uses the brand’s signature chamois for
 Cargo bib shorts make the most sense if all-day comfort and has all the features
you prefer to ride with a T-shirt, tank top, or of a traditional bib short; it’s stretchy and
baggy trail jersey rather than a traditional lightweight while still fitting well. It does
cycling jersey, because they have pockets. everything a bib short is supposed to do,
But there is no reason you can’t pair cargo but with the addition of three pockets—one
bibs with a jersey for even more storage for on each leg and a large single pocket in the
longer gravel rides. back. The single rear pocket makes getting
There are two main pocket designs for items in and out a bit easier, compared to
cargo bibs. The most common is a pocket the more typical double-pocket design most
added to the thigh panel (somewhere above often seen on cargo bibs.
the leg gripper). Some bibs also put pock- The extra pockets in cargo bibs allow
ets on the lower back area, placing the you to distribute things differently with-
bib pockets essentially in the same spot out having to load everything into jersey
as a jersey. Some cargo bibs use only one pockets. And as someone who enjoys taking
of these pocket designs, while others will photos or videos on rides, I like having easy
include both. The rear pockets work best access to my phone. Plus, sometimes it’s
when wearing a casual top. If you ride with refreshing to forgo using a jersey and still
a traditional cycling jersey, look for cargo carry my ride essentials.—D.C.

84 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023

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Not a member? Head to bicycling.com/joinnow.
OUR
LATEST
HOT
TAKE
In the member
newsletter, Test
Editor Dan Cha-
banov argued that disc
brakes suck—but rim
brakes suck more. Lost
in the debate, however,
is something he thinks is
important: “If you’re satis-
fied with your bike and its
performance, then keep
riding it! No one is forcing
you to switch,” he writes.
“My job as a tech writer
isn’t to convince you to
buy new stuff—it’s to tell
you about the new stuff,
analyze if it works well or
not, and explain what kind
of rider may or may not
enjoy it.” To find out why
Chabanov will personally
never go back to rim
brakes, go to bicycling.
com/disc-brakes-suck.
88 BICYCLING.COM • SUMMER | 2023
THE LATEST NEWS AND OTHER HAPPENINGS FROM BICYCLING ’S ALL-ACCESS MEMBERSHIP CLUB
MORE REASON
TO GRAB A NON-
ALCOHOLIC BEER
Did you know that cycling while
under the influence is legal in more
than half of the country? While
your state might not charge you for
cycling while intoxicated, riding under
the influence isn’t safe for any cyclist.
Also, depending on the state, and the
situation, riding under the influence
can result in other criminal charges,
like reckless endangerment or public
drunkenness. Just like driving, riding
under the influence impairs your
judgment and slows your reaction
times, therefore putting you at risk
to harm yourself and others.
A STRETCH FOR POSTRIDE
You crushed today’s ride and hop off the saddle feeling strong. You know you
should probably do some stretches, but you’re strapped for time and they’re not
that essential, right? Your back may say otherwise. That’s why we love a move like
the Upper Trunk Rotation, shown here. Members can check out seven other
expert-recommended stretches at bicycling.com/back-stretch.
 Lie on left side with hips flexed to 90 right side as far as possible. Follow right
degrees, hips and knees stacked. Extend arm with eyes and head while keeping
arms straight out to the side, palms left arm grounded and legs in starting
together (1). This is the starting position. position (2). Hold for 10 seconds, then
Thomas Heng ge (stretch); Trevor Raab (beer, test items); Karen Wig gan (headshot)
Inhale, then, as you exhale, raise top return to the starting position. Repeat.
arm up toward the ceiling and over to Do 5 reps. Then switch sides.
YOU TEST IT
 Karen Wiggan of Oakland, CA, tested out Pactimo’s Summit
Aero Jersey ($149) and SL Base Layer ($74), both of which
feature a mesh honeycomb texture to help with moisture and heat
on warmer rides. “It felt dry even after rides where I did sweat quite
a bit. Other base layers and jerseys are still wet when I get home
after a warm-weather ride, [leaving] white salt rings on my jerseys.
This did not happen with the Pactimo jersey.”
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