A big grin makes people suspicious – at least when there is no obvious reason for it. In a world obsessed with efficiency, joy often seems to need a result to validate it. It’s almost as if a good feeling requires a technical data sheet. And yet we constantly feel the need to explain why we ride. Why this bike? Why these wheels? Why 200 kilometres on a Sunday? Why an Aperol instead of a protein shake?
Particularly in the performance segment, from road racing to gravel racing, the tech can sometimes smother the very thing that got us on a bike in the first place: the simple act of riding. We debate tire widths as if they were matters of faith, and dissect aero figures like stock market charts. Do not get us wrong: We love technology, innovation and fast bikes. In this issue, we put the most exciting aero race bikes through their paces in a proper group test, and yes; it is brilliant. But does the kit really make us better riders? Or is it often about the feeling of riding what the pros ride, and looking outrageously fast while doing so? That is perfectly fine, as long as we are honest with ourselves. Sometimes, less analysis means more experience.
For many of us, cycling is an escape. But what exactly are we escaping from? To clear our heads, as the saying goes? From stress. From expectations. From pressure to perform. From being constantly available. Sometimes even from ourselves. The bike becomes therapy. A pause button. A reset.
Here is the irony: even in escape mode, we bring the same old patterns with us. Optimisation. Performance anxiety. Social pressure. The ride turns into a training session. Freedom becomes a metric. The escape becomes the next performance review.
We plan bikepacking trips like military operations, and simulate routes down to the smallest detail. But are we preparing for the ride, or are we just postponing the real adventure through endless planning?
Six hot aero machines in our group test. Do these cutting-edge bikes really make you a better rider, or does the experience still matter most in the end?
Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is simply get out and go. Just ride. Without explaining yourself. Without justifying anything. Freedom means no longer needing to be understood. The moment you stop trying to explain yourself, everything feels lighter. Let everyone else overthink it.
Gravel set out to bring back simple riding. Fewer rules, more feeling. Now it has its own subcategories, performance pressure and pro attitudes. That’s not a bad thing in itself – there’s room for both all-out competition and total nonchalance. What matters is that the original spirit does not get lost along the way.
Maybe we need to relearn to forget about getting better, at least for a while. Just ride. Not for numbers, not for proof, and certainly not for social media. But for that one moment when the tires hum over the surface, you feel the effort burning in your lungs, and everything in your head suddenly goes quiet.
Cycling is not a business plan and not a performance report. It is the purest form of movement. And that movement is its own reward.
Unconditional.
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Words: Robin Schmitt Photos: Jan Fock, Calvin Zajac