Journal | Hunt Bike Wheels

You may have seen Dylan on the road in the summer, but it's 'cross time now and he can be found at the National Trophy rounds all over the country, fighting shoulder to shoulder with the best young riders in the country. Here's his report of the U16 race of Round 2 at the Westmorland Showground.

"For someone who does cyclocross for enjoyment, fun and some mud, the National Trophy Round 2 was not my piece of cake. After taking a few sighting laps over the roller coaster course, I had decided firmly that my race objective was to survive and not break any bones."

What a race, what a trip. We headed up early on Saturday for the 8 hour drive to Glasgow, full of quiet optimism. The reason? We knew after his 2nd place at Milnthorpe a fortnight ago, Gosse had the bit between his teeth and had spent the two weeks training (really) hard for this. We had Dan of Breakaway Digital in tow for photography, as well as Matt of Mason Cycles (one of the finest mechanics in the game) - massive thanks to both of those guys for their time & serious morale-boosting abilities.

In a recent video on Gosse's life balancing studies & pro riding, made by Voxweb (University of Radbound's independent magazine/publication),  he signed off by saying he was "the happiest man in the world". We quoted him on this, challenging that around 2 hours before the race, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who would define Gosse as even remotely chirpy. True to form, within a few hours of the race start, the mood was a little off....

What motivates someone to ride 1065 km from Copenhagen to Salzburg? Love. When my girlfriend had the opportunity to work in Salzburg for six months I knew I would come and visit her multiple times – and I had to do the +1000 km trip by bike from Copenhagen once.

I knew it would be long and I knew I wanted to do it fast. Just me, the bike, a sleeping bag and a mat. I had done a 1700 km bikepacking trip before from Copenhagen to Bergen but that was done over a leisurous 15 days. This time I wanted to do it in under 72 hours...

"My season hasn't gone too badly all be it a broken leg 6 weeks ago... I secured UCI points early on in January back home in New Zealand, and was just starting to come into form for these upcoming European races on the calendar. A forced break for 2 weeks for my leg to heal enough for myself to start riding on the trainer again, so that I can be back racing as soon as possible. 

Morale in the team is definitely high, and that shows out on the road. We all are out for individual success but find success comes from winning races as a team. We all know our time will come when Tim will tap us on the shoulder and say, "we are riding for you today". We all bounce off each other and have a lot of good times on and off the bike which makes riding so much easier."

Lloyd Berry did the Dirty Kanza 200 and he did it on his 30 Carbon Gravel Disc wheels!

"We didn’t come all this way for you not to finish!" … the words of  'Butt & Sun Cream Enforcer',  as I collapsed in a heap in the shade, wrapped in an iced towel, forcing cold Coke down my throat.