How NOT to race gravel

I crashed twice.

Fortunately, I am experienced enough to know when to ignore my own advice.

This weekend was a 101 on how to be a bit of a donkey. I crashed twice in two days. Both slightly stupid, both very explainable. I’m 100% fine. My ego? Now that thing is in tatters.

1. Never EVER try new equipment on race day

I have the best equipment package of my career. There is no debating that. The frame, the groupset, the wheels, the tyres, everything is bloody good.

My new bike

My ‘pro tip’ to any new racer is simple: never try something new on race day.

I didn’t just try one or two new pieces of equipment, I tried a whole new bike. The position is different, the brake modulation is different, everything felt amazing in the 30km recon ride I did on Friday, then at race speed, it was all new.

Still, I was feeling good, really good. Maybe so good that confidence became arrogance.

You need to push equipment out to find its limits. Normally, that’s something I’d do in training; the past two days, I learned not to do it in racing.

2. It can happen to the best of us

Hey, even Lewis Hamilton, the GOAT of Formula One, crashed during his first weekend testing new equipment.

To quote directly:

Ferrari are not believed to be concerned and consider the ‘off’ part and parcel of a driver getting up to speed with a new team and exploring the limits of his new machinery.

Perfect. Thanks Lewis.

3. Don’t take yourself too seriously

I was seething both times I crashed. Ironically, when I crashed on the second day, it was the most confident I’d ever been on a descent in gravel. I entered in a good position and then, along with one other, proceeded to drop our chase group and catch a couple of stragglers from the lead group.

It was a happy change to be on the front foot on a descent and not on the defence.

Then, I slid out. It’s amazing how quickly confidence can flip on its head. I went from feeling like I was bossing it to feeling like a donkey. If I was at any other race that would’ve been bad, at my home race with all my mates coming past me, that was stupid.

I’m going to have to own this one. Last year, I had kudos after my ride in the prologue. This year, I’m known as the guy who crashed both days. I will keep my head low in Girona cafes the coming days.

I’ll dust myself off, lose a little bit of sleep about being an idiot and go again.

4. Hold your handlebars

This goes without saying, but it’s something I forgot to do yesterday. If you hold onto your handlebars, then you’re on the bike.

5. Turn it into a story

Spent a lot of time picking my bike up this weekend

If I’d have finished in the Top 10 on the stage, I would’ve written a Substack and told how happy I was with the results. But that’s not a story, hey?

Instead, I can now write a Substack about how silly I am for crashing, and you can smile to yourself over a coffee and go ‘that bloody Laverick, he’s a terror riding off-road.’

That’s it, I purposely crashed for the story when I realised I wasn’t going to win. Right? Right.

I didn’t win. Hell, even after I crashed on stage two, I rode back to Girona, had a coffee and then went out training on the road. BUT, alongside the main man Dan Hutchinson, we did get plenty of content from the weekend.

Aren’t gravel riders just influencers?

6. Confidence

Considering I had a 100% failure rate and crashed both days, ironically, I’m taking confidence. I was riding well, descending good (until I wasn’t), and the new equipment feels insane. For the time of year, I’m happy with where I’m at.

Now, I need to take the bike out and learn its limits without crashing.

My friend Ronan McLaughlin, who also crashed this weekend, introduced me to the Dunning-Kruger Effect this weekend. I like it.

7. Sport is an emotional rollercoaster

When racing is going well, you feel like the King of the World and are unstoppable. There is nothing better than being the one who does the pushing. However, when you’re feeling slightly off or on the back foot, you want the world to swallow you up.

Racing is brutal, and when things go wrong, you realise that very few people care. That sounds harsh, but it’s something I take solace in. When everything is blowing up around you, take a step back and have some perspective - it was a non-competitive bicycle outing anyway. ;)

8. Have a dog at the finish line

Win or lose, having a dog at the finish line will always make you happier.

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I want to thank everyone who put up with my attitude immediately after both crashes. Mr Murchison for ribbing me to death, Alex Welburn for talking sense and Jon Twigg for giving perspective. And Maggie, sorry that I’m a pain.

If anyone reading has contacts at Shimano, please hit me up, I scratched my nice new groupset, and maybe they can send some stabilisers too.

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While you’re here…

I’ve added a paid subscription and a ‘Buy Me A Coffee’ link to this post. As the year progresses, I’m planning on building this blog and putting out articles which I’ve always wanted to write but for whatever reason, haven’t wanted to pitch.

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/joelaverick

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Project TAG, proudly partnering (for my athletic, influencing and maybe pee location ability) with…

• Pullwood Consulting

• ENVE Composites

• Castelli Cycling

• Panaracer Tyres

• Rudy Project