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| Mike Briggs photo |
Bike racing, training, and living the vanlife with your valentine
Husband and wife who ride, train, race, and travel together
How the Nankmans make it work
There are many other couples out there who ride together; but do they really spend almost every training session together, go to all the same competitions and at times even race together, all the while doing this while living out of a van? Training together six days a week. Racing with each other as a duo. Competing as individual solo racers but still riding with each other. Staying in a van, along with our dog Clifford, while training and racing. That's a lot of time together. It may not always be perfect but in the end we enjoy it, making wonderful memories along the way. It's how we want our relationship to be. Cycling is how we met, it's something that is important to each of us and brought us together. Here is how we do it all as a team.
Training
Joël and I train six days a week. Mostly cycling, there is also some strength training and during the off season in winter we do some running and hiking. We train together five days a week; one day a week we each commute by bike and thus due to location of our workplaces we ride on our own (although that may change when Joël's workplace moves to the same city I work in, we may also commute together). That's a guaranteed four days a week training together, sometimes working out both before and after work.
If we would each ride on our own, Joël and I certainly don't always ride the same speed. We also wouldn't always have the same goal or plan for each workout. In addition, sometimes one person is having a great day while the other is having a terrible days. So with different paces, goals, and energy levels on any given day how do we figure all this out and make sure we end each training session with smile on our faces and make sure we got something out of it? |
| DirtRag photo |
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| AE Landis photo |
Racing as a duo
Duo racing means having to be together the entire race. Some races denote a specific time; i.e. within five minutes of each other at every checkpoint. But when we compete as duo we stay right with each other for the duration of the ride. We have done the Trans-Sylvania Epic stage race numerous times as a duo, once winning the co-ed duo division, racing for numerous hours together every day for up to seven days in a row. We have competed in all day endurance events racing as a duo.
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| AE Landis |
In racing situations, emotions can run high. We each want to do the best we can. This can result in the occasional heated discussion, OK disagreement, OK honestly an argument, about things. Maybe it's the pace, maybe it's the effort, maybe it's about who we are behind or are trying to stay in front of. Maybe one of us is having a bad moment. We just figure out how to get through it and ride on. Racing is stressful when done alone, even more stressful when done together. We each have our moments, figure out how to get through them, and concentrate on racing. How do we finish our duo races? With a kiss across the finish line. Finishing with a kiss makes everything better and puts a smile on our faces no matter what happened out there on the course.Racing solo; but sometimes together
Long endurance races are our thing. 24, 12, six hour races are what Joël and I concentrate on. These races are typically numerous laps; riders doing lap, after lap, after lap. Faster riders will eventually lap others who are not as fast as them. This means eventually Joël will catch up to me while lapping me. When this happens we often ride together. Sometimes just for a few minutes, sometimes for the rest of the race. It just really depends on where Joël is during his race. If he is in a position where he can slow down he will ride longer with me. If he needs to keep pace to keep his position then it is a quick hello and on he goes.The most memorable time that we have ridden together as solo riders was the Once and Done 24 hour race. We rode together for 18 hours. It was a tough course, a lonely race, and quite creepy out there on the singletrack when alone during the night laps. Since both Joël and I had ample leads in the mens and womens solo field we decided to ride the remainder of the race together. What better company to have than the one you train with all the time, the one who knows how to get you through the difficult times, and the one you love. Together we chit chatted, sang songs, walked when the going got tough, and each had our grumpy moments. Who wouldn't after that much time on the bike. And how did we end this race; with a kiss across the finish line. 18 dirty, sweaty, tiring, sometimes unhappy hours together and it ends in a kiss.
Vanlife
Traveling to races, training away from home, and cycling vacations are all spent living out of our van. It's the typical creeper-type work van that has been converted into a camper van. Space is tight. Packing is a challenge. Meals are cooked outside on a campstove. Showers are via a water system mounted on the back of the van or a solar-heated sun shower. There is no toilet; rest stops and the forest are what we use. There is a loft for sleeping along with shelves and cabinets for storage. Our dog Clifford goes on all these adventures with us and thus has his own special sleeping spot. We do have some luxury items like an awning on the side and a small propane heater.
The vanlife makes things convenient; easy to travel to races, easy for vacation in rural locations. But it does have it's challenges. It gets tight in there with our bikes and all our gear. Meal planning, clothing choices, and route planning often start weeks in advance; especially when we are traveling far distances to a big race, like when traveling from PA to AZ for 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. Things don't always go as planned, the rest stop we planned for sleeping is too noisy, the Walmart parking lot is too bright, or we get kicked out of the park we tried to sneak into overnight. The weather doesn't always cooperate with outside cooking and eating; it can be interesting to cook outside when it's well below freezing or raining. When it's cold outside it's cold in the van, which can make sleeping and getting dressed in the evening/morning a challenge.We have spent as long as two weeks together in this van. That's a lot of time together in close quarters, traveling, riding, cooking, determining plans for the day. As seems to be the theme, communication is key. We decide first thing in the morning where we are going, what our meals plans are, and what will be our other plans for the day like riding, hiking, attractions. As always what we are doing with Clifford is top priority. What else gets us through these trips smoothly is audio books. We never have to worry about disagreeing about what is on the radio.
So what does all of this really all come down to? The Nankmans get to do what they love with the person they love; with the dog they love along with them. Bikes, traveling, racing all done together. How wonderful is that. We wouldn't want it any other way.
- Jess and Joël
- photo credit Mike Briggs, AE Landis (Firespire Photography), and the Nankmans