Bikepacking the Canary Islands & Racing in South Africa: A Catch-Up With Sarah Diekmeyer & Maddy Nutt

Maddy and Sarah reflect on bikepacking the Canary Islands, racing stage events in South Africa, and finding balance between competition, adventure, and long-term sustainability in the sport!

Interviewed by Gracie Hinz

Hope you enojoy this written format of the interview, to listen, check out this Podcast Episode.

Gracie:
Since you’ve both already been on the podcast, do you want to give a one-sentence introduction to who you are for anyone who might not know you yet?

Sarah:
Maddy and I are both gravel racers. We race a lot together, and we’re both really drawn to the adventure side of the sport.

Maddy:
We actually met during a Traka 360 recon in 2022. We weren’t riding together at first — we just bumped into each other on the route and realized we were reconning the same course. A couple of days later, Sarah messaged me asking when we were riding next, and we told her we were doing a 10-hour ride. She immediately said yes. That’s basically been our friendship ever since.

Sarah:
I’m the friend who’s always down.

Gracie:
That definitely tracks.

Sarah:
Gravelburn was one of the most well-organized stage races I’ve done in a long time. It was really challenging, but also genuinely fun.

Maddy:
It was probably the highlight of my season. Seven days of riding, a really strong women’s field and just a great atmosphere overall. People who sign up for stage races tend to be really good humans.

Sarah:
You camp together, so after these massive days on the bike, everyone’s washing kits in sinks, sleeping in tents and dealing with the same conditions. It creates a lot of bonding.

Maddy:
Trauma bonding.

Sarah:
The terrain was rough — lots of washboard. It wasn’t super technical, but it really rattled your body all day.

Maddy:
I was the only woman on a suspension fork and kept thinking, why is nobody else doing this? It was way rougher than people expected. People thought it would be champagne gravel, but we were in Africa. It was gnarly.

Sarah:
After every stage, we all kind of looked at each other like we had mild concussions. It was just constant vibration.

Maddy:
One morning we woke up around 4 a.m., and the weather was basically a natural disaster.

Sarah:
They ended up neutralizing the entire stage after a couple of riders were sent to the hospital.

Maddy:
It became this massive group ride, but it was still the queen stage and still really long. We rode it super conservatively to save energy for the next day, which meant it took us hours longer.

Sarah:
By the final hour, we went completely nonverbal.

Maddy:
We’re usually pretty chatty, but at a certain point, you just stop speaking.

Sarah:
Maybe a head nod here and there.

Gracie:
How did it compare to other stage races you’ve done?

Sarah:
Having a general classification over seven days made it really dynamic. One bad day didn’t end your race, and there was always room to come back.

Maddy:
And the food was unreal — honestly the best food I’ve ever had at a stage race, which matters way more than people think.

Sarah:
There was even a proper coffee van in the middle of nowhere.

Maddy:
One morning, Sarah waited forever for coffee and then the wind knocked it over and spilled it all over her.

Sarah:
At 5 a.m., in a storm. Devastating.

Maddy:
We went to the Canary Islands about two and a half weeks after Gravelburn, with almost no riding in between.

Sarah:
Maddy pitched it as a fun post-offseason adventure — a 900-kilometer mountain bike route across multiple islands — and I said yes without really thinking about it.

Maddy:
Pretty quickly, we realized we didn’t want to race it, so we skipped one island and treated it like a bikepacking trip instead. It was still a huge amount of riding — around 42 hours over six days.

Sarah:
The structure makes it really unique. You have to ride across each island to catch the ferry, and if you miss it, you’re stuck until morning. Every island feels completely different — volcanic terrain, jungle, totally new landscapes each time.

Maddy:
We were very glad we weren’t racing. The people who were racing looked completely destroyed — sleeping for an hour or two on ferries and then riding again.

Sarah:
Mountain biking really opens everything up. You can go anywhere.

Maddy:
I love riding mountain bikes, but racing them is scary. I don’t enjoy feeling terrified technically in a race.

Sarah:
Comfort matters, especially over multiple days.

Maddy:
Wide tires, suspension, low pressure — comfort is everything.

Gracie:
What’s coming up next?

Maddy:
I’m trying to convince Sarah to do the Tracker 560. It feels like the longest distance I’d want to do without completely destroying my sleep.

Sarah:
I love the idea, but the timing is tough. I think I have one ultra per year in me, and I want it later in the season.

Gracie:
What have you both been up to off the bike?

Maddy:
I went skiing over the holidays. I’d avoided it because of injury risk, but I missed it. Taking real time off the bike felt important after such a long season.

Sarah:
I’ve been doing “The Artist’s Way” — morning pages and weekly solo artist dates. It’s helped me slow down and clear my head before training.

Maddy:
One of my goals this year is not looking at my phone before breakfast. It immediately adds stress to the day.

Gracie:
Anything you’re carrying into this season mindset-wise?

Maddy:
For me, it’s about keeping the sport enjoyable. Cycling used to be my hobby, and now it’s my job, so balance really matters.

Sarah:
I want to trust myself more — my instincts, my body and my decisions. It’s easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing, but long-term consistency matters more.

Maddy:
You can’t control everything in racing. The goal is to enjoy the process, not put all the pressure on one event.

Sarah:
The happiest athletes tend to perform the best over time.

Who are Sarah Diekmeyer and Maddy Nutt?
Sarah Diekmeyer and Maddy Nutt are gravel cyclists known for racing multi-day events like Gravelburn and for long-distance bikepacking adventures around the world.

What is Gravelburn?
Gravelburn is a multi-day gravel stage race held in South Africa, known for its challenging terrain, strong community atmosphere, and demanding conditions.

Is bikepacking in the Canary Islands worth it?
Bikepacking the Canary Islands offers diverse terrain, volcanic landscapes, ferry connections between islands, and a mix of challenging climbs and scenic routes, making it a unique destination for adventure cyclists.

This conversation is part of our ongoing Wander Studios cycling interviews, highlighting athletes like Sarah Diekmeyer and Maddy Nutt who balance racing with adventure.