After chasing podiums in triathlons and road races for almost four decades, Donovan van Gelder is shifting his focus to the growing discipline of Gravel racing. He’s going into it with optimism and an eagerness to learn. He’s going to be writing about this experience for TREAD Media, so we figured we’d get him to explain more about why. Why Gravel racing?
By Donovan van Gelder
I have been racing bicycles, either in triathlon or road races since 1986. After all this time, I have never lost the joy of riding my bikes or the exhilaration I feel in competition or simply just achieving something that was hard. Now in my early fifties, I find myself experiencing a bit of a mid-life crisis. I am in a position where I have raced pretty much every triathlon and bike race in South Africa multiple times, and I am never going to be as fast as I was.
I find myself looking for new challenges but I don’t want to have to completely learn a new thing. I am still a decent athlete and I would like to use the skills and physical condition that I have developed over the last 37 years, but in a way that feels new. So, unlike some 50-year-olds experiencing a mid-life crisis, I am not heading out to buy a sportscar. Instead, I am looking at Gravel bikes.
I tried mountain biking when I was still racing at an elite level but the skills were hard to learn for someone who has only ever ridden on the tar. Unlike my friends at school who had BMXs, my first bike was a racer with drop handlebars. So, the skills that I prided myself on, like being able to hold position in a fast moving bunch or descend tight hairpins off a mountain pass, did not translate to gnarly rock-gardens or singletrack switchbacks.
I was still trying to win races back then and became frustrated and disillusioned with MTB, as much as I did love being out in the bush on my bike. I am hoping (expecting) Gravel to be more like road riding but out in the country on unpaved roads where the skills and physical conditioning that have been an asset on the road, will translate.
Still dwelling on the competitive side of my nature, I have definitely found that my strengths and weaknesses on the bike have changed as I have aged. I am less able to make very hard, short efforts up above my threshold. An effort that is an essential part of racing on the road and, as I found, also on the MTB. Gravel racing Is much more about endurance and being able to hold a steady effort for long periods of time, which is definitely something that I have become better at than my 30-year-old self.
Now that I have reached my middle-age, my priorities have also changed. Yes, I love to ride and race bikes but I also like to spend time away with my wife and daughter. Combining the two is the goal. Gravel races by their nature are held out in the beautiful countryside, often in places that we have never visited before. I am looking forward to weekends away with my girls with a bit of a bike race thrown in. In fact, when we have headed into the country for a weekend away, I have often thought how nice it would be to have a bike where I could head out for an early training ride on the dirt roads that abound in the areas we like to spend time in. So, even without an event, some gravel riding will combine perfectly with these getaways.
Being a father and a husband comes with responsibilities. I have become more and more conscious of the risks involved with training on our busy roads. As a result I spend my weekday training time indoors on Zwift but being able to head out on the countless, quiet gravel and dirt roads that still intersect my well-trodden training roads will give me some nice, safe alternatives for when I do head out the door on the weekends.
Gravel is something new but I can already see that it is growing rapidly in South Africa. We still have so many amazing places to ride our bikes that roadies like myself have not had the ability to utilise. Gravel is something new yes, but not something that requires this ‘old dog’ to learn completely new tricks. To say I am excited would be a major understatement. It is a feeling very similar to the one I remember as a 15-year-old, contemplating my first road race.
Based in KwaZulu-Natal, Donovan secured his first road race overall win in 1990 and his most recent overall road race win in 2021. He has won numerous Age-group provincial and national road racing titles. He also has won Elite and Age-group national titles for triathlon and duathlon and has national colours for both.
