With training and races and looking at a clock accounting for the most of his year, when Payson McElveen has some time to go for an adventure on his bike, he goes big.
“I’m living my childhood dream getting to race full time,” he said. “It’s an incredible opportunity, but there are trade-offs. There’s a lot of pressure involved. By nature, racing is getting the ride done as fast as possible.”
At the Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB last week, for instance, McElveen not only had to race his bike 105 miles, but he also had sponsor obligations, had to do some course recon and stick with a nutrition plan to perform at his best. He finished 10th this year out of more than 1,750 cyclists.
“It’s three days of intense structure,” he said. “Racing is an awesome way to experience a bike, but there are so many ways.”
McElveen previously rode his bike 260 miles across Iceland. Then he started looking for islands and routes to pedal across.
In November, he headed to Australia’s least populous state, the island of Tasmania.
McElveen raced in Australia during the 2016 cross-country world championships. He didn’t get to see a lot of the area, but said what he experienced made him want to return.
“I had a rough race, but I went for a ride after the race and it blew my mind,” he said. “I knew I wanted to get back there.”
McElveen initially had more of a north-south route planned, but after meeting with local bikepacker Emma Flukes, he turned his route into a “best-of” Tasmania that would traverse 360 miles from island’s west coast to its east coast, finishing with 50 miles of singletrack.
“Tasmania was about embracing all of the different ways to enjoy a bike,” he said. “The bike is an amazing excuse to see the world, and it’s a good speed to see it at.”
Unlike Iceland, McElveen was all by himself, besides an abundance of wildlife, for hours and hours at a time in Tasmania. The only clock that concerned him was a store’s closing time 205 miles into his route where he planned a restock. (He just made it.)
McElveen began the self-supported bike ride just after 6:30 a.m.
Ever the racer, however, he soon found himself in a tug-of-war with himself when he noticed how fast he was moving early on.
“For a little bit I played with the idea of doing it in a day,” he said. “Mathematically, it was possible.”
The terrain along the way, however, forced him to reevaluate his plan and enjoy the ride a little more.
“The route was harder than I expected,” McElveen said. “The terrain was so rugged. There was a lot of hiking, but when you really push yourself physically, you open yourself to becoming one with the place.”
The route averaged about 1,000 feet of climbing every 10 miles, and in some places the route had been reclaimed by nature.
“It’s unlike anywhere I’ve been; it was really incredible,” he said. “Tasmania is awesome, but even Australians forget about it. There are no land masses to its south or west, it’s hanging out there.”
Tasmania is about the size of Wisconsin, but is a subtropical rainforest with wallabies and kangaroos and Tasmanian Devils running wild.
With all of the animals coming out at night, McElveen mostly avoided his aerobars because they don’t have brake levers, but it still went fast.
“The night just flew by,” he said. “On a lot of these rides the night can be scarier, but it was a nonstop wildlife show.”
He then said he spent about eight to 10 hours where it felt like he was in a parallel universe.
“The combination of that head space with sleep deprivation and nonstop effort – they came together and created some unique head spaces,” he said. “I was definitely brought to tears a few times. Not in a negative way.”
McElveen eventually finished the coast-to-coast trek and reached the Bay of Fires in 32 hours and 40 minutes.
While many of the his rides are done solo, he wanted to share Tasmania with the world and created a movie about the experience.
The short film, Crossing Tasmania, was produced by Stachehouse Productions and is available free at https://tinyurl.com/3xh6j8a3.
He also has a list of about 15 other places he’d like to ride across, while not chasing fastest-known-times.
“At this point in my life, testing myself against my own capabilities is the coolest thing I get to do,” McElveen said. “It’s a bigger highlight than winning any race. I’m very grateful for good results, but these one-off adventures feel like life highlights.”
