Saying that I’m a professional cyclist is only half of the truth – It’s so much more than just racing my bike.

It’s some two-hundred days a year on the road with fifty odd races. It’s countless countries, continents and hotels. It’s living the dream, it’s imposter syndrome, and it’s oh so many of those ‘how the heck did life lead me here’ moments.

It’s suffering through training sessions when nobody is watching. It’s racing 200-miles of gravel in Kansas one week, and a fast-and furious crit in downtown Vancouver the next.

It’s being a writer, it’s managing an international cycling team, and effectively building my own little start up.

My name is Joe Laverick and for me professional cycling was an accidental dream that I’ve managed to turn into my own version of reality.

At the end of 2022, I was like a deer in headlights. I was stuck, paralysed. I didn’t know what to do.

I’d spent the previous four years chasing the pro-cycling dream. I’d come close, I’d raced for some of the best development teams in the world. But, when push came to shove – I wasn’t quite good enough to upgrade it to a pro contract.

I could point blame to the catalogue of injuries I suffered during my development years, I could claim a lack of opportunity, hell, I can blame the global pandemic shutting down racing during my most important years. But, none of those tell the full story. I’m a bloody good bike racer, I just wasn’t quite good enough.

It’s a cold December night in Girona, Catalonia in 2022. I’m discussing with some close friends about what happens next.

“I know what I don’t want to do, but I have no idea what I want to do.” I tell them.

It was time to pivot.

Gravel. It’s the darling of the US cycling scene, and the fastest growing discipline in cycling.

Gravel is different. It allows riders to act as ‘privateers’, which effectively means running a one-man cycling team. From sponsor management, to calendar planning, racing, finances and everything in between. Being a gravel pro is an awful lot more than pedalling fast.

My calendar this year led me to four months in Northern America. From sleepy towns in Oklahoma and Texas, to racing downtown Vancouver and in the Californian mountains.

It has been the ultimate American road trip.

I’ve juggled bikes, I’ve juggled flights.

I travel with three bikes when I’m on the road: Gravel, Road and Time-Trial.

While the main focus of my calendar is on the gravel roads, I still race on the road. Road is my first love, there’s no getting away from that. Trying to juggle three bikes in and out of rental cars, and onto countless flights is an expensive pain.

You pick up some niche skills, I must be one of the fastest bike-bag packers in the world, and navigating an airport by myself with three bike-bags and a suitcase is child’s play.

Given the travel and the style of racing, my bikes get abused. A scratch here, or a paint chip there. I’m biased, but I have some of the prettiest looking bikes in the world, our paintjobs are out of this world.

invisiFRAME, is my secret weapon. So if, when, I crash in a race, my bike doesn’t show the mark. If, when, the airport luggage handlers are a little too violent, my bright paintjob remains intact.