Sarah Diekmeyer: Gravel First, Adventure Always

Flow state, fragile bodies, and the hard education of Badlands

Sarah isn’t an ultra racer. At least, that’s not how she describes herself.

If you have to put her in a cycling box, she’s a gravel racer. But really, she’s someone whose relationship to the bike feels less like a performance and more like an identity. Go outside, go far, and see what happens.

She carries a kind of lightness on the bike. It shows in her i…