“Retirement is a strange thing,” says retired Canadian pro Svein Tuft. “It’s something you don’t really quite understand until you get there.”
What does a retired pro do after 20 years in the peloton? It took Tuft a couple of years to figure out, if sounds like. But the Canadian has found a way back to the bike, just on less paved roads.
Tuft heads out from his new home in Nelson, B.C. with Ryan Anderson to ride the Fernie Gravel Grind. It’s low-key events like the FGG – and the hundreds of kilometers of gravel roads the two cover to get there, that have reignited Tuft’s love for biking.
Cadex Cycling: Svein Tuft Redsicovers his Passion for Cycling
What’s Cadex say about its (semi)retired Canadian?
For nearly 20 years, all Svein Tuft knew was professional road racing. His successes in the sport took him from a small town in British Columbia, Canada, to cycling’s grandest stages including the Olympics, the Tour de France, and the Giro d’Italia.
Officially retired in 2019, Svein has spent the past few years figuring out the next stage in his life, which in addition to becoming a family man includes a new love of gravel riding and being a CADEX ambassador.
“It’s something that you don’t really quite understand until you actually get there,” Svein says. “It’s beautiful because you don’t have to prepare for anything, or be there for anything. But at the same time, that’s something that was such a big part of your life. And that’s something that I still do miss to this day, just that constant objective and goal.”
That focus and drive propelled Svein through a career that saw him earn a reputation as one of the world’s strongest time trialists and a hard-working domestique in the WorldTour. His career highlights include 13 Canadian national championships and team time trial stage wins at the Tour and the Giro.
These days, Svein gets inspired by discovering new routes, particularly on his gravel bike.
“Riding CADEX wheels, it goes hand in hand for me in the sense of what I got used to in professional road racing,” he says. “We demanded the best equipment. And I find that CADEX has certainly done that with their AR wheelsets.”
In this video, we followed Svein as he rode from his home near Nelson and followed much of the Trans-Canada trail all the way to Fernie for the Fernie Gravel Grind event. These are the types of adventures that give Svein…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…