Stories
Route logic, pacing, places — documentary notes from the DRNTS system.
We Don’t Sell Routes
Most cycling travel is built around routes. Famous climbs. Recognizable names. Distances measured in kilometers and elevation. The assumption is simple: if the route is impressive enough, the experience will follow. We don’t agree. A route is a line on a map. It tells you where to go, but not how the day unfolds. It…
What a Support Van Is Really For
A support van is often misunderstood. From the outside, it looks functional. Bottles. Bags. Spare wheels. A moving storage unit following riders through the day. That’s the visible part. What a support van actually provides is something harder to see: control. Not control over riders, but over uncertainty. Endurance riding is rarely undone by a…
Before the Barriers
There is a moment before a Grand Départ that never appears on television. The barriers are already in place, but the streets are still open.The banners are fixed, but no one is looking at them yet.The city is awake, but not performing. This is the hour we care about. Barcelona, early morning.Delivery vans move quietly…
Between Effort and Silence
They ride early, before the road has decided what kind of day it will be. The air is cool but not sharp. The light has no direction yet. Asphalt stretches forward without instruction, bordered by stone and trees that have seen enough riders pass to stop paying attention. There is no audience. No signal. Just…
The Quiet Line — Mallorca Before the Island Wakes
Mallorca reveals itself before it performs. Long before cafés open and traffic builds, the roads of the Serra de Tramuntana belong to rhythm, not spectacle. The air is cool, the asphalt clean, and the island feels almost infrastructural — built for movement rather than tourism. This is the window we ride in. Why this road…
Inside the Test
Where effort becomes data There is a moment in every test when conversation stops. The fan is loud.The room is warm.The screen shows numbers that don’t care how you feel. All that exists is effort. Testing is not dramatic from the outside. There is no summit, no finish banner, no scenic descent. Yet it is…
The Ride Nobody Sees
The moment training stops being romantic and becomes real. There is a moment in every endurance athlete’s journey that feels strangely quiet. No crowds. No medals. No finish lines. Just a stretch of road, a steady cadence, and the low hum of effort echoing through the mountains. It’s the moment where performance stops being romantic…
Alpine Rhythm
On patience, pacing, and learning to climb slowly The first lesson the mountains teach is humility. No matter how strong the legs feel at the start, the road always rises longer than expected. The gradient settles in, the rhythm changes, and the ride becomes less about speed and more about patience. For many riders, the…
Dolomites
A quiet guide for riders who want the real thing There are places that look unreal in photos and still feel unreal in person. The Dolomites are one of them. The light changes fast. The rock turns pale, then gold, then almost pink. Roads fold into forests, then break into open passes where every direction…
Race Day
Where preparation becomes execution Race day feels different long before the start line. The morning is quieter. Movements are slower and more deliberate. Equipment is checked twice, then checked again. The hours before the start are filled with small rituals that have nothing to do with speed and everything to do with focus. Because once…