Rob Britton on the benefits of riding far
In early August, as road racing was getting underway in Europe, Rob Britton was in Victoria about to head out on a 160-km ride to Salt Spring Island to explore some of its northern corners. The rider on Rally Cycling thought the covid-19 infection rate was trending in the wrong direction in France and other countries holding uci events, so he had opted to stay close to home. But close to home for Britton can mean riding almost 160 km away from Victoria before looping back.
Before the pandemic, Britton’s rides had been getting quite long. In 2018, he rode from Calgary, where he lived at the time, to Port Renfrew, B.C. The bikepacking trip, his first, seemed to prepare him well for supporting Michael Woods at road world championships that year. In late 2019, he toured Japan by bike. Things had scaled back a bit this year, but Britton still did his longest gravel ride ever, more than 300 km, in May.
Before the ride to Salt Spring Island, Britton spoke about the benefits of big outings on the bike. “It’s pretty easy, with the way the world is now, to get overwhelmed. But having an escape from your day-to-day stresses is good. Sure enough, that stuff will be waiting for you when you get back. I know when I get back from trips, as fatiguing as they are, I usually come back refreshed.”
“Anybody can do it,” he added. “You don’t necessarily need to travel around the world. And fitness isn’t that big of a factor. You don’t have to ride super far to have your own adventure. It’s an amazing way to see your own backyard.”— MP