As a European gravel collective, the journey to the US becomes a blend of a trip and a pilgrimage.
In May 2023, Enough cycling spent three weeks overseas to race the most important races of the gravel calendar. From the scorching heat of Gravel Locos in Texas to the infamous mud of Unbound Gravel, four riders spent three weeks on the road.
Mattia De Marchi, Francesco Bettini and Anna Kollmann-Suhr were the three riders designated by the Collective to ride Gravel Locos and Unbound Gravel, while Federico Damiani - team manager - was joining the expedition for race support and content creation.
Three weeks on the road and living together as a family, they had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the USA and experience its incredible cycling community.
Watch the film documenting the iconic european cycling collective below.
But we don't just want to leave you with the film, we asked Federico Damiani about some behind the scenes and funny stories.
The only problem: After we got the answers from Fede we have more questions. I guess it will not take long until we need to have another article on the ENOUGH Cycling Collective. Their schedule for 2024 reads mind blowing (and stressful).
Here is a short interview with Fede for you guys:
What did you expect from this massive trip to the USA? How does the American gravel scene differ from ours?
We definitely had some expectations but to be honest we were really open to being amazed and surprised. We were at Unbound in 2022 already but we didn't know what to expect from Texas and the Austin Community. And the latter turned out to be great!
We were for sure expecting to live an awesome time together because we like to stay together and ride together. So living together as a family is just the best for us.
What did the trip actually become for you guys?
The trip became a once in a lifetime experience. The best thing was to go to races knowing that was just a tiny part of the reason to be in the US. It takes pressure away and it's just the way we intend cycling. Winning and doing well is one part of what we do - the most important part is to have fun and show that cycling is something fun to our audience, with the goal to have more people on the bike, riding more.
Will there be another over seas trip for enough?
Probably not the same. We will do something similar but we will maybe change our destination and perspective. We will for sure be back in the US for the important races, but there's a whole World to discover.
The worst moment on the overseas trip?
When we got evicted from our Airbnb in Austin! Or when we almost crashed with our car (I mean a serious crash) because of a turtle in Kansas.
The best moment on the overseas trip?
I guess it depends from person to person. But generally speaking the whole week in Austin ranks pretty high on everyone's list for sure.
If you could give one tip to someone riding UNBOUND what would it be?
Check the weather forecast!
What’s next in 2024 for enough?
We'll keep racing all over the World, both one day and adventure races. And we just opened our travel program with trips in Mongolia and Asiago. It's our next big thing: we definitely want to ride with our community and let more people ride in amazing places and experience what we experience riding a bike!
