Graveller Q&A: Emma Maaranen
In the lead up to TransRockies Gravel Royale, we spoke to a number of pro riders about their preparation for the race, why they’re excited to attend, and all things gravel.
Emma Maaranen is a professional mountain biker as well as a rehabilitative movement therapist. Her career has gravitated toward longer events and stage races, and last year Maaranen finished in fourth place at the Moab Rocks stage race in Utah. This year, she’ll be tackling one of her first gravel events at the TransRockies Gravel Royale.
What attracted you to sign up for a gravel stage race this year?
The TransRockies group puts on such great events that it’s just inspiring to do anything out of your comfort zone with them. The thing that really appealed to me about this race was that it's really a backcountry experience where you're going with the community and camping every night. That's one thing that has always been really core to me as a mountain biker is going to places, camping with friends and riding bikes, and the Gravel Royale is that plus racing all together. I’m really excited for it.
Gravel racing is becoming such a big thing, and I definitely have not been particularly excited about jumping onto the gravel bandwagon. But this was a race that I didn't even blink. I was like, sign me up for that. That one's for me.
What will your training look like for TRGR? Is it similar to preparing for mountain bike stage racing?
The big difference that I see in racing gravel as opposed to racing mountain bikes is when you're racing gravel, you're pedaling the whole time. I mean, I know there's descents. But when you're mountain biking, the descending technique is such a big part of it, that there's an awful lot of non-pedal time in your day. For gravel racing, you're pedaling all the time. So for me, a lot more of my endurance days are going to be on the gravel bike on gravel roads, as opposed to my endurance days on mountain bikes, which tend to be more on and off riding.
What has drawn you to these longer events?
I've been really lucky in my career in that I've raced everything from UCI cross country races to longer events. And the thing I love about a longer race is you're not doing loops over and over. In those shorter races you really focus on the strategy, but it's not so much about the environment and where you are. It's all about maximizing your strategy and your strengths on the course. Whereas when you have these longer backcountry routes, you get to go to amazing places, you're generally on terrain that you can't pre ride and most of the people you're racing with haven't seen before either. So everything is new, and there's an advantage to who can ride new terrain the best and I just really enjoy that.
What will your bike setup look like for TRGR?
I ride for Pivot so I'm going to be on a Pivot Vault, which is a bike that is a fairly friendly geometry bike. I'm still experimenting with tires. That's going to be a big thing for me figuring out tires. I’ll probably be on the Kenda Boosters, which are kind of what I've been gravitating towards the most lately. I’m not quite sure what I'm going to do for gearing yet. My background really is in mountain biking and so my strength for this race is going to be more in bike handling. When the terrain does kind of kick up, my strength is not necessarily going to be laying out the most watts for the longest time. So setting up my bike to maximize my strengths will be important.
Why should riders sign up for TRGR?
There's a lot that I love about the TransRockies groups and one is that the people there are fantastic. It doesn't matter how silly your question is, they will get back to you personally and address it with an honest answer. So just the comfort before you even show up at a race is something I've not experienced with other race organizations. When you're at the race, they do an excellent job communicating with you, whether it's sharing course information the night before, making sure you know what's going to be at the aid stations, making sure that you know how the start is going to play out, or how the finish is going to play out. If there's logistical considerations, they give you a heads up as well as a whole bunch of different ways to deal with it. So when you go to a TransRockies event, so much of the stress when you've never done that event before that you normally have they've already addressed. And then they just do a really great job of creating community. I don't know exactly what they've done, what their magic synergy is, but people hang out for hours after the races and just hang out and talk about their day and celebrate the things that went well and laugh about the things that didn't go so well. It's pretty incredible. I haven't been to races like that in years and years that have such a community feel to them.
What’s your advice for people taking on a stage race for the first time?
The thing that my coach Mike Durner told me before I went into one of my first stage races is that stage racing is really an eating competition with some biking thrown in the middle. So I've kind of taken that to heart, meaning I'm really thoughtful about making sure that I'm fueled for the entire event. Making sure I've got myself fueled and topped off a few days before the race and throughout the race. Then everything else is fun and doable. But if I get behind, my fueling or hydration at any point, I'm just grumpy. I'm not enjoying the experience. If I'm having some tough things going on, I'm not in a great place to sort it out. So I think if you can dial in that piece, dial in your nutrition plan, not just when you're on the bike but the entire 24 hours of every day, everything is just easier and a whole lot more fun.