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Cécile is a pro gravel racer from France who switched to the off-road disciplines after a few years of racing in the pro peloton on the road. She lives in Tucson, AZ, loves the post ride coffee stops and winding down with a good book.

This year, I’ve been racing the Life Time Grand Prix, the premier gravel and mountain bike race series in the US, against some of the best riders in the country. In order to compete at that level, I’ve been putting in the hours on the bike, week after week, following a rigorous training schedule. The repetition becomes your best friend, and I find I get the most efficient training by staying on a select set of roads and trail systems here in Tucson, where I live. That sounds awfully boring, you must think, and it is at times. But I’ve found ways to introduce adventure and joy within these repeated days of training. 

The joy of being present

The nature of training for high performance demands that the athlete stop as little as possible, to stay in the required zones, and go straight home to put the legs up, food in, and eyes shut. This is a process I enjoy very much, but it can sap some of the adventure out of the day, truly turning bike strolls into training slogs. From time to time, I try to turn my bike computer on battery saving mode, to not stare at the numbers on there, and look ahead and around me. A few years back, I heard on a podcast a good way to remain in the present: every second, notice something through different senses. I’m hearing the wind. I’m feeling the soles of my shoes. I can see the trees around me. I’m feeling my breath ebbing and flowing through my mouth. This is a great way to refocus and to find joy in simply being present. 

The mini adventure

There are weeks when I only focus on training and allocate very little energy, if any, to adventuring while riding. During those weeks, I try to add extra mini bike adventures at times when I am not training. It may be riding out for 10 minutes to see the sunset, or the bats coming out from their bridge. It could be riding to run errands, and stopping to look at something on the way. It could be meeting up with a friend, or going to work at a new coffee shop. 

The new route adventure

I’ve recently started mountain biking, and living in Tucson is a real treat for this discipline. We have great trail systems, and there is not one that I have ridden in its entirety yet. Choosing a new trail to explore is exciting to me, it brings me out of my comfort zone of knowing and predicting the next turns, and makes me look around so much more. I love riding with different people who take different turns from the ones I do, and who show me the secret lines or shortcuts to move around. 

The future adventure

While I cannot plan crazy fun trips throughout the season, I love thinking of the ones I will go on once it ends. Planning is half the fun, and is a way to soothe the adventure itch when we are tethered to our everyday duties. Pouring over maps, planning dates, perfecting itineraries, is so much fun to do. Whether you are planning a big one-day ride, a bikepacking or backpacking trip, a bike trip in a new place, thinking of what’s next keeps the spark alive.

The one-day big dumb rides

If you want to soothe your need for the outdoors and the unknown, but have a training or life schedule that doesn’t allow you to do so over several days, try out the one-day big dumb ride (ODBDR). Grab a few friends, or fly solo, and map out a ride to some outlandish territory nearby, to explore somewhere new. Go even further by riding out to a point and having someone pick you up at the end (a luxury, for sure). Or vice-versa, drive out (or be driven out) somewhere and see if you can make it home before dark. I love to bring snacks I don’t usually eat on these rides, perhaps frowned upon by sports nutritionists, and forget about the watts on these days: ODBDRs are for letting the soul catch up to the body.