On a late summer afternoon in a small town near Girona, Benjamin Perry rolls into the local main square in his new kit. The unmistakable red and white of the Canadian flag reimagined for gravel. He recently became National Champion, which justified an update to his already striking gear. The moose antlers garnish the original Guava logo, and the alternative maple leaf on the front and the back replicates the kit Team Canada rocks every year at the Spengler Cup hockey tournament.

Cycling careers rarely follow a straight line, and Ben’s path has been anything but predictable. From the frozen winters of Ontario to the cobbled chaos of Belgium. From the WorldTour classics to the dirt roads of gravel racing, Ben has had to constantly reinvent himself. Now based in Girona, the leader of the Gravel Earth Series during the first half of the season has become a respected figure in the gravel scene because of his level but also his ability to endure, adapt, and keep moving forward even in the darkest times.

Not the average career path

Ben’s journey into cycling began with unpredictability. Growing up in St. Catharines, Canada, he was first drawn to running for its simplicity, but mountain biking soon pulled him in for exactly the opposite reason. “It was less predictable,” he recalls. “You could be fitter than the guy next to you, but if he was smarter or more skilled, he could still win. I liked that.” That mindset would serve him well years later, when his career demanded resilience more than raw power.

We bombarded Ben with questions while he was track-standing. Just for fun. “There are many traffic lights in my hometown, so I had to learn it,” he explains. His beginnings in cyclocross must have also taught him several skill lessons. His first race in Europe was the Hoogerheide CX World Cup in the Netherlands, followed by the World Championships in Germany. One country at a time, he has been in all imaginable places one can race in during a professional career.

Like many riders of his generation, probably the last batch of riders to go through that process, Ben cut his teeth in Belgium’s kermesse scene. Living in hostels, riding to races, and sending desperate emails to teams. It was a world away from Canada, where local races were sparse and winters meant months on the indoor trainer.

His persistence paid off. He landed a spot at Israel Cycling Academy, eventually stepping up to the Pro Continental level and lining up at Flanders and Roubaix, races that define a rider’s mettle.

The following years were a rollercoaster: stints at Astana, Canyon WiV SunGod, and Human Powered Health, punctuated by moments of brilliance; a 4th overall Tour of Britain, and a gritty ride at Rondom Leuven, where he rode toe-to-toe with Kristoff and dropped Alaphilippe. Yet contracts were fragile, sponsors fickle, and injuries cruel. A badly broken collarbone at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque derailed a promising 2023 season, and soon after, the sudden folding of Human Powered Health left him without a home. “That was the end,” Ben says bluntly.

What started as an escape and ended up as the main focus

In that last season racing on skinny tires, he felt like he overdid it, trying to build on his expectations from the year before. He had managed to get into Human Powered Health, the team all North-American riders want to be on because its history and stability. However, that overtraining and stress led to sickness, which required a long break.

It was then when his buddy Dan Bonello encouraged Ben to build a gravel bike and line up for The Traka 200, where he finished in 3rd position, and after rejecting the offers of the gravel teams that contacted him, Ben refocused on his trade team until he had to deal with the unexpected end of the story.

But endings in cycling are rarely final. Gravel offered him a new beginning. Ben discovered that his mix of experience, grit, and adaptability fit perfectly in the fast-evolving discipline. His first steps into gravel weren’t easy. A toxic stint with the Groove Collective almost pushed him out of the sport entirely. “I was losing sleep. It was ruining my life,” he admits. But instead of walking away, he doubled down, choosing to invest in himself and build his own path.

That leap brought him to Guava, a Girona-based bike brand with roots as international as Perry’s own. When he emailed co-founder David Álvarez — in Spanish, only to discover Dave was from Seattle — the connection felt natural. They handed him a bike, and Ben went on to place fifth at Gravel Weekend in Latvia. More importantly, he’d found people who believed in him.

He brought additional brands on board, embracing the privateer model. “It reminded me of when I used to skateboard, taking part in several contests and getting small sponsors, like a board sponsor and a bearing sponsor. Gravel is like that, and it’s fun to be able to choose which brands to add to the mix,” he explains.

Here and there, for the love of the sport

In the past year alone, his calendar has spanned from Mexico to Iceland, even the Himalayas. The constant travel is exhausting, and he admits he did too much this season, although it reflects his philosophy: that gravel is about exploration as much as competition. He may joke about the absurd budgets required to fly around the world chasing the necessary points to contest the overall of the UCI Gravel Series or the Gravel Earth Series, but deep down, he embraces the unpredictability of it all.

No longer just another cog in a WorldTour machine, he became the face and voice of his own project. Ben explained that in professional road cycling, you just ride, eat, and sleep, and the team decides everything for you. No need for booking your plane tickets or repairing a mechanical problem.

As a privateer, Ben organizes his own calendar, manages sponsor relationships, fixes his own bike in faraway places, and budgets every trip. He laughs at the contrast with his time in Astana, where riders complained endlessly about hotels, food, or any small bike part. “You have to be okay with camping, flying economy for 30 hours, and not making tons of money,” he says with a shrug.

Despite that, there’s pride in being able to represent brands he believes in, and his sponsors reflect the independence he’s carved out: Guava, Gemini, Klinpig, Castelli, among others. Some of them are relatively small and from Spain, and Ben isn’t just another rider in a roster; he’s a central figure, a face for their vision.

“It’s nice being one of the main people for these brands, feeling like a big fish in a smaller pond.” – Ben Perry

Girona and beyond

Ben has now lived in Girona for nine years, watching the city shift from a road racing enclave to gravel’s capital. When he first arrived, there was one cycling café, and only one real bike shop. Now, the streets are lined with them, and while many WorldTour riders have moved on, gravel racers have taken their place. According to him, the main reason is that the terrain around Girona is perfect for it, and many of the races happen here.

He has earned his respect in this community not by being the fastest, though his legs can still hold their own, but by being resilient. He is the rider who took the hard knocks, who lost contracts and teams, and now jokes about it. We are well aware he is one of the funniest guys in town, but also the one pulling the most in the famous Wednesday Worlds group ride.

From the chaos of mountain bike races in Canada to the cobbles of Belgium, from the WorldTour peloton to the dirt tracks of Nepal and Nebraska, Benjamin Perry has carried with him the same lesson he learned early on: cycling is unpredictable, and that’s what makes it worth it. In gravel, unpredictability isn’t a weakness; it’s the whole point. And that’s exactly where he belongs.