LOST IN SPACE

After jetting to Namibia for a gravel race, Joe Laverick stays on for a tour- and finds himself in a land of perspective-shifting immensity

- By Joe Laverick

The gravel road is empty, spooling towards the horizon as far as I can see. The air is the driest I've breathed, the sun is hot and the altitude high. We're still in winter, they claim, not yet spring - how can it be? Racing through the emptiness, my heart rate stays annoyingly high, my power annoyingly low. I've not had enough time to adapt to the conditions since landing, and I'm on the backfoot. My body is on autopilot, going through the motions to get to the finish line.

I'm in Namibia, in southwest Africa, taking part in the UCI Gravel World Series. The race situation - struggling, hanging on - is familiar, but the setting is unlike anything I've seen before. While my legs are churning around near-automatically, my eyes are continually distracted by wildlife: baboons, oryx and springboks. It's like riding through a David Attenborough documentary. After nearly five hours of torrid racing, I cross the line in sixth place, 18 minutes adrift of the winner, Namibia's reigning national road race champion Alex Miller.

How I ended up here owes much to my change in cycling mindset three years ago. When it became clear I wasn't going to accomplish my dream of turning pro while still in the U23 ranks, I promised myself I'd continue racing - by saying yes to every opportunity. If I wasn't going to race the Tour de France, I was at least going to travel the world and race everywhere else. So, when the prospect of Namibia was put to me, there was only one possible answer. On paper, it was a race, but more importantly it was a week-long adventure. I'd never been to Africa, and this was as good an excuse as any.

A thrilling vastness