Privateer Realities: I’m Overwhelmed
February is always busy.
If January felt like two years, February has been two minutes.
In six days, I fly to the US. It’s up to Utah for a camp with ENVE, then flying across to Oklahoma for the opening weekend of gravel, Mid South Gravel. Then Rattlesnake Gravel, before hopping back on the road with Redlands and Levi’s.
Race season is just about here. This article is a bit more of a diary entry meets brain dump than a solid journalistic piece.
Hi, my name is Joe Laverick and since we’ve had a recent influx of readers here, I thought I’d reintroduce myself.
I’m a 24-year-old bike racer from Grimsby, England and have spent the last four years living in Girona, Spain. I’m a roadie at heart, but I’m currently racing both road and gravel in the ‘privateer’ model - effectively finding my own partners and choosing my race calendar.
Whether I’m better known for my racing or writing, that’s for you to decide.
February Fever
Every February there is something that comes up, and the to-do list that you thought was already done rears its head.
I’ll be honest, every February there are multiple times when I go ‘damn, I miss the road’. I do miss the road sometimes, I miss the camaraderie and the simple challenge of being able to focus on being the best athlete possible - oh and the steadier pay cheque too. That being said, the grass is always greener and while my current set-up is a lot more difficult, it’s also an awful lot more rewarding.
It is the time of year when you realise what you haven’t done. I’ve had an invoice sitting in my email for about two months to pay for my race insurance, and that needs paying. I need to finalise the final kit order of the year, my new bike needs a different fit of power meter, I need to start making travel plans for Unbound in June(!), there’s cash flow to figure out, sponsor announcements and so on.
On top of all that, I’m still trying to train, work, write, and be a good boyfriend to the long-suffering Maggie.
I’m not complaining, as I do love the carnage, but there are times I’m tapping away at my laptop, look up at my three World Tour housemates and think ‘damn, you guys have it nice.’
Performance Anxiety
I don’t know where this fits into this article structurally, but February always brings performance anxiety too. Has my winter training been good enough? Will I be on form come race day? What are my power numbers like? Realistically, everything is going to be good, that doesn’t stop good old stress though.
What do I do for a living?
I often get asked what I do for a living. I do not make a full salary from racing, and I freelance as my main income. In the past, this has either been both public-facing, take a Rouleur, CyclingWeekly, or Cyclist article for example. Then, I also work on the brand side of things too.
I recently decided to double down on this Substack. That means consistently putting out two articles per week. No excuses that I got busy or anything like that.
Crazily, there has been a big uptake in subscribers recently and we’re almost at 1,500 of you in the ‘community’. Every article has between 1,500-2,000 of you reading, and some months I tick over 20,000 monthly readers. To some of you, those numbers are minuscule, to me they blow my mind. That’s a small League 2 football stadium reading my work…
The perk of writing on Substack is that I can write about whatever I want, whenever I want. The things you read here are the stories that I want to tell. I don’t have to pitch to the editor or be told what to write. The downside of writing here is, well, it doesn’t pay.
You see, every freelance commission or piece of brand copy that I write has a fee which I can invoice for. Here, that doesn’t happen of course. Trying to figure out exactly how to monetise this Substack has been a source of many training hour thinking sessions these past weeks. I have a good idea, but it needs refinement. More on that soon.
It’s very much going to be trial and error. I want to keep this as open as possible. Some articles will go behind a paywall, and I’ll be experimenting with partnerships—but I promise to keep it worth your time. I hope you’ll stick with me as I inevitably get a couple of things wrong.
Any money I make through Substack will be reinvested into the content. I’ll be spending it on being able to write more and flying Dan to more races. I’m not trying to become a millionaire off it - thought that would be nice.
Conclusion
I don’t want this piece to seem like a whine. It’s my choice to race bikes and my choice to be a freelance writer. I get to spend my days riding my bike on the world’s most beautiful roads and travelling to some amazing places. The downside, is I don’t have as solid a pay cheque as I might do otherwise. The upside, well, I get to live my dream
I thrive off taking risks. Yes, I still need to do some freelance client work to pay the rent, so if anybody has that, then please do shout. Equally, if anybody wants to trial partnership this Substack then I have a model that I’m trialling out behind the scenes.
I’ve got a big week of training to come, including riding my favourite big loop in Girona tomorrow. Then, it’s time to pack for take-off. The US is calling my name. A big year ahead, and like everything else, it’s a gamble. But then again, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My next two articles will be: New Bike Day and My American Bet. If there’s anything specifically you want me to cover, just shout me via email
Finally, thank you. Thank you for reading this. Thank you for putting in your email and subscribing to this Substack.
Joe
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
Project TAG, proudly partnering (for my athletic, influencing and maybe pee location ability) with…
Hey, Joe. You referenced looking at your World Tour housemates with envy. I’d love a post about how they look at you. Not just your roomies, but WT pros in general. Do you get a sense of respect and admiration from them, or do they regard you as, well, “lesser”? Others on the gravel/privateering scene have WT bona fides - Boswell, King, Stetina, ten Dam, Howes, Valverde, etc. Do they get different treatment/respect? Thanks!