Rider Q&A: Rei Miyoshi

Posted By Gravel Union On the 28th October 2019

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We first met Rei at the Votec Gravelfondo back in August this year. The Gravel Union team were sitting having dinner outside when Rei rocked up on his bike (fully kitted out with bikepacking luggage), casually hopped off and came and joined us at his table. It turned out he’d ridden 80kms from the railway station in Heidelberg to get the event. Not that unusual you might think – gravel riding events seem to attract some pretty hardcore riders and quite a few rode to the Votec Gravelfondo, but then if you took a look at Rei’s bike you might change your mind.

His bike of choice for the event was pretty simple (he only has one due to the space constraints of currently living in Amsterdam, 9000kms away from his native Japan) – a flat barred, canti brake equipped steel singlespeed with a 36x17 gear. Rei is pretty much unique – there’s not that many Japanese singlespeeders living, working and racing in Europe after all and certainly none with his riding skills or passion for riding. We thought we’d find out some more.

Rei Miyoshi

Nagoya, Japan. And currently somewhere in Europe (based in Amsterdam at the minute).

SimWorks Doppo Racer (Prototype Singlespeed Version)

I’m running 700c now, but definitely would love to try 650B!

What, gears? Ha-ha. But actually, I’m thinking about having Shimano GRX on my next bike. I tried a GRX equipped bike at the recent LTD Gravel Raid, and I really liked it.

Pathfinder Giro gravel event. And as many local cyclocross races in Amsterdam as I can.

I don’t really have a favourite - I always like to explore new gravel routes and hit some jumps or wall ride when I can find them. Also, a beer after the ride with friends makes for a better ride!

There are so many nice events in world... But I would choose these 3 events:
- Ridin’Birds 2020 in Izu, Japan.(http://sim-works.com/ridinbirds2020) Izu is one of the best places to ride on/off-road bikes in Japan. It’s also where the MTB race will be held during the 2020 Japan Olympics.
- Bikelore 2020 - also in Japan (http://bikelore.jp). It’s a camping/festival event, with lots of fun concepts during the race.
- SSCX (singlespeed cyclocross) World or European Championship. It’s a “race”, but full of people who think racing sucks, and ride & party hard!

Originally, I was only into riding BMX on street or dirt, and I was even thinking that road or cyclocross racing is for lame bike nerds – Ha-ha! But when I saw the video of the SSCX world championships, it totally changed my mind. Not only the racing though - people who rode singlespeed looked so fun and free.

At that time, I was working at Circles (a bike shop owned by SimWorks), and they asked me if I wanted to ride a SSCX event to test their prototype frame - that’s how I started racing cyclocross 4 years ago. And actually, that first CX race was also my first gravel ride, and even my first time riding a “big” wheeled bike (my race bike was built up the night before race…)

Now I have only SSCX and BMX bikes, so actually there’s no choice to choose. Though I really like the fact that I don’t have to worry have mechanical trouble after hitting some spots during bike packing or race, and it’s easy to pack for travelling - in the last 2 years, I’ve traveled to 15 countries on singlespeed bikes.

This summer I travelled A LOT – the main reason is that I couldn’t find a room in Amsterdam after moving here at the end of June - I was sleeping at friend’s place, at the office, with people I met through couch surfing as a temporary solution, but it continued for 2 months... So, I thought it’s better to travel for gravel events and Eurobike with/on bike and stay at my friends’ places or my Polish family’s place (my dad is Polish by the way). The job I’m doing can be done remotely, so I was carrying a laptop, clothes, tent, and working from everywhere from Germany, Poland and Czech Republic, and moving each week. I came back to Amsterdam on November after the LtD Gravel Raid and started living on a boat which I realized is falling apart. Finding an apartment in Amsterdam is a nightmare…

For lightweight intensive riding, Chimpanzee Nutrition’s Energy Chews. For long relaxed riding or any long trip, I always carry cereal bars.

I think the range of gravel riding will expand more and more and will become more freestyle. Some of the things we’re doing now as gravel rides were initially developed 100 years ago as pass hunting (storming) rides or traditional cyclocross races. Now the gear we use has progressed so much it makes it possible to go faster, do longer distances and ride rougher roads. But it’s not just about speed and distance. In the last few years some roadies started riding on bikes called all-road, some hardcore gravel riders started riding monster cross bikes on MTB trails, and some fixie riders started riding tracklocross (fixed-gear, no brakes racing on dirt tracks). What I think it’s interesting about gravel riding is that there are so many ways to enjoy the gravel, and any style can be welcomed. That’s why I always love to show up gravel events and see what the others are doing!

Not sure yet - ideally, I want to do something which connects Europe and Japan through bikes. That’s one of the reasons why I’m doing a 7-month internship at TwoTone in Amsterdam (who do PR and Communication for bike companies) - to think about what to do after graduating.

Physically where I want to be, this is also not sure yet, but probably somewhere in Europe. After I started university in Japan, each year I’m going back and forth between Europe and Japan, first of all because of Erasmus in the Czech Republic, then my internship in Amsterdam now, and probably getting a job 1.5 year later in Europe after finishing my bachelor’s degree in Japan. One reason is I prefer the European working style more than in Japan - working in Japan is intense and long! But also, the off-road/gravel community in Japan is getting influenced a lot by Europe, so I thought it would be cool if I can do something from the European side.