{"id":176167,"date":"2019-11-22T12:30:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T12:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=176167"},"modified":"2019-11-22T12:30:23","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T12:30:23","slug":"gravel-tryhard-the-hilarious-instagrams-bicycle-prankster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2019\/11\/22\/gravel-tryhard-the-hilarious-instagrams-bicycle-prankster\/","title":{"rendered":"Gravel Tryhard: The Hilarious Instagram\u2019s Bicycle Prankster"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Gravel Tryhard launched her Instagram account in January, her vision was murky. New to the world of social media, her foray into the complicated dimension of life online was the result of a bet she\u2019d made with a friend. A keen road-turned-gravel cyclist, she thought, at first, she may be able to play by the influencer playbook and score some free swag.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thankfully for us, she quickly realized she was better suited to approach the platform from a different perspective. Taking the language of advertising and influencer-culture and flipping it on its head, she started making hilarious, thoughtful and, sometimes, controversial satirical interpretations of the problematic marketing campaigns she found the cycling world to be saturated with. Almost a year later, she\u2019s accrued quite the following and has a clear-eyed mission she\u2019s dedicated to. We talked to this \u2018lady bicycle prankster\u2019 about what makes people laugh, why it\u2019s cool to work hard, and the importance of approaching everything with kindness.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B4n3FZ6l0Nb\/<\/p>\n

First of all, we need to address the issue of your identity. Why have you decided to stay anonymous?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I honestly didn\u2019t think too much about it in the beginning but I\u2019m grateful I\u2019ve been able to keep my online identity separate from my real life. It\u2019s not that I would lose my job or anything but I do have a responsibility to others and don\u2019t want everyone around me to feel like they\u2019re tied up in this project. It also helps mitigate some of the pressure associated with my posts and gives me more freedom to act independently and do what I want. This is my thing and I\u2019d like it to stay that way.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re mostly working on the pictures alone then? Some of them must be pretty challenging! Do your shoots always work out?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m lucky to live in a place with lots of space and open trails, so I\u2019m usually able to get enough privacy to do what I need to do. I have had some people stop and enquire what I\u2019m up to, especially if it\u2019s something I have to strip down to my underwear for. I do pretty much always work alone though. That\u2019s part of the game for me, trying to imagine how it would even be possible to capture these shots using a phone camera, without the help of a whole crew. The only time something hasn\u2019t really worked out is if I end up deciding the image edges a little too close to cruelty.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B4ArhktlpwK\/<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tricky line to toe between being mean and being funny. What helps you ensure you\u2019re on the right side?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I try to put myself in the place of the subject in the original image. I ask myself, if someone posted this of me, would I giggle and be mildly embarrassed? Or would I be hurt and upset? Sometimes, the answer is the latter and that is when I know it\u2019s not something I want to post.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also learned a lot since starting out about what people find funny and what will usually land. It\u2019s not a question with an obvious answer for me. I\u2019m often wrong deciding how many laughs I will get. But I\u2019m getting better at predicting! I want to make stuff that people can enjoy, share, and that, hopefully, gets them thinking. I am very committed to creating content that people can use to start conversations. But above all, I\u2019m mindful of how important it is to be kind.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B3IBQWalgt4\/<\/p>\n

There must be an even greater sense of accountability as your following grows. How has your role changed over the last year?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It has changed a lot. I didn\u2019t really know what I was doing when I started but I\u2019ve since spent a lot of time thinking about and reflecting on it. At first, I was just having fun. Now I\u2019m dreaming bigger. I want my voice to be present in the discussion about the harmful impact of marketing culture.<\/p>\n

Over the last year, I\u2019ve had a lot of heart to hearts with friends, family members, and even people I just met through my account. I\u2019ve thought long and hard about feminism and influencer culture, and I think I\u2019m doing the right thing and approaching this in a healthy way. This has never been about me getting famous or using the platform to express that I think I\u2019m better than women who care about makeup and manicures, I\u2019m just trying to figure out how to make other cyclists (women in cyclists in particular) smile. The vast majority of the feedback I get is positive or is constructive criticism, so I think I\u2019m on the right trajectory.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B2KNVNKlMG2\/<\/p>\n

It\u2019s great that you\u2019ve had so much support but there\u2019s no doubt been some negativity. Have you ever doubted yourself?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve definitely had conversations that have caused me to think about a certain aspect of what I\u2019m doing in a different way. If someone was ever able to convince me that the overall project was wrong or that I wasn\u2019t being kind, I would stop. I\u2019ve been frustrated with advertising for a long time, and this is a way for me to express that and hopefully help other women. I want people to understand that female athletes are just athletes too. I have a lot of respect for the women in many of the pictures I post. They\u2019re hardworking athletes and have incredible bodies because they\u2019ve put in the time. On that note, I have been steered more towards focusing on commercial content versus material from influencers.<\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s another dynamic you have to navigate. How do you decide?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to limit myself to doing exclusively commercial material. Many influencer photos feature a lot of the same issues resulting from the problematic system I see developing. It is obviously much easier to make fun of a company than a real woman and, sometimes, that choice does make me uncomfortable. I think people understand that I\u2019m making fun of the photo, not the woman though. I\u2019m really lucky to have people in my life who are interested in talking about feminism and marketing culture critically. I find those discussions incredibly valuable.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B2XDijFlRHh\/<\/p>\n

What about the name? Are you a sincere or ironic \u2018tryhard\u2019?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Well, first of all, let me say that I think it\u2019s cool to try hard [laughs], even if you aren\u2019t naturally talented or really good at something. It\u2019s part of my ethos. I\u2019m sick of the post-modern ironic detachment that it\u2019s not cool to have passion. I think it\u2019s really cool to have passion! I often think back to this conversation I had with my mom way before I started the account. She had seen the term \u2018try-hard\u2019 used in a negative context and was confused. I tried to explain it to her and she simply responded with, \u2018I think it\u2019s good to try hard.\u2019 This response really stuck with me. As I\u2019ve gotten older, I realize that I do too. I always want to be better and do better. I\u2019m totally down with working like crazy if it\u2019s for something you believe in.<\/p>\n

How has this project expanded your view of the cycling community?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I always have and always will love cyclists. I think if you\u2019re an adult who rides a bike, you have retained a sense of play and that\u2019s a quality that I really enjoy. I\u2019ve overwhelmingly found cyclists to be good people. I wouldn\u2019t be part of the community if I didn\u2019t. The very first thought I had when I started this account was that cyclists have done so much for me, I would like to give something back. I hope that I am!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Gravel Tryhard launched her Instagram account in January, her vision was murky. New to the world of social media, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":176177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[328],"tags":[3721,3720],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-176167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoor-mountain","tag-cycling-parodies","tag-gravel-tryhard","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nGravel Tryhard: The Hilarious Instagram\u2019s Bicycle Prankster - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Gravel Tryhard launched her Instagram account in January, her vision was murky. 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