{"id":33906,"date":"2018-05-30T12:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T19:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=33906"},"modified":"2020-05-22T12:59:51","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T19:59:51","slug":"how-van-life-gives-this-national-champion-an-edge-over-the-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/how-van-life-gives-this-national-champion-an-edge-over-the-competition","title":{"rendered":"How Van Life Gives This National Champion an Edge Over the Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

The USA Cycling Marathon Mountain Bike National Championships go down every year on a rugged course just shy of 50 miles that loops through rural Arkansas. Last year, everything came together perfectly for Payson McElveen, a 25-year-old racer, to take the win in a sprint across the finish line, beating his friend and competitor, Howard Grotts, by less than a second. <\/span><\/p>\n

In early May, I caught up with McElveen at his home in Durango, Colorado, where he was packing up to defend his title in Arkansas. The course would be the same, and so would his top competitor. But this year, McElveen would be driving to the race in his van, a 2017 Ford Transit that he spent two months customizing for mountain bike racing over the winter. And Grotts would be riding shotgun.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mountain bike racing is often perceived as unapproachable\u2014grueling and demanding\u2014and frankly, it is those things. But beyond the hard work, McElveen\u2019s journey as a mountain bike racer has also been about having a good time and enjoying the moments between races. Sure, #VanLife is totally Instagram circa 2017. And yes, McElveen started an Instagram account for his van (@bikeandvan<\/a>). But he didn\u2019t get his Ford Transit purely for social media exposure. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe van is the vehicle of discovery,\u201d says Jason Sager, a former professional mountain bike racer who coached McElveen in his first years of racing. Now, Sager customizes vans for a living with his company, Van Life Designs, and he helped McElveen build his van. \u201cThe bike race is a reason to go somewhere. The van gives him a home, and a reason for everyone to come and talk to him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo Credit: Monika Leopold<\/p><\/div>\n

Well into race season, the van has become McElveen\u2019s very own race headquarters. He\u2019s at the starting line early, with all his gear and bikes close by and conveniently organized. He can cook his own meals and sleep in his own bed, while also saving money he would have otherwise spent on restaurants and hotels. After the race, he can take a shower in the van\u2019s \u201cgarage\u201d (the back of the vehicle, where the bikes are stored) and decompress at the finish line while hanging out with other competitors and meeting spectators. On the road, the van feeds his wanderlust.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI spent years flying to races,\u201d says McElveen, who has competed since 2007 in competitions across the United States and beyond, in places like Mongolia and Argentina. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy how you never even see where you are … You look out the window and you see the Grand Canyon, or I\u2019ll fly over the Mojave Desert and it will look amazing from the plane. You\u2019re like, \u2018I want to go there.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When McElveen was a teenager in high school in Austin, Texas, his dad drove him to races in a 1987 Volkswagen Westfalia. \u201cWe\u2019d load up, right after school on a Friday and drive, sometimes late into the night because Texas is huge,\u201d says McElveen. \u201cWe\u2019d go to the state series race, sleep in the Westfalia, wake up the next morning and, I mean, it was van life before van life was hip.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, a few years ago, while parked in front of a grocery store, his dad\u2019s VW randomly caught fire and burned to the pavement. When McElveen bought his new Ford Transit, he drove it down to Austin, where his dad taught him the skills he needed, like carpentry, wiring and plumbing, to build out the inside.<\/span><\/p>\n

The internet is chock-full of plans, designs and DIY tips for customizing your very own digs-on-wheels. But McElveen\u2019s needs were specific to mountain biking and racing\u2014and bikes aren\u2019t exactly compact. He had to be smart with design and conservative with space. He also says that most of the van life blogs tend to glorify the experience and use fish-eye lenses to make the space look bigger than it actually is. In reality, it\u2019s a lot of work, says McElveen.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A post shared by bike&van (@bikeandvan)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n