The British bike charity Cycling UK announced the opening of a brand new, multi-day bikepacking trail this week, called Gallovidian Gravel, which traverses the terrain of Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland.

Cycling UK has established a growing network of riding trails across the country, including the Royal Chilterns Way, King Alfred’s Way, Rebellion Way and Traws Eryri - but this is its first route located entirely north of the border, in Scotland.

The circular route, which starts and finishes in Dumfries, offers adventure-seeking gravel bike and MTB riders 330km of off-road cycling with a total of 4,002 metres of climbing, as it rolls around the wild region's rugged and history sodden landscapes, exploring remote mountains, secret lochs, ancient abbeys, volcanic coastlines, evocative ruined churches, iron age hill forts and character-filled Lowland towns and villages as it wends along forest tracks and coastal back lanes.

Designed to be done over a long weekend or half a week, riders can arrange B&B or pub-based accommodation along the way or punctuate days on the trail with wild camping experiences under star-strewn skies.

The trail, which has been designed and implemented with the help of route designers and bike-tour guides Guy Kesteven and Kieran Foster, includes unique highlights such as the artistic fishing town of Kirkcudbright, and (apparently) the world’s fanciest cow shed. Cyclists can also encounter all kinds of wildlife beside and above the trail - from eagles and ospreys to majestic red deer and wild goats.

“We’ve worked hard to create a moving story of an adventure that takes in traffic free paths and quiet back lanes, linking trail centres, craggy coasts, smugglers coves, seemingly endless forests and wild mountainscapes," said Guy Kesteven.

“Despite being the closest part of Scotland to England, the area remains largely overlooked and undiscovered," he continued. "It’s somewhere you can experience the wild solitude of Scotland’s dark sky parks, whilst also taking in deep history, delightful towns, villages, remote farms and stunning scenery at every turn.

“In short, it really has been the perfect biking area to build a route in. Similar to when we made Royal Chilterns Way, we’ve built in three distinct sections that are linked. That makes Gallovidian Gravel one of our most accessible routes yet for those without the time to tackle the full adventure in one go. We guarantee even the shortest ride in Galloway will grab your heart and make you want to return as soon as possible though.”

According to stats collected by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF), cycling tourism generates more than €44 billion annually, and supports myriad small businesses across Britain and the continent, from B&Bs to bike shops.

Survey data collected by Cycling UK along its King Alfred’s Way route in 2020 backs this up, revealing that on average each person riding the route spends £107.61 per day. With some 1.23 million overnight biking trips being made by adventure cyclists annually, the charity estimates that backcountry riders generate £520m per year.

“Cycling can be the best way to truly experience a place, because you’re travelling slowly enough to take everything in but fast enough to cover great distances," said Cycling UK's commercial director, Katie Hammond. "It’s always exciting to be able to unveil a new route, knowing that at the same time, it’ll boost the local businesses and communities, connecting more of our cities, towns and villages.

“Multi-day routes also offer a much greener and healthier way to travel. You get to see incredible places that are often inaccessible by car, and I’m so pleased to be revealing our first Scottish route. By joining Cycling UK, anyone can help support the creation of even more routes that make cycle adventures accessible to everyone. You’ll also be the first to know when we launch something new.”

While Pirelli is perhaps best known for its involvement in motorsports, specifically as the tyre sponsor and supplier of Formula One, the company also makes a range of tyres for bicycles. The Italian multinational company offers a wide range of road, MTB, city and gravel tyres. Cars and bicycles may have very different requirements when it comes to tyres, but the two share many of the same design elements: puncture resistance, blending speed and traction, as well as resilience against degradation.

The Cinturato range of tyres comprises Pirelli’s gravel catalogue and offers a particularly wide variety of different treads and compounds available at multiple price points. The Cinturato Gravel H, as tested here, is available in both 700c and 650b diameters in several widths, tread compounds, casings and colours.

Determining the right type of tyre for you largely comes down to where you live and the specific terrain you have access to. There is no best single option across the board. Trial and error is often the best way to find what works for you and your riding, but Pirelli does have a helpful tyre configurator on its website. By inputting your monthly mileage, the type of riding you do, and whether you prefer speed or control, the tool will make suggestions as to which product within the line is best suited to your choices. There is also an interactive tyre pressure tool to assist in setup, though more refined third-party options may provide more useful guidance.

Design and construction

The Cinturato Gravel H SmartEVO GR is part of Pirelli’s newly updated High Performance line, made in Italy at the company’s Milan-Bollate plant with certified FSCTM natural rubber. Other tyres Pirelli offers with this same designation have tread options ranging from a semi-slick (RH) to hardpack-specific (H), a tread designed for mixed terrain (M) and one for muddy/soft conditions (S). The High Performance line, as one would expect, is designed for racing. Pirelli also offers the same tread patterns in its Performance line, which uses a different rubber compound and costs less.

The Gravel H tyre tested here is intended for riding on hard-packed, dry surfaces.

Per the company’s internal testing, the methodology of which it has not shared, the HP “offers 20% better puncture resistance and reduces rolling resistance by 10%” over the previous iteration.

The tread design, which is directional, features low-profile knobs in a tightly spaced chevron pattern. The side knobs are slightly taller and more widely spaced. Also of note is the fact that these tyres have an unusually high number of nibs (the little vestigial hairs on a tyre leftover from manufacture, also called sprues), which gives them a furry aspect. This tread pattern is unchanged from previous iterations, but the tyres feature the new SmartEVO GR compound, 120 TPI casing and a new protective sidewall, previously used on Pirelli’s MTB tyres.

My test tyres weighed in at 579 grams per slightly more than the listed weight of 570 g.

They measured out to precisely 45 mm on 25 mm internal width rims. The Gravel H is available as a 650b tyre in 45 or 50 mm, or as a 700c tyre in 35, 40, 45 and 50 mm options.

On the road

For this test, Pirelli provided me with a set of Cinturato High Performance Gravel H tyres in 45mm. Not so long ago, this would have been a common size, but in 2026, it is decidedly on the smaller side. If your gravel bike has the clearance, the current trend is to opt for 50-55 mm tyres, and sometimes more. On my own bikes, I typically go as wide as I can unless conditions are especially muddy.

I have previously spent time on Pirelli’s PZero road tyres, but this was my first time putting an extended amount of time on the company’s gravel tyres. The Cinturato Gravel H isn’t designed for technical off-road riding, and while it can be pressed into use for such terrain, it works much better for mixed terrain with generally compact surfaces.

The paved roads where I live are fairly rough (high volumes of chip seal and concrete panels), and I like to mix some mild off-road riding into most of my regular riding loops. I also have access to more remote crushed gravel pathways within a reasonable distance of home, and these spots provided an excellent place for testing these tyres.

While Pirelli classifies the Gravel H as a gravel tyre, I think they are better categorised as an all-road tyre. They performed at their best on sandy gravel roads or paths of crushed rock. In looser conditions, or where the road was bumpier, the lack of volume caused the tyres to get bogged down and jostled around more than I liked. They also lack the tread to perform well in the mud. These tyres encourage you to venture off-road, just not too far off.

For someone who lives in an area with relatively smooth gravel options, this is a tyre that will shine. For those in wetter places, or with bumpier terrain, a knobbier, higher-volume tyre would be a better choice.

I was quite impressed with how the Gravel H tyres felt on smoother pavement. They roll well and corner evenly, thanks to the uniform tread shape, which has a rounded profile. At high speeds, I found them to be quite noisy, something I chalk up to the amount of furry nibs, but they maintain speed well. I have not tried the Gravel RH model, which is Pirelli’s dedicated semi-slick tread pattern, but a combo of these two models could make for a very fast all-road setup.

This is a good tyre for a rider who rides pavement often but wants more grip than a slick tyre for when they venture off-road.

In my time testing them, I didn't have any punctures, but then I also didn’t push it on terrain. I will say that these were fairly challenging tyres to mount and set up tubeless. I’ve had worse experiences, but these weren’t easy to get seated. Be prepared for some wrestling!

Specifications

• Price: $97.90 USD
• Sizes: 45 mm as tested; available in 35-50 mm
• Weight: 579g as tested, 570g listed

Value and conclusion

When choosing a tyre, I would argue that size is the most critical metric to consider, but it’s not as simple as simply choosing an option based on the stated width; it is also necessary to assess height, shape and the impact of rim width. All of these things will impact how the tyre performs, and thus your riding experience.

My usual suggestion, when asked, is to ride the widest tyres you can fit on your bike with a tread pattern you feel confident on in all conditions. We are lucky to have so many good tyre gravel options available at the moment, and finding one that works for you will make your riding all the better.

The Cinturato Gravel H SmartEVO GR is designed as a racing tyre for hardpack conditions. Other popular tyres in this category include the Specialized Pathfinder TLR, Schwalbe G-One RS PRO, Hutchinson Caracal Race, and the Vittoria Terreno T30. Of the lot, the Pirellis are the most expensive by $10-25 per tyre.

I have spent time riding all of these, save for the Hutchinsons, and have good things to say about each of them. The Gravel H stacks up favourably against all of them, but perhaps with a slightly narrower use window—it's not the best on tarmac or rough gravel, but does well enough on both, and exceptionally well on smooth dirt and crushed stone surfaces.

I’ll start out this review by admitting that I've rarely been so confused by a bike.

"What exactly is this?" was my immediate reaction when I first saw the Salsa Wanderosa, and that question lingered far longer than I expected.

When Salsa Cycles unveiled the Wanderosa in January, I knew it'd be an oddity. But it was the kind of oddity I was excited to ride..

A self-proclaimed industry first, the Wanderosa is a Class 3 full-suspension gravel e-bike. It’s got a carbon frame, 120mm of suspension up front, 110mm at the rear, a long reach, short stem and very wide drop bars. It’s also got a dropper post and tyre clearance up to 2.35 inches.

Salsa calls this "a genre-bending blend of full-suspension capability, progressive drop-bar geometry, and motorised assistance for a radical ride experience."

At the time, I called it a “cross-country e-mountain bike with drop bars. All off-road versus all-road.”

I tend to gravitate toward bikes that reward effort. I like underbiking. I like finding the limits of a bike and occasionally crossing them. Looking at the Wanderosa, I assumed that it would be a drop-bar shred machine, and imagined riding the 23 miles to my nearest trailhead, ripping a few mountain bike laps, then riding home with just enough battery.

One ride on the Wanderosa and I came to a very different conclusion.

The bike isn't a drop-bar e-MTB at all. And to Salsa’s credit, the brand insists it was never intended to be one. Instead, it's something much more, well, “radical.” No, not in the “let’s get rad” kind of way. But in its uniqueness: a full-suspension gravel bike built around comfort, confidence and exploration.

“This is not developed to be a drop bar eMTB. It is truly meant as a gravel bike that can travel further, faster. The full suspension is there to serve the speed; making the faster ride more comfortable,” Salsa told me. “It’s for riders seeking to explore and gain more confidence in whatever terrain they encounter.”

Salsa knew exactly what this bike was about. It also knew it was taking a gamble.

Only a limited number of Wanderosas were produced, in part because Salsa anticipated that riders—myself included—might misunderstand the bike's intent. At first glance, it certainly looks like one thing. On the trail, however, it reveals itself to be something entirely different.

Meet the Wanderosa

The Wanderosa is what Salsa calls a "light electric full-suspension gravel bike."

At its core sits a high-modulus carbon frame paired with a flex-stay rear suspension design delivering 110mm of travel. Up front, a RockShox SID fork provides 120mm. For comparison, that’s the same amount of travel you’ll find on, say, the Specialized Chisel Full Suspension XC mountain bike.

From here, the gravel aspect becomes a tad more apparent with (very wide) drop bar handlebars and, on this review bike, a SRAM Apex Eagle mechanical drivetrain and disc brakes. Bar widths range from 44cm to a remarkably wide 52cm depending on frame size.

The geometry follows the modern "progressive" playbook with a slack front end, steep seat angle, long wheelbase and short stem.

Power comes from the FAZUA Ride 60 system paired with a 480Wh integrated battery. The motor produces 60Nm of torque and can reach assisted speeds of 28mph.

Specifications as reviewed

• Carbon frame with flex-stay rear suspension
• 120mm RockShox SID fork
• RockShox SIDLuxe Select+ 3P, 110mm travel
• FAZUA Ride 60 motor
• 480Wh integrated battery
• Class 3 e-bike
  • 28mph
  • Up to 55 miles of range
• Tyre clearance up to 2.35in
• Progressive gravel geometry
• TranzX YSP18 Dropper post
• Drivetrain: SRAM Apex Eagle
• Cassette: SRAM PG-1210, 10-50T, 12-speed
• Wheels: WTB ST i27, 29 in.
• Bars: 44cm Salsa Cowchipper
• Weight: 40 lbs
• Price: from $7,999

The ride

The Wanderosa's biggest challenge may be managing expectations.

Mine certainly got in the way.

When I first picked up the bike, with its beautiful seafoam green carbon frame, towering front end, wide bars and generous suspension travel, it looked, in one word, shreddy.

Parked next to my full-suspension trail bike, the Wanderosa was just as long and perhaps even a smidge taller at the front. And, for the first several rides, I treated it like a mountain bike.

I pulled on a pair of cut-off jean shorts, enjoyed the wind-at-my-back feeling of the electric assist on the ride to the trails, dropped the seatpost and pointed it downhill.

I rode it like a drop-bar e-MTB because that's exactly what its silhouette suggested. But while I had an absolute blast powering up fire roads and grinding effortlessly to the top of climbs, the Wanderosa remained disappointingly muted on the way back down.

It was planted, stable and composed. But not playful. It didn't seem particularly interested in getting airborne or being flicked aggressively through corners.

I also struggled to get comfortable.

The front end is exceptionally tall for a gravel bike, and the reach felt relatively compact. I swapped the stock stem for something longer and lowered the bars as much as possible. Even then, I never quite found that forward-leaning, aggressive position I instinctively wanted.

The harder I pushed the bike toward my usual, somewhat aggressive, riding, the more I felt like I was fighting it.

What is this thing? I kept asking myself.

And then I realized that the issue wasn’t the bike. It was the rider. I was getting in its way, not the other way around.

Once I stopped trying to ride the Wanderosa like a mountain bike, or even like my usual gravel race bikes, the bike's purpose became much clearer.

Because when used as intended, the Wanderosa may just be among the smoothest gravel bikes I've ever ridden.

On rough gravel roads, washboard surfaces and chunky doubletrack, the suspension shines and the bike feels remarkably composed. Embedded rocks, corrugations and square-edge hits simply disappear beneath you. Instead of constantly searching for the smoothest line or hovering out of the saddle to spare your back and hands, you can stay seated, relax your grip and let the bike float across the terrain.

The result isn't an adrenaline rush. It's comfort, control and confidence.

The Wanderosa encourages the kind of riding where curiosity replaces caution. The kind that invites you to go where you haven't gone before. When you spot an unfamiliar fire road disappearing into the trees, instead of wondering whether you'll have enough energy to investigate, you simply turn onto it. A dotted line on a map becomes an invitation rather than a question mark.

Just pack a lunch and go explore.

The Wanderosa feels less like a performance bike and more like a hiking boot on two wheels. The motor helps you cover greater distances and steeper grades, while the suspension smooths whatever terrain you encounter along the way. Together, they create a bike that constantly asks: "Where do you want to go today?"

The Wanderosa doesn't make you faster in the way a race bike makes you faster. Instead, it expands your riding radius. It makes the world feel a little smaller and your options a little bigger.

The wide tyres and full-suspension chassis contribute as much to that feeling as the motor itself. Knowing the bike can comfortably handle whatever surface appears around the next corner gives a reassuring sense of confidence. Whether the route turns into loose gravel, washboard, rutted forest roads or rocky doubletrack, the Wanderosa remains calm, predictable and unfazed.

Likewise, the FAZUA Ride 60 powers the experience with a smooth, quiet and relatively lightweight system. In its lowest assistance setting, the motor does little more than offset the bike's additional weight. In the middle Blue mode, however, it delivers a steady, natural feeling boost no matter how rough the terrain becomes. Some e-bike systems can feel abrupt or unpredictable when traction is limited, but the FAZUA remains impressively controlled.

Range, however, may be the limiting factor for some riders. While I found the 480Wh battery adequate for most rides, the claimed 55-mile maximum feels somewhat restrictive on a bike whose entire purpose is encouraging bigger adventures. A range extender option would make a lot of sense here.

The handlebar-mounted controls also took some getting used to. Designed more like SRAM Blips than a traditional e-bike remote, they can be difficult to locate and activate on rough terrain. Personally, I'd prefer a more conventional control unit positioned near the stem or top tube, where changing assist modes feels more intuitive.

Value and conclusion

Starting at $7,999, the Wanderosa is certainly an investment. It is also an undeniably niche product.

Which makes reviewing it surprisingly difficult. After all, who else is making a Class 3, full-suspension gravel e-bike?

Nobody.

So rather than measuring the Wanderosa against bikes it was never intended to compete with, it makes more sense to evaluate it for what it is: a category of one.

Viewed through that lens, the Wanderosa succeeds remarkably well.

I looked at the Wanderosa's generous suspension and mountain-bike-inspired silhouette and mistook it for a shreddy e-mtb with drop bars. But I was wrong. This is an exploration bike.

Its greatest strength isn't speed, capability or even comfort, though it offers all three in abundance. It's an invitation to explore and go further. To turn down the unknown road. To investigate that logging track you've always wondered about. To venture farther from home knowing the suspension will smooth the terrain and the motor will help get you back again.

This is a bike for the rider who throws it on the back of the car and spends an entire day wandering logging roads, forest service routes and forgotten connectors. The rider who values comfort and confidence over outright speed. The rider who values comfort and confidence over outright speed. The Wanderosa is a purpose-built machine for riders who simply want to see what's around the next bend and the next and the next.

Yes, that's a surprisingly specific rider. But if that’s you, then the Wanderosa is certainly worth a test ride.

A couple of weeks ago I returned from a ride with a friend in tow. Not the sort of friend who fist-bumps you afterwards and says 'great day, seeya next weekend'. Or even the sort of friend that might say, 'good to see you still have the FTP of an asthmatic ant, Shrubsall', with a conspiratorial wink. No, this was the sort of friend that might suck your blood while giving you Lyme disease. A tick, in other words and, actually, no friend at all.

My proud brandishing of the pin-head sized parasite was met with limited sympathy, or indeed admiration, from family members. Instead they recoiled in disgust and went off, I presume, to find the nearest plague mask. I went off to find the nearest pair of tweezers to get rid of the thing.

The chances are you know about ticks. You may well have had an encounter with one – they're not uncommon. They can be found in every UK county, and there are plenty in the USA too, particularly in the North-East and the West Coast. You may well also know that they can transmit Lyme disease, with one estimate putting the proportion of carrier ticks in the UK at 4%. In the US there's a pronounced variation, depending on where you live, ranging from less than 1% to 50%. There are other delights too, but Lyme is by far the most common.

Small (in some cases minute) spider-like critters, ticks lurk on foliage tips, latching on to humans and pets as they brush by. They'll then spend some time searching for a likely spot before biting on to feed, which is where any potential disease transmission occurs.

If you're part of the gravel fraternity and your rides take you along overgrown paths or through long grass it's worth checking yourself over when you get home. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends showering within two hours, which can wash off any roaming ticks and gives a chance to spot any that have latched on. Covering up as far as possible, avoiding foliage and using tick repellent can also go some way to ensuring you never experience the pleasure of meeting one.

Tick removal involves pulling the offender straight out with tweezers – don't try to burn it or drown it. I can vouch from my own experience that this is easy and painless (though slightly icky). Standard recommendation is then to dispose of the tick by placing it in a sealed container or novelly, folding it in sticky tape and binning it. Not having read this and being of the 'live and let live' persuasion, I chucked my mate out the window. I rather regret this now: I can imagine it waiting in the lavender outside the front door, ready to strike again.

If you get bitten by a tick and are unlucky enough to have been furnished with Lyme disease, there's a good chance you'll notice an expanding red 'bullseye' rash (usually around the bite, but it can be elsewhere) within a few weeks. You may also experience flu-like symptoms. At this point, it's worth getting yourself to your family doctor, who will likely offer a course of antibiotics. Left untreated, it can spread throughout the body over time and cause all sorts of unpleasant symptoms, from severe fatigue to localised paralysis and more.

For me personally, I'm going to spend at least the next couple of weeks looking out for rashes and swiping at the foliage outside my door. But, equally, I feel more alert to the possibility of another bite while out riding, and if I do find another stealing my, quite frankly, precious blood supply, it's going to be in a whole lot of trouble.

Mads Würtz Schmidt is currently the best gravel racer on the planet. In 2026, he is having an almost perfect season: the reigning European Champion has won every race he has entered, bar the Castellon Gravel Race, where he "only" finished second. His wins have been dominant and decisive, culminating in victories at the two biggest gravel races on the calendar: the Traka 360 and Unbound 200.

But what makes the Dane so special? Is it his illustrious hair, or the type of fish he puts on his bread? We spoke to the man himself, as well as a confidential source who knows him well, to uncover the facts about Mads Würtz Schmidt that you may not know, as well as those you never knew you wanted to know.

1. Mads is Danish, which you probably already knew, and comes from the town of Randers, which also happens to be his favourite place in all of Denmark.
   
2. Despite his German-sounding name, Mads has no connection to Germany. His grandfather, however, believes the Würtz traces back to German potato farmers who settled in Midtjylland (Middle Jutland) many years ago.
   
3. On the subject of Germans and their culinary reputation: when racing in Denmark as a junior, Mads was often called pølse, Danish for sausage. The reason? Wurst, the German word for sausage, sounds a lot like Würtz. He has been living that down ever since.
   
4. He has held a race licence since the age of eight, inspired by his cycling-mad family and his semi-pro mountain bike racer father.
   
5. His favourite traditional Danish food is smørrebrød (pronounced SMUR-uh-brod), which translates literally as "buttered bread". The bread itself is dark rye (rugbrød), and Mads takes his with a fried piece of white fish, Danish remoulade, and freshly squeezed lemon.
   

6. Denmark is a famous cycling nation, but it is also the home of Lego. Mads's favourite set, since you're asking, is the Batmobile.
   
7. If you scroll back through photos of Mads, you will find a catalogue of illustrious hairstyles. Contrary to what you might assume, he is a natural blond and does not dye his hair. Consider the record officially set straight.
   
8. That said, according to my confidential source, he currently has a secret mullet project in progress, described as a "big wish" for Mads.
   
9. His favourite road race is Paris-Roubaix, which may go some way to explaining his talent on gravel. His favourite gravel race is the Traka, held in his adopted home city of Girona.
   
10. Mads has lived in Girona with his family since 2016. His Spanish is conversational rather than fluent, something he is, to his credit, genuinely embarrassed about, but his English is perfect. Knowing three languages is still pretty good.
    

11. His standout career win, above all others, is the Elite Road Danish National Championship in 2021. He tells me he would not swap it for a Paris-Roubaix victory. That is how much it means to him.
    
12. Being a professional cyclist, he naturally has his superstitions. The salt must be placed on the table before anyone picks it up; it cannot be passed directly hand to hand. And all numbers must be even: For example, the TV or radio volume.
    
13. That last point may help explain this one. During a power cut in Girona that lasted over five hours, Mads refused to eat lunch because, without power, he could not accurately measure his food or log it in his app. It took his partner's intervention to suggest that, on balance, eating something was probably a good idea. Whether that is dedication, madness, or simply what it takes to win Unbound, you can decide.
    
14. I don't want to be the one who jinxes his season, so to ensure an even number of facts, here is one more. Randers, his hometown, is also home to the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest winner Emmelie de Forest. Mads has never met her. You are welcome.

As I’m sure most of you know, the rule of thumb for brands making a gravel riding jersey seems to be to make it more relaxed and add in some merino wool. Where bib shorts are concerned, gravelisation usually involves the simple addition of a couple of thigh pockets to a pair of Lycra shorts.

Fortunately, the Adventure Cargo Bib Shorts from WorldTour sponsors Q36.5 have rather more to offer than just a bit of thigh storage. The shorts are based on their premium road-going Gregarius Pro Bib Shorts, but this is no bad thing, as these already utilise some interesting tech and fabrics, so they should be a great starting point for some premium gravel bib shorts.

Construction

At the business end of the Adventure Cargo Bib Shorts is a Q Lab Air Chamois. At first glance, this looks a little bit basic, but dig a little deeper and its secrets are revealed.

A large, soft layer sits against the skin, extending both sideways and forwards, underneath which sits a multi-layer pad. This comprises a ‘sliding-effect reduction microfibre’ layer, ‘shock-absorbing high-density foam’ and ‘high-density open cell foam’ for moisture management. The layers aren’t all bonded together, allowing movement between them as you pedal or shift about in the saddle; in particular, the skin-contact layer is actually quite loose to reduce friction against the skin. The padding does feel quite thin compared with some pads, though.

The rear panel of the shorts, as well as the panel that sits underneath the chamois, are both stretch-woven, rather than Lycra, which should greatly improve durability. Q36.5 claims that it also offers lumbar support for enhanced stability and power.

The two thigh pockets, de rigueur on gravel shorts, are 19cm deep with a turned-over inside lip for added security. There is also a small, angled pocket just below the strap attachment on the rear; this is not particularly easy to access and is perhaps a hangover from the Gregarius Pro Bib Shorts, intended for a race radio.

The straps themselves are quite wide and robust with Q36.5 branding.

It’s also worth mentioning that Q36.5 have a big commitment to sustainability. All the materials used in the shorts are recycled, and Q36.5 says that their RaceWear is all ‘exclusively sourced, developed and manufactured with Italian fabrics and hand-crafted within a 350 km radius from [their] Bolzano headquarters in Italy’. They also state that all the components of the shorts are proprietary rather than simply picked off a fabric or seat pad manufacturer’s shelves.

The ride

I confess that after opening the smart white box, I was a little dismayed at the feel of the seat pad. It felt a bit thinner and a bit more ‘basic’ than I’m used to, and I wasn’t convinced that it would suit me for long, bumpy gravel rides. However, a couple of 30+km test rides reassured me that it was at least OK, and so I jumped in at the deep end and took the Adventure Cargo Bib Shorts as my only pair of shorts for a two day, 260km ride around the Yorkshire Wolds.

My backside and I are happy to report that the Q Lab Air Chamois worked very well. Admittedly, I switched the saddle on the Standert Pfadfinder to one of my own, favourite saddles, and the ride was more lanes than trails, but even so, I spent well over 14 hours on the bike with no discomfort.

The fit of the size large shorts was just right, and similar to larges from Castelli, Assos and Santini, whilst the bib straps were just the right length to hold everything in place without being uncomfortable when standing upright. I guess it would have been nice for the straps to be a little lighter and more obviously breathable, but I have no actual complaints about them at all.

I’m never really sure how to judge a short’s compression qualities, but the Adventure Cargo Bib Shorts felt very good, with a nice weight of elasticity - enough to feel well contained but not enough to be restrictive or to be constantly aware of. I’m not sure that I can say whether my lumbar felt more or less supported than with other shorts that I’ve worn, but I do know that what Q36.5 is calling the lumbar area is one which seems to wear out quickly in other shorts, leaving riders on your wheel with an interesting view. By the feel of the stretch-woven fabric in this area (and under the seat pad), I don’t think that this will be an issue with these shorts, as the material feels very durable.

I haven’t used the race radio pocket, but the two thigh pockets were deep and secure - perfect for keeping my phone in between photos (although I’d be wary riding off-road with it there), or ensuring that snacks were within easy reach. Thanks to the nature of the pocket design, they stayed very flat against the thigh when not in use, so the shorts wouldn’t feel out of place on a road ride.

My only real criticism relates to the leg length and hems. Q36.5 hasn’t used any silicone gripper material, instead relying on textured fabric around the bottom of the leg. This worked well when the shorts were fresh on, with the length being broadly similar to other shorts. However, as each ride progressed and I got sweatier and/or the shorts got a little bit stretched, the hem began to drift up my thigh until by the end of the first day in the Yorkshire Wolds, they were 2cm higher than where they started. Not a really big deal, and maybe a non-issue for those with bigger leg muscles, shorter femurs or less tan-line vanity than me, but I did find it a bit annoying.

Value and conclusion

Hmmm. Tricky one. £220 is more than I would generally consider paying for shorts, but the Adventure Cargo Bib Shorts offer more than your average shorts. Pockets, interesting use of different fabrics and generally high-quality construction all add up to a worthwhile package. Add in their probable longevity (thanks to the durable fabric used on the bum), and I might be persuaded that they are not an unreasonable price. Or at least, I might be if they didn’t slowly work their way up my thigh over the course of a ride!

Are they £90 better than the Rab Cinder Cargo Bib Shorts, for instance? Maybe not, but they are better cut and use more targeted fabrics; cost notwithstanding, I would pick the Q36.5s over the Rabs every time.

All of which is to say that the Adventure Cargo Bib Shorts are a bit pricey, but they are also very good.

The 2026 Unbound Gravel delivered victory for some, heartbreak, mechanicals and injuries for others, and mud for everyone. It also brought an end to the battle for the coveted Wild Card spots in the Life Time Grand Prix race series.

The Life Time Grand Prix is North America's most prestigious off-road racing series, consisting of six events across five U.S. states over seven months. In 2026, the series features a 50-rider field competing for a share of a $350,000 overall prize purse, alongside another $240,000 available across the six individual events.

Spots in the series are hand-selected by the organisers and fiercely contested. Ahead of the 2025 season, Life Time introduced a Wild Card programme to give riders who missed out on initial selection another route into the series.

The concept delivered the series' biggest shake-up yet when, in 2025, New Zealand's Cameron Jones rode his way into the series before winning Unbound Gravel and Little Sugar, and ultimately ending Keegan Swenson's dominance to claim the overall series title.

"[The Wild Card process] gave me the chance to prove that a Wild Card entry isn’t just a filler spot, it’s a chance for a genuine contender to shake up the standings. I truly believe that the talent pool is deep enough now that we may well see another Wild Card take the overall title in 2026," Jones said.

For 2026, Life Time reserved three men’s and four women’s places for riders emerging from the Wild Card pool. The fourth spot was added to the women's field after a rider dropped out of the series.

Competition was fierce, with nearly 80 athletes selected for the programme. Riders were scored on their performances at the opening two events of the season — Sea Otter Classic Gravel and Unbound Gravel — with the top performers earning their place in the Grand Prix field.

Now, with the opening two rounds complete, the Wild Card riders have been confirmed.

In the women’s field, familiar faces return in Americans Hannah Shell, Jenna Rinehart and Brit Danni Shrosbree. They're joined by newcomer Charlotte Clarke of New Zealand.

On the men’s side, the series welcomes Latvian Olympic mountain biker Martins Blums, returning riders Matthew Wilson of New Zealand and American Skyler Taylor.

The Unbound 200 may be done for the year, but its riders are still reeling from the tough conditions faced on Saturday’s race.

A combination of rain-exposed rock gardens, torrential pre-race downpours and mud-slick trails took victims throughout the weekend, including 2024’s Unbound 200 winner, Lachlan Morton. The EF Education-EasyPost rider took a hard slam just a quarter of the way into the race, falling heavily on his left hip. Though he managed to pedal to the first aid station, medics diagnosed him with concussion, and he exited the race.

"I had a big slam in one of the rocky sections," Morton said in a post on his team’s Instagram page. "It was of my own doing. Landed on my hip quite hard which is pretty sore right now. The organisers did a great job, they checked me out for concussion once I got back to the aid station. Otherwise, I'm ok, just a little disappointed. The race was going well but [there were] brutal conditions out there."

Morton wasn’t the only rider to abandon early on. Of the 117 riders that started the Unbound 200 elite men’s race, 37 dropped out before its end. In the women’s, 15 of the 62 starters also abandoned. The drop-out rate was even more staggering in the Unbound XL: only 60 riders finished the 350 mile race, of an initial 237 starters.

Huge names joined Morton in an early race exit. In an Instagram post after the race, Romain Bardet praised his fellow riders' ability to manage the mental load of endurance racing as well as the technical skills needed to manage equipment over nine hours: “It was a day for the brave,” he wrote.

Another rider whose dreams of winning Unbound came to an early end was Nicole Frain. After making it into the lead group, the Oceania Champion crashed hard in a mud ridge. After attempting to readjust her handlebars, Frain continued, though riding with crooked handlebars caused back pain enough for her to abandon.

In a post-race Instagram post, she captured the dualism - and brutality - of gravel racing, writing: "Ahhh this race. It was going so good until it wasn’t."

On the other side of a disappointing Unbound, Lachlan Morton echoed Frain's sentiments. "Drove to Kansas , saw some friends, played in the mud [...] got rained out at the rodeo, now I’m driving home," he wrote in an Instagram post. "That’s the game and I’ll keep playing it.”

Mads Würtz Schmidt was the ultimate winner of the men’s 200, with Sofia Gomez Villafañe winning the women’s. In the Unbound XL, Robin Gemperle and Svenja Betz finished first in their categories.

In the three times Geerike Schreurs has raced Unbound Gravel, the race has ended in a bunch finish twice. And both times, she finished second.

Saturday’s finish left the Dutch rider visibly emotional after another near-miss at gravel racing’s marquee event. Despite strong results throughout her career, including success in the UCI Gravel Series and wins at The Gralloch and Gravel Desert, Schreurs is still chasing a breakthrough victory at the sport’s biggest races.

"The dream is to win this race someday," Schreurs said after helping the Specialized Off-Road team secure a one-two finish behind teammate Sophia Gomez Villafañe. "But yeah, two times second place. That’s kind of the story of my life."

Like her second-place finish in 2024, Schreurs again found herself in a reduced group sprint at the end of one of gravel racing’s most demanding events. And like that year, victory narrowly slipped away.

The 2026 edition was made even harder by brutally muddy sectors that turned the race into an attritional battle long before the finish in Emporia.

"It was so hard," Schreurs said. "We encountered mud for the first time about 30 kilometres in, and after that it was relentlessly hard. But I was always well positioned near the front, and at the moments where it mattered most."

Schreurs spent much of the day in the breakaway and eventually took matters into her own hands when cooperation in the front group began to fade.

"At one point, we were riding with a big group, and then half the group didn't work. That’s super annoying," she said. "So then I thought, well, I’m just going to push the pace."

It proved to be one of the defining moves of the race, reducing the front group to a smaller and more committed selection that stayed clear into the finishing chute.

But once the riders made the final left-hand turn onto the finishing straight, the outcome felt almost inevitable.

"Of course I wanted to win," Schreurs said. "But this was agreed beforehand, that the finish would be for Sophia [Gomez Villafañe], and I’m happy she was able to finish it off, and I’m happy I could complete the podium for the one-two."

Schreurs attempted to attack before the sprint but could not make the move stick.

"I was going to try to attack," she said. "But yeah, unfortunately, it didn’t work. Looking back, I think I should have started the sprint a bit earlier, but I got boxed in a little."

Schreurs acknowledged that turning second place into victory may require more progress mentally.

"I’ve worked a lot on the mental side," she said. "But I think I still need to believe in myself a bit more."

Asked whether she would return to Unbound to chase victory again next year, Schreurs was unsure.

"Who knows," she said. "Maybe I’ll come back next year. Who knows."

Still, Schreurs said she was proud of the team result after Specialized dominated the women’s race, and swept the men’s podium aboard the new S-Works Crux.

"It was a super good weekend for the Specialized team," she said. "And I’m incredibly proud to be part of it and involved in it."

Heavy rain and thunderstorms swept across eastern Kansas through Friday and Saturday to deliver another epic edition of Unbound Gravel. Riders battled the infamous peanut butter mud that zapped any leg speed and clogged tyres and drivetrains, while fierce winds turned carefully planned race strategies into a contest of pure attrition and luck.

Midway through the race, a promising three-rider breakaway formed featuring former Unbound winner Keegan Swenson, his Specialized Off-Road teammate Mads Würtz Schmidt, and young Coby Freeburn (Trek Driftless). But Freeburn eventually could not hold the pace, leaving the two Specialized teammates alone off the front with more than six minutes on the chasers and looking firmly in control of the race.

Then came the mechanical that nearly ended everything.

With roughly 80 miles still to race, Würtz Schmidt punctured. In conditions where every stop carried enormous consequences, the race suddenly hung in the balance. The pair pulled over and worked frantically to repair the damage while rivals closed from behind, jamming plug after plug into the tyre.

After the race, Würtz Schmidt said they went through eight plugs trying to save it.

But they still were not making progress.

That was when Swenson made the decision that defined the race.

In a remarkable act of sacrifice, Swenson handed over his wheel, effectively giving up his own shot at victory, and valuable Life Time Grand Prix points, so his teammate could continue.

"[Würtz Schmidt] was riding really well today, and I was kind of buckled, so I just told him to just take my wheel and go," Swenson said afterward.

"I was like 100% confident he would make it and be able to win. And I wasn't so confident I'd be able to make it."

Würtz Schmidt rode away while Swenson was left dealing with the aftermath. He wrestled the damaged tyre off the rim, installed a tube, inflated it, and watched as the first riders from the chase group sped past.

Then, after getting moving again, his wheel would not engage. He was later seen searching through the gravel for lost freehub springs as his own race unravelled in the mud.

Many riders might have abandoned the day altogether. Swenson kept fighting.

"I just had to make sure to get it fixed because otherwise it's a long, long way without walking," he said.

"There were the Grand Prix points, and then in the end I was still fifth."

Meanwhile, the gamble worked perfectly.

As storms continued to roll through the Flint Hills and the mud dismantled the rest of the field, Würtz Schmidt rode clear, looking stronger with every mile. By the final hour, he was alone off the front, surviving what he later described as a brutal effort.

"I felt like I was flying for an hour after [Swenson sacrificed his wheel]. It gave me some adrenaline, and it gave me a kick," Schmidt said. "And then, the headwind on the way back, I think it took eight years out of my life. It was terrible."

"The last hour I was physically dead, but we played an aggressive race like we wanted to."

When he rolled into downtown Emporia, he did so alone, crossing the finish line more than five minutes ahead of his nearest challenger.

Swenson, despite everything, came across the finish line in fifth place, where Würtz Schmidt greeted him warmly.

"Maybe I was the strongest one in the race, but I couldn't have done it without Keegan," Würtz Schmidt said.

Gravel racing has long celebrated individual problem-solving and survival, but on the muddiest Unbound in years, teamwork decided the race.

"[Swenson] sacrificed his chances to win. He's a real champion," Würtz Schmidt. "and a good teammate."

Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-Road) mastered a tactical sprint finish at Unbound Gravel to take her second career win at the 200-mile gravel race.

A lead group of five women dominated the majority of the race, with representation from Villafañe, her teammate Geerike Schreurs, Cecily Decker (Pas Racing), Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM), and Trek's Paige Onweller.

It was largely a stalemate until the final miles when Schreurs launched two attacks that hurt the rest of the group but didn't pull out any time. Villafañe waited until the final turn onto the finish straight to open her sprint that none of the other women could match.

Schreurs took second to make it one-two for Specialized.

How the Race Unfolded

Emma Langley (Ventum Racing) and Laurel Quinones (Ride BMC) were the first women to go off the front. At the same time, chaos erupted in the middle of the peloton with Peta Mullens (Liv) and Stella Hobbs (MAAP) hitting the deck but appearing to be uninjured. In an unrelated incident, Michaela Thompson (Allied Cycle Works) suffered an early flat tyre.

The Pas Racing duo of last year’s winner Karolina Migon and Morgan Aguirre were well-positioned for the first mud section but were both forced off their bikes to scrape the peanut butter-like mud off their bikes.

After the mud section, the lead group formed with representation from Danni Shrosbree (Argon 18), Cecily Decker (Pas Racing), Nicole Fraine (Factor Racing), Lauren Stephens (Aegis), Geerike Schreurs (Specialized Off-Road), Carolin Schiff (Canyon ATR), Samara Sheppard (Velocio-SRAM), Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM), and Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless).

Several splits and surges mixed up the lead group over the first 50 miles. Trek’s Cecile Lejeune crashed in a water crossing and forged a fierce chase to rejoin the leaders. Fraine crashed hard after a touch of wheels on a fast section; she was slow to get back started with a bloody leg.

Three hours into the race, the front group consisted of Specialized’s Villafañe and Schreurs, Trek’s Paige Onweller, Lejeune, and Decker, as well as Schiff, Klöser, Sarah Lange (Pivot, Kenda, Hunt), Hayley Preen (Factor Racing ), and Nele Laing (Canyon ATR).

At 150 miles to go, the leaders had settled in with not much aggression. Then an attack reignited the hostilities on one of the courses' only paved sections, with Villafañe Schreurs, Decker, and Klöser going off the front.

The front four rode steady and regrouped after briefly splitting after the second feed zone.

As the women rode through the rain and mud (which stayed wet and mostly did not turn to the dreaded peanut butter consistency), Onweller made a hard effort to bridge from the chase to the leaders, making it a group of five. Onweller contributed to the pace setting, but it was unclear how her legs felt after the chase to get up front. The Trek rider has also been recovering from injury this year.

With 85 miles to go, the leading group of five had a 6-minute advantage, while Mieke Kröger (Rose Racing Circle) mounted a solo chase. Thirty seconds behind the German was Lange, Laing, and Preen.

The technical W Road split the group, with Villafañe, Schreurs, and Decker exiting the section in the lead. Decker hit the deck during a water crossing but quickly remounted her bike. Klöser managed to bridge back up to the group, and Onweller dropped off the back.

As the leaders were navigating W Road, the chasers were stopped by a freight train on a level crossing, allowing the third group on the road to combine into a larger group two.

Onweller continued to yo-yo in and out of the lead group of five. Meanwhile, Kröger held steady in sixth while Lauren De Crescenzo (Argonaut Cycles) joined Lange and Preen in the third group on the road.

Schreurs was the first to let an attack fly on the flats in the final miles. Klöser successfully closed, while Onweller towed Villafañe and Decker back up.

The group then soft pedalled to the final climb on Highland Hill, where Schreurs went again but couldn't get any gap.

Villafañe opened her race-winning sprint after the left turn onto the finishing straight on Commercial Street. Schreurs followed for second place while Decker took third.

Unbound Gravel Women's Top 10

• Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-Road)- 10:31:37
• Geerike Schreurs (Specialized Off-Road) - 10:31:38
• Cecily Decker (Pas Racing) - 10:31:38
• Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless) - 10:31:38
• Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM-MAAP) - 10:31:39
• Lauren De Crescenzo - 10:46:27
• Romy Kasper (PAS Racing) - 10:49:28
• Hayley Preen (Factor Racing) - 10:49:28
• Danni Shrosbree  (Rapha-Argon 18) - 10:49:28
• Cecile LeJeune (trek Driftless) - 10:49:28

Mads Würtz Schmidt (Specialized Off-Road) survived rain, lightning, mud and a flat tyre to win Unbound Gravel in a definitive performance from gravel's first super team.

Würtz Schmidt made the first key split after a mud section before going off the front with teammate and previous Unbound Winner Keegan Swenson and Trek Driftless rider Cobe Freeburn. The two dropped Freeburn but then the European Gravel Champion suffered a rear puncture.

Swenson gave Würtz Schmidt his rear wheel in a moment that confirmed team tactics have officially landed in gravel. Beers was not eager to chase his teammate up the road, but he ended up being the strongest man standing to take second place.

Tobias Kongstad of Pas Racing held on for third place, meaning the new Specialized Crux model claimed the first three spots on the podium.

"The plan was to be aggressive on Texaco Hill," Würtz Schmidt said after the finish. "Maybe I got a little bit too excited, but me and Keegan got away with Cobe I think and yeah, we went for it."

Swenson made his way through the field to claim fifth place as the only American rider in the top 10.

How The Race Unfolded

After a brief neutrol roll out of town, John Borstelmann (Ventum Racing) and Connor Sens (Via Racing) established an early two-man breakaway. The first miles of gravel were bone dry, but then an early minimum maintenance road caused muddy chaos.

The mud stalled Sens as well as dozens of other racers who either jumped off of their bikes to run through the peanut butter mud or stopped to clear the mud from their bikes. Swenson was among the racers who were stalled out, perhaps from poor positioning in the group.

Borstelmann successfully navigated the mud section and the following split of the peloton and was joined in the lead group by Würtz Schmidt, Freeburn, Torbjørn Andre Røed (Trek Driftless), Romain Bardet (Rapha), Nils Brun (3T Bikes), Beers, Daxton Mock (Trek Driftless), Daan Seote (Ridley Racing Team), and Frederick Raßmann (Rose Racing Circle).

Previous Unbound winner Lachlan Morton (EF Pro Cycling) led the chase group and brought the likes of Brendan Johnston (Giant Bicycles), Cameron Jones (Scott Sports), and Simon Pellaud (Cervelo) back to the front group of leaders. Morton later pulled out of the race.

Shortly after the groups rejoined, another break tried to form that included last year's second-place finisher Pellaud. However, Beers reeled them in quickly. Pellaud, who has been suffering from knee pain this season, then fell off the back of the leaders before the first feed zone around mile 40.

Despite being out of position after the mud section, Swenson rejoined the group before the first feed. All three Specialized riders (Swenson, Beers, and Würtz Schmidt) stopped in the feed zone to get their bikes power-washed by their support crew, a smart move to keep their bikes running smoothly.

Mock went on a solo attack before the next technical section, gaining upwards of 40 seconds on the group before he got reabsorbed. The next attack to fly was a winning combination of Swenson, Würtz Schmidt, and Freeburn, who gained a quick 30 seconds going on 1 minute.

All three leaders stopped at the second feedzone for bike washes and resupplies. At 113 miles to go, the trio had extended their lead to 3 minutes while working well together.

The group doubled their lead to about 6 minutes, but Freeburn didn’t have the legs and got dropped off the back of the Specialized duo, leaving teammates Swenson and Würtz Schmidt to ride the next 100 miles off the front together.

At one point, Würtz Schmidt took off his shoe to clear out debris. With a clear shoe, he easily rode back to his teammate. Freeburn rode solo in third for a while before getting absorbed by the chasers.

The racers faced constantly changing conditions, but rain, mud, and grey skies were the common theme. Active rain is a benefit because it doesn't allow the mud to dry and turn into the sticky, peanut butter consistency.

As Swenson and Würtz Schmidt pressed on with a 9-minute lead, the second group on the road contained Freeburn, Jones, Johnston, and Tobias Kongstad. Beers and Emil Herzog (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) were in the group too, but were not motivated to chase their Specialized teammates.

“I was pulling through but kind of half-assed because I know what Mads needs to do, and also I like to have breathing room in case he had another puncture and things like that," Beers said after the race. "I was just doing short, kind of half-assed pulls just to keep everyone happy. But yeah, it’s a fine line. It’s a hard game to play.”

Würtz Schmidt then suffered his rear puncture. Swenson stopped to help him, but several tyre plugs did not hold air. Swenson then gave his rear wheel to Würtz Schmidt, confirmation that the European Gravel Champion was the stronger rider in the break. It was also confirmation that team tactics have officially arrived in North American gravel racing.

"I felt like I was flying for an hour after that. It gave me some adrenaline and it gave me a kick," Schmidt said. "And then, I got to say, the headwind on the way back, I think it took eight years out of my life. It was terrible."

Swenson continued to have problems with Schmidt's old wheel and got passed by the chasers. Schmidt forged ahead with a gap of about 7 minutes over Beers, Kongstad and Jones.

Inside 50 miles to go, Jones appeared to completely crack and fell off the pace of Beers and Kongstad. The South African then dropped Kongstad near Lake Kahola, just over 20 miles out from the finish.

The eventual winner began to slow and look behind him in the final miles, revealing after the finish line that he didn't have any time gaps.

"My legs started to hurt more and more," he said, "and I was slowing down more and more. I didn’t bring my phone. I had no time gaps. In the end, when I started to lose the pace, then of course I got nervous that they would come from behind."

But they never caught him.

Unbound Gravel Men's Top 10

1. Mads Würtz Schmidt - 9:14:51
2. Matt Beers - 9:19:54
3. Tobias Kongstad - 9:24:43
4. Brendan Johnston - 9:36:46
5. Keegan Swenson - 9:39:19
6. Daan Soete - 9:39:42
7. Adne Koster - 9:39:42
8. Emil Herzog - 9:39:43
9. Piotr Havik - 9:39:43
10. Cam Jones - 9:39:45

Swiss endurance rider Robin Gemperle won a disastrously mud-clogged 2026 Unbound XL, arriving back in Emporia, Kansas, after 21 hours and 16 minutes.

An increasingly popular alternative to the 200-mile flagship event at Unbound Gravel, the 350-mile XL event remains a completely self-supported ultra-endurance race.

Riders are prohibited from receiving outside assistance of any kind. They must manage their own nutrition, navigation and mechanical repairs while refuelling only at occasional gas stations along the route. There are no support crews and no aid stations.

As rain and thunderstorms rolled through the Flint Hills region on Friday and Saturday, the 2026 edition of the ultra-endurance gravel race brought the muddiest conditions since 2023, forcing riders to hike through ankle-deep mud for dozens of miles.

"I walked probably half a marathon distance," Gemperle told Cycling Weekly post-finish.

The 356-mile race marked Gemperle’s second appearance at Unbound XL after making his debut in 2025, when he finished third in a course-record-breaking year of fast, dry roads.

"It was completely different!" Gemperle said of the two editions.

After racing Unbound XL in 2025, Gemperle went on to the Tour Divide, where he set a new course record by completing the roughly 2,700-mile unsupported race in 11 days, 19 hours and 14 minutes.

This year, Gemperle said he is focusing on shorter ultra-endurance events, and he was not prepared to settle for another third-place finish.

"This time I'm only here for the Unbound, and I kind of felt if there's no second chance, I need to make it count. And to do good," he said. "I did it for myself."

Gemperle also revealed that, in addition to the difficult course conditions, he battled stomach issues severe enough that he feared he might have to abandon the race.

But he persevered, finishing with a comfortable lead over second-place rider Max Agut.

As widely reported ahead of the race, Gemperle competed on a prototype Scott bike built around 32-inch wheels. Scott announced before the event that Gemperle and fellow rider Cam Jones would ride the unreleased platform across the Flint Hills course.

Scott stated the bike “will never be released on the market,” but Gemperle was impressed with its performance.

"I think this bike is just amazing. The wheels rolled so smoothly over everything," Gemperle said.

Asked about mud clearance, Gemperle laughed.

"There's never enough clearance."

At the time of publication, only Agut and Gemperle had reached the finish, while the remaining riders and the women’s race were still ongoing.

Romain Bardet’s Unbound Gravel debut came to an early end on Saturday, with the retired French star abandoning the race at Matfield Green, around 100 miles into the 2026 edition.

The former Tour de France stage winner was seen riding back into the small Kansas town without his helmet after deciding to step off the course during what has become the muddiest editions of Unbound since 2023. Witnesses on the ground reported Bardet appeared physically okay, stopping briefly to clean himself up after battling through the deteriorating conditions.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms swept across the Flint Hills throughout the day, transforming the famous Kansas gravel roads from fast, sun-cracked surfaces into thick, energy-sapping mud. Riders faced relentless bike-clogging clay, standing water and increasingly treacherous conditions deep into the race.

Bardet had arrived in Emporia at the end of a month-long family road trip across the United States with wife and son, describing his Unbound appearance earlier in the week as a chance to finally experience the event he had heard so much about. The Frenchman stressed before the start that he was "here for fun" rather than chasing a result in his first full season focused on gravel racing after retiring from the WorldTour peloton.

The race remains ongoing with roughly 100 miles still to race at the time of reporting. Specialized Off-Road teammates Keegan Swenson and Mads Würtz Schmidt were leading the men’s event as the brutal conditions continued to shape a dramatic day in Kansas.

It’s prototype-bike galore at Unbound Gravel this year. Some are hiding beneath subtle paint, while others are impossible to miss. There are the oversized 32" wheels on Cam Jones’ and Robin Gemperle’s Scott bikes, the hard-to-ignore fuchsia pink paintjobs on the prototype Liv bikes, and catchy graphics on the prototype from sibling brand Giant.

And then there’s Factor, with a prototype featuring that fork we all have opinions about.

Ridden by celebrated retired WorldTour rider Romain Bardet and several of his Factor teammates, Factor’s latest prototype gravel bike was first spotted at the Traka just weeks ago.

At Unbound, Factor allowed Cycling Weekly to take a closer look and shared some early details through Mike McGinn from its engineering team.

However, the brand would not share any hard numbers; no weights, no aero data, no launch timeline, no price and not even the bike’s eventual name.

Still, there was plenty to learn — and to deduce.

Meet Factor’s next top-tier aero gravel race bike

The design of the prototype bike is unmistakably inspired by Factor’s wildly polarising ONE road bike, complete with the dramatically wide fork intended not merely to cheat the wind, but to actively manage airflow before it reaches the rider’s legs.

And according to Factor, that controversial concept works.

“People are warming up to this wild-looking fork, and we know it’s faster," said Mike McGinn.

McGinn explained that the wide fork is designed to manipulate airflow before it reaches the rider’s legs and frame.

"Aerodynamics works a lot like refraction with light," he said, describing how the fork changes airflow downstream across the bike and rider rather than simply reducing drag at the fork itself.

The new gravel prototype takes that same aero philosophy and adapts it for the realities of modern gravel racing: massive clearances, a balance of compliance and stiffness, and, of course, aerodynamics.

But McGinn admitted that it wasn’t the brand's originally intention to use that ONE-inspired fork design on gravel.

"We already had riders planned to ride the original fork, but this was faster," he said.

And, we’ll admit that when it comes to pure aesthetics, that wide fork filled in with 50mm+ tyres looks more proportional and less radical.

"With this one, we tried to tailor it more to an acceptable visual language," McGinn said. "The result is, like you said, less offensive on the eyes."

Unlike, what McGinn called, a "bayoneted front end" used on the ONE, this gravel bike uses a standard steerer tube and bearing setup, requiring Factor’s engineers to adapt the aero concept into a more conventional package.

Factor says that once the bike is officially launched, most complete builds will ship with 50mm tyres, but the frame itself clears up to 2.2-inch rubber. Yet despite that huge clearance, chainstays remain remarkably short at 420mm, keeping the bike responsive and agile.

"There is nothing that’s even close to that," McGinn claimed, pointing out that many competing 2.2" gravel bikes now stretch to 435mm rear ends and mountain-bike-like wheelbases.

"This bike was meant for core connection to terrain," McGinn said. "You’re meant to feel like it’s a rocket ship."

When we reviewed the ONE, that's exactly what our tester called it: a "spaceship," so that could bode well for this new bike.

That focus on speed has been the topic of conversation at races like Unbound these past few years, and the industry is converging on the same solution: pairing aggressive aerodynamics with ever-wider tyres in the pursuit of outright speed over rough terrain.

Factor’s answer is this: an unapologetically aero gravel race bike designed around sustained high speeds while keeping riders relatively comfortable.

Interestingly, unlike other bikes in this category, Factor is keeping 2x drivetrain compatibility alive as well as downtube storage.

That decision, however, came with major engineering challenges. McGinn explained that packaging short chainstays, 2.2in tyre clearance and a front derailleur into the same frame pushed the limits of what was physically possible.

"You can’t run a 2x with anything over a 47 anyway, so there was a lot of hemming and hawing," he said.

Ultimately, Factor decided to preserve the option and found a way.

“We had to look at creative ways to manage stiffness and structural requirements in that area,” he explained.

The geometry itself was also redesigned around modern oversized gravel tyres. Factor lowered the bottom bracket to compensate for the taller tyre profile and adjusted trail figures to preserve handling characteristics despite the jump in tyre volume.

McGinn also revealed the bike uses size-specific fork offsets — typically 50-51mm on larger sizes and 56mm on smaller frames — helping maintain more consistent handling across the size range while reducing toe overlap on smaller bikes.

“Above 33kph, you get it”

French rider Gustave Orain, who is also racing the prototype at Unbound, described the bike as surprisingly comfortable despite its aggressive intent.

"What I like the most with this bike, it's the exact same geometry as the Aluto fully slammed. So you switch from an all-road gravel bike to an absolute aero bike without losing any comfort or compromise," Orain shared.

"The first thing I've been super surprised about is that it’s actually the exact same [ride quality] as the Aluto, but faster."

That theme kept resurfacing throughout the conversation. The expectation is that a bike this extreme-looking would ride harshly. But McGinn insists modern carbon engineering has moved well beyond that compromise.

"The biggest compliment we got from the ONE was: ‘It rides like a bike'," McGinn said with a laugh. "Because it looks like it doesn’t."

But make no mistake: this bike is designed to come alive at speed.

"Above 33 kilometres an hour, you’re like, ‘Okay. I got it,’" Orain said.

McGinn compared it directly to the ONE’s road-racing personality.

"If you ride the ONE below 40kph, people say it’s hard to manipulate,” he said. “You have to get it to speed for it to really work."

Going above 30kph, or 18mph, should not be a problem at Unbound, where 2025 elite men’s winner Cam Jones averaged 37.8kph (23.49mph) over the 202-mile course, completing it in a record-shattering 8:37:09. On the women’s side, Karolina Migon won with an average speed of 32.4kph (20.1mph).

Unlike Scott’s “never going to market” approach, Factor’s prototype does not appear to be a one-off experimental machine. Quite the contrary

"There is a very, very, very high chance that this is the bike that we come to market with," McGinn said with more than a subtle hint.

And despite the mixed reactions to the aesthetics of its fork, Factor seems increasingly emboldened by the response to the ONE.

"It’s the bike you didn’t know you needed until you tried it," McGinn said.

Time will tell if the gravel market follows suit.

Canadian gravel racer and former professional road rider Rob Britton has spent years racing at the sharp end of cycling. But after a career built on structure, pressure and results, Britton is now chasing something very different: uncertainty.

Over the last few seasons, that philosophy has pushed Britton deeper into ultra-distance racing and further away from gravel’s increasingly polished front end. While he remains capable of competing at elite gravel races, events like Badlands, the Atlas Mountain Race and Unbound XL now hold far more appeal than traditional race formats.

"Gravel racing is becoming more and more like road racing at the front end. And that’s a world I’ve already been part of for a long time," Britton explains.

For Britton, that is not criticism so much as reality. Before gravel exploded into the mainstream, he built his career in professional road racing, winning major North American stage races like the Tour of the Gila, and earned a reputation as one of Canada’s strongest endurance riders.

But after years inside the pressure cooker of professional road cycling, the appeal of this highly controlled environment no longer exists.

"I’ve read that book," he says. "I know all the chapters and how it ends."

Nowhere is that shift clearer than in his relationship with Unbound XL, the 350-mile self-supported ultra through the Flint Hills of Kansas. Britton returns this year as defending champion, but insists the label means less than people might expect.

"That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?" he says. "Normally, I would say it does come with pressure, but so far this season, I haven’t been able to get things right, and every race has been either disappointing or a setback. So yes, I am returning as the defending champion, but I genuinely see myself as a bit of an underdog for the win this year."

Ultra-distance racing offers exactly the kind of unscripted challenge Britton believes modern gravel increasingly struggles to provide. At events like the Unbound XL, riders face not only 350 miles of brutal conditions but also harsh weather, fatigue and sleep deprivation. There are no team cars or carefully controlled race scenarios once darkness arrives and the field begins to splinter apart.

"It’s refreshing," Britton says. "The people at ultras are probably the least egotistical people you’ll ever meet."

That culture is part of what keeps drawing him back. At ultra-distance events, professional riders line up alongside ordinary cyclists using their time off simply to see if they can survive.

"They work nine-to-five jobs," Britton says. “Then they use their vacation days to go bury themselves somewhere for four days without sleep. Honestly, that’s harder than what I do."

Even the scale of the event itself no longer feels quite as intimidating to him as it once did.

"It’s funny, I remember the first time I did Unbound 200, and thought the people who did the XL were crazy," he says. "My mind could not fathom having done 200 miles staying on my bike and doing another 150."

Now, after years spent racing ultras, his perspective has shifted completely.

"In the realm that I operate, 560 kilometres isn’t actually that long, which again is kind of insane."

That change has also altered the way he trains. While ultra-distance racing is getting dramatically faster, Britton says he has actually moved away from the high-intensity structure associated with shorter gravel racing.

"I think it’s kind of the opposite," he explains. "As I’ve done more ultras I’ve started to train with a little less focus on intensity versus when I was training more for regular distance racing."

Instead, he believes the increasing speeds are largely being driven by riders arriving from traditional gravel and road backgrounds.

"You’re seeing riders coming from normal-distance races and bringing some of that speed into ultra-distance events. It’s actually nice not having to do as much intensity and just being able to focus on long, steady bike rides."

At XL, however, fitness alone rarely decides the outcome. Weather and course conditions remain the event’s great equaliser, particularly once Kansas mud enters the equation.

"Plan for the worst and hope for the best," Britton says of his approach to race preparation. "I’ll watch the forecast before the event and see what the projected low temperature is and plan for a couple degrees cooler than that."

But temperatures are only part of the problem.

"The biggest thing with Unbound is always whether or not you’re going to get crazy sections of mud," he says. "I remember in 2023 there was a 10-mile section of mud early on and it blew the race apart. It was like a battle zone out there, absolute carnage."

When conditions deteriorate badly enough, racing almost becomes secondary.

"At a certain point, you’re not riding bikes anymore, it’s a war of attrition as to who wants to hike their bike the longest," he says. "And eventually people crack. Or in some cases, their bike does first."

That uncertainty is precisely what fascinates him about ultra racing. Unlike traditional events, there is no way to fully control the outcome once exhaustion takes hold.

"It takes you into such a dark place," Britton says. "You really find out how your mind reacts when things get difficult."

Sleep deprivation has become one of ultra racing’s defining battlegrounds, although Britton admits the sport’s growing obsession with minimal sleep can sometimes push riders too far.

"Ultra racing has evolved into these sleep deprivation contests," he says. "Whoever sleeps the least usually has the advantage."

Experience, however, has taught him when stopping becomes necessary.

"If you start dazing off and can’t shake it, you have to stop," he says. "Even ten minutes of sleep can completely reset you."

That balance between ambition and survival became painfully clear earlier this season at the Atlas Mountain Race in Morocco. From a results perspective, the race unravelled almost immediately.

"Next question," Britton laughs. "Jokes aside, that was the worst I’ve ever felt on a bike and because the event is so long, I got to feel that agony for days on end."

Yet even in failure, he still found something valuable.

"The silver lining of just trying to get to the finish meant I was sleeping a lot more and riding during daylight hours," he says. "Morocco was one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever ridden my bike."

That perspective perhaps explains why Britton remains such a relatable figure within gravel and ultra racing. He no longer presents himself as an untouchable professional athlete obsessed purely with results. Instead, he talks openly about setbacks, inconsistency and the importance of actually enjoying the experience.

"If you finish fourth somewhere, nobody really remembers," he says. "But people remember stories. They remember things that feel real."

As he lines up to defend his Unbound XL title, Britton knows exactly how brutal ultra racing can become. But that uncertainty is also the attraction.

For all the victories and years spent in professional cycling, curiosity still seems to be the thing driving him forward most. And for now at least, he still seems to be enjoying the ride.

Today, Specialized officially drew back the curtain on one of the most anticipated bike launches of the year: the terribly kept secret that is the all new Crux.

By now, leaked photos had already circulated widely online, especially after Specialized Off-Road athlete Geerike Schreurs raced the new bike to victory at the Gralloch UCI Gravel World Series event.

The main storyline is that the generation 5 Crux has undergone a dramatic transformation. It’s one that, some proponents say, was long overdue, but the more practical riders may bemoan.

Gone is the classic silhouette of round tubing and a standard round 27.2mm seatpost. Gone also are the exposed wires and the build versatility that made the previous generation so easy to live with.

In their place sits a bike that looks very much like a fat-tyred Tarmac SL8, complete with sharp aerodynamic tube profiles, a proprietary aero seatpost and a fully integrated cockpit. The tyre clearance has been beefed up to 55mm (or 2.2inches if you’re running MTB rubber) but drivetrains are now limited to 1x only with a 52t cap on the chainring. Goodbye road gearing, goodbye suspension forks and dropper posts. Hello modern gravel race bike.

This is no longer the "one bike to rule them all." It’s a bike that giveth and taketh. It’s both divisive and inevitable. It meets the demands of modern racing built around long-distance speed, aerodynamics, comfort and high-volume tyres. And in that role, I expect this bike to do very, very well.

But for riders who fell in love with the previous Crux precisely because it resisted over-specialisation, the new direction may feel bittersweet.

The Crux redefined, yet again

The Crux was born in 2010 as a dedicated cyclocross race bike, replacing the TriCross model. It was well-liked and successful too, with riders like Zdenek Stybar and Tom Pidcock racing aboard the bike to rainbow glory in the Elite and U23 UCI Cyclocross World Championships, respectively, over the years.

The Crux 4, launched in 2021, was a truly revolutionary product. Just as cyclocross participation was shrinking and gravel racing exploding globally, Specialized repositioned the Crux platform as the featherweight, stripped-down crossover product, and alternative to the Diverge. In doing so, the American brand created one of the most versatile drop-bar bikes of the modern era. Few bikes in recent years have been so universally loved by riders, racers and reviewers alike.

The Crux 4 struck a rare balance. It blended the playfulness and agility of a cyclocross bike with the stability needed in gravel, and a ride feel, efficiency and raciness appreciated across the board.

It is also a bike that’s easy to live with. The external cable routing on the front end, threaded BSA bottom bracket, compatibility with aftermarket seatposts, suspension forks, dropper posts and both 1x and 2x drivetrains all make it easy to service and travel with.

The same bike could, and did, be ridden to victory in both a 200-mile Unbound Gravel race and a UCI Cyclocross World Cup.

I have no doubt that the new Crux will be any less successful. In fact, I suspect it will become even more successful at the highest levels of racing but in gravel specifically.

Interestingly, throughout all of Specialized’s launch material, cyclocross isn’t even mentioned. Instead, Specialized is very upfront about what this bike was built around: Unbound Gravel.

And that tells you almost everything you need to know.

What’s new

The Crux 5 pivots hard toward the demands of modern racing, borrowing heavily from the Tarmac SL8 playbook while simultaneously increasing tyre clearance and stability for long-distance events on rough terrain.

Headline changes include:

• A claimed 15.2 watt aerodynamic improvement at 45kph
• New aerodynamic tube shaping inspired by the Tarmac SL8
• Fully integrated cable routing and cockpit options
• Clearance for tyres up to 55mm or 2.2in
• 1x-only drivetrain compatibility
• Maximum 52t chainring capacity
• Dropped seatstays and a slightly altered geometry
• Claimed 789g S-Works frame weight (for reference the Crux 4 was 735g)

Despite the aerodynamic redesign, Specialized says the Crux 5 retains the same stiffness and compliance targets as the outgoing model.

The bike is also no longer positioned as an all-road-adjacent gravel bike. This is now a purpose-built race machine first and foremost.

A Fat-Tyred Tarmac

As stated, much of the Crux 5’s design comes from its road siblings. That influence is immediately obvious in the bike’s tube shaping and overall silhouette.

“Drawing directly from Tarmac SL8 learnings and decades of aero research, every tube on Crux 5 was sculpted for speed at elite gravel races," Specialized says. “Crux 5 is the most aerodynamic gravel race bike we’ve ever tested."

The aerodynamic improvements are spread across the entire bike rather than isolated to the frame alone.

Specialized says roughly 50% of the aero gains come from the frame, fork and seatpost, with another 30% coming from the new Roval Terra Aero wheels and the remaining 20% from the integrated Terra cockpit.

Still, aero is only part of the equation.

Rather than chasing isolated benchmark numbers, Specialized says it focused on one overarching metric: total elapsed race time over real-world gravel courses.

The company calls this its “Equation of Speed”, a simulation model combining aerodynamic drag, rider power, rolling resistance, surface roughness, environmental conditions and total system weight into a single prediction: Time to Finish.

“Smoother is Faster” has long been an engineering philosophy at Specialized and that certainly did not go unaddressed in the designing of the Crux 5.

During the 2025 edition of Unbound Gravel, a small telemetry box mounted underneath Matt Beers’ saddle collected accelerometer data throughout the race. Specialized says it has now gathered telemetry across thousands of kilometres and multiple elite gravel events, measuring the roughness and vibration characteristics of different gravel surfaces in real time.

Why? Because gravel racing presents a very different engineering challenge from road racing. At road-race speeds, aerodynamic drag dominates the equation. On gravel, speeds are generally lower and rolling resistance becomes significantly more important, particularly over rough surfaces where tyre deformation and vibration losses increase dramatically.

Specialized says the telemetry data feeds directly into its simulation models, allowing engineers to better understand how tyre volume, wheel design, rider fatigue and frame characteristics interact over events lasting upwards of 10 hours.

Rather than pursuing suspension solutions as it did with the short-lived Diverge STR, Specialized says the Crux 5 achieves comfort primarily through frame shaping, tyre volume and carefully tuned compliance targets.

Dropped seatstays, size-specific layups and the ability to run significantly larger tyres all contribute to reducing rider fatigue over long gravel races without adding the weight or complexity of suspension systems.

Specialized also credits what it calls “Flow State Design”, first introduced with the Aethos road bike. Engineers focused on optimising tube shapes so they carry loads more efficiently, reducing the need for additional carbon material.

The bike’s geometry has evolved alongside those aerodynamic changes. Though in the smaller sizes especially, these differences aren’t large.

Compared to the outgoing Crux, the new bike gets:

• A half-degree slacker head angle
• A lower bottom bracket
• A half-degree steeper seat angle
• Longer reach figures in larger sizes
• Increased tyre clearance to 55mm

Taken together, those updates point toward a bike designed to feel more stable at speed, more planted with larger tyres and more confidence-inspiring over rough terrain.

The wheel and tyre story forms a major part of the package too.

Specialized claims the new Terra Aero CLX wheels allow riders to run larger-volume tyres with effectively no aerodynamic penalty. According to the company, a 50mm Pathfinder or Tracer tyre mounted to the Terra Aero CLX wheel produces similar aerodynamic drag to a 45mm tyre mounted to the previous Terra CLX II wheel.

The result comes with some bold claims.

Using the company’s simulation model, Specialized says former Unbound winner Sofia Gomez Villafañe would have completed the 2025 edition of Unbound Gravel an impressive 9 minutes and 58 seconds faster aboard the new Crux 5 compared to the outgoing Crux 4, assuming identical conditions.

These numbers are impossible to verify, of course, but they do reveal how modern gravel racing is increasingly being approached: not as adventure riding, but as a very long time trial on unforgiving surfaces.

Introducing S-Level

Alongside the new Crux platform, Specialized is also introducing a new “S-Level” designation.

Positioned just below S-Works, S-Level is intended to bring flagship-level race performance to a slightly broader audience.

The Crux 5 S-Level uses a FACT 10r frame paired with a FACT 12r fork, the new Terra cockpit, SRAM RED XPLR and Roval Terra Aero CL wheels. The frame itself is claimed to weigh just 897g, with complete builds coming in at a claimed 7.7kg.

In practical terms, S-Level appears to function as a high-end performance tier sitting between the halo S-Works product and the more attainable Expert and Comp builds.

Builds & Pricing

First Ride Impressions

I’ve ridden the outgoing 2021 Specialized S-Works Crux since December 2021 and, in the years since, I’ve ridden the absolute crap out of it. It remains my favourite bike I’ve ever owned. I won’t go too deep into that here, but you can read my full 1,000-word love letter to the outgoing Crux here.

So I’ll admit that I approached the Crux 5 with a healthy amount of scepticism.

I’ve not yet fully bought into the whole “aero-is-everything” approach to modern bikes. I tinker with bikes far too much to fully embrace integrated everything and proprietary parts. Show of hands for everyone who has ever lost a seatpost wedge.

And so, when I first laid eyes on the Crux 5, it wasn’t love at first sight. It looks beautifully sleek and undeniably fast, don’t get me wrong. But I’ve always loved the timeless look of rounded tubes, a two-piece cockpit and the sheer practicality baked into the whole thing.

And then I swung a leg over the new bike. In my size 49, the geometry changes are so subtle that I immediately felt at home. It fit me like a glove. And within minutes of pedalling, I had my ah-ha moment.

This bike is fast. Not just marketing copy fast. Tangibly fast.

It accelerates like a rocket and carries speed exceptionally well on both dirt and tarmac. And, fortunately, the familiar liveliness of the Crux does indeed remain intact. While the new bike feels more composed than its predecessor, it is by no means over-dampened. On my lunch loop, sprinkled with singletrack, the bike felt unmistakably like a Crux. A smidge taller perhaps, and the ever beefier types certainly don’t help with the toe-overlap, but Crux all the same.

In many ways, it feels like a more mature version of the Crux concept. The old Crux had a carefree do-it-all attitude to it. The new bike feels more focused, more deliberate and more purpose-built.

It is stiff in the places that matter, accelerates eagerly and, importantly, remains remarkably comfortable over long hours.

This is not a harsh aero road bike masquerading as a gravel bike. The Crux 5 still feels refined over rough surfaces, particularly when paired with high-volume tyres, and there’s still enough playfulness in the handling to make it genuinely enjoyable to ride.

Importantly, it also retains some crossover appeal. I would have absolutely no hesitation using this bike as a road bike alongside its gravel duties.

Gravel racing at the sharp end has become increasingly fast, tactical and aero-conscious. Today’s elite gravel racers spend vast stretches riding in tightly packed groups, or even solo, at road race speeds. The spirit of exploration has, at the highest level at least, given way to the pursuit of outright speed.

In that environment, aerodynamic efficiency is everything (aside from preventing race-ending flat tyres, perhaps). The Crux 5 reflects that evolution perfectly.

The outgoing Crux became beloved because it blurred categories. The new Crux 5 will succeed because it embraces specialisation instead.

Of course, that comes with trade-offs.

The integrated cockpit and proprietary seatpost undoubtedly improve aerodynamics and visual cleanliness, but they also reduce the ease of adjustment, customisation, travel and maintenance that made the previous bike so easy to live with.

The bike is now 1x-only and designed specifically around gravel-wide chainlines. Mechanical drivetrains remain possible, though riders using the one-piece Roval cockpit will need to stick with electronic shifting.

Whether riders embrace those compromises will depend entirely on what they want from gravel riding.

For elite racers chasing every marginal gain at gravel events like Unbound, SBT GRVL or the Gravel Earth Series, the Crux 5 makes complete sense.

After riding the new bike, I’ve come to a simple conclusion: I don’t want one or the other. I want both.

Last year, Karolina Migoń arrived at Unbound Gravel as one of Europe’s strongest gravel racers, but not yet a marked rider on the other side of the Atlantic.

That anonymity is gone now.

"All the eyes will be on me," Migoń told Cycling Weekly ahead of her return to Emporia. "If I try to break away, everyone will try to chase me."

It’s not arrogance. It’s the new tactical reality facing the defending champion.

Twelve months ago, Migoń, a two-time Traka 360 winner, stunned the women’s race with a bold and dominant ride, spending more than 130 miles in the decisive move before soloing to victory across the Kansas Flint Hills. The performance instantly elevated her profile in gravel racing, and changed her life off the bike, too.

"I’m a full-time pro now," she said. "I earn money because of winning Unbound. I could manage good contracts, and I can make a living, so that’s pretty huge."

For years, Migoń balanced elite racing with a career as a software engineer. Now, Unbound has turned gravel racing into her profession.

"I have time to recover. I have time to train more. I can do more races," she said of the transformation. "I don't have to take time off, I can go somewhere ahead of races to do recon and prepare my bike better according to the course. There are a lot of advantages for sure."

So does that make her even more dangerous this year?

Not necessarily.

"I know the characteristics of the race, and it's a gamble to win it," she said. "It's not easy to win it, and there are so many circumstances that you don't have influence over. I think it's really hard to target this race, and it's something that you can't win just by preparing physically."

She knows that better than most. Her Unbound debut was derailed by mechanicals, and even last year, she punctured a tyre and narrowly avoided several crashes on her way to victory.

This year, Migoń’s ambitions stretch beyond Emporia. She is contesting the Life Time Grand Prix, a six-race off-road series spread across seven months and five U.S. states.

"The pressure is off because I won [Unbound] once already," Migoń said. "But it does matter because I'm in the Life Time Grand Prix. So my approach this year is to try my chances, of course, and do good in [the series]."

Increasingly, modern gravel racing has become as tactical as it is physical. What was once a pure survival contest has evolved into something closer to road racing on dirt. Beyond the course, the weather and sheer luck, there are now calculated attacks, team tactics and shifting alliances.

Migoń sits in a particularly interesting place within that evolution. She races alongside several PAS Racing teammates, including fellow top contender Cecily Decker, but the structure is looser than more unified squads such as Canyon All-Terrain Racing Team or Specialized Off Road.

"We are not really a team," Migoń explained. "We have different main sponsors that we get bonuses from."

Put more bluntly: she does not get paid if another PAS rider wins. That means cooperation only goes so far.

"If someone from your team is in the front, I won’t pull," she said. "So it is an advantage. But on the other hand, it’s also my position in the Life Time Grand Prix [that's at stake]."

And unlike a one-day target such as Unbound, the series rewards consistency across two disciplines and wildly varied terrain.

"For someone from Europe, the whole series is pretty hard," she said. "Last year, there were not many Europeans that even finished the whole series."

The challenge extends well beyond racing itself. Travel, jet lag, altitude and unfamiliar courses all complicate matters for European riders attempting a full U.S. campaign.

Still, Migoń seems excited by the opportunity rather than intimidated by it.

"I’ve done just Unbound before, so for me it’s also an opportunity to see all the races in the U.S.," she said.

After Unbound, she plans to head to altitude in preparation for the Leadville Trail 100, including racing the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder and spending time training in the mountains.

But first comes the chaos of Emporia once again.

Forecasts heading into this year’s Unbound suggest warm and muggy temperatures, with the possibility of rain and that notoriously sticky Flint Hills mud capable of destroying drivetrains and race aspirations.

"I really like racing warm conditions," she said. "But if it gets muddy, then it’s more survival than racing."

Whatever the conditions, Migoń returns to Unbound in a very different position than a year ago: no longer an under-the-radar European contender, but the defending champion and one of the riders the rest of the women’s field will be watching most closely.

Migoń and the rest of the pro racers will tackle the 200-mile course at 6 a.m. CDT on Saturday, May 30. There will be free live coverage on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel. For the start lists, course info and more, please visit our 2026 Unbound Gravel guide.

Come Saturday, all eyes will be on New Zealander Cam Jones (Scott), the defending Unbound 200 champion, who smashed the competition in last year's race with a 150-mile breakaway effort alongside Tudor rider Simon Pellaud.

Not only will we be watching to see if he can out-power the competition again, but also what he’ll be riding.

Scott today announced that Jones, as well as Swiss ultra-cyclist Robin Gemperle, will tackle the unforgiving terrain of the Kansas Flint Hills aboard a prototype bike built around 32" wheels. And one that, Scott emphasised, "will never be released on the market."

While cycling’s governing body, the UCI, dictates that all equipment used by its pro riders must be made commercially available within 12 months of it appearing in competition, gravel racing largely exists outside UCI governance. This means there are far fewer restrictions on equipment and much more freedom for manufacturers to experiment.

For years now, Unbound and its notoriously unforgiving terrain have served as both testing ground and launching pad for the latest gravel tech.

"Our athletes don’t just race; they test, challenge, and refine," says Scott. "Cameron Jones and Robin Gemperle have been riding a 32” prototype gravel race bike since last year. What began as a theoretical concept — a 'what if' — was quickly brought to life by Scott's R&D team."

Thirty-two-inch wheels have become one of the industry’s biggest talking points this season, with nearly every tyre manufacturer showcasing products in the size at April's Sea Otter Classic. Proponents of the new platform argue that a bigger wheel has greater momentum and therefore carries more speed. And, as we've learned with the emergence of the 29ers in mountain biking, larger wheels can roll over obstacles more easily. And then there are the tyres that go on them: more tyre means more contact patch, which translates into more grip, while a larger tyre also enables riders to run lower pressures without sacrificing traction.

But while tyre manufacturers appear fully committed to the format, we haven’t yet seen too many bike manufacturers roll out bikes in this new size aside from a handful of smaller custom builders. Scott is therefore among the first major brands to publicly back the concept.

According to the brand, it took just one test ride for Jones and Gemperle to be convinced that this would be their bike of choice for Unbound Gravel.

"This bike makes you feel like you're levitating over the surface. I'll be experiencing a road race while everybody else is racing gravel," said Jones about his Scott RC Gravel 32" bike.

"The driving traction and cornering grip is revolutionary. I'm genuinely scared how fast I'll be able to corner once on a course with proper descents."

Gemperle, who won the 2025 Tour Divide and Silkroad Mountain Race, said that the 32" wheel platform is just what gravel racing has been waiting for.

"We started by riding an unfinished bike, with crucial parts still developing. But ever since, I've known that even if there wouldn’t be a single additional test ride, I’d immediately take it to racing once granted permission," he said. "There were plenty of additional rides, and the project found its final shape, which cemented the feeling that this big boy is the actual size gravel racing and especially Unbound Gravel was waiting for."

Cam Jones' Scott RC Gravel 32" Bike Prototype

• Frame: Scott RC Gravel 32" Bike Prototype
• Handlebar: Syncros ST-R100-AL Stem 110mm, ENVE Aero Road bars 370mm
• Groupset: Shimano XTR with Dura Ace shifters and GRX Cranks
• Crankset: Shimano GRX with 4iiii Power meter and 160mm Crankset
• Wheelset: I9 Wheels (Custom Wheels Prototype)
• Tyres: 32“ Schwalbe RX 50mm

Robin Gemperle's Scott RC Gravel 32" Bike Prototype

• Frame: Scott RC Gravel 32" Bike Prototype
• Handlebar: Syncros HB-R 100 Alloy Handlebar 80/360mm
• Groupset: RED AXS XPLR 13 Speed Electric group set
• Crankset: SRAM RED XPLR Power Meter Crankset, 46T
• Wheelset: 32“ Prototype Wheels
• Tyres: 32“ Schwalbe RX 50mm

The countdown has begun for the biggest event in gravel as thousands board planes and pack into vans bound for Emporia, Kansas. Typically home to 24,000 residents, Emporia’s population will explode over the next week as gravel riders, sponsors, fans and media converge on the Kansan town in the middle of nowhere.

On Saturday, May 30, some 5,000 cyclists will line up in the dark, staring down hundreds of miles of tyre-shredding Flint Hills gravel. Some riders will take on shorter distances, while the premier event remains the Unbound 200 (which is 207 miles long, this year). The biggest event in gravel turns 20 this year, and Life Time is not being subtle about it. As part of the Life Time Grand Prix, the 2026 Unbound course pulls from two decades of race history, threading iconic sectors from past editions into a single route that begins by heading south from Emporia.

The forecast is ominous, with a chance of rain nearly every day leading up to the race. Unbound’s ‘south’ route has been known for mud, and many riders will be praying for dry weather. A busy spring season has seen thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes pass through Kansas, but there is an equal chance that the race could be hot and muggy.

What began in 2006 with 34 riders has become the biggest event in gravel, drawing WorldTour veterans, MTB Olympians, Classics winners and first-timers from over 50 countries. The 200-mile race is the flagship, but distances run from 25 to 350 miles for those who feel the 200 isn't quite enough suffering. Unbound is also the second round of the Life Time Grand Prix — a six-event series that has more than half a million dollars on the line in 2026. If that wasn’t enough, Unbound’s 200-mile elite race carries a standalone $60,000 prize purse, one of the richest payouts in off-road racing.

In addition to the mammoth distance, Unbound is made even more difficult by the tyre-slicing rocks of the Flint Hills. The area surrounding Emporia is littered with sharp rocks that destroy even the best equipment. Any rider who can complete Unbound without having a mechanical can thank their lucky stars.

Unbound Gravel: Riders to watch

Unbound Gravel always attracts an international field of current and former professionals from across cycling disciplines, and this year is no different. Sofía Gómez Villafañe is the favourite for the women’s Elite race, having taken the first round of the Life Time Grand Prix at Sea Otter Gravel, plus the Traka 200 a few weeks ago. Karolina Migoń is the defending champion at Unbound, but the Pole had a more difficult time at Traka, crashing out of the 360 and just missing the podium in the 200. Other female riders to watch include Cecily Decker, Lauren De Crescenzo, Rosa Klöser and Carolin Schiff.

New Zealander Cameron Jones won last year’s Unbound 200 as a wildcard in the Life Time Grand Prix, and he’ll take on an incredibly strong field that includes the Specialized Off-Road Team. Keegan Swenson and Matthew Beers have teamed up in 2026, and they are two of the biggest favourites in the men’s Elite 200. Last year’s runner-up, Simon Pellaud, returns for another crack at the title, along with a long list of non-Grand Prix riders that cannot be overlooked. The headliner is Romain Bardet, the former WorldTour pro who has already taken a number of big wins in gravel. Lukas Pöstlberger arrives on the back of a Traka 200 win, while Lachlan Morton — the 2024 Unbound champion — is always a factor in a race as long as this. There are countless strong riders on the start line, including but not limited to Thomas De Gendt, Ivar Slik and Mads Würtz Schmidt.

For a deeper dive into this year's contenders, please visit our startlist analysis here >>

The 2026 course

This year's course first heads south from Emporia, a flip in direction from previous years, but not an entirely new terrain for Unbound. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Unbound is revisiting the roads that gave the race its identity. After a neutral rollout from the Granada Theater in downtown Emporia at 5:50 AM, the 207-mile race will begin in earnest.

The peloton will face a five-mile rolling uphill that locals call "the Towers climb," as well as the well-known Texaco Hill and Teter Hill. Organisers also decided to revisit the 10-mile Sharpes Creek Road, last used in 2015 during Unbound's most notorious mud year, the DD rollers and the Kahola Hill climb.

There are three elite feed zones along the course at miles 43.5, 82.2 and 148.9, and the riders are on their own during the stretches in between.

For a more in-depth look at this year's course, visit our coverage of the route announcement here >>

How to watch

For a second year running, Life Time will provide free live coverage of the 2026 Unbound Gravel presented by Shimano beginning at 5:35 AM CDT on Saturday, May 30. You can find the live stream on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel, as well as the pre-race show — The Leadout — on Thursday, May 28 at noon CDT. Live updates from the course will run on the Life Time Grand Prix and Unbound Gravel Instagram pages throughout race day.

Commentary will be provided by longtime announcer Bill Elliston, Mountain Bike Hall of Famer Nat Ross and former pro Lauren Hall. In addition to the full broadcast, you’ll be able to watch extended highlights of both the men’s and women’s elite races on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel in the days following the event.

The world’s biggest gravel-racing event, Unbound Gravel, is just around the corner and once again riders are readying their best bikes and preparing to take on the rough and remote gravel roads that stripe the Flint Hills region of east-central Kansas.

This year marks the 20^th anniversary of Unbound, and with the route having just been announced, excitement is mounting. It’s also the second event of the hotly contested six-race 2026 Life Time Grand Prix series. But who, exactly, is likely to be lining up for the 200-mile marquee race? We’ve been scouring the start list to seek out some of the most exciting riders in the pack, which includes several of the gravel world’s new young guns.

Men

Come Saturday, May 30th, all eyes will be Cam Jones (Scott), the defending champion who smashed last year’s race, taking victory in the Unbound Gravel 200 in imperious fashion after mounting a 150-mile breakaway effort with Swiss rider Simon Pellaud from Tudor Pro. The New Zealander emerged from the mountain biking scene to take people by surprise with the 2025 win, but now his cover is well and truly blown, and he’ll be on everyone’s radar this year. As should Pellaud be.

Also in the mix is Bradyn Lange, surprise winner of the 2025 US Gravel Nationals and the opening event of the 2026 Life Time Grand Prix series, the Sea Otter Classic Gravel race in April. With that victory, he is currently leading the Life Time GP rankings

Another very familiar name is, of course, Keegan Swenson, former winner of the 200-mile event and the dominant Grand Prix racer until Jones showed up.

One of the most exciting things to break last month was news that American legend Taylor Phinney was coming out of retirement to have a crack at a spot on the US pursuit team for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. An all-round rider, Phinney said that his route back after seven years away from pro riding had begun with gravel racing, and the Giro stage winner and 2009 individual pursuit track world champion has signed up for Unbound.

As always, there will be some European ex-WorldTour riders in the mix. From Peter Sagan to Greg Avermaet and Matej Mohoric, WorldTour retirees have seen varied success at the event, with most coming away a tad shell-shocked. Perhaps former Picnic PostNL rider Romain Bardet will fare better. The Frenchman retired from professional road cycling to take up gravel riding in the middle of last season and quickly showed his grit with an impressive win at RADL GRVL in Australia at the start of the year, riding with his new Factor Racing-Rapha CC team.

But he's far from the only poutsider who could disrupt the race, with several very capable European riders already registered to race. High on this list is Danish rider Mads Würtz Schmidt (Specialized Off-Road), who is enjoying an extraordinary season, with his successes including a win the Traka 360 in April, where he set an impressive new men's course record.

And Traka 200 winner Lucas Pöstlberger (Rose Racing) is also on the start list, a contender who, like Bardet, has some impressive road riding victories to his name, including a stage win at the Giro d'Italia, where he wore the coveted maglia rosa for a spell. The Austrian all-rounder started off as a mountain biker before switching to road, and then gravel, so he can certainly handle technical dirt.

Back in 2022, Ivar Slik became the first non-American to win the men's 200 race at Unbound, and although he missed subsequent races through serious injury suffered after a collision with a car in 2024, the Dutch powerhouse is back in action, and he will be back this year, taking on the elite distance once again.

A fan favourite and winner of Unbound Gravel in 2024, having competed in the event multiple times, Australian rider Lachlan Morton is coming back for another crack this year.

And speaking of Australians, one dark horse worth an outside bet is the British-born Aussie pro Freddy Ovett, who happens to be Mathieu van der Poel’s training partner and knows how to turn a wheel on the rough stuff.

Women

Last year's Unbound Gravel 200 winner, Karolina Migoń, will be back to defend her title. The Polish rider won in impressive fashion in 2025, going it alone for 130 miles once it became clear that her PAS teammate Cecily Decker and American national gravel champion Lauren Stephens (see below) were unable to match her pace, after the trio staged an early breakaway. The win was one of three big victories for Migoń last season, along with The Traka 360 and Gravel Locos.

She may have struggled to go toe-to-toe with Migoń at last year’s race, but Lauren Stephens has been crowned US National Gravel Champion three years in a row now and has tasted victory at Unbound in the 100- mile race. Last year, the former road pro came third in the 200-mile elite event, and she is returning for more this year.

German gravel rider Rosa Klöser, who seemed to emerge from nowhere to win Unbound in 2024, is returning this year for another stab at the race that got away from her last year, when a crash and a wrong turn meant she finished fourth. Incredibly, Klöser was a PhD student who had only been racing for a couple of years when she won the elite race in 2024 - now she has twice as much experience to bring to the party, she promises to be doubly deadly.

Lauren De Crescenzo, who first tasted victory at Unbound Gravel in 2021 and finished runner-up the following year, is back and will be contesting the elite 200-mile event this month. The American pro, who overcame a traumatic brain injury suffered during a race in 2016, also has wins to her name at the Tour of the Gila stage race, The Mid South (three times) and The Rad Dirt Fest, plus podiums at Crusher in the Tushar and Big Sugar Gravel.

Super competitor Sofia Gómez Villafañe, who took victory at Unbound in 2022 and finished runner-up last year, is always a contender in the Life Time Grand Prix series, and she will be one to watch at Unbound this year. The 31-year-old Argentina-born athlete has a hard-earned reputation as a fierce competitor, and has Big Sugar Gravel and the Traka wins to her name, too.

A full start list of elites competing in this year's Unbound Gravel 200 race is available on the event website.

Most defending champions spend the month before Unbound Gravel dialling in equipment, sharpening fitness and obsessing over recovery.

Heather Jackson spent hers running 250 miles across Arizona.

Less than a month before returning to Emporia to defend her Unbound XL title, Jackson finished fourth at the Cocodona 250, a punishing ultramarathon running race that stretches across the Arizona desert. She hallucinated ravens during the final night, survived on a pair of 15-minute naps, and emerged physically intact but mentally rattled after nearly 70 hours without sleep.

For Jackson, though, Cocodona wasn’t a detour from her cycling season. It was part of it.

While the former professional triathlete first built her post-Ironman career around gravel racing, Jackson’s ambitions have drifted steadily toward the outer edges of endurance sport: ultrarunning, self-supported bikepacking, and multi-day races where sleep deprivation matters nearly as much as fitness. This summer, Unbound XL sits between two enormous objectives: Cocodona and the Tour Divide. And Jackson openly admits she isn’t sure whether it’s possible to perform at a high level in both ultra running and ultra cycling, at the same time.

"I have no idea," she told Cycling Weekly with a laugh. "That’s what we’re gonna find out."

Jackson is still recovering from Cocodona — physically, mentally and neurologically.

"The comedown was pretty crazy. It’s only been the last three days that I’m seeing the light again," she said roughly 10 days after finishing the race.

She's also just now getting back on the bike with Unbound XL looming nine days away.

There was a time in Jackson’s life when that timing would have caused major stress. During her years as a professional triathlete, she said, she became "super caught up in data and numbers and all that stuff." But Jackson’s approach to endurance sports has changed alongside her goals.

Rather than chasing perfect freshness for Unbound, Jackson and her coach are treating the race as part of a much larger ultra-endurance build centred around a Tour Divide attempt later this summer.

This final week before Emporia will consist mostly of long rides to reacclimate to the bike after weeks spent focused on running and strength work.

"At this point, it’s more like making sure the touchpoints are trained," Jackson said. "Your legs know what they need to know. It’ll be in them or not. It’s making sure I can be in the saddle and in the position for that long."

This philosophy represents a sharp departure from the highly structured specificity that once defined Jackson’s training. Preparing for Cocodona and the Tour Divide at the same time forced her to rethink what ultra-endurance fitness actually looks like.

"I would have thought I needed to run so much more than I did," she explained.

Instead of logging mega running miles ahead of the 250-mile race, Jackson spent much of the spring balancing 60-to-70-mile running weeks with heavy blocks of endurance riding, strength training and hill repeats wearing a 30-pound vest. The goal was less about maximising mileage than building durability.

That realisation—that surviving the longest events depends on far more than aerobic fitness—has only pushed Jackson deeper into the world of ultra-endurance racing.

Since stepping away from professional triathlon, Jackson has largely let curiosity guide her athletic evolution. Gravel initially offered the sense of exploration and adventure she felt Ironman had lost. But over the last several years, she has watched gravel become increasingly professionalised and tactical — familiar territory for someone who spent 15 years in elite triathlon.

She also realised that pure gravel racing never fully matched her strengths as an athlete.

"If you want me to TT all day long, I love that," she said, laughing. "Sometimes the antics of gravel racing just aren’t for me."

The longer the events became, the more naturally they suited her. Last year’s Unbound XL victory and a successful ride at Traka 360 only accelerated her interest in races that extend through the night and into sleep deprivation territory.

Running followed a similar progression. After racing one-day ultras like Western States and UTMB, Jackson became increasingly fascinated by multi-day events like Cocodona.

"It was like, ‘holy sh$t, how do people do this?’ And because I’d done all the other things, it’s been sort of a natural shift of now I want to try this," Jackson said.

So this year, rather than targeting a traditional gravel season, Jackson built her calendar around the events that intrigued her most. Cocodona was high on the list, as was the Tour Divide bikepacking race.

Which leaves Jackson heading into Unbound XL in an unusual position: defending champion, but also an athlete recovering from one ultra and looking toward the next.

"If it goes well, that’s amazing," Jackson said. "If not, it’s still a solid day out."

Before Fred Schmid even made it to Emporia this year, his 25-year-old diesel truck broke down on the highway.

A radiator hose failed, the engine overheated, a tow truck was needed, along with a night at an RV park and eventually a borrowed Suburban just to make the annual trek to the Unbound Gravel event.

At 93 years old, even getting to the start line has become an endurance event. And yet Fred came anyway, as he has done on and off since 2015.

After completing the Unbound 100 three times, the Texan has returned to Emporia again and again chasing the Unbound 200 finish line, enduring sickness, exhaustion and unfinished miles along the way. One attempt ended after 110 miles when, as Fred put it, he was "puking and crapping and just feeling like hell." Another attempt ended at 120 miles because he missed the time cutoff. Last year, at 92, the adventure stopped at the first checkpoint after Fred decided that the prospect of another 130 miles, half of it in the dark, was simply "not intriguing."

When asked why he’s come back at all, Fred jokes: "Because I’m a dumbass."

But one doesn’t rack up 54 national championship titles and two world titles by being dumb. That kind of longevity comes from loving the sport and being unable to resist the draw of a distant finish line. Maybe all those things can be true at once, but not this year.

This year, Fred is showing a remarkable amount of wisdom and restraint.

"I’ve been training for the 200, but have decided it’s too much for me," Fred tells Cycling Weekly after he’s finally reached Emporia.

"I don't think I'm qualified to do the 200. Traditionally, for the last, oh, 10 years or so, I've been riding a distance equivalent to my birthday age. So I rode 93 miles on the 20th of April, and, um, I was pretty worn out by the end of that, to tell you the truth about it. So I've downsized to the 100."

What’s more, Fred revealed that this may be his very last Unbound, of any length.

"I think this is the last time I’m gonna do this. The old body’s beginning to show signs of wear," he admits.

But the Unbound 200 still lingers as unfinished business.

"I’ve said I would do it," Fred says, revealing that he’d seriously considered sleeping on the side of the road for rest if need be. "But I’ve never gotten myself to do that."

His wife, Suzanne, reminds him that "the whole point of it is to have fun."

And "fun" is what has kept Fred going all these years.

Long before the national championships and world titles, before the gravel races and mountain bike starts, Fred simply liked being outside. He spent his career working as a surveyor, hiking riverbanks and carrying heavy equipment across rough terrain in Louisiana and Texas.

"I never did let myself get in bad shape," Fred says. "I worked outdoors all my life."

At 61, Suzanne bought him his first mountain bike. At the time, the couple lived near Cameron Park in Waco, the host of several state and national championship events. But Fred’s original ambition didn't lie in racing at all.

"What I wanted a bicycle for was to do gravel riding," he says. "I enjoy riding and looking at ranches and farms."

As a child, Fred had lived on a plantation and developed a lifelong fascination with land, agriculture and open country. A bicycle became the best way to move through it all, slowly enough to appreciate it.

Racing happened almost accidentally. After some encouragement from another rider, Fred entered a beginner mountain bike race in South Texas and won. He kept moving up categories from there, collecting national and world titles across mountain biking, road, cyclocross and gravel racing.

These days, though, Fred no longer mountain bikes. Glaucoma has damaged his vision enough that shadows and technical terrain have become difficult to process safely. But gravel still works, especially on the long ranch roads outside Waco, where Fred regularly rides with his friend Whitney Fanning, an 80-year-old fellow Unbound racer who loaned the couple the Suburban that got them to Kansas this year.

"Biking to me is fun," Fred says, and credits the exercise for his physical and mental well-being. "If you enjoy it, you want to keep doing it."

At 93, Fred still drives long distances, still keeps up with cycling trends—he was swapping his gravel tyres from 42s to 50s when we spoke—and still texts, emojis and all. His cardiologist recently told him he has "the heart of a 33-year-old," and his mind remains sharp, even if, as Fred puts it, "the blade is getting a little dull."

Suzanne, whose background is in neuropsychology, believes the connection is undeniable.

"Fitness is the best way to maintain your memory and mental capacity, period," she says.

Fred has seen the contrast firsthand. Some of his peers and siblings, he says, stopped staying active as they aged and later struggled with severe health problems and dementia.

"Just keep going,” Fred says simply when asked for advice. "And maybe you can keep going a little longer."

Last year at Masters Nationals in Milwaukee, Fred met a 97-year-old rider who ‘kicked his butt’ in the time trial. Fred asked him what advice he gives people about ageing.

“He said, ‘Keep pedalling,’” Fred recalls.

And for now, Fred intends to keep doing exactly that, even if the rides are getting shorter. Even if the body is beginning to protest. Even if the unfinished Unbound 200 remains unfinished forever. There are endless gravel roads left to explore, ranches to admire and horizons worth chasing.

What appears to be a new Specialized Crux was spotted at the Gralloch in Scotland this weekend, and ridden to victory in the women's UCI category by Specialized Off Road athlete Geerike Schreurs.

The new bike represents a massive departure from the traditional double-diamond, round-tubed frame of the outgoing Crux, with a facade inspired by the road-going Tarmac platform. The most notable attribute comes in the form of an aerodynamic frame and the apparent larger tyre clearance - not that the outgoing model lacked provision for wider tyres: it could accommodate widths of 47mm, and many riders successfully ran 50mm tyres paired with 1x drivetrains.

While we can't confirm the exact clearances, based on current trends in the category, we can safely assume maximum clearances of around 55-57mm, which should accommodate tyres of up to 2.2 inches wide. We've seen provision for wider tyres at the forefront of contemporary gravel frame design with bikes such as the new Factor Sarana and Open Wi.De 2.0, with the latter offering gargantuan clearances once reserved for cross-country mountain bikes.

The outgoing Specialized Crux has been around in its current incarnation since 2022 and is due for an update. Despite its now-outdated template, it has notched up a long list of victories at virtually every major gravel event, including Unbound Gravel 200, The Traka, Big Sugar Gravel, Gravel Worlds, and Gravel Burn. That's quite a palmares, but as the discipline has evolved, so has the need to go faster, and it appears as though Specialized has caved and given in to the peer pressure of the aero gravel concept.

Visually, the bike ridden by Schreurs this past weekend looks a lot like the Specialized Tarmac SL7. Based on what we know about the new Aethos 2, we can also assume the layup will have taken learnings from the SL8 and applied them to ensure a balance of stiffness and compliance, fashioned into the aerodynamic tube profiles of the SL7. We can clearly see the paucity of a 'speed sniffer' on the headtube, with the basic frame architecture, seat tube, and cutout, and dropped seatstays adopting a silhouette similar to the SL7, but with a few nods to the Tarmac SL8, including the seatpost. It certainly has been designed with aerodynamics at the forefront.

The frame and front end are very clean - no hoses are visible on the entire setup, and the cockpit looks like the one-piece integrated Alpinist 2 setup seen on the new Aethos, but with a much wider flare at the drops. Component-wise, Shreurs' bike was built around an SRAM Red XPLR AXS complete with new Roval Terra Aero CLX wheels and Specialized Pathfinder tyres.

We asked Specialized for a comment and got the following reply:

"Specialized relies on feedback from professional athletes in both developing and testing advanced pre-production products in real-world applications. With this top-level feedback, some of these design elements and products eventually show up in future retail product offerings. We call this Project Black."

Based on the brazen testing in the public eye at the Gralloch, the launch of the new Specialized Crux is imminent. We'll update this story as we receive more information.

While hard to confirm, it seems like half the Lotto-Intermarché team were banjaxed by a bovine bacteria found in manure, in a race in Belgium, but close encounters with cows can result in much worse outcomes than a bout of sickness and diarrhoea (as dreadful as that must be to deal with while attempting to ride a race).

While cyclists in some countries have to contemplate encounters with more serious sounding wildlife, such as bears, for gravel and rural road riders in Britain, the common cow is easily the most dangerous animal around - aside from impatient humans driving a car on rural roads.

Cattle may appear docile, but the risk level is surprisingly high. And cases of cows killing people are much less rare than you might think. There are several fatalities every year in Britain as a result of members of public, including cyclists, getting trampled or gored by cattle.

Spring is particularly dangerous when cows are with calves, and there can bulls in the field at the same time (to get the process started all over again). The animals can be agitated, unpredictable and extremely protective of their young. Farmers are entitled to keep cattle on meadows and fields with public rights of way crossing them, so long as they display signage warning of the risks.

If you’re going out and about in the countryside on your gravel bike at this time of year, or road cycling in rural areas, it’s wise to take those risks extremely seriously.

So, while there might be a bridleway going across farmland, which you are perfectly entitled to use, before you go rolling through the middle of a field of cattle on your gravel bike during calving season (which lasts from February to June), it’s well worth taking a moment to weigh up some factors.

First up: cows are enormous, and bulls even bigger, with the former typically pushing 800kg and the latter tipping the scales at 1300kg or more. I don’t care how tough you are, if it kicks off and you get cornered, you’re going to lose.

Also, cows are much faster than they look. And, even more surprisingly, they can turn on a sixpence. With a top speed of around 25mph, a cow can easily outsprint a human (all humans, including Usain Bolt) and while you might be able to out-pedal one, don’t count on it if the terrain is anyway churned up and technical.

And they don’t fight fair either, and come at you one at a time – while one especially bold or angry animal might lead the way, typically the whole herd will end up harassing you.

We spoke to Jill Graves, a cattle farmer in Norfolk, who explained why cattle can be so dangerous to careless riders and ramblers at this time of year.

“A bull is just doing his job,” she explains. “He is there to put the cows back in calf, but also to protect his herd, and if he thinks you pose a threat, you’re in serious trouble. He might have just serviced a cow, and be especially agitated.”

“As for the cows, you don’t know how long ago they’ve given birth. Besides their natural protective instincts, they might have hormones racing around their system. Or they might even still be in pain or discomfort. Either way, they don’t want you around.

"And cows can be quite naughty,” says Jill. “Especially if they have horns. You don’t want an animal that literally weighs a ton giving you a nudge or swiping you with their horns – you are nothing to them.”

Expert advice on what to do around cows

Following is Jill’s expert advice on how to avoid conflict with cows.

Steer clear. Avoidance is by far the best policy. If there is an alternative route you can take that avoids you having to ride through a field full of cows, take it.

Slow down. Don’t go barrelling straight towards a group of cows and calves on your bike – they will obviously feel threatened and respond accordingly.

Leave your best friend at home. We love a good dog-on-a-bike story as much as anyone, but cows with calves get especially protective when there’s a canine in the mix. It’s their instincts kicking in – you see a dopey cockapoo, they sense a wolf.

Be quiet. If you must ride through a field with cows and calves (and even a bull), don’t go screaming and shouting and ringing your bell – it’s only going to agitate the animals and cause them to come towards you.

Stop flashing. Likewise, if it’s evening or nighttime, turn off as many of your bike lights as possible – cows are curious creatures, and will investigate anything out of the ordinary.

We asked Jill what people should do if all of the above fails, and they find themselves being bullied by a bull or a gang of cows.

“Well, my main advice is don’t put yourself in that situation in the first place,” she says, sagely. “But if it happens, the priority is to get yourself out of the field as fast as you can. If you’ve got a dog with you, forget it – the dog will usually get itself out, without worrying about you, so leave it.

"It’s best not to turn your back and just run or ride, because that will instigate a chase, and they’re fast. Try clapping your hands and moving as purposely and calmly as you can towards the nearest gate or fence. Like all animals, cow can sense your fear and it will only excite them.”

Unbound Gravel is turning 20 this year, and celebrates that milestone with a race course that strings together some of the best sectors of 20 years of gravel racing in the Flint Hills.

Headed both south and north of Emporia, Kansas, the 206-mile elite course features infamous sectors like Texaco Hill, Teeter Hill, Kahola dam and the 10-mile Sharpes Creek Road, which was last used in 2015 during the epic 'mud year'.

The official course GPS files were unveiled today, with two weeks left for riders to pre-ride and pray to the weather gods.

As always with Unbound Gravel, the course preview includes ominous descriptors like "chunky," "rocky" and "potentially muddy."

There will be leg-zapping climbs, never steep but always heavy, vast vistas, windblown plains, tire-slicing flint rocks and creek crossing.

In other words, "everything you could ever want in a MMR [minimally maintained road]," race organisers shared in a social media video.

Taking place the last week of May, the race through the Kansas Flint Hills offers five race distances and attracts 5,000 participants to the small town of Emporia, in the middle of the United States.

It was founded with just 34 riders in 2006, and the 200-mile event has since evolved from a niche, self-supported adventure into the world’s premier gravel race that attracts off-road professionals, WorldTour pros and Olympians alongside thousands of amateurs.

Let's dive into the course's key features.

The 200-mile flagship event starts in the early hours of May 30th in front of the Granada Theater in downtown Emporia, Kansas.

The peloton will leave downtown under neutral police escort for 3.3 miles, after which the riders are let loose to justle for position in what surely will be a fast and furious start.

The pack could start breaking up as early as 15 miles into the race on YY road, a five-mile stretch of rolling uphill the locals call "the Towers climb."

The course's first real climb, however, comes quickly after with the approach of the notorious Texaco Hill. It's just 1-1.5 miles in length but steady with a loose and chunky descent on the other side.

At mile 68, another Unbound classic makes its appearance: Teter Hill. This is a prominent, challenging and often decisive climb in the race. It's rocky and steep with grades over 10 percent.

Spirits will be tested on the 10-mile Sharpes Creek Road. It's long, rolling and seemingly endless as you can "see for miles." This was last used in 2015, which was the "year of the mud." Unbound mud is unlike anything else. It bogs down bikes, rips off derailleurs and is even known to break a frame or two.

The 2026 will also feature a brand-new addition: W road, which is a chunky, rocky and grassy road with another fun feature: a creek crossing.

From here it's onto the DD rollers, which race organisers say is "super chunky" and another bad spot for mud in case of rain.

The last big climb comes at 181 miles, the iconic Kahola Hill following the Kahola Lake dam crossing.

Then there's one last little punch on the paved Highland Street, then two quick turns and the finish line will be in sight.

Aid stations and feed zones

A new development in 2026 is that age group and Elite checkpoints have been separated for safety reasons. Amateurs may not use the elite feedzones and vice versa.

There will be neutral mechanics, neutral water and nutrition items at the amateur checkpoints. In addition, the event will provide two neutral Water Oases. Still, organisers warn, riders should prepare to be self-sufficient.

"The Flint Hills region of east-central Kansas is an extremely remote area. Please be aware...if you break down or become injured, it is your responsibility to contact your support crew to come get you. We will not rescue you," the event clearly states.

Age Group Checkpoints & Water Oases

• 432.3 Miles - Checkpoint 1 in downtown Madison
• 61.8 - Water Oasis
• 98.9 - Checkpoint 2 in Matfields
• 160.7 - Checkpoint 3 in Council Grove
• 191.8 - Water Oasis

Elite Feed Zones

• 43.5 miles - Start of Feed Zone 1 - Madison
• 82.2 - Start of Feed Zone 2 - Sycamore
• 148.9 - Start of Feed Zone 3 - along South 1400 Road

There’s a perfect lunch ride that starts about 15 minutes from my front door.

Depending on the variation, it’s an hour or so of fast gravel roads, punchy climbs and some fun singletrack to keep you on your toes. There’s broken up pavement, roots, loose pitches that nudge beyond 20 percent and, even, a small rock garden. Gravel bike, road bike or MTB, the choice is yours but either way, you’re getting a good bang for your buck in that hour.

This is my testing ground for a lot of products, and since I have a very young baby, where I’ll ride more often than not. With this in mind, I recently put a dropper post on my personal gravel steed, a Specialized S-Works Crux. And a cable-actuated one, no less.

Now, I’m aware this will upset a certain category of cyclist. Likely the same people who leave puke emojis on my Instagram whenever my bike appears sporting fenders/mudguards. How dare I deface a race machine? But, in doing so, they're actually selling the Crux and its beautiful versatility short. Specialized gave it generous tyre clearance, suspension fork compatibility and internal routing for a dropper post. That isn’t accidental. The bike was designed to be ridden, and to be ridden hard. (I may have taken it too far beyond its comfort levels but that’s not my point.)

Now, if your gravel riding consists primarily of the sort of epics we see at Unbound Gravel or SBT GRVL, then this article isn’t for you.

A dropper post absolutely comes with compromises. They add weight, and they’re stiffer than a carbon seatpost. Your lower back will almost certainly prefer a flexy carbon post if your riding is mostly seated pedalling over washboard roads for seven hours straight. And if you’re never riding terrain where a dropper actually matters, then yes, hauling around the extra grams is pointless.

But if your gravel rides regularly involve some “I wonder if I can ride that?” territory, then a dropper post changes everything. Mountain bikers figured this out years ago. At the push of a lever, the saddle is out of the way, giving you more freedom to move around when the terrain gets steep, loose or unpredictable.

With the saddle lowered, you can shift your weight farther backwards to avoid getting pitched over the bars. It also makes it easier to stay balanced when the bike starts bouncing underneath you. And in corners, the bike can lean independently beneath you instead of the saddle locking you into one position. In short, a dropper lets you move independently from the bike, and the bike independently from you. The result is better grip, more control, more speed and more confidence when things get rough. Most importantly, it makes off-road riding a lot more fun, and that’s really the whole argument.

I recently installed Teravail’s 125mm Telec dropper on my bike. I didn’t need it for the lunch loops, but I did immediately start setting PRs on nearly every descent. It also makes me smile every darn time.

But here’s the part where I climb onto my soapbox: if you’re going to put a dropper on your gravel bike, commit properly.

Too many gravel-specific droppers, or those that will fit a 27.2 seatpost, have too little travel. Forty millimetres of drop isn’t a dropper post; that's a mildly adjustable seatpost.

Would I prefer the clean aesthetic of the SRAM’s wireless dropper? Obviously. But to me, 50-to-75mm of travel just doesn’t meaningfully transform the bike on technical terrain. Plus, at nearly $645 and around 560g of added weight (which is more than a mechanical dropper), it’s a tough sell.

The Teravail Telec, meanwhile, does it right. The 27.2mm version comes in either 100mm or 125mm travel, with travel adjustable in 10mm increments up to 30mm, depending on your fit and frame size. Paired with the Telec Drop Bar Remote, the post delivers an impressively fast response time. This is Teravail’s first foray into droppers, and I’m very pleased with this $200, mid-range offer. At around 445 grams, it’s not absurdly heavy either. Compared to the carbon post I removed, the weight penalty is roughly 245 grams.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to like having a dropper post, but I'm enjoying it far more than expected. And now that it’s on there, I see no reason to take it off.

Will I keep playing with the cable routing to achieve a cleaner look, yes, but do I care once the trail points downward? Not even remotely.

The Marly Grav gravel race enjoyed the most celebrated victors in its short history, with Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) winning the men's and women's races respectively.

He said he was simply there to have fun, but Van Aert's win was taken in impressive style – on the end of a 20km solo escapade. For Wiebes, who defended the title she took here last year and was wearing her world champion's jersey, her victory was won in a sprint from a small group.

Both the elite men and women contested the race over a hilly 150km course based on Valkenburg in the Netherlands, perhaps better known for hosting the denouement of the Amstel Gold WorldTour Classic.

Van Aert and Wiebes were not the only big names in their respective races and these were by no means soft victories. Van Aert's solo escape, for example, saw him ditch fellow escapees that included world champion Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) while Wiebes was facing Unbound 2023 winner Caroline Schiff (Canyon XC Racing) and, among the small group she won from, recent Traka and Sea Otter Classic podium finisher Nele Laing (Canyon X DT Swiss All Terrain).

Van Aert was there "without any specific expectations and mainly to enjoy himself" his team said afterwards. However, it became clear that the new Paris-Roubaix champion had good legs and after finding himself a select front group some way past the halfway mark, he opted to try a solo move.

Vermeersch attempted in vain to follow and Van Aert crossed the line with a 44-second advantage.

"It was a really tough race, but at the same time I enjoyed it," he said afterwards. "It was fun racing here. It’s a completely different kind of race to what I’m used to. It’s great to be able to compete in such a fair race and put my off-road skills to good use. I’ll definitely be taking part more often."

In a similar fashion, the women's race saw a select group of seven riders – later becoming five – form as the race went on. Beyond just her supreme sprinting ability, Wiebes was strong enough to cover numerous attacks and the race looked to be hers to lose. She won the eventual sprint with some ease, bettering second-placed Larissa Hartog (Canyon X DT Swiss All Terrain) by a clear bike length.

She said afterwards: “We had a strong group at the front and had to make our way through the field past riders from the other categories.

"It’s fantastic to win in the rainbow jersey in my own backyard. It was a tough race, but I really enjoyed the route and the atmosphere along the way,”

The UCI Gravel World Series continues this weekend with a double-header: Seven in Australia and The Gralloch in Scotland, both held on Saturday.

When Sarah Sturm rolled across the line at The Traka 100 in Girona, Spain, this past weekend, the result was, for once, beside the point. At 28 weeks pregnant, the American gravel star said the experience was less about racing and more about enjoying the ride and discovering what her body was still capable of.

"It felt OK," Sturm told Cycling Weekly. "I had done a training camp with Rapha the week before, and I think it sort of reset my expectations on what I am capable of doing.

"Lining up with professional athletes, I realise I was obviously much slower, but the effort is still there and it feels really good to push myself within those boundaries,” she said. "It felt really good to move and, specifically, ride. It actually feels a lot better than sitting on an aeroplane, for example."

The American said pregnancy has effectively imposed its own built-in limiter.

"I just have a governor on my system," she said. "My body only lets me push so hard, which is a pretty incredible experience. So I might be going slower, but I think the rate of perceived exertion is kind of the same."

Still, Sturm was quick not to romanticise the reality of being pregnant.

"I’m not racing, and in a lot of ways it felt really good, but also, definitely, uncomfortable. I don’t want to skim past that. Nothing I’m doing now is comfortable. It’s uncomfortable to sleep, to walk, to eat, to ride. But you just live in this state of discomfort, so I was really feeling quite happy to be healthy enough to ride my bike at a bike race in Spain."

Earlier this year, Sturm was instrumental in bringing about Life Time’s new pregnancy policy. Under the policy, athletes who become pregnant after being selected for the prestigious off-road series can defer their roster spot to the following season without penalty, a move widely praised as a big step forward for women in gravel racing.

Sturm’s appearance at gravel events while pregnant also comes amid wider conversations around pregnancy in elite sport and the lack of long-term protections historically afforded to female athletes. For female athletes, there’s often a lot of uncertainty surrounding sponsorship, contracts and competition during pregnancy.

Last season, fellow gravel racer Iz King wrote openly about continuing to race while pregnant, arguing that visibility matters for the future of women’s sport.

"Racing this season wasn’t about trying to be better or faster than my non-pregnant competitors," King wrote for Cycling Weekly. "It was about setting an example for what it could look like to be a pregnant professional athlete.

"How do you inspire others? How do you prove your value to your sponsors? How do you break down some of the pre-conceived notions about what a pregnant person is capable of? And how do you do all of that while putting your baby’s safety first?"

Sturm echoed much of that sentiment.

"My message for women, female athletes everywhere, is truly just: don’t let other people tell you what you can and can’t do with your body," she said. "Pretty simple, and yet one that we as a society don’t really seem to grasp, especially for women and specifically, female athletes."

She added that while public judgment around pregnant athletes can often be critical, she hadn’t experienced a backlash of her own.

"No one’s really shared their judgment with me, which is really appreciated because I am doing what I can do based on my conversations with my coach and doctor," Sturm explained, stating, "I was cleared to be in Spain and to be riding my bike."

Sturm also stressed that she approached the event conservatively and with safety at the forefront. She started near the back of the field rather than alongside elite racers and rode with support throughout the day.

"I am a professional, so I know how to safely be in a group and I started at the back of the 100 for a reason," she said. "I have no business starting with WorldTour riders at the front.

"And with that, I just gave myself a lot of space on the descents in case someone had a mishap, and I would have time to react. At no point did I feel like it was unsafe for me."

Her husband, Dylan, rode alongside her, as did a friend, and the group had multiple bailout options planned throughout the route.

"I took it hour by hour and, yeah, finished it," Sturm said. "It was really great to get a lot of perspective on a race that I’ve done four times. We started at the same start and the finish was the same, and it was really fun to do that in a very different state."

You could say that Sweet Protection is the new kid on the block. Despite the Norwegian brand being around for the last 25 years, it didn’t actually have an offering of the best road bike helmets. Instead, Sweet Protection first launched in the worlds of skateboarding, snowboarding and freestyle kayaking.

But when the Norwegian powerhouse, Uno-X Mobility, started winning stages at the Tour de France, it was only a matter of time before Sweet Protection made its way into cycling. In addition to road racing, you may also recognise Sweet Protection helmets from gravel racing, light on the heads of PAS Normal professionals.

It’s clear that Sweet Protection sees the Falconer Aero 2Vi Mips Helmet measuring up to the rigours of professional bike racing. But is it also an ideal helmet for an everyday bike rider? Let’s find out.

Construction

The Falconer Aero 2Vi Mips is Sweet Protection's top-of-the-line road and gravel helmet, and it's built around a key feature for racing and all-weather conditions: detachable magnetic Aerocovers.

These are two large covers that attach magnetically to the primary vents of the helmet, improving aerodynamics and blocking out wind and cold. You can even remove them while riding, simply by popping them off and tucking them into your jersey pocket. This could come in real handy during those long races where you line up in the cold before the day has warmed up.

Made of multi-density EPS foam with four impact shields, a variable elasticity shell and MIPS Air integration, there’s no doubt that the helmet’s construction is top-notch. We can talk all we want about aerodynamics, fit and ventilation, but in a helmet, there is one factor more important than all the others combined: safety.

The Falconer Aero 2Vi comes with a MIPS liner that helped it earn a coveted 5-star Virginia Tech safety rating — one of the most respected independent helmet safety evaluations in the world. It also meets EU, US and UK standards. The helmet comes with MIPS Air that is built directly into the padding, rather than the old and bulky yellow MIPS liner that used to snag on your hair. The helmet’s pads also have low-friction nodes that allow them to slide and absorb rotational energy in the event of a crash, and there is nothing better than a helmet with the highest possible safety rating.

One of the helmet’s standout ventilation features is what Sweet Protection calls STACC: Superficial Temporal Artery Cooling Channel. The idea is to funnel air specifically across the temporal arteries at the sides of your head, one of our most heat-sensitive areas. But the real question is: does it work?

Yes, the STACC system provided ample cooling during each of my efforts in training and racing. During harder efforts—the kind where you're grinding up a climb and wind speed drops—the ventilation held up better than expected from a helmet with this aero profile. The only trade-off was that, at lower speeds, ventilation is noticeably reduced compared to a fully open road helmet, which is exactly what you’d expect with any aero design.

Other spec highlights: a 360 Occigrip fit system with on-the-fly height adjustment, integrated eyewear grippers, and a wider rear opening for ponytails. One of the most underrated features of any helmet is the buckle – a bad one can ruin your day by pinching your neck or finger. The Falconer Aero 2Vi comes with an excellent Fidlock magnetic buckle that works better than any buckle I’ve ever tested. Even when my gloved fingers were stiff after a muddy gravel race, I was able to easily work the buckle with one hand.

Details

• Price: $300 / £269
• Weight: 300g (M/L)
• Sizes: S/M, M/L, L/XL
• We tested the limited-release Silver Smoke colourway
• Use case: Road and Gravel

The Ride

The first thing that I notice in any helmet is the fit. I have quite a large head with a unique shape that slightly protrudes at the back of my skull. I’ve tried hundreds of helmets over the years, and far too many of them cause pain at the rear strap or around my forehead.

The Falconer Aero 2Vi, however, fits perfectly. As Goldilocks would say, it wasn’t too big or too small; it was just right. Riding around Wisconsin in winter and spring, I tested the helmet in temperatures between -4°C (25°F) and 30°C (86°F). I’m not sure how the helmet performs in arctic temperatures, but I’m sure the Norwegians at Sweet Protection and Uno- Mobility could provide some data on that.

I loved the removable Aerocovers, especially in variable temperatures and weather conditions. Sometimes it was cold and raining, others it was hot and sunny. Rather than choosing between an aero or vented helmet, I had both in the Falconer Aero 2Vi. There was also enough room under the helmet for a cycling cap, when needed.

In addition to the aero benefits, the Aerocovers also blocked road grit and rain, which is great for roadies, but even better for gravel riders. However, one of the few downsides of the helmet is that once mud got into the vent gap, it was not the easiest helmet to clean out. That's a minor inconvenience to most cyclists, but something to consider if you ride in the mud regularly.

The fit held up well in a variety of conditions, and the helmet stayed in place while I was riding down bumpy gravel roads. The helmet sat close to the head with a low profile, and while I’m not a fashion expert, I tested the limited-release Silver Smoke colourway and I felt like the helmet is a genuinely good-looking piece of kit

Without an at-home wind tunnel, it's hard to make definitive claims on that front, but the helmet felt fast. With the Aerocovers on, there was noticeably less wind noise, especially when riding in an aero position. The helmet is designed to perform across a range of head and yaw angles, which is ideal for real-world riding conditions and more casual cyclists who change positions often.

If you care about stashing sunglasses mid-ride, as many of us do, the Falconer Aero 2Vi is one of the best helmets for this. The integrated eyewear grippers are positioned low on the front of the helmet, and your glasses fit right in and stay there. I’ve lost, broken, and scratched many sunglasses while testing this with other helmets, and the Falconer Aero 2Vi was one of the best performers in terms of eyewear security.

Value & Conclusion

You get what you pay for, and with the $300 / £269 Falconer Aero 2Vi Mips Helmet, you are getting a high-quality product with top safety ratings and a load of brilliant features. This price point isn’t for everyone, but it fits the serious and performance-focused mindset of most cyclists.

The standard Falconer 2Vi comes in at $250, but you'll miss out on the magnetic Aerocovers and get a slightly different foam structure. For comparison, the MET Manta Mips runs around $230, the Trek Ballista around $200, and you can get the Van Rysel RCR-F aero helmet for under $100 if you just want something functional. All of those helmets have won races and received solid ratings in their own right. But if you're looking at brands like Specialized and Giro, the Eclipse Pro aero road helmet will set you back $349.95. and the Evade also runs $299.99.

So is the Falconer Aero 2Vi worth the money? Honestly, it depends on what you're after. If you want a seriously fast helmet that fits a variety of terrain and weather conditions, this could be the helmet for you. It’s quite the investment, but it also covers multiple bases. Instead of having two road helmets (one aero and one vented), you could have both in the Falconer Aero 2Vi.

The magnetic Aerocovers are a fantastic and rare feature, and when it comes to the safety rating, there is nothing better than a five out of five Virginia Tech score. In fact, there are fewer than 20 road helmets in the world with a 5-star Virginia Tech score, and that is certainly worth something.

If you are only looking for the best aero performance per dollar, there are faster options at a lower price point. But if you want a well-fitting, do-it-all helmet that you can see being worn at the Tour de France, the Falconer Aero 2Vi is a fantastic option.

It was a scramble to get started. The wind had blown in a day earlier than expected and endurance racer Hannah Otto and her team were faced with a conundrum: attempt the Fastest Known Time (FKT) of Hawaii’s tallest mountain today or delay.

Rewind a few months, and Mauna Kea was niggling at Otto’s brain. She’d done FKTs before—100 miles on Utah’s White Rim, 137-mile Kokopelli Trail, the fastest time on the Whole Enchilada—but the Hawaiian mountain was a stop she wanted to scale ever since she competed in the World Championships there as a young triathlete.

Otto has a proven technique for deciding whether to attempt a FKT: she lets it percolate. She waits to see if the desire fades away or takes hold.

"Next thing I know, all the tabs on my computer are showing Mauna Kea," the Utah rider tells Cycling Weekly, laughing. "And that's when it's like, okay, I have fallen in love with this place, I have to go try."

There was a sentimental draw to Hawaii for the 30-year-old. But she’s also drawn to hard things. She is one of three riders to have finished in the top ten all four years of the Life Time Grand Prix, won the Leadville 100 in 2022 and has represented the USA at the mountain bike World Championships four times. Mauna Kea, or ‘White Mountain’, represented one of cycling’s most difficult feats: with 13,700 feet of elevation gain over 55 miles, it’s the longest climb in the world and transitions from pavement to five brutal gravel miles at the end. To beat the record, she'd have to complete it in under six hours.

"This one was potentially one of the most nerve-racking," Otto says of her latest FKT attempt. "The other ones were here in the States, on the mainland. I had the opportunity to go and see it, come home, digest it, and then go back and do it. This one was different. Since we had to fly to Hawaii, I had to see it, process it, and do it all in a short period of time."

Once Otto had closed her internet tabs, gathered her support crew and set out for Hawaii, she was met with the sheer scale of the feat ahead of her. The first 40 miles account for nearly 7,000 feet of the climbing. The other 7,000 feet of elevation come in the final 15 miles at a 20% gradient.

Aside from the physical distance and height she’d have to climb, Otto would also have to cycle through changing temperatures and mountain ecosystems. On leaving the town, she would ride through a barren landscape formed from lava rock. Then she would move through grasslands and into what she called the "cloud space," where the moisture in the air hangs like rain. Bursting above the cloud, the mountain becomes barren once again. There she would have to brace for whipping wind and chilly temperatures.

"It almost feels like you’re on the moon, but you’re actually on a volcano!" Otto says in the recently released documentary, ‘Infinite Pursuit’

But it’s the final few miles on soft and loose gravel road that could prove the most difficult section of the climb. Graded bi-weekly, the team realised that the day they’d proposed to set off uphill would coincide with when the gravel is softest. Combine that with the forecasted wind, and the attempt looked more difficult to achieve. And so they set off a day earlier.

As much as Otto likes a challenge, she also likes a plan, and the last-minute change to the attempt did, for a second, throw her off guard. But the support team had decided it was best, and so she trusted them.

The wind was Otto’s first great challenge to face. Twenty miles into the ride, she was six minutes ahead of the record but in the next 20 miles, the headwind wore away at her time.

"I did have a moment where my mind started to allow the doubt to sink in,” Otto remembers. "But I stayed motivated, and I kept pushing. It's not about not having those doubts, it's about having them and reframing it into effort: I can't control the time; I can't control the wind; I can't control whether I succeed in the sense of being the fastest, but I can control how much I give on the day and how hard I try."

Over her 21-year-long career, Otto has cultivated a unique approach to life and racing. Rather than setting out to be the fastest or the best, she lines up to prove to herself that she can do it. Instead of being in competition with others, she’s in a process of continuous self-development.

"For me, this is how I have survived in this sport for so long," she says, "a sport that is really rigorous and demanding."

Otta shares that when she was a young professional, "winning wasn't on the table." On the Clif Pro Team she was surrounded by Olympians and World Champions.

"If I compared myself to those athletes at that stage in my career, I would have never measured up. It would’ve felt like I was always behind," she says. "But instead of comparing myself to them, I could ask myself: are you better than you were last time? Are you the best you can be today? And that's what always motivates me.”

It is no wonder then that Otto is capable of such astonishing feats. On October 23, 2025, she successfully claimed the Mauna Kea FKT with a time of 5 hours, 43 minutes, and 50 seconds.

“One of the things I love about gravel racing, about endurance mountain bike racing, and about these FKTs, is they’re open to everyone," she says, now six months on from the challenge. "I am constantly motivated and inspired by people who finish behind me. It's not about the speed, it's about the process and what you overcome.

"I think the biggest thing I really want people to take away from this is to not be afraid to try whatever their Fastest Known Time is, whether it's Mauna Kea or the climb in their neighbourhood…the bravery is in the willingness to try without knowing for sure that you can succeed. If we knew we could succeed, the point would kind of be mute. It's the excitement that comes from trying despite not knowing."

I've said it once, and I'll say it a thousand times: if you buy one bike, make sure it can do more than just one thing.

While we all love the feeling of whizzing along the roads at top speed on two wheels, the ability to ride anywhere, with anything, will add far more cycling to your life than just an aero or lightweight one-hit wonder.

One of the best gravel bikes, or even one of the best commuting bikes, will often provide this service - one happy off-road and the other happy loaded up with cargo. But what if you combined the two into some kind of gravel-utility mash-up - one bike to do it all? Well, the Whyte Tourus light gravel and utility bike is just that.

Design details

The design team at Whyte has firmly drawn on its mountain and gravel biking heritage when laying out the Tourus concept.

In fact, Tourus means stability, practicality, and tireless, and it also refers to the bull that called away Europa in Greek mythology - making me wonder which came first - the bike or the name.

Astronomy and mythology aside, Whyte says the Tourus was developed specifically to be comfortable, predictable, and prepared for every eventuality, with or without cargo loads.

According to the brand, the long-reach 6061 alloy frame, paired with a short stem and wide bars, will boost comfort and confidence, while a custom offset on the fork helps keep the steering light and 'fresh'.

To achieve this result, the brand employs what it calls 'Total Geometry', a proprietary concept that uses a holistic approach to bike design. Effectively, this means the whole bike is developed in unison, not just as the sum of its parts, with, according to Whyte, no angle or measurement taken in isolation, and components partnered in the development stage, not as an afterthought. Whyte says it even factors in full water bottles and, in the case of the Tourus, loaded luggage, which can be easily added using the many integrated mounting points.

This assumes that you stick to its designated riding classification system, which, in the case of the Tourus, is defined under the '2-cross' category. This means it's been designed to be ridden on roads, tarred cycle lanes, or gravel/earthy surfaces - think canal towpaths and the more benign bridalways.

Diving deeper into the specifics of how the Tourus delivers on these ride promises, you'll see that, when compared to other popular gravel bike-packing bikes (in a size small), it has a longer-than-average wheelbase (1072mm) and chainstays (445mm), and a relaxed head tube angle (70°).

Lining this up directly with the likes of a Canyon Grizl or Specialised Diverge, the Tourus will be more balanced under load, but consequently not aimed at riding tight trails at speed.

Specifications

Looking across the whole spec, the Whyte team has clearly thought hard about how to squeeze the most out of a largely set price point, and I'm impressed to see Shimano GRX throughout. It's 'just' the 10-speed edition, but again, thinking of a fully loaded bike, Whyte has chosen a double chainset (46-30T) to pair with the wide-range cassette (11-34T). It's even thought of braking under load by equipping the hydraulic disc brakes with an 180mm front rotor and a 160mm rear. Oh, and riding too, with the installation of high-volume Maxxis 45mm Reaver Tanwall tyres.
Of course, there will be some compromises. The unbranded 23mm internal tubeless-ready alloy rims threaded with stainless-steel spokes and unbranded hubs are probably the biggest. Elsewhere, the more usual concessions of alloy bars and stems, seatpost and saddle are also deployed to keep costs minimal.

These savings in the budget do have a knock-on effect on weight, with the bike, without any loads, hitting 11.2kg/24.6lbs on the scales for a size small.

Performance

I've been riding the Whyte Tourus for a few months now, and it's safe to say it's become the most-used bike in the garage. It's ridden daily for the station commute, has been on gravel rides, and even on the epic school-run pickup.

It's proven itself to be an incredibly comfortable steed, and despite the 'light' gravel heading, I've challenged it with tougher terrains. The predictable handling and stability, combined with fat tyres, have meant it's coped incredibly well over the rough stuff. I'd even put money on the bike tackling more extreme terrain if you swapped out the tyres for something with a little more tread - a noticeable absence when trying to navigate mud or wet grass, the only real times when I found the bike's limit.

On the flat, the bike taps along at a contented speed. Clearly it's no aero race bike, but it's also far from a Dutch shopper - meaning that once you've got it turning, it will happily chip away at around 12 or 13 miles an hour without problems.

Likewise on the descents. I live in a pretty hilly area, and I've never once had to drop anchor, thanks to the bike's ability to handle roads and trails at speed.

The downside of living in a hilly area is that I also have to navigate many climbs. This is where the weight penalty is mostly felt. The double chainring and wide spread of gears help massively, and I'm yet to find a hill I haven't conquered - it's just that you have to do so very slowly. Riding the bike laden with luggage would require even more patience - but that's sort of the aim with the Tourus. It's not designed for bashing out miles hell-for-leather; it honestly feels like a lesson in how to slow down and actually just enjoy riding a bike.

It's been a while since I was on mechanical shifting, and it's a good reminder that analogue shifting is still just as good as you remember it to be, even if I'm already aware of the need to tighten the barrel adjuster to make the gears shift as sweetly as they did when it was box-fresh.

I've not braved the bike-packing aspect of the Tourus. I'm currently still suffering the occasional sub-zero night, and on Sunday it snowed again - but when the weather does warm up, the bike will be the perfect antidote to our high-speed lives with a slow cruise out to a Peak District (UK) campsite or camping barn.

Value

With even the more modest bikes on the market coming in at £2.5k+, seeing a full bike with this specification at the £1200 mark is really refreshing.

But it's more than the initial outlay. Factoring in cost per ride, the Whyte Tourus has, in just a few months, already become one of the cheapest bikes I've ridden - and that's not even accounting for all the car running costs that the bike has also saved me, as it genuinely is such an easy bike to hop on as a car alternative.

In fact, for most of the short rides I don't even don bike kit, wearing whatever I have on, so I can attest to being able to ride in hareem pants, jeans (with a trouser clip) and even a mini-skirt and not feel self-conscious about an unspoken dress code that a speedier two-wheeled machine implies. For longer rides, I'll add the lycra tights and jersey and still feel just as at home on the Tourus - it really is that versatile.

Verdict

The Whyte Tourus is a fantastic bike, offering versatility and a variety of riding opportunities.

If you are an adventurous gravel rider, it's highly likely you will discover the bike's limits, in which case it's probably worth plumping for its more rugged sibling, the Whyte Verro, which features a 1x12 SRAM Apex Eagle transmission and a dropper seat post but costs £600 more than the Tourus.

If, however, you are looking for a more relaxed pace of life and the ability to add meander and roam to your riding objectives, then this really is the perfect companion to achieve them on. Just remember that you won't be accomplishing them swiftly - because that's exactly not what the Tourus has been designed to do.

Specs

• Weight: 11.2kg/24.6lbs (size small)
• Frame: 6061 alloy, hydroformed T6 aluminium
• Fork: Whyte straight bladed 6061 alloy
• Groupset: Shimano GRX RD-RX400, 11-34T, 10 speed
• Wheelset: 23mm internal width, tubeless read, Stainless spokes, Alloy, double sealed cartridge bearings, 12mm x 100mm (front) / 12mm x 142mm (rear) thru axle, Centre Lock, 32 hole
• Tyres: Maxxis Reaver Tanwall 700 x 45c,
• Bar/stem: Whyte alloy, +-7° rise, 60mm length (sizes XS-S), 70mm (sizes M-XL)
• Seatpost: Whyte 6061 alloy, 20mm offset, 27.2mm x 350mm, two bolt clamp
• Saddle: Whyte Custom
• Sizes: XS - XL

Lukas Pöstlberger (Rose Racing Circle) and Sofía Gómez Villafañe (Specialized Off-Road) each delivered an incredible performance at The Traka 200 on Saturday in Girona, Spain. The Austrian Gravel Champion survived an edge-of-your-seat finale by fending off a charging trio, and Gómez Villafañe defended her title with a dominant and calculated display of strength.

Less than 24 hours after Mads Würtz Schmidt (Specialized Off-Road) crushed the 10-hour barrier at The Traka 360, the Traka 200 served up its own day of drama. The 202km course, weaving through the dusty hills outside Girona, included more than 2,650 metres of elevation gain. Both The Traka 360 and Traka 200 start lists drew marquee names, MTB World Champions, and former WorldTour pros. The Traka 200 is the biggest gravel race in Europe, and perhaps the top stop on the Gravel Earth Series. It's an event that challenges the best gravel riders in the world in more ways than one. You need strength on the climbs, technical skills on the descents, and plenty of courage in the singletrack finale.

On Saturday, all three were on full display.

How the race played out

The men's race was a story of road racers versus the mountain bikers — and in the end, you might be surprised who came out on top.

Former WorldTour pro Lukas Pöstlberger was aggressive in the early goings of the race, attacking with more than 130km remaining of the 202km course. The Austrian, who once wore the pink jersey at the Giro d'Italia, has reinvented himself as a gravel racer with Rose Racing Circle. He showed his strength on the climbs, and with 64km to go, he had formed a leading trio alongside Hans Becking (Buff BH) and Jeremy Presbury (NZ Cycling Project). A chase group of six riders were 90 seconds behind, but they were about to start closing the gap.

A flat tyre took Presbury out of the lead group, and with 20km to go, Pöstlberger went solo. The chasing group was beginning to attack and chase, and soon it was Wout Alleman and Martin Stošek (both Buff BH), Bradyn Lange (Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing), and mountain bike legend Nino Schurter, began closing in on the Austrian.

However, the chase group splintered in the final 10 kilometres as their chase grew desperate. Pöstlberger was holding on by the skin of his teeth, but he only had around 10 seconds going into the finale. But in the final couple of kilometres, Group 2 Syndrome took over, and Pöstlberger extended his gap. In the end, he won The Traka 200 in just over six hours, finishing 20 seconds clear of USA Gravel Champion Bradyn Lange.

"It's the biggest gravel race in Europe and winning here is really special," said Pöstlberger. "You dream, you train, you work hard, you make a plan to get this one, and today everything went perfectly."

Result: The Traka 200 Gravel men's 2026

1. Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) 6:04:42
2. B. Lange (USA) + 0:20 sec
3. M. Stošek (CZE) + s.t.
4. W. Alleman (Bel) + s.t. min
5. M. Bak Klaris (Den) + 0:54 sec
6. N. Schurter (Sui)+ s.t.
7. E. Evensen-Lie (Nor) + 1.21 min
8. J. Siemons (Bel) + 5.30 min
9. R. Holze (Sui) + 6.03 min
10. N. Brun (Sui) + 6.04 min

The Traka 200 Gravel Women's race

Sofía Gómez Villafañe is the most dominant rider in gravel right now. Not only did she repeat her Traka 200 win from last year — the only rider to do so in either the 360 or 200 — but she did it solo with more than a minute's gap to second and over seven minutes to third. Fresh off a victory at Sea Otter Gravel just two weeks ago, Gómez Villafañe took control early in this year's Traka 200.

The defending champion pushed the pace on the route's early climbs, going clear with only Larissa Hartog (Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing). A strong chase group formed behind the leaders, containing the likes of Nicole Frain (Factor Racing), Nele Laing (Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing), Alexis Skarda (Q36.5 Off Road Racing), Karolina Migoń and Cecily Decker (PAS Racing).

One of the stories of the day was Migoń racing for a podium in the chase group. The two-time defending Traka 360 champion had pulled out of Friday's Traka 360 after a crash and mechanical. Less than 24 hours later, she lined up to race the Traka 200.

Around the halfway point, the leading pair began climbing Els Metges — arguably the hardest climb in the race and nearly 10 km in length. Gómez Villafañe went clear on the climb, but Hartog stayed close enough to rejoin on the descent. They continued to work together, increasing their gap to multiple minutes as the chasers fell further behind.

After correcting a wrong turn with 17km to go, Gómez Villafañe attacked on a punchy climb to go solo with just over 10km to go. She built a minute's advantage in the finale, crossing the line to win the Traka 200 in just under seven hours. Hartog finished second, while her teammate and relative gravel newcomer, Nele Laing, rounded out the podium in third.

Result: The Traka 200 Gravel women's 2026

1. Sofía Gómez Villafañe (Arg) 6:54:42
2. L. Hartog (NLD) + 1.09 min
3. N. Laing (Ger) + 7.51 min
4. K. Migoń (Pol) +9.10 min
5. E. Hartmann (Sui) +13.25 min

The Gravel Earth Series continues on June 7 at Ranxo Gravel in Ponts, Spain.

Mads Würtz Schmidt (Specialized Off-Road) and Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto) each delivered a dominant solo performance at The Traka 360 on Friday in Girona, Spain, with Schmidt becoming the first rider in the race's history to crack the 10-hour barrier.

After a busy Spring Classics campaign that included Strade Bianche, Milan - San Remo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix Femmes, former Unbound-winner Klöser added another major gravel victory to her already formidable palmarès.

The Traka 360 is the jewel of European gravel racing. Its 325km route stretches from Girona to the foothills of the Pyrenees, packing 3,600 meters of elevation gain into half a day of racing. It is the biggest one-day race in the Gravel Earth Series and, increasingly, the race seems to reveal who's flying a few weeks before Unbound Gravel. On a dry and fast day in Catalonia, both Würtz Schmidt and Klöser took their chances early, capitalising in the biggest way possible to win The Traka 360.

How the race played out

The men's race had a long list of favourites on the start line in Girona. But with 100km to go, one rider separated himself from the pack. Mads Würtz Schmidt, the reigning European Gravel Champion, made his move with nearly three hours of racing to go, attacking out of the lead group that contained the likes of Romain Bardet and Würtz Schmidt's Specialized Off-Road teammate, Matt Beers.

The 31-year-old Dane — who spent 14 years on the road before going all-in on gravel in 2025 — pushed the pace across Spain's dusty fire roads and punchy climbs. Another solo rider took up the chase, with French Gravel Champion Hugo Drechou (Gravel Nation) spending much of the finale dangling less than five minutes behind Würtz Schmidt. The Dane was flying, and with a few kilometres to go, he still had a 10-minute gap on the chasers. In the end, Würtz Schmidt put in the performance of a lifetime, crossing the line in 9 hours, 57 minutes and 38 seconds, obliterating the previous course record and becoming the first rider to break the 10-hour barrier at The Traka 360.

After winning The Traka 200 in 2025, Würtz Schmidt has also become the first rider to complete the so-called Traka Double — the first rider to win both premier distances in consecutive years.

Drechou held on for an impressive second-place finish, while Beers crossed the line in third, making it a dream-like day for Specialized Off-Road. Benjamin Perry (Guava x Castelli S.O.G.) and Romain Bardet (Factor Racing-Rapha Cycling Club) rounded out the Top 5. Defending champion of the Traka 360, Tobias Kongstad (PAS Racing), finished seventh, unable to replicate last year's 150km solo that earned him the title.

Result: The Traka 360 Gravel men's 2026

1. Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) 9:57:38
2. H. Drechou (Fra) + 11.18 min
3. M. Beers (RSA) + 11.31 min
4. B. Perry (Can) + 12.8 min
5. R. Bardet (Fra) + 12.15 min
6. Paul Voss (Ger)+ 12.47 min
7. T. M. Kongstad (Den) + 16.25 min
8. P. Vakoc (Cze) + 17.37 min
9. A. L'Esperance (Can) + 19.25 min
10. C. Brent (Ger) + 23:53 min

The Traka 360 Gravel Women's race

The women's race came down to a battle between two of gravel's fiercest road-gravel crossovers: Rosa Klöser, riding for Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto, and Axelle Dubau-Prévot, who races for EF Education-Oatly and is the sister of reigning Tour de France Femmes champion, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. The German Gravel Champion has already had a busy season, having raced in the Ronde van Vlaanderen Women, Paris-Roubaix Femmes, and Sea Otter Gravel in the last month alone.

Klöser, who finished seventh at Sea Otter Gravel two weeks prior, admitted, "I didn't have a great race in the US. I was very exhausted and tired...so I really took all my energy in the last 10 days to make sure that I somehow turn it around, and I guess it worked out."

Deciding between The Traka 200 and 360 seemed to be a challenge enough for many riders, with both fields featuring star-studded international line-ups. Klöser wasn't even sure what distance to do, but then she talked with her circle and, "they said, Rosa, you are the Queen of the Gravel Earth Series, you have to do the Queen distance!"

Klöser raced the opening hours of The Traka 360 as if she was doing the 200. "To be honest, I wanted a hard race from the start...so I created the first split on the first climb." Less than halfway through the race, Klöser and Dubau-Prévot were already out front, alongside Geerike Schreurs (Specialized Off-Road) and two-time defending champion of The Traka 360, Karolina Migoń (PAS Racing). However, Migoń would eventually withdraw from the race at an aid station. She appeared to have blood on her cheek — though she was already talking about returning for the Traka 200 less than 24 hours later."

Schreurs was the first of the leading trio to succumb to the pace, and then it was Klöser who kicked it up another gear. Dubau-Prévot, fresh off a top-10 at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes just days prior, couldn't close the gap. Klöser crossed the line in 11:27:58, nearly 13 minutes ahead of Dubau-Prévot, with Schreurs a further six minutes back in third.

The win was a thunderous statement less than a month ahead of Unbound Gravel, and Klöser will surely be a favourite alongside Dubau-Prévot and Schreurs.

Result: The Traka 360 Gravel women's 2026

1. Rosa Klöser (Ger) 11:27:58
2. A. Dubau-Prévot (Fra) + 12.53 min
3. G. Schreurs (NLD) + 18.29 min
4. M. Aguirre (USA) + 33.40 min
5. H. Smith (Can) + 34.32 min

The Gravel Earth Series continues on June 7 at Ranxo Gravel in Ponts, Spain.

Factor’s gravel bike range is now three models strong, with each option offering a distinct intention to cover all areas of the gravel cycling discipline: the Ostra Gravel for all-out racing, the do-it-all Aluto, and now, the Sarana, which was designed around carrying capacity and long-distance technical riding. And by long-distance riding, we’re talking ultra events where riders spend days in the saddle, often self-supported in remote, untamed areas.

The Sarana was born out of Factor’s engineering team’s quest to design an ultra-endurance gravel racing bike from a clean slate, uncorrupted by contemporary trends, and focusing on how the rider feels at twenty hours into a race. The project started nearly three years ago when the brand looked at the bikepacking sector and ways it could support endurance athlete Rob Britton, who smashed the 350-mile Unbound XL record last year on a Factor Ostro Gravel bike.

It's no surprise that Britton's meticulous approach to endurance racing was used to blueprint the ethos of the Sarana.

There was a lot of back-and-forth over a three-year period starting in 2023, and extensive testing was conducted in British Columbia, Canada. Many revisions followed, with special attention to tyre clearance and various frame shapes, before the engineering team and Rob Britton were happy with the outcome. Together, Factor and Rob looked at how fatigue changes bike handling, how load shifts the centre of gravity, and how efficiency could be sustained over long distances.

According to Factor’s Chief Engineer Graham Shrive, the design process was extensive and detailed. “The original frame had room for 52mm tyres, but that wasn’t enough, so we scrapped it and started again. It was redesigned three times - it was quite a process.”

The Sarana will make its debut at this year’s Traka gravel race, where Factor-sponsored athletes Victor Bosoni, Cynthia Carson, Rob Britton and Anuchi Gago will tackle the rough terrain of Girona. While we currently have a Factor Sarana in for testing and have been riding it for a week already, we will be publishing a comprehensive review in the coming months.

Below, you'll find everything you need to know about the bike, including our first-ride impression.

A systematic approach to design and performance

According to Factor, the Sarana is “a focused tool for a specific kind of rider, one who treats distance as a race, not an escape.” That means the company had to approach the design process in a completely different way than it did when developing the Ostro Gravel and Aluto platforms. While designed as a system, the Sarana has three distinct yet seamlessly integrated areas that comprise its frame architecture.

While wind-cheating wasn’t the modus operandi of the new bike, the front of the Factor Sarana does feature some aerodynamic shaping, albeit somewhat milder than its gravel bike siblings. The headtube features a truncated aero profile with subtle hourglass sculpting, drawing inspiration from the Monza road bike. The Sarana also comes stock with a collection of purpose-built bike bags that fit within the triangle to help extend the leading edge of the tube shapes.

The middle area is all about utility and tools. The backbone of the Sarana is the down tube, which has been purposely oversized to add torsional stiffness. It's also been hollowed out to maximise internal storage capacity. This design feature ensures that airflow over the frame is clean and that the centre of gravity is low and balanced.

The rear end focuses on terrain management. Dropped seat stays and an offset seat tube have culminated in a natural leaf-spring system that flexes while maintaining lateral progress, and also allows the fitment of 57mm (2.2-inch) tyres.

Clever directional layup techniques have been implemented, with high-modulus fibres in the bottom bracket and chainstays and intermediate layers positioned to manage fatigue and traction - the result is a claimed 18% reduction in vibration when compared to current endurance baselines.

It’s a good-looking bike - quintessentially Factor, adopting what can only be described as a form following function approach. The available colour palette is muted, but the graphic design is still enticing enough to draw interest. I like it. Factor has limited the Sarana to two colourways, the metallic Cyan Blue pictured here and Prismatic Gold with pink flecks - both options reflect the natural tones of the outdoors and the various hues experienced when riding from dusk till dawn.

For future-proofing and ensuring the Sarana is ultra-racing-ready, it is compatible with both rigid and 30mm suspension forks. The bike is set up to natively accommodate 160mm brake rotors, but can be flipped to use bigger 180mm discs, both front and rear. It's compatible with one-by-only groupsets and is dropper-post-ready - it comes standard with an external collar clamp with 30.9mm diameter for a greater spread of dropper choices.

The platform was optimised for SRAM XPLR AXS but can also run various one-by Shimano GRX Di2 groupsets (including Shimano GRX RX827 and RX710) - there’s a Di2 exit port above the UDH triangle for semi-wireless configurations. While the Sarana comes stock with a 44T single chainring, it can safely house a maximum chainring size of 52 T, thanks to the asymmetric chainstay arrangement.

Geometry and sizing

Despite the endurance theme, Factor says the Sarana’s geometry numbers were inspired by racing, and not implemented for comfort. This can be seen in the 71.5-degree head angle and 65mm trail figure, which are identical across all frame sizes, as well as the 74-75.3-degree seat tube angle. The reach (398mm) and stack (573mm) point towards an aggressive riding position not dissimilar to the Ostro Gravel, a move Factor explains "allows riders to stay low and efficient without collapsing posture".

The 425mm chainstays and offset seatpost have made space for 57mm tyres, while the 80mm bottom bracket sits slightly lower than most modern gravel bikes but not outrageously so. This tyre width falls squarely between the 52mm max tyre clearance of the newly launched BMC Kaius 01 and 66mm of the Open Wi.De 2.0 adventure bike.

Factor also looked at ensuring the geometry angles remained the same if riders require a suspension fork. The stock axle-to-crown measurement is pegged at 427mm to ensure parity when specced with a 30mm RockShox Rudy XPLR fork with sag.

Five frame sizes are available, spanning 49, 52, 54, 56 and 58cm - one less than the Ostro Gravel and Aluto models.

Factor Sarana - First ride impressions

To appreciate the Factor Sarana, you need to approach it with an open mind and forget everything you think you know about the gravel genre - it’s not a speed demon, nor does it profess to be, but don’t let its adventure-bent focus deter you. While it’s pretty rapid overall, the bike truly comes alive in a technical off-road setting. At 9.75kg with a RockShox Rudy XPLR fork, it’s not what I’d describe as lightweight, but it doesn’t feel heavy either.

The Sarana blends mountain bike-like trail manners and control with gravel bike speed and aerodynamics - it does have a Factor Lando feel about it, particularly the virtual seat tube angle, and the way it dismisses rough terrain.

I’m a firm believer that most of the trails in and around the UK's Surrey Hills, where I live, can be tackled on a gravel bike, and the Sarana reaffirmed this sentiment. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it nullifies the need for a mountain bike entirely, thanks to the front suspension, long and low reach, and fairly relaxed head angle. As a result, it’s sublimely controlled on technical descents - fire roads and singletrack included - allowing you to flow over terrain as opposed to hang on, rattle your way down and hope for the best. The confidence-boosting handling on the downhills carries over to the flats, where the Sarana delivers, quite easily, the best ride quality and comfort I've experienced from a drop-bar gravel bike to date.

The bike holds momentum with ease, conforming to and flowing with the terrain, nullifying most vibration-induced speed loss associated with off-road riding, and maintaining high speeds. Our test bike came fitted with a 44T single chainring, which perhaps holds it back from unlocking even greater top end, but suits the punchy terrain of my local gravel routes quite well. In combination with the 10-46T cassette, there’s ample gearing for most vertical excursions.

I haven't felt over-tyred by the 2.0-inch Continental RaceKing mountain bike rubber. If anything, the grip offsets any weight or rolling resistance penalties. I feel in most gravel settings - races or local rides - there’s more time to be lost on the downhills than climbs, and this width affords the rider assurance to push harder and let the bike do its thing. No overthinking line choices or panic braking here, just pure, unfiltered speed and descending comfort.

How I wish I had this bike for the challenging descents of Gravel Burn...

More testing remains, but I’m confident the Sarana will prove faster on most of my gravel training routes. In fact, I’m keen to see how it fares over some of the longer routes around Surrey Hills that take in sections of tarmac, too. There’s room to safely fit a 52T, so I’m keen to try it with something bigger if there's an opportunity during the test period.

I'm enjoying the Factor Sarana but haven't ridden it enough to formulate a final verdict just yet. More testing remains, but I feel it can be used successfully in most gravel settings, including stage racing and one-day gravel epics, not to mention the ultra-endurance events it was designed to conquer.

Pricing and specifications

The Factor Sarana is available in two complete builds (Premium Complete) or as a frameset (Premium Package), with or without suspension.

Premium Complete bikes are specced with either SRAM Red XPLR AXS (£9,399 / $9,599 / €11,499) or Force XPLR AXS (£7,699 / $7,899 / €9,499) groupsets. Both builds get Black Inc 46 carbon wheels, a Black Inc HB04 integrated bar-stem, an FSA SL-K Carbon seatpost, and a Selle Italia SLR saddle. Pricing jumps when specced with a RockShox Rudy XPLR fork - £9,999 / $10,199 / €12,199 (SRAM Red XPLR AXS) and £8,299 / $8,499 / €10,199 (SRAM Force XPLR AXS).

The Premium Package will set you back £4,599 / $4,699 / €5,599 (non-suspension frameset) and £5,199 / $5,299 / €6,399 (suspension frameset)

The Black Inc 46 wheels can also be purchased separately at £1,649 / $1,699 / €2,049 per set.

Up until recently, the road-inspired layups and racy angles of the best gravel bikes have resulted in reduced comfort and vibration-induced speed loss over challenging terrain. Having spent a lot of time riding and racing gravel bikes all over the world, I've experienced the very best and worst of it - including the corrugated and technical terrain of Gravel Burn in South Africa late last year. Looking back at my Gravel Burn experience, I cited the Cannondale SuperX Lab71 I used for the event was perhaps too racy given the technicality of the terrain, and I’d have been better off on something like the new BMC Kaius had it been available at the time.

Having tested the Kaius 01 One at the press event in Sardinia on a testing assortment of terrain types, I’ve come away impressed by what it offers as a package, especially in terms of overall trail compliance, front-end control, stability, and comfort - most of which stems from the clever frame design and geometry, and provision for wider tyres. BMC is a firm believer in the purity of the gravel bike and in the idea that suspension forks and shocks should be reserved for mountain bikes, not drop-bar race machines.

While gravel courses are getting increasingly more technical and demanding on both the body and the bike, BMC, like several other manufacturers, has looked to the humble tyre as a solution, exploring how wider clearances and aerodynamic efficiency can achieve parity. In fact, the biggest evolution in gravel bike design over the past two years has been an increase in tyre clearance, and the added capability, comfort, and speed wider gravel bike tyres provide when smooth tarmac becomes rough and rowdy gravel.

BMC hasn't merely shoehorned wider tyres into the existing platform either, but has instead looked holistically at the Kaius platform, tweaking the tube shapes, frame architecture, and layup to create what it believes is “the answer to every gravel racer’s wish.”

The need for speed and wider is faster philosophy

The first-generation BMC Kaius was unveiled in 2022 as an out-and-out gravel race bike with road-bike-inspired design language and angles borrowed from the Teammachine SLR. Armed with 45mm tyre clearance, it was designed as a dedicated aero alternative to the Swiss brand’s adventure-bent Urs platform. Having spoken to former BMC-sponsored rider Simon Pellaud at Gravel Burn, he told me he chose the Urs 01 One over the Kaius purely because it runs wider rubber. Simon squeezed 50mm Schwalbe G-One RS Pro tyres into both ends, even though it was designed around a maximum width of 47mm, to help with traction, protection and comfort over the 800km, seven-day stage race.

For version two, the modus operandi of the new bike was basically the same as before, focusing on blending aerodynamics, stiffness and weight with much wider tyre clearances - and I mean much wider. While Pellaud’s need for wider tyres wasn’t the catalyst for the new Kaius, his opinion, coupled with that of many other riders and the growing demands of rougher gravel courses, sealed the deal. As a result, the new Kaius has been optimised around 45mm tyres but can accommodate tyres as wide as 52mm, with 6mm clearance on each side.

To achieve this, the chainstays were lengthened by 5mm to 425mm. While the notion of wider tyres may sound counterintuitive on gravel race bikes, they are faster than narrower equivalents owing to the rubber’s ability to deform over the surface, improving traction and compliance.

The new Kaius, however, was developed as a complete system rather than merely combining individually considered components. To ensure it remained racy, however, the new bike drew visual and aerodynamic inspiration from the latest Teammachine SLR 01 and R 01 models, as seen in the deeper head tube and the AS10 seatpost. Together with the wide‑crown Halo fork and AeroCore bottle cage system of the Teammachine R 01 (cages that seamlessly integrate with the downtube), the new Kaius frameset is 12% faster than its predecessor at 40km/h with 45mm tyres.

As a complete system (including 45mm tyres and a fully clothed rider), the new Kaius is 1.05% faster than the first generation, and this is the figure more manufacturers need to reference and talk about. According to BMC, these claims were validated using advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD), wind tunnel testing, and real-world testing.

Racy geometry and the one-by only approach

BMC has tweaked the reach, stack, and bottom bracket height to improve handling and confidence on technical descents while retaining the aggressive, racy nature of its forebear. As a result, a size 51cm Kaius gets a fairly steep seat tube angle of 74.3-degrees and a relaxed head angle of 70.8-degrees paired to a trail number of 72mm for improved front-end traction and response.

Smaller frame sizes have a slacker head tube and a 5mm longer fork rake, which also means the wheelbase on a 51cm is longer than the 54cm model. Overall, the reach is 5mm shorter, and the stack has been increased by 11mm across all six frame sizes, while the bottom bracket drop remains 79mm. To improve capability over obstacles and prevent damaging the chainring and frame, ground clearance has been increased by 10mm (this figure increases with shorter cranks). Chainstay length has grown 5mm to 425mm, and the wheelbase is marginally longer than the outgoing model. For this application, BMC has also introduced a T47-threaded BB with inboard bearings to facilitate speedy maintenance.

The longer chainstays were introduced not only to help accommodate wider tyres but also to ensure the Kaius plays nicely with one-by wireless groupsets. As a result, the new bike can only accommodate SRAM AXS and Shimano GRX RX827 and RX710. The one-by-only compatibility is not only reserved for gravel-specific groupsets but mountain bike or mullet configurations, too - ideal for tweaking your drivetrain components, and boosting gear ratios depending on the terrain.

Chainring compatibility ranges from 32 to 50T without a chain keeper and from 38 to 50T with a chain keeper.

Impressive complete system weights

The new Kaius is four per cent lighter than its predecessor - around 63g in fact – and this comes courtesy of revised materials, its 01 carbon recipe and new hardware. The Kaius is only available in BMC’s top-tier 01 layup, and this is referenced in the model range designation: Kaius 01 One, Kaius 01 Two and Kaius 01 Three. Despite the premium, high-modulus carbon fibre layup, the tube walls are 0.3mm thicker than the 0.6mm measurement of the Teammachine SLR road bike sibling to ensure extra protection against stones and rock strikes. For extra protection, BMC has applied a layer of clear 3M helicopter tape to the underside of the downtube.

In size medium (54cm), the Kaius 01 One frame weighs 998g, the fork 400g, and the seatpost 134g, making it one of the lightest gravel race frames available at 1,469g (excluding bottle cages, screws, thru-axles, spacers, headset bearings, hanger and other hardware). The complete bike weight of the Kaius 01 One in size 54, excluding pedals, is 7.1 kg. The 01 Two and 01 Three tip the scales at 7.8 and 8.3kg, respectively, in the same size.

For those looking to stand out from the standard builds, there's the frameset-only Kaius 01 VAR 0, which is the lightest option in the range, coming in at 1,855g with all the hardware fitted, including the AeroCore cages, hanger, thru-axles, spacers, headset bearings and spacers. Featuring a raw carbon look with a UV-varnish clear coat, it can also be custom-painted, provided the paint shop is approved by BMC.

Despite its racy intentions, the Kaius has five mounting points for those who enjoy riding long or bikepacking: on the top tube, within the main triangle, and on the underside of the downtube. There are no mounting bosses located on the fork.

BMC Kaius 01 One - First ride impressions

Sardinia is an amazing place. While it's better known for its network of mixed-condition tarmac roads and stunning backdrops, the island also offers even better gravel terrain. Technical and undulating, it provided the ideal litmus test for the all-new BMC Kaius and a chance for me to ride it in anger over two days. I was assigned a range-topping BMC Kaius 01 One in size 51cm, which sounds a little on the small side, but at 175cm tall, it complemented the fit measurements I provided the mechanic.

While gravel was very much on the menu, we spent an equal amount of time on tarmac, too - this was purposely done as most riders and modern gravel races traverse regular roads to link trails. For riders who enjoy the all-road experience, the narrowest tyre you can fit to the Kaius is a 32mm, so there’s scope to use it as an all-year one-bike solution.

Even with thicker tyres fitted at low pressures - we sampled the Kaius with the new 50mm Continental Dubnital tyres - the bike still feels urgent, granted you’ll need a few kilometres to get used to the added rolling resistance this width provides. BMC fitted these tyres over the stock 45mm Continental Terra Competition Race Rapid rubber due to the weather at the event; overnight rain wreaked havoc on the terrain, carving huge ruts and uncovering stones and rocks that warranted extra protection and traction.

The Kaius is exceptionally well-mannered on technical gravel and rough descents. The front end is a little slower than its rivals, but the upshot is planted, predictable steering thanks to the 70.8-degree head angle and 72mm trail. The control and front-end compliance instil in the rider levels of trust that some of its rivals fail to deliver, whether you’re on the hoods or in the drops. Of course, I always recommend descending rough terrain on the drops as this forces extra weight on the front wheel and helps dig the tyres into the surface for improved control.

You’ll still need to work hard to choose your lines and weight the bike underneath you, but the wider tyres paired with lower pressures help it skim over bumpy terrain as opposed to ramming into every object that comes its way.

Traction is superb on loose terrain, and the stock 42T, 11-46T gearing flattens steep inclines, allowing you to climb with confidence and precision. At 7.1kg, it’s up there with the featheriest options on the market - the Specialized S-Works Crux, Cannondale SuperX Lab71 and Canyon Grail CFR included.

This frame's ride quality and trail compliance come from its layup and flex zones. The Arete seat tube and cutout, combined with the AS10 aero seatpost, provide improved comfort over rough terrain, and the rear axle is claimed to provide up to 10mm of vertical deflection when compressed at speed. While I can’t quantify this claim, the Kaius did feel stable and composed over bumpy surfaces.

Crank length is not specifiable at purchase but differs between the six frame sizes: 165mm (47 and 51cm), 170mm (54 and 56cm), and 172.5mm (58 and 62cm). My 51cm test bike was fitted with 165mm cranks, which forced me to spin over features rather than torque my way up using the leverage afforded by longer crank arms. While I’m still not convinced that shorter cranks offer a performance benefit, they do provide added clearance during high-speed cornering, reducing the risk of pedal and rock strikes.

BMC has also raised the ground clearance by 10mm for added assurance.

Pricing and specifications

The Kaius range comprises three complete builds, all outfitted in SRAM componentry and one frameset option. While there's a variety of options, it is only available in top-tier carbon grade, so pricing is fairly steep across the board.

Spearheading the portfolio is the BMC Kaius 01 One, which comes in at £9,999 / $12 999/ €10,999. It employs an SRAM Red XPLR AXS groupset, BMC CG 39 SL carbon wheels wrapped in 45mm Continental Terra Competition Race tyres, an integrated BMC ICS carbon cockpit, a Fizik Vento Argo X1 carbon saddle, and finishing kit from BMC.

This is followed by the £7,299 / $8,999 / €7,999 BMC Kaius 01 Two. As the second model down in the range, it's built around SRAM Force XPLR AXS. It uses the same wheels/tyres and integrated cockpit as the Kaius 01 One, but ditches the carbon rails of the Vento Argo X1 for the kium-railed Vento Argo X3.

The SRAM Rival XPLR AXS-equipped Kaius 01 Three is the most affordable complete bike in the portfolio at £4,999 / $6,199 / €5,499. While it still uses the brand's in-house CG 40 carbon wheels, it gets a heavier version of the Fizik Venta Argo saddle and loses the carbon one-piece cockpit of the Kaius 01 One and Two in favour of a traditional yet fully integrated bar-and-stem arrangement.

Finally, the BMC Kaius 01 VAR 0 frameset will set you back £3,999 / $5,099 / €4,499.

Hutchinson has announced the launch of the Touareg Race gravel tyre, bringing the speed it discovered with the recently launched Caracal Race to the all-round Touareg range.

If you haven't read my review of Hutchinson's most recent gravel tyre, the Caracal Race, then the key takeaway is that the new 'Race' format tyres from the brand are very fast. According to the team behind bicyclerollingresistance.com, it is currently the world's fastest gravel tyre.

Before Hutchinson launched the Caracal, I was a big fan of the Touareg, believing it to be one of the best gravel tyres available. There is something about the micro knobble design that means there is always 'some' grip, even if it's not a lot. However, it had a downside, suffering a fair bit in terms of rolling resistance. Hence, the newest iteration is so exciting.

Casing and Compound working in tandem

The greatly reduced rolling resistance numbers Hutchinson has achieved with its 'Race' format tyres can only be achieved when the casing and compound work in tandem. First seen on the Hutchinson Blackbird tyres, which comes highly recommended by Cycling Weekly contributor Tim Russon, the Mach Thread 3.0 claims to offer a better balance between durability and speed, with 25% increase in efficiency.

This is combined with Hutchinson's SwiftEasy casing, which claims a 10% reduction in rolling resistance through a very high TPI (threads per inch) of 127 and an innovative construction technique. By bonding the protection strip (if there is one) directly into the casing itself, rather than a gradual build-up of overlapping layers, Hutchinson can achieve much better tyre deformation.

Where the Touareg Race is concerned, this means a claimed 35% improvement in efficiency vs the previous Hardskin version, which I was a big fan of.

Cost and Sizes

The Touareg Race will be available in 40 and 45mm sizes, just like the Caracal Race. However, alongside the Caracal, Hutchinson will also offer both tyres in an all-new 50mm size, to better align with current gravel trends.

The great thing about the Hutchinson range as a whole is the value they offer, and the Touareg is no different, with the Race coming in at just €59,89/£54.99. That's a fair bit cheaper than the Continental Dubnital launched a few weeks back, and significantly cheaper than any of the 'fast' Schwalbe's, which are often around £/€75-80.

I have a pair of the Touareg Race tyres on the way to me, so watch this space for a full review coming soon.

All-New 'GridSkin' Casing

Hutchinson is also announcing a new gravel 'GridSkin' casing as an additional option in the range for both the above-mentioned new Touareg Race and Caracal Race. Again, if you have read my review of the Caracal Race, for all my praise, I did get a near ride-ending puncture during testing that eventually saw that tyre land in the bin.

The GridSkin tyre is designed to offer additional protection by way of a knitted mesh in vulnerable areas like the sidewall to protect against exactly that, ride-ending punctures, all while having a claimed 'minimal impact on rolling resistance'.

The Caracal Race GS and Touareg GS will be available in all three sizes, 40, 45 & 50mm, however, at a slightly higher price of €64,89/£59.99.

If you like what you read here, but can't wait, or don't need a gravel race tyre, check below for the best deals currently available on the Caracal and Touareg in your region. Alternatively, check out our guide to the best gravel bike tyres for what's currently hot and what's not in the world of gravel rubber.

While the big news from Sea Otter 2026 all pointed to the rise and seemingly industry-wide acceptance of 32-inch wheels, Swiss bike maker Open has once again torn up the script and ruffled feathers with its new gravel bike, the WI.DE 2.0. Originally launched in 2019, the WI.DE made headlines for its then-massive tyre clearance of 2.4 inches (61mm) - something that was considered overkill.

As the gravel cycling genre has developed, so has the technicality of trails and races on offer across the globe - something we've seen at The Traka in Spain and even Gravel Burn in South Africa, where demanding trails have seen riders get creative with their setups. Aside from front suspension, the most popular inclusion we see is the introduction of wider gravel tyres to improve grip, ride quality and comfort. For the most part, 50mm seems to have become the standard, but riders are pushing the envelope even further with 2.1 and even 2.25in tyres coming to the fore.

As early adopters, Open has always been a proponent of radical design, and the original WI.DE is a prime example. For generation two, Open decided to turn the tyre clearance screw even further, not only to expand its range but also to define a new category altogether. This wasn't easy. According to Open, "Fitting tyres this size into a compact, stiff and agile frame was a challenge. The result is marginally lighter than its predecessor and handles even more extreme terrain."

As a result, the Open WI.DE has been designed to traverse terrain others wouldn't deem rideable, thanks to the extreme, wide tyres. Instead of starting with the frame and then thinking about other areas, Open started with the tyres and looked at how the frame could work around wider rubber and accommodate bigger volume - going from 50 to 66mm nearly doubles the air volume inside the tyre.

As expected of the brand, Open had to rethink the norms of contemporary gravel bike design. This meant binning two-by compatibility and constructing the frame around one-by drivetrains, to free up space for tyre clearance in what Open calls a 'double chainstay drop' (the original Open UP had a single dropped chainstay). As such, the WI.DE 2.0 fits up to 700 x 66mm (29 x 2.6in).

Of course, there's also a host of mounting options throughout the frame. The WI.DE 2.0 has more cargo-carrying options than any Open model to date, including bosses on the fork, direct-mount frame-bag compatibility, and provision for two bikepacking bags inside the downtube, secured via a Fidlock bracket. There are also bosses under the BB, two on the toptube and near the seat tube. Interestingly, the WI.DE 2.0 combines both an aero and cargo fork dubbed the 'U-Turn AC/DC+' (Aero Cargo Double Combo). This lets users strap bags directly to the fork legs and use traditional cages and panniers.

The WI.DE also benefits from the 'Open B.A.R. system' - a fully integrated one-piece bar-stem that can be adjusted by 15mm in 5mm steps (there are ten different bar width options available at purchase). The frame comes standard with a UDH hanger, a T47-threaded BB, and internal routing.

The frame melds aero design details with functionality. The headtube is deeper than before, and the tubing is angular and aerodynamic throughout. A nice addition is the 27.2mm round seatpost, which not only allows for one of the best dropper seatposts but also makes it easy to upgrade to other aftermarket posts.

Looking at the geometry, Open has naturally tweaked some of the angles for even greater capability off-road and over technical terrain and features. The chainstays have increased from 420mm to 440mm across all sizes, and the wheelbase has grown by 41mm to 1,055mm on a size medium. The head and seat tube angles are basically unchanged, while the stack has increased slightly, resulting in a more upright riding position.

The Open WI.DE 2.0 will be available in raw, ready-to-paint, and painted framesets priced at $3,200/€3,200, $3,500/€3,500, and $4,000/€4,000, respectively, and two complete builds: SRAM Force AXS/Zipp XPLR at $8,000/€8,000 or SRAM Red AXS/Zipp XPLR at $10,200/€10,200.

A minimum 80% gravel and relentless elevation are the promises coming out of Nannup, Australia, where this year's historic UCI Gravel World Championships will be held.

The event, held on the weekend of 10-11 October, will be the first time the Gravel Worlds have been held outside of Europe, and course details have now been revealed by cycling's world governing body. The organisers are billing the races as offering "wide gravel roads, breathtaking climbs and encounters with iconic Australian wildlife" – although the riders will presumably be hoping those encounters aren't too close, at least during the racing.

The men will race over 141km (87.6 miles) with 3,625m of elevation, while the women will tackle 123km (74.5 miles) and 3,100m, using the same course minus a small loop at the north end. These are some serious climbing metres for courses of this length – on a par with a Grand Tour Queen stage, pro rata. Much of it comes from constant, short climbs of between 1km and 3.5km that are spread evenly throughout each course.

Currently the elite men's event is scheduled for Sunday 11 Oct, with the elite women's race and the age-group racing all to be held the day before.

Race director Stephen Gallagher said in a statement: "At most races, the biggest challenges come early. Not here. The climbing is relentless from start to finish, with the hardest kilometres saved for last – the final summit just 3.5km from the finish line."

A former pro cyclist, Gallagher was the technical director of the Giro d'Italia Grande Partenze in 2014, and is currently head of performance at women's WorldTour team Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto.

He added: "With a minimum of 80% gravel on every route, and wide roads that open the race up for genuine bunch racing, these courses offer a tactical dimension rarely seen at this level and a gravel experience unlike any previous World Championships.”

The women's course will also be used in the over-50s men's age group races, and there is a shorter 90km (56 miles) course with a still very taxing 2,000m of climbing for the 65+ men and 50+ women.

Riders and fans might recognise the medium course from the Seven Gravel World Series event, which will be held on May 16 on the same tracks. And while there is a certain amount of private land involved in the course which means it's not open for training, there are training routes in the area available for a bit of practice, for locals or those arriving early.

When I catch up with Ted King he is between two worlds. One represents a life he hasn't known for 10 years but which will always carry great meaning; and another encapsulates the modern incarnation of Ted King the bike racer.

He's in Belgium and France with sponsor Cannondale, and catching the season's biggest Classics; but as I speak to him he's packing up, ready to port to another dimension – the Sea Otter, California. Here on Thursday he'll line up as the veteran of the pack at the Sea Otter Classic gravel race.

At 43 years old the affable Vermonter will be the oldest rider in a race that will feature plenty of 30-somethings, yes, but a whole bunch of young blood too.

"I think I'm lining up to the race with more experience than anyone else… across all disciplines," he says. "I used to joke that I was racing kids half my age, and now I think the joke is the people I'm racing are closer to my kids' age than my own."

As usual, the Sea Otter kicks off the Life Time Grand Prix series and, as a festival of cycling and an important industry date, the Monterey, CA, event features a host of goings on. These include mountain bike races, a criterium, a challenge ride, and of course the Classic elite gravel event, which King will be riding. It's a bit of a family affair for King, whose wife Laura will be riding the elite women's event and, at the same age as he is, will be the oldest in her field too.

"What drives me back to Sea Otter is it's just such a festival," King says. "I don't go there with enormous goals from a results standpoint, but it's such a great test of early-season fitness that that is wonderful, especially coming from Vermont. I mean, it snowed at home two or three days ago."

Following a WorldTour career with Cervélo Test Team and various Cannondale team incarnations, King became one of the first former road pros into the niche back in 2016, so he's seen gravel develop pretty much from the outset.

"It's fun to see the development of the sport," he said. "It's certainly not 'gravel 2016' which is what I experienced when I first stepped away from the WorldTour. What I often look back on is even in 2016 we weren't, we weren't necessarily calling it gravel even… it was such a new discipline that it was just sort of mixed terrain, or varied terrain, or a variety of words for it."

Among the biggest changes King has seen in gravel during that time have come from the industry putting its weight fully behind it and embracing the gravel 'brand': "Gravel bikes have come such a long way," he says.

From disc brakes to tubeless tyres and their current 50mm go-to width, King says it's also gravel's lack of rules that has helped the tech progress so fast.

"I think what's been part of facilitating the development is that gravel is just such a wild west mentality, there are, largely there are no rules. You can show up and ride and race on whatever bike you have cobbled at home, which originally was the case – that they were cobbled-together bikes. But now they're really gravel-specific machines."

There is also a vastly deeper pool of strong competition, he says, whether from the plentiful former pros coming into the sport at the end of their careers, or new talent coming up from the younger ranks.

"The level of competition is astronomical," King says. "People like that we can write our own script. That's something I really like about gravel, and I hope doesn't change as teams are coming to gravel.

"Being on a [road] team is great, but there's a level of anonymity that comes with that, unless you're a superstar. And subservience in a way. Like, you go where the team tells you to go."

However, as a gravel privateer, he says: "Certainly there are obligations with sponsors, but you get to create your schedule and programme, and I just think that's so much fun."

Such options are surely appealing to riders who may be disheartened by the struggle to forge a pro road career in the US, where opportunities can be limited. Gravel offers an open book and, says, King, "with enough ingenuity and resourcefulness and talent, you can put together a programme individually."

It's now around 10 and-a-half years since King rode the 2015 GP Montréal – his last race as a contracted WorldTour pro. But if you're assuming his form has quietly waned over that time, you'd be wrong. He spent several years just riding his bike a lot, which worked fine, until a post-Covid increase in competition convinced King that it was time to get himself a coach. According to the numbers, he's now stronger than he was as a WorldTour pro.

His FTP, for example, is now 439 watts, up from 425 as a pro in 2010, King candidly reveals. His VO2 Max has also increased. Much of that, he reckons, comes down to simply eating and recovering enough.

"So I got a coach in 2024, and I started doing intervals and training again," he says. "I mean, it is wild that I'm putting together a handful of training metrics that are just as good or better than what I was doing in the WorldTour. "Obviously nutrition has changed and resting has changed. And you know, I think I was – I know I was – perpetually starved and perpetually under fuelled [as a road pro]."

King isn't afraid to put that monster FTP wattage to good use – last year he won the Race Around Rwanda bikepacking race, for example. But you really get the impression that he is in this for the joy of riding and racing beyond chasing results. That said, there's some big stuff in the calendar: he plans to compete in the 350-mile Unbound XL this year, he says, although adds: "I feel like given the resources that I have in the time that I have targeting something a third the length is probably more wise"; but not Leadville this time: "That one has become such an arms race."

And he has definitely enjoyed being back in Northern Europe, exploring the old stomping grounds with filmmaker Chris Milliman and Cannondale. The idea, he says, is to make a film about returning to the pavé of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix – races he rode twice each as a pro – and riding it on his own terms.

"[It's] basically about what happens when you come back and ride Flanders and Roubaix as a cycling tourist, without a team doctor and team nutritionist breathing down your neck from a decade ago when it was an era of starvation," King says. "Riding bikes with big tyres – then I was riding 26 or 28mm, and for this I was riding 38 and 48 millimetre tyres."

Having barely been back here since his WorldTour days, King says: "There's a special thing in the air. I experienced it in a lifetime gone by, but it was always on the other side of the fence. You know, you're in the team bus, and you sort of come out and sign an autograph or two and then go to the start line, or you're just spending the entire time in your hotel room.

"You never go to a bar, you never go to a for a tour, you never do all the things that I'm doing this time around," he adds. "And it has been, it's honestly just a dream trip. It has been nothing but a pleasure."

All too soon though, it will be time once again to say goodbye to this old world of his. Though the place he's going back to, Monterey California, doesn't sound half bad to us.

Ted (and Laura) King compete in the Sea Otter Gravel Classic on Thursday 16 April, starting 10am PDT.

The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development has unveiled 37 new routes across the state. The gravel trails will join an existing 52 road routes already in existence, opening up more than 1,800 miles of trails to explore.

Take a scroll through Bike Tennessee’s extensive list of routes all accessible by the Ride with GPS app, to see forest climbs to day-long mountain rides. Selecting at random, ‘The Big Sandy Out and Back Gravel Ride’ promises 32 miles (2,000 feet of climbing) of ‘tree tunnels, lake views, farm fields and punchy hills.’ Another search turns up the ‘Upper Sequatchie Valley Loop’, a 35 mile ride through the Sequatchie Valley, through the region’s ‘low-traffic roadways and historic agricultural landscape.’

“It also provides exposure to rural counties and those scenic landscapes that really aren't viewable if you're just driving down the road,” Brent Lambert, East Tennessee Division Manager for Tennessee Department of Tourist Development told News Channel 9.

“You have to get off on some of these little gravel roads to be able to really appreciate what Tennessee has to offer.”

The roll out of additional routes has been made possible by the state’s thriving outdoor economy. In 2024, it generated more than $15 billion, turning over the fourth largest profit in the Southeast according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Perhaps most famous for Nashville, music and bachelorette parties, Tennessee is also home to several national parks, including the 500,000 acre Great Smoky Mountains National Park (the most visited in the US) and the Cherokee National Forest. Road and gravel trails ribbon off and around these areas.

“That’s actually the fastest growing segment in cycling,” Shannon Burke of Tennessee Gravel told UC Now of gravel cycling. “You put together a nice day for people where they’re able to park… do a really nice ride, come back, have lunch, maybe do a hike to the waterfall,” Burke said. “It becomes a full day of activity, or maybe even a full weekend.”

Some mornings in winter, Sofia Gomez Villafañe can ride for hours through Tucson and barely be noticed. The desert roads are full of cyclists — pros escaping the cold, retirees spinning along the bike path, locals squeezing in a quick loop before work. On rides like the Shootout, she’s just another cyclist in the pack. Yes, people recognise her, but she often gravitates toward the juniors, chatting with their parents, asking about school or upcoming races. Most of the time, the interactions are simple, friendly and unremarkable.

Which, if you’ve spent much time reading about Gomez Villafañe — or watching the film projects that follow the sport — that might come as a surprise. The version of Gomez Villafañe that sometimes circulates online, intense, relentlessly competitive, doesn’t always match the one people encounter in person.

"The people that know me," she says, “the people I actually interact with — they don’t hate me at all."

Over the past several seasons, Gomez Villafañe has become one of the defining figures of American off-road racing. Since committing fully to gravel in 2022, she has stacked victories at many of the discipline’s marquee events, including wins at Unbound Gravel, Big Sugar Gravel and the Traka. The results have established her as one of the sport’s most consistent winners and a perennial contender in the Life Time Grand Prix series that anchors the U.S. gravel calendar.

But dominance, particularly in a young and rapidly professionalising discipline like gravel, has a way of creating narratives. And for Gomez Villafañe, the one that has followed her is complicated.

Depending on who is telling the story, she can be portrayed as intense, hyper-competitive or intimidating. In the first season of Call of a Lifetime, the docuseries following the Life Time Grand Prix, Gomez Villafañe was cast — fairly or not — as something of a villain: the ruthless racer willing to say out loud what others might only think.

Ask her about that reputation, and she sighs.

"The list of names I haven't been called would be shorter," she says. "I've been told I take my job too seriously. I’ve been told I don’t know how to have fun. I’ve been told I’m a b*tch. I’ve been told I’m too competitive."

Then she shrugs.

"But, yeah, I am super competitive. I do take my job really seriously. It’s just not in the negative light that certain media outlets or film projects have made it out to be."

She admits the criticism hasn’t been easy to ignore.

"It’s gotten to me, that’s for sure. It forces you to look at yourself in the mirror and ask: Is there truth to this?"

Ultimately, though, she doesn’t think the answer lies in trying to correct the narrative from afar. Gomez Villafañe prefers instead to show up and do her job, whether on race day — when the game face is unmistakable — or during long winter training rides in Arizona, where it softens.

"I don’t think there’s a way for me to change people’s minds with film projects," she says. "I think it’s more meeting people in real life, in a real human setting, and letting them realise I’m not what the media has portrayed me to be."

Gomez Villafañe’s intensity didn’t arrive with professional racing. Long before podiums and contracts and docuseries storylines, the 31-year-old had already developed a stubborn kind of independence.

Growing up, Gomez Villafañe was the kind of kid who rarely waited around for help. The fifth of six children, she was born in Argentina and immigrated to the United States with her family as a child. Independence, she says, came early. If she was hungry, she’d climb onto the kitchen counter and cook something herself. If she wanted to go somewhere, she figured out how to get there.

"When I was young, Friday would come around, and I’d call my parents and say, ‘OK, I’m going to this friend’s house tonight. Then we’re going to the lake the next day, then this friend’s parents are picking us up, and Sunday I’m doing this. And I’ll be home at 8 p.m.,’” she recalls. “I had everything planned out.”

After high school in California, where she raced cross-country mountain bikes in the NorCal League, Gomez Villafañe moved to Durango, Colorado, to attend Fort Lewis College. The plan was simple: race bikes and get a degree.

Durango made that plan possible. Between the college program and the town’s deep endurance culture, Gomez Villafañe found herself in an environment where taking racing seriously was the norm. For her, that mindset felt natural.

"To be the best bike racer I can be, I need to be really strong, really fierce," she says. "I need to carry myself with a lot of confidence because if you’re not confident when you’re lining up for a race, it isn’t just gonna magically show up when you start racing."

That mindset has followed her into every phase of her career, from collegiate mountain bike racing to the professional gravel circuit she now dominates. It’s visible in the way she studies courses, the way she trains, the way she races — aggressively and without apology. In a discipline that once prided itself on a more laid-back ethos, Gomez Villafañe’s approach has sometimes stood out.

But to her, the distinction between competitive and overly serious has always felt a little artificial.

"Of course, I try hard," she says. "These brands are giving me the opportunity to focus full-time on racing, and I don’t want them to feel like they’re not getting a return on that investment. It’s a job at the end of the day. I’m really lucky that my job is something a lot of people do as a hobby, but for me it’s about being the best athlete I can be."

That doesn’t mean she doesn’t enjoy it. If anything, the structure and focus are part of what she loves most about the sport. The discipline of preparing for a race, the satisfaction of executing a plan, the simple clarity of knowing exactly what the goal is on any given day — those things have always appealed to the independent kid who liked to have the weekend mapped out before it even started.

What she has learned, though, is that seriousness can be interpreted in different ways depending on who’s watching.

Some of that realisation came with experience. Some came with time spent seeing how the sport presents itself to the outside world. And some came simply from meeting people face to face: the riders and fans who show up at races, shake her hand, and realise the person in front of them isn’t quite the character they might have seen online.

In those moments, the narrative tends to fall away. For all the storylines that have followed her in recent years, Gomez Villafañe believes that the simplest version of herself is also the most accurate: She’s competitive. She takes her job seriously. She wants to win.

And outside the race tape, she’s also just another rider rolling through the Tucson winter sun, putting in the miles and saying hello to the people she passes along the way.

The Life Time Grand Prix is back with new riders, fresh livestreams and the biggest prize purse in off-road cycling. Beginning with Sea Otter Classic Gravel on April 16th, the series runs from April through October and stops in five different U.S. states.

The first two races – Sea Otter and Unbound – are both gravel races, whereas the next three stops are MTB races. Big Sugar is once again the series finale, featuring a 100-mile gravel route in Bentonville, Arkansas.

First up is Sea Otter, a plane ride away for much of the Grand Prix field. Of the 44 selected riders (22 men and 22 women), 19 of them are international riders from outside the U.S.

In addition to some new riders, Life Time has made some key rule changes, including the launch of a pregnancy policy. Let’s dive into all the details, including a closer look at the series’ opening round at Sea Otter.

The 2026 Life Time calendar

After some major calendar changes ahead of the 2025 edition, the Life Time Grand Prix returns with an identical calendar in 2026. The Leadville Trail 100 MTB is the only event held at high altitude, but every race features a significant amount of elevation gain. Chequamegon MTB Festival is the shortest event at just 40 miles, while Unbound Gravel is the longest at a staggering 200 miles.

The series finale is once again held in Bentonville, Arkansas – one of the weirdest places I’ve ever been – for an action-packed week that features both Little Sugar MTB and Big Sugar Gravel in the span of six days.

• April 16th: Sea Otter Classic Gravel
• May 30th: Unbound Gravel 200
• August 15th: Leadville Trail 100 MTB
• September 19th: Chequamegon MTB Festival
• October 11th: Little Sugar MTB
• October 17th: Big Sugar Gravel

The drop race rule remains in effect, allowing riders to discard their lowest score (i.e. worst race placing) after Race 4 in Chequamegon. Big Sugar Gravel is the only mandatory race for Grand Prix participants, and it serves as the tie-breaker for overall series points.

Key rule changes for the 2026 Life time Grand Prix

One of the biggest updates to the Life Time Grand Prix is the introduction of a Pregnancy Policy — a landmark move for women's sport. "The policy allows selected athletes to withdraw from the series without penalty and guarantees them a protected roster spot the following season...To qualify, athletes must notify Life Time of their pregnancy in a timely fashion and confirm their intention to return in the subsequent year."

The policy was sparked by an announcement from Grand Prix athlete Sarah Sturm, who said, "When I got pregnant, my first call was to the Life Time Grand Prix to figure out what to do. This sparked a whole conversation, and with the hard work of the people at Life Time, we now have a pregnancy policy. This is a big deal for women in the Grand Prix and for women in sport."

The U23 category returns to the series, with the top male and female finishers earning automatic entry into the 2027 Life Time Grand Prix. There is also the rapidly growing Wild Card roster of 80 athletes who will be attempting to earn their way into the Grand Prix mid-season. More on that in a minute, but first, let’s analyse the contenders.

Contenders for the 2026 life time grand Prix

In 2025, we saw the biggest surprise in Life Time Grand Prix history when New Zealander Cameron Jones won the Men’s Overall Series. Jones wasn’t even in the Grand Prix at the beginning of the season. In fact, he wasn’t even mentioned in our 2025 series preview.

While there are certainly a number of favourites coming into the 2026 Life Time Grand Prix, we have already seen how the series can be turned on its head. Who knows, maybe we will see another Wild Card winner in Bentonville.

It’s difficult to look past three-time LTGP Champion Keegan Swenson and South African powerhouse Matt Beers for the men’s title, especially once you realise that the two have joined forces at Specialized. But as big of favourites as these two might be, you can never count out Cam Jones. While Swenson is recovering from a broken pelvis, Beers is coming off a win at the 2026 Cape Epic, so it’s anyone’s guess what kind of form these riders will be in at Sea Otter.

Swiss rider Simon Pellaud delivered a number of impressive performances last year on his way to finishing second overall in the LTGP. He will face other contenders such as Alexey Vermeulen and Simen Nordahl Svendsen, along with a host of newcomers. Among the biggest names are Andreas Seewald, the reigning European Mountain Bike Champion, and Jan Stöckli, runner-up at The Traka 360 in 2025.

Sofía Gómez Villafañe is the #1 favourite for the women’s LTGP. She has claimed the overall victory three times, taken two victories at Unbound Gravel, and she’s already taken a win in 2026 at Mid South. But the competition will be fierce, featuring riders such as 2025 Unbound winner Karolina Migoń, and 2025 Gravel Earth Series winner Rosa Klöser.

Last year’s runner-up, Cecily Decker, returns for another run at the title, as well as Cécile Lejeune and Paige Onweller. The biggest question marks could be swirling around Melisa Rollins, who suffered a broken elbow just before this year’s Cape Epic. Rollins finished third in the LTGP last year, but her participation at Sea Otter is up in the air following surgery.

Other riders to watch include Cobe Freeburn, Simen Nordahl Svendsen, and U.S. National Gravel Champion Bradyn Lange. On the women’s side, watch out for Lauren Stephens, Alexis Skarda and Lauren De Crescenzo.

Wild card spots still available

You may have noticed that the LTGP has an unusual number of riders: 44, with 22 men and 22 women. That’s because Life Time is leaving space for three Wild Card entries in each gender category. Three additional riders per gender will be added to the LTGP field following Sea Otter and Unbound, offering a last-ditch chance for riders to join the series mid-season.

In fact, there are four Wild Card spots open in the women’s LTGP since Sarah Sturm’s pregnancy announcement. Sturm is listed as part of the 2026 Grand Prix, but it’s safe to assume she will put racing to the side in 2026 and come back next year.

As you might expect, the list of riders looking to join the series is long and strong. A number of big names missed out on Grand Prix selection in 2026, and they will be attempting to ride their way back into the GP through the Wild Card system. The long list of Wild Cards includes Russell Finsterwald, Griffen Easter, Dylan Johnson, Jonas Orset, Adam Roberge, Hannah Shell, Haley Smith and Alex Wild.

2026 season opens at Sea Otter

The 2026 Life Time Grand Prix begins in earnest on a Thursday in Monterey, California. It has been a long time since the LTGP last lined up under thunderous skies in Bentonville, Arkansas. Both, the men and women will race 90 miles at Sea Otter Gravel, a hilly and technical route that utilises sections of singletrack from the Sea Otter MTB course.

Riders will contest three laps of the circuit around Laguna Seca Raceway and more than 8,000 feet of climbing. Swenson won last year’s edition, while non-Grand Prix rider Haley Batten dominated the women’s race, with Villafañe being the top LTGP finisher.

For the first time, Life Time is offering a livestream of Sea Otter Gravel. You can also follow the race via updates on Instagram, and more post-race coverage, including a highlights package on YouTube. Cycling Weekly will report on everything that went down during the race as well.

At the outset of the 2025 season, Canadian cyclist Alexis Cartier decided to compete in all nine of the big American gravel races, including every round of the six-event Life Time Grand Prix, which begins in April with the Sea Otter Classic. But, alarmed by the ever more apparent damaging effects of human-caused climate change, the 34-year-old adventurer was determined not to fly repeatedly across the continent. So he wrote himself a code of conduct, ruling out flying and driving, and rode between the races instead.

The odyssey he subsequently embarked upon involved spending seven months on the road, bikepacking a grand total of 15,000km (around 9,000 miles). And when he arrived at the starting line of each event, he competed in the races. All on the same bike (except for one time, when he rented a mountain bike for Leadville). A newly released short film, The Spirit of Gravel, tells the story of Cartier's incredible year. And it's a spellbinding (albeit somewhat humbling) watch.

"I love bicycle racing, but I'm also increasingly conscious of its environmental impact," Cartier says at the beginning of his inspirational mini-documentary. "We are in an ecological crisis. Maybe it's time to review what sporting excellence should look like."

"Human activities are slowly defacing this plant. In its current model, professional bike riding is one of those. The racing itself is fairly inoffensive. The motorised travel around it is not. And yet there is a beautiful solution to this. Ride to the startline, and keep on racing."

And this is exactly what we see Cartier doing. Traversing stunning terrain as he pedals through all kinds of conditions, across the continental divide from one side of American to the other. And he's always smiling - at least for the camera. But you get the sense that Cartier's gentle effervescence is far from contrived. He comes across as the real deal. Deeply committed, but never sanctimonious.

And while his mission might seem extreme to the average rider, Cartier makes a compelling case. "Bicycle racing takes place, obviously on bicycle, which just happens to be the best way to move around…fast enough to go far, but slow enough to feel everything," he reasons. "The plane and the car are teleportation devices that make you skip the best part. Riding to the start line is not a sacrifice. It's a gift."

"Getting together to see who can go the fastest on a bicycle is a fun game," he says. "If you add a no-flying no-driving challenge to the game, it changes how you play it. Riding to the race should be your new gold standard. If you can win on top of that… that's great. But it's also secondary. There is no merit to being better than someone else anyway. The real challenge is to live up to your own standards."

And who can argue with that?

Watch the full short film here

Australian Olympian Tiffany Cromwell is set to ride the upcoming Life Time Sea Otter Classic Gravel, the opening race of the six-round 2026 Life Time Grand Prix, which will take place on 16 April, during the legendary annual Californian bike gathering.

For the Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto rider, it's a return to the place where she secured her first international victory, back in 2008, when she was aged 20. Cromwell successfully defended her title the following year, and pursued a successful career on road and gravel, taking stage victories at the Giro d'Italia Femminile and winning the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (in 2013). She represented Australia in road cycling at the Commonwealth Games (2014 and 2018), and the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Two years ago Cromwell showed her gravel grit, recovering from a terrible start to win the 107km Gravel World Series race at Sea Otter Europe, and this year she hopes to add another win at the iconic America event. She comes into the race in great form, having won the 2025 AusCycling Gravel National Title.

The rider for Cromwell to beat is Sofía Gómez Villafañe, winner of the 2025 women's Life Time Grand Prix, who is back for her fifth series and hoping to secure her fourth successive title. And Villafañe is raring to go, having missed this year’s Cape Epic. “The field has gotten more competitive,” Villafañe recently said. “It’s looking to be a proper battle in the first round.”

Featuring competitors from 11 different countries, the starting line ups of both the men’s and the women’ races are stacked with the stars of gravel racing.

The 2026 women’s field features an impressive group of seven riders making their Grand Prix debut, including Rosa Klöser and Karolina Migoń (defending Unbound Gravel 200 champion, who also won The Traka 360 in Spain last year). Also racing is Grand Prix veteran Paige Onweller and Ruth Holcomb, who dominated the U23 competition last year.

In last year’s men’s race the imperious Keegan Swenson took out his fourth consecutive Sea Otter Classic victory, after launching a devastating attack on Lookout Ridge, but the American Specialized gravel pro suffered a broken pelvis after getting taken out by a car door during a training ride in South Africa in February.

Swenson is back in the saddle and ready to race, but he will face stiff competition from Scott rider Cameron Jones from New Zealand (winner of the 2025 Unbound Gravel race and overall series victor in last year’s Life Time Grand Prix), and Matt Beers, the South African Specialized Off-Road rider (and one time stagiaire for UAE Team Emirates-XRG) who has tasted victory everywhere from the Cape Epic and Gravel Burn to the Big Sugar Classic, Belgian Waffle Ride, and Lauf Gravel Worlds.

During the race, riders will tackle a 90-mile gravel course, doing three laps of a 29.6-mile loop, ascending 2,719ft (829 metres) each time, as they traverse the spectacular Ford Ord National Monument, for a total of 8,157 feet (2486 meters) of gritty climbing.

And this year, for the first time ever, you will be able to watch the whole Life Time Sea Otter Classic Gravel Race, as it's live-streamed from start to finish on YouTube. Coverage will start at 9.45am (Pacific Time), with the elite men getting underway at 10am, followed half an hour later by the women.

It took 65 laps of a Derbyshire hill for Lizzie Hermolle to become the fastest woman to scale the height of Everest off-road last week.

The 31-year-old bested the previous record-holder, time triallist Emma Pooley, by just under two hours, in a time of 11 hours and five minutes. And after 8,848 metres of climbing and over 157km in the saddle, she had a few more laps left in her legs.

"I don't think I needed to do it 65 times - I went well over the elevation," Hermolle smiled, thinking back to the Derbyshire hillside she repeatedly scaled over an entire day last week. "I reckon I did half an hour more than we needed to, but we just wanted to make sure we definitely hit it."

Hermolle is a relative newbie to the world of gravel riding. But you wouldn’t know it. In September 2025, she became British National Gravel Champion in her third ever gravel race - only four years since becoming a cyclist. She’d ditched road cycling after her coach at the time, Sean Yates, saw how she handled her bike, how she loved endurance and adventure.

"I'm an all or nothing kind of person," she said. "And cycling is just so addictive, isn't it? You just start and then you just want to go further, you want to go faster."

The decision to attempt the Everesting record also came from her coach, Yates.

"At first, I didn't realise there was already a record," Hermolle explained. "I thought, ‘Okay, we'll just do it. We'll find a hill, go up and down it. We'll get a time, and that will be the record.’ And then we sat down for a call with the Everesting guys, and they were like, so the record to beat is 12 hours, 57. And then it became a bit more serious."

So they went in search of a suitable hill to lap, and landed on the Sheep Pasture Incline in Derbyshire. A short climb up a 10.9% gradient hill, followed by a sharp, one-minute descent meant that Hermolle could clock up her incline count while keeping the body moving in fast bouts of challenge and recovery.

The next big thing to sort was fuelling. Alongside her sponsors, OGT, Hermolle planned hourly lunch boxes packed full of everything her body would need at each point in the ride. What they didn’t account for, however, were the pesky snack-stealing locals.

"There was this one guy - his dog ate my donuts," Hermolle laughed. "All I wanted was a donut. It was quite early on and he was hurling abuse at me, like: ‘I don't give a f*** about your record, you shouldn't be here. I'm going to contact the council’ and all this. And I kind of just ignored it and just carried on. And then he was hurling abuse at the lads at the bottom. And while he was doing it, his dog ate my donuts."

Hermolle laughs about it now, but those donuts had been reserved for when morale got low. Fortunately for her, the dog and her support crew, by the time morale dipped, Hermolle had entered into a state of flow.

"If I'm doing something long distance, I like to be quiet and go numb, almost," she explained. "I think that's how my mindset changes. So at first, I'm fine, and then I go into a numbness, where I try not to think about anything other than what number rep I'm on. I had little markers up the hill. There was a halfway point, and I was like, if I hit that in four minutes, I'm happy. And then the next bit was two minutes to the top. And you just play games in your head, working out distances and times, and that's kind of all I thought about really."

On her journey up – and down – Sheep Pasture Incline, she was joined in bouts by support crew, by well-wishers and horse riders cheering her on, or joining her for part of the challenge. She passed one dog walker out on their morning walk only to see them again on their afternoon one.

It’s only been a week since Hermolle became the fastest woman to scale the height of Everest off-road, but she’s already looking to the future. After one recovery day, she was back on the bike, ready to head to Sierra Nevada for an altitude camp before tackling Utopia Gravel, Tracker 560 and then onto Unbound.

Out of the saddle, Hermolle is a storyteller. When she entered - last minute - into the British National Gravel Championships, she didn't realise it would change the course of her professional career.

"I'm obviously older coming into the sport. So it's just nice to kind of tell people that you never know what's going to happen, and your life can change so dramatically," she said. "I've gone from been a full time physio in a clinic to riding my bike now professionally."

From a football career to a road cycling one, and then onto becoming a national gravel champion and an Everesting world record holder, Hermolle wants to be proof that you can do anything, if you put in the hours.

"You just never know. One decision can just massively change everything."

Life Time has introduced a pregnancy policy for its Grand Prix series, allowing athletes who become pregnant after being selected to defer their roster spot to the following season without penalty.

The new rule was announced after veteran gravel racer Sarah Sturm, a two-time podium finisher in the series, revealed she is pregnant and will step away from competition this season.

"I am so excited to announce this very big news," Sturm wrote in her announcement. “When I got pregnant my first call was to the Life Time Grand Prix to figure out what to do. This sparked a whole conversation and with the hard work of the people at Life Time we now have a pregnancy policy."

Now in its fifth season, the Life Time Grand Prix is the most prestigious racing series in America. The series features the most challenging gravel and mountain bike events across the country, contested by a hand-picked cast of just 44 international athletes.

Getting selected for the series is highly competitive. Under the policy, any athlete accepted into the Life Time Grand Prix who later becomes pregnant can withdraw from the series and retain a protected roster position for the following year.

"This is a big deal for women in the Grand Prix and for women in sport," said Sturm. "There is so much uncertainty as an athlete, especially as a female. This policy shows us respect and trust that we are capable of continuing our careers even after we have children. Of course, we know that’s possible as women, and now we have the support from the biggest off-road race series in America."

According to the official policy, pregnancy protection applies only to athletes who become pregnant after being selected to the Grand Prix roster. Those athletes may withdraw "without penalty" and will receive a protected place for the following season.

To preserve access for other racers, Life Time said it may temporarily expand the number of wildcard invitations in seasons when the policy is used. In practical terms, that means the series could add an extra wildcard slot rather than reducing available opportunities elsewhere in the field.

Pregnancy protection lasts for one subsequent season only. If an athlete chooses not to return in that protected year, the roster protection expires.

Sturm, who finished third overall in the Grand Prix in 2022 and fourth in 2023, said she expects to return to the series in 2027.

"It feels like a long way away, but I’ll see you in 2027 with one extra family member," she said.

The clocks are about to change, the weather is getting warmer and many outdoor cyclists will be on the lookout for the arrival of swifts in the skies above the hills, a surefire signal that summer is on the horizon at last.

Meanwhile, for those who like to mix alfresco riding with and indoor pedalling, the online training and racing platform Zwift has just announced a raft of exciting spring and summertime drops to following on from the Big Spin, with new virtual velo experiences for riders to enjoy, including a whole lot gravel and some excellent additions to the Paris map in the Virtual Tour de France.

Veteran and high-flying Zwifters will also be thrilled to hear that the number of levels cyclists can smash through has been raised above 100 for the first time, and those who have achieved the century will be able to show this off on their status.

Grit hits

One of the big announcements for the new season is that Zwift are this year embracing gravel riding in a much bigger way, both with new bikes and maps. From 6 April, riders will be able to race Gravel Mountain, Zwift’s first gravel-only map, with designers promising digital ‘dust, speed and loose lines’.

How that will feel in reality we look forward to finding out, but the course is set in a visually vibrant red-rock environment with technical features including medians, corner berms and ultra-wide roads.

Launching on the same day, and continuing through to 3 May, is the PAS Racing Series. This four-stage gravel series will see riders tackling the Gravel Mountain maps, plus another new gravel route in Makuri Islands. Races will run hourly, and there will be a custom Pas Normal kit to unlock.

Of course, gravel bikes will be available from the Zwift Drop Shop, where 18 new bikes and 13 new wheelsets are going to be gracing the virtual shelves from this month, with a heavy focus on gravel gear.

• Grab the Zwift Ride with Wahoo Kickr Core 2 with up to 23% off, equalling its best-ever price.
• 20-minute effort or a ramp test - which Zwift FTP test should you do?

Virtual Tour de France

Zwift is the official software platform for the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and for six weeks, between 2 July and 16 August, the Tour Fever Challenge will invite riders to complete five stages of racing, which includes some very exciting route additions, along with five new badges to chase.

Eagerly anticipated updates to the Paris map include the incorporation of the famous Montmartre climb, which proved massively popular in the real world when it starred in the road race route during the Paris Olympics. Last year's Tour incorporated three loops of Butte Montmartre during the final stage, to great acclaim, and it will now be a regular feature in the world’s greatest cycling event.

From 26 June, Zwifters will be able to experience what it’s like to virtually ride up the short but punchy cobbled climb to the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre for themselves.

Get out

Although built as a virtual platform, with the aim of combining gaming with fitness activity, Zwift’s designers have embraced the new season by putting one foot into the outdoors as well, offering guidance for real rides alongside the indoor training offering. The underlying concept is that committed riders should do both, in order to maintain peak fitness.

The company claims that Zwifters who continue to cycle indoors throughout the summer are 8% more likely to hit their riding goals than those who don’t, with new users experiencing an average FTP increase of +18 watts, compared to only a +7 increase for riders who stick the indoor bike in a corner and ignore it during the warmer months.

Over the summer months, as Zwift plans to launch its first indoor/outdoor challenges, which Zwifters will be able to connect to via their Wahoo, Garmin, or Hammerhead accounts. Ahead of that, from 6 April Zwift Camp: Breakthrough will support Zwifters as they prepare to transition to the summer season proper. This camp revolves around five workouts, focussing on fitness but also including drills to improve technique, stability and control for outdoor cycling.

UK gravel aficionados now have another, rather different option on the calendar that is set to offer everything from racing with timed segments to a festival set-up and even a cross-country running event.

The Explorr event bills itself as an 'endurance festival' and in Banchory, near Aberdeen on 28-30 August this year. It's based around a one-day gravel 'stage race' of 120km with four timed sections totalling 76km, and which will also feature general, mountain and sprint classifications to add an extra dynamic.

If that isn't enough to tire you out, there's more, in the form of what organiser Red-On Sports is calling gravel running, and there will be a full programme of events for those who want to swap pedals for trail shoes, with everything from 5km to marathon distances.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly, Max Wussler of Red-On Sports said: "Gravel cycling remains our core expertise, but it's always been an ambition for us to expand that more broadly. We see from our existing community of cyclists that nearly 30% of them are into their running and off-road running as well."

Some would come for the riding, some for the running, but there would be an overlap of those who he expected would do both, Wussler said.

Of the new enduro-style format with timed segments, he added: "We've always tried to innovate a little bit with new formats. We've done stage racing over multiple days previously, but with events in this format we're trying to bring the best of true stage racing into one day – Explorr differs also from your more classical, sort of enduro-style races as we're doing, GC, sprint segments, sprint classifications, mountain classifications.

"We also know not everyone's got time for four or five days away on the bike, so we're bringing the best of that to a single day."

Just in case you still have any energy left after all the riding and running, there is also a charity night hike in the offing. Walkers will cover 7.4km (4.6 miles) as they ascend to local viewpoint the Scolty Tower, in aid of three charities: Prostate Cancer UK, Breast Cancer UK and Banchory Outdoor and Active.

As you might expect given the 'festival' tag, the event also features extra-curricular fun including live music, films, athlete talks and plenty of food and drink.

Red-On Sports has introduced the event to replace its Raiders event, which has been held around the same time for the past three years in Galloway Forest and is now on pause. Its well-established Gralloch event remains resolutely on the calendar as Red-On's flagship.

The new event explores new terrain well north of that venue, with Explorr situated not far from Aberdeen and in the foothills of the Cairngorm mountains.

Red On is currently offering early bird pricing for the gravel race at £68, while weekend camping (including for motorhomes) is also available for £45.

Just in time for the Mid South gravel weekend in Oklahoma, Salsa Cycles has officially unveiled the Flyway, a new carbon gravel bike that replaces the much-liked Warbird and represents the brand’s fifth-generation gravel platform.

Cycling Weekly contributor Marley Blonsky will be riding the new steed at the unofficial season opener, but she's not the first to put the bike through its paces on the region’s red clay. Endurance cyclists Matt Acker and Jill Martindale piloted early versions of the Flyway to the men’s win and women’s fastest known time at the Mega Mid South event last fall, offering an early glimpse of Salsa’s latest performance gravel platform.

Designed to balance performance with comfort and carrying capacity, Flyway is intended to serve riders across a wide range of gravel riding styles, from competitive events to long-distance exploration.

Salsa says the bike draws on lessons learned from previous gravel models while adapting to the evolving demands of modern gravel riding.

"With Flyway we wanted to take what we learned from four generations of Warbird and create a platform that was fast, comfortable, and versatile enough to cover the wide range of terrain that riders find at gravel races, events, and rides in the current gravel landscape," said Josh Lavelle, product manager at Salsa Cycles.

The Minnesota-based brand says that when it launched the Warbird in 2012, it created the first gravel-focused race bike. Since then, many brands have pushed the category toward increasingly specialised race machines, separating their competition bikes from adventure-oriented models. Salsa, however, has largely stayed committed to a broader approach. As one of our reviewers previously put it, its gravel bikes tend to feel like "bikes for the people" — machines designed not just for podiums, but for the wide spectrum of riders who simply want to ride fast, go farther and explore more.

The name "Flyway" references migratory bird routes, which Salsa says reflects both the brand’s long association with gravel riding and the ride feel the company aimed to create.

"Flyway’s ride quality evokes the sensation of soaring over the road and the freedom of flight."

Race-optional performance platform

At its core, the Flyway is Salsa’s top-tier performance gravel platform, one that leans into some decidedly race-y features, builds and, well, pricing. Yet it keeps non-racers in mind with thoughtful design choices aimed at comfort, versatility and real-world usability.

As the brand puts it, Flyway is "the bike you want to ride every day of the week: confident at race pace, comfortable at party pace, and capable of settling in for far out adventures."

To support that wide brief, Salsa says it worked to improve both stiffness and compliance compared to the Warbird. The goal was to increase pedalling efficiency and power transfer while allowing the rest of the frame to better absorb vibration during long days on rough gravel.

The Flyway is offered in two carbon layup options: a Standard layup and a Deluxe layup designed to reduce weight while maintaining stiffness and durability. The claimed frame weight of a size M/L Deluxe frame is 1,050g versus 1200g for a Standard layup. An uncut carbon fork adds 600g.

The Flyway also features a tidier silhouette thanks to the IS52 head tube and FSA headset system, which enables fully or semi-hidden cables at the cockpit, depending on stem choice. Aesthetics aside, the clean cockpit makes bag attachments easier, Salsa explained.

But while Flyway gains some race-focused refinements, Salsa pairs them with features aimed at maintaining versatility. The frame is dropper post- and suspension-fork compatible and features extensive mounting options for on-bike storage.

Salsa opted not to inlcude in-frame storage in favour of on-frame mounting solutions to ensure that even the smallest frame (XS) can accommodate two tall water bottles, while medium through XL sizes fit three. Additional mounts on the fork, top tube and seatstays further support loaded riding.

Notably, Flyway manages to incorporate these mounts while maintaining a relatively low standover height across the size range, which is why shorter riders have often favoured the Warbird.

Quick list of features

• Two carbon layups: Deluxe and Standard (1050g vs 2000g in a size M/L)
  • Fork weighs 600g uncut
• Tyre clearance: 700c x 50mm in the frame, 700 x 57 in the fork
• Suspension corrected for 40mm gravel forks
• Class 5 VRS™ - 20% more compliant than the Warbird
• UDH compatible
• T47 Bottom Bracket
• Compatible with 2x (electronic only) and 1x drivetrains
• Ample mounts for on-frame bags
• FSA CRII Headset allows for versatile internal routing
• Rear rack compatible

Progressive gravel geometry

Flyway adopts a progressive geometry compared to a more road-derived gravel design. In short, this means a long-reach-short-stem approach that's becoming increasingly common in the gravel space. There's also a relatively low bottom bracket and slack head tube angle for a planted and controlled ride, paired with short, 425mm, chainstays to keep the handling responsive.

With the Flyway, Salsa is moving to "t-shirt sizes" rather than the traditional seat tube measurements, offering the Flyway in sizes XS through XL.

Builds & Pricing

The Flyway is offered in several builds alongside a standalone frameset. It will be available globally through Salsa retailers.

At the top of the range sits the Flyway DLX RED XPLR, featuring a SRAM RED XPLR AXS 1x13 drivetrain with powermeter, Zipp 303 XPLR carbon wheels, Zipp and FSA cockpit components. This top-end bike retails for $11,999 USD.

Other builds include:

• Flyway DLX (deluxe) Force XPLR with SRAM Force XPLR AXS for $7,999 USD
• Flyway Rival XPLR SUS with RockShox Rudy suspension fork and dropper post for $5,499 USD
• Flyway Apex Eagle AXS with a wide-range 1x12 drivetrain for $4,499 USD / 4.999 €
• Flyway GRX 610 build with Shimano’s GRX 1x12 drivetrain for $3,499 USD /   3.499 €
• A Flyway frameset with the Deluxe carbon layup $2,799 USD /  £2999.99 /   2.999 €