Roy Lium ( Advanced Road,Gravel/Mtb Rider ) Q&A:

MCS: Hey Roy, we’re gonna start this interview with an “About me” section. Tell us a little bit about you and your life behind the handlebars as one of the most versatile and well-known cyclists here in Miami.

ROY: I grew up in Costa Rica, where I got my first experiences with cycling on board a mountain bike. I started back in middle school with a fully rigid Cannondale with 26” wheels. I would go ride with friends and climb up steep grades. I wasn’t the first up to the top and some time I would have to stop or even walk up. But I would still love climbing and the challenge it pose. Little by little I started getting better and I would keep on coming to the rides. A few years down the road I upgraded my bike to a full suspension MTB. By that time I was attending college, working towards my degree in Civil Engineering. I would find time to go to classes, drink beer, go out and ride my bike. At some point I decided to try to jog as well, but after a few attempts coming back with sore muscles and joints, I decided to switch to swimming.

There I had a 5 year stint in competitive swimming at Masters level. Around 2004, after graduating from college I decided to pursue my Masters degree and for that I moved to Miami. I wanted to be close to the water as I was getting into water sports (kitesurfing). So what better place to be for that than Miami!

Between time in the water and evening classes, I kept riding my bike and swimming for fitness.

Finally, a friend of a friend was doing his first sprint triathlon and convinced me to sign up, since all I had to add to the mix was the run. After that first race I was hooked into triathlon. I spent 10 years racing and meeting like-minded people in the process. I raced multiple events ranging from sprint to full distance Ironmans.  At that point I realized my time in tri had come to an end and I wasn’t fully enjoying all the time, money and effort. So I did one last race in Nice, France and decided to move on. Cycling had become my favorite sport of all three, so I kept riding for fun, nothing structured but neither was leisurely paced. A few years before, I had started riding with one of the best groups to ride with in Miami: Melody Farms. The camaraderie, riding etiquette and pace was everything I was looking for. With them I would consistently ride and participate in Gran Fondo events. Around 2014 I also dipped my toes into gravel riding and I was instantly hooked.

That took me to tackle a few gravel races including Dirty Kanza 200 and SBT Gravel.

Currently, I don’t rule out racing completely but I do prefer traveling to ride my bike: no agenda, no schedule, no structure. Just go somewhere new with my bike and cover as much distance as possible while taking in the landscapes, culture and victuals.

That naturally took to me to bikepacking. Packing all your stuff on the bike and heading out solo or with a few close friends through places that I haven’t thought I would be riding my bike on: the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Andes.

With Rapha Miami, I had the opportunity to become a Ride Leader. I was able to be part of community of cyclists of different abilities and backgrounds and see that group of individuals grow in number as well as their skills on the bike. The experience was surprisingly fulfilling and grateful to be able to contribute to that.

What the future will bring in cycling for me? Though to say, but is just a matter of suiting up and start pedaling to find out!

MCS: What bikes are you riding today? What is your most versatile group set acquired, and what type of tires do you use on different types of terrain.

ROY: After traveling most of the time on 2022, I started realizing that most of the material things I owned were not necessary. I was spending months at a time with one bike and whatever I could carry with me. So I decided to start downsizing from 10+ collection of bicycles to the following:

– Scarab Santa Rosa, custom steel road bike.

– Firefly Road, custom titanium road bike.

– Scarab Paramo, custom steel gravel bike.

– Giant XTC, 27.5” mountain bike

My most versatile group-set is the one that lets my ride my bike! In all reality, since I started cycling I’ve only owned Shimano group-sets, so I can’t compare with other brands. I like keeping all the bikes with similar specs so I can interchangeably use parts among them. I like the performance and weight of Dura Ace, but most of the times settle for the reliability and price point of Ultegra. In gravel, the performance of GRX has been key to not being stranded in the middle of nowhere.

I’m a third year Ambassador for Panaracer, so all my bikes have one of their Japanese rubber models. I came to the brand as a customer and had tested and proven their performance and reliability at a great price point before being presented with the opportunity to become their ambassador. For road tires, I love their new Agilest tires 28s, which is an evolution from their Race Evo 4 series. For gravel, I like the versatility of the Gravel King range: for highly demanding adventures, the SK Plus 43s and for bikepacking that involves more tarmac the SS 43s.

MCS: Now let us talk a bit about nutrition and hydration. What is your regimen as an endurance athlete? Could you share your secrets? What do you take/drink/eat before, during and after short and long distance rides?

 

MCS: How do you maintain your fitness level in a good place to keep up with all the long and short rides? Do you follow up with a coach or do you have your methodology?

ROY: I’ve never had a coach, mostly because I don’t like to be told what to do, how to do it or when to do it. Yes, guidance can be key to finding measurable improvement but I’m the kind of person that will see that as an easy path to learning and prefer to take the route of self discovery even if that takes longer or along the wrong routes. I find it more rewarding to experiment and learn by your own means. That can be very insightful to learn how your own body responds and how to listen to it. Who better knows your body than yourself?

Even by doing things by myself, I’ve never followed a structured regimen. I don’t want cycling or the sport that I’m doing to turn into a chore, something I ‘must’ do and I think that has helped me to prevent an early burnout and to find satisfaction in what I’m doing.

I’ve actually never owned a power meter, and I was convinced by friends to start using a cycling/exercise computer and get into Strava. I’ve never been to keen on numbers as I think they do give a glimpse of what’s going on, but they might also predispose you to rely on them and measure the success or failure on them.

There are many factors that may influence an athletic performance on a given day and it takes careful and methodical analysis to figure out which one was the one to cause the deviation. For some people it works. For someone that has worked extensively on taking and analyzing data for structural performance of buildings and materials, I don’t necessarily want to turn my bike riding into a job that has to be measured and assessed. I want to keep the fun in it.

MCS: Now the closing question. How do you find motivation on a daily basis?