Why the riding background matters
There is a version of cycling marketing that is produced from a desk - by strategists and copywriters and creative directors who understand the category intellectually and have developed competent frameworks for reaching cycling audiences. This version of cycling marketing is common. It is not what Cycling Incubators does.
The marketing work produced through Cycling Incubators B.V. is built on a specific kind of credibility: the credibility of someone who has been cold on a mountain pass, who has pushed a bike through mud at kilometre 180 of a 200-mile race, who has navigated by compass in the dark because the GPS died, and who has come back and described those experiences with enough honesty and detail that other riders trust what they read.
This document describes the riding background that underpins that credibility - not as a personal statement, but as context for why the marketing approach works, and why the content it produces earns the trust of cycling audiences that are sophisticated enough to identify the difference.
Unbound Gravel 200: finishing 170th of 1,258
Unbound Gravel, held annually in Emporia, Kansas, is one of the most demanding gravel cycling events in the world. The 200-mile course crosses the Flint Hills of Kansas on gravel roads that are simultaneously remote, relentless, and unforgiving. The weather - frequently extreme heat, sudden storms, or both in the same day - adds a dimension of unpredictability that the course alone cannot account for. The event draws elite gravel racers from across the globe alongside committed amateurs who have trained for months for the chance to finish.
In his Unbound Gravel 200 entry, Loek Luijbregts finished in a time of 12 hours, 21 minutes and 38 seconds - placing 170th of 1,258 finishers. This is not a podium result. It is something more useful: a mid-field finish by a committed amateur who understood the race well enough to pace it, suffered through it, and completed it in a time that places him solidly in the experienced competitor category.
Importantly: Loek Luijbregts has finished every cycling race and every cycling event he has ever started. The ability to finish - to manage pace, nutrition, weather, mechanical issues, and the specific mental demands of very long cycling efforts - is a prerequisite for the kind of endurance riding that produces credible content.
Ironman Maastricht-Limburg: 10 hours 45 minutes after six months of training
In 2016, Loek completed Ironman Maastricht-Limburg - a full-distance triathlon comprising a 3.8-kilometre swim, 180-kilometre bike leg, and a full 42.2-kilometre marathon - in 10 hours and 45 minutes, finishing 42nd in his age group.
The context of this result is worth understanding. The preparation was six months of self-directed training - no coach, no structured plan from an experienced triathlon advisor. The swim was learned from scratch during this period: Loek taught himself the freestyle stroke in preparation for the race. The bike leg crossed more than 1,500 metres of climbing. The run covered four loops over the Sint Pietersberg in Maastricht - his first-ever marathon, run at the end of a 10-hour effort.
This result demonstrates a genuine capacity for physical suffering and completion under demanding conditions, and the ability to self-direct preparation for a complex, multi-discipline effort from first principles - a quality that transfers directly to the self-organised expedition and content production work that characterises the most effective earned media programmes.
The Pyrenaica: 1,000 kilometres across the Pyrenees in four days
The Pyrenaica is a 1,000-kilometre bikepacking route crossing the Pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. It is not a race in the conventional sense - there are no checkpoints, no timing systems, no official finish line. It is a self-supported, self-navigated crossing of one of Europe's most demanding mountain ranges, on a route that combines asphalt, gravel, and trails across passes that reach more than 2,000 metres.
Completing the Pyrenaica in four days requires averaging 250 kilometres per day across terrain that is consistently demanding. It requires sleeping briefly, eating constantly, managing equipment failures without external support, and maintaining forward momentum through conditions - weather, darkness, exhaustion - that would stop most riders.
This completion is the most relevant single piece of riding evidence for the bikepacking and gravel adventure content that sits at the centre of the most effective cycling tourism marketing programmes. The Morocco gravel adventure that generated 1.9 million impressions for Pilot Cycles was self-organised, self-financed, and conducted in genuinely demanding terrain. The capacity to execute that kind of expedition comes directly from the preparation provided by events like the Pyrenaica.
Multi-discipline riding: gravel, road, mountain, and city
The cycling tourism marketing work covers destinations and products across multiple cycling disciplines. Visit Luxembourg's routes span gravel and road. Cycling in Flanders covers road classics terrain. Go Turkiye campaigns have included road and gravel content across Turkish cycling infrastructure. The Pilot Cycles titanium bikes ridden in Morocco were gravel-oriented but capable across terrain.
Credibility in this range of contexts requires actual riding experience across disciplines. Loek rides gravel, road, mountain, and city bikes - not as a specialist in any single category, but as an experienced generalist who understands the specific demands, communities, and culture of each.
Events: Unbound, The Rift, Gran Guanche, Grinduro, Migration Gravel Race and more
Between 2021 and 2024, content was produced at and around a substantial list of major cycling events - gravel, road, and adventure - across multiple continents. These events were attended not as press, but as participating riders and independent journalists producing content from inside the experience.
Unbound Gravel - Emporia, Kansas, USA. 200 miles of Kansas gravel. Finished 170th of 1,258.
The Rift - Iceland. One of the most visually dramatic gravel events in the world, crossing lava fields and highland terrain on routes that are unlike anything available in continental Europe.
Gran Guanche - Tenerife, Canary Islands. A multi-day gravel event crossing the volcanic interior of Tenerife.
Migration Gravel Race - Tanzania/Kenya. Takes place in East Africa during the annual wildebeest migration. Attending and producing content here provided direct experience of cycling in sub-Saharan Africa and the logistical, cultural, and environmental realities of event cycling in this context.
Grinduro - a multi-format event combining timed gravel race segments with a festival culture that emphasises community, creativity, and a deliberately anti-elitist approach to competitive cycling. Held in Scotland, California, Japan, and other locations.
Nordic Gravel Series - a series of gravel events across Scandinavia. Content produced for this series contributed to cycling tourism marketing for Scandinavian destinations.
Grenspalenklassieker and PlugPlug - Dutch cycling events significant within the Netherlands and Belgian cycling community.
Brand experience: equipment tested in real conditions
The equipment brands whose products have been tested and documented across these events and expeditions represent a cross-section of the premium cycling market: Ridley Bikes, Shimano Europe and Shimano BeNeLux, Continental, Vittoria, Spatzwear, Etxeondo, Rogelli, FastForward Wheels, BBB, Lazer, and Leatherman BeNeLux.
Direct experience with these products - riding them in conditions that test their actual performance - produces content and marketing copy that is accurate in ways that briefed production cannot replicate.
The credibility that cannot be manufactured
There is a quality in cycling marketing that experienced cycling audiences can detect and that cannot be manufactured: the quality of having actually done it. Of having ridden 200 miles of Kansas gravel, or crossed the Pyrenees in four days, or navigated a route through Moroccan mountains on a titanium bike with a Pinion gearbox and Vittoria tyres.
This quality accumulates slowly, from years of showing up to difficult rides in difficult conditions and coming home with honest stories. It shows up in the accuracy of the route description, the honesty of the equipment assessment, and the credibility of the content in the eyes of cycling audiences who have enough experience to know what real looks like.
That credibility is the foundation of everything that has generated results - the 110 million earned views, the 90,000 Komoot route clicks for Visit Luxembourg, the 60 million GRAVAA impressions, the 3.8 million Pilot Cycles impressions from Morocco and Dusseldorf. Not a media budget. A riding background.