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.

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."

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.

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.

Over the last few years, Unbound Gravel has become the launchpad for the gravel industry’s next big thing. Every year, the Emporia, Kansas, start line and expo area become a rolling tech gallery packed with unreleased wheelsets, tyres, cockpits and bikes ridden by pro athletes under varying degrees of secrecy.

This year appears to be no different.

We already know defending champion Cam Jones will be riding a Scott prototype bike with 32" wheels, and most of the Specialized Off Road athletes will be aboard the brand new Crux 5.

Today, we got a peek at what appears to be brand-new prototype gravel race bikes from Giant and sister brand Liv, machines that we are fairly certain preview a new tier of the Revolt and Devote platforms.

They were hard to miss, in fact, with the Liv prototype in a bold fuchsia pink with gold detailing, and the Giant version featuring a monochrome black-and-white graphic treatment.

It wasn’t all that long ago that we first spotted prototype versions of the current-generation Giant Revolt Advanced Pro right here at Unbound Gravel, months before launch. Now, almost exactly two years later, Giant and Liv appear to be back in Emporia with another pair of unreleased gravel race machines, and this time, there appears to have been a significant transformation: a move away from the “do-it-all” gravel side.

Both prototype bikes show a clear shift toward race specialisation. Where the outgoing Revolt and Devote platforms were proudly versatile, with multiple mounts, fork bosses, flip-chips and seatpost options, these new bikes look far more singular in purpose.

The fork blades have been stripped of the fork mounts and accessory bosses. Cable routing is now fully integrated through the cockpit, rather than neatly tucked beneath the handlebars as on previous models. The overall silhouette is cleaner, sharper and more aero in appearance.

Both bikes also appear to be designed around 1x drivetrains only, and, of course, tyre clearance appears to have been beefed up.

Australian Liv athlete Peta Mullens outfitted her new steed with yet-to-be-released Maxxis Aspen tyres with a HYPR-X|EXO casing in a 55mm, although actual frame clearance will likely be slightly tighter if following strict ETRTO recommendations. And with the projected mud for Saturday, those 55mm will likely be swapped to something narrower as well.

The finishing kit hints at a closer collaboration with CADEX for complete-package aero savings.

Some of the prototype bikes were fitted with what appeared to be unreleased top-tier CADEX components, including deep-section carbon wheels and integrated one-piece cockpits. The wheelsets in particular looked similar to CADEX’s MAX-level race products, hinting these bikes are aimed squarely at the sharp end of elite gravel competition.

Despite the brands’ strong racing heritage and support of elite gravel athletes, neither currently offers a true "Advanced SL" gravel race bike equivalent to their top-tier road machines such as the Propel Advanced SL or Langma Advanced SL.

That could be about to change.

And according to the athletes riding them, the changes go beyond aesthetics.

Liv athlete Melisa Rollins described the bike as noticeably stiffer and more responsive than the outgoing top-level Devote.

Meanwhile, Mullens highlighted the bike’s more aggressive fit and lower front end.

Mullens is also running an unusually long 140mm stem on her one-piece cockpit, paired with narrow 36cm handlebars.

"I’ve had a bad back for probably 10 years and I’ve always gone shorter [on the stem], but this year I saw a new bike fitter and he actually pushed me longer and I haven’t had back problems for several months," she explained.

Across the industry, brands increasingly appear to be splitting gravel bikes into two camps: the Swiss Army knives and the scalpels.

When we reviewed the top-end Revolt Advanced Pro 0, we praised it for being a highly versatile bike that could comfortably handle racing duties while remaining capable for bikepacking and mixed-terrain adventure riding.

These prototypes, however, suggest Giant and Liv are leaning harder into pure speed.

That mirrors what we’ve seen elsewhere in the market recently, with several brands moving toward lighter, stiffer and aero-optimised gravel race platforms focused purely on getting their rider to the finish line fastest.

For now, the Giant and Liv bikes remain firmly under wraps, but history suggests prototypes spotted at Unbound rarely stay hidden for long.

Come Saturday, the fuchsia pink Liv bikes will be raced by Tessa Neefjes and Peta Mullens. The Giant prototype will see action in the 200-mile pro men's race under Brendan Johnston and Cole Paton.

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.

Just under a month after winning The Traka 560 on her first attempt, British gravel rider, Maddy Nutt (Q36.5 Off Road Racing), has announced her ambitions for the US’s biggest gravel race – the Unbound XL.

“After some careful thought and consideration, I have decided to not race Unbound 200 this year,” Nutt teased her Instagram followers, before following up: “I will in fact be racing Unbound XL.”

In late April, Nutt finished Girona’s ultra-endurance race, the Traka 560, in a time of 26 hours and 31 minutes - fast enough to break the course record by over two hours, and put an hour between her and the next fastest woman. Now she's looking ahead to her next challenge: 350 miles through the Flint Hills.

“This decision was a tough one,” Nutt said of her choice to swap her wildcard invite to the Unbound 200 for a spot in the XL. “I don’t feel fully myself again after The Traka 560, but I feel healthy and recovered enough to give another ultra a whack and see what my body can do.”

Nutt’s caution is warranted. In an interview with Cycling Weekly after her success in The Traka, she described her experience of racing Unbound 200 last year as, “the most afraid on a bike I’ve ever been.”

“The bunch was just really sketchy and people were taking rash lines and decisions,” she continued.

The XL, on the other hand, feels more like The Traka 560 for Nutt, who enjoys the challenge of pre-event planning, working out where she will stop and how she’ll pace herself.

“I need to think about bike setup,” Nutt continued, “because you can draft, but also it's so flat that I probably need aero bars. It’s less technical than The Traka, so there's lots of things to think about, and that really excites me.”

Long distances suit the 28-year-old, who is increasingly turning her attention to longer races. She attributes her ability to enter a “flow state” on long rides in part to her autism. Not only is she able to plug away at the miles distraction-free, but she is also less susceptible to pain.

“Last year in The Traka 360, I tore my AC joint 100km in but was able to finish,” she said. “I feel like that definitely helps in a 560km race!”

And yet Nutt has stayed consistently cautious about her recovery from The Traka, ahead of another gruelling endurance race.

“I feel very physically recovered,” she said, “but I'm aware that my nervous system might not be fully recovered, and as soon as I put myself in that racing situation, I don't know necessarily how my body is going to respond. But I’m definitely up for the challenge, and to see whether I can do the two within a month of each other.”

When I spoke to Nutt on 20 May, she was still recovering from some bike-related wear and tear, and had just gotten over some nerve pain in her back.

“When you sit on a bike for 26 hours, it doesn't do great things to you,” she said. “I've got some physical indications that I'm not fully recovered, although my legs feel good, but yeah, the nervous system's a hard one.

“Often you don't actually find out how recovered you are until you race.”

Nutt will be setting off on 29 May in competition with 2025 winner Heather Jackson, as well as previous race-winner Svenja Betz, before taking a well-earned break after the race.

“Health is number one priority, and so some proper down time and recovery will be the first thing on my agenda after this trip to Kansas," she said in her Instagram post.

"But first things first, I’ve got another 350 mile bike race to do!”

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.

We figured the production cycle was nearing its end. We heard the internet chatter. We’d seen the spy shots and race-day photos. The cat has poked its head out of the bag. Specialized appears to be getting ready to release a new Crux and a completely redesigned one at that.

Just two weeks ago, Specialized Off-Road rider Geerike Schreurs won the Gralloch UCI Gravel World Series race aboard what appears to be this new steed. And it can easily be summed up as a fat-tyred Tarmac. Gone are the classically round tubes, the round seatpost and the visible cables. In their place: sleek, wind-cutting tube profiles; a proprietary aero seatpost; a fully integrated cockpit and, likely, even more tyre clearance.

That, of course, is the direction the industry is headed, both on gravel and on the road: more integrated, more aerodynamic, wider tyres, faster and cleaner-looking bikes.

But before the new Crux officially arrives and the old one gets relegated to "previous generation" product pages and closeout sales, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate the outgoing Crux, a bike I have ridden and loved the absolute hell out of. And I'm not alone.

With the 2022 Crux, Specialized pulled off something rare: they built a bike universally loved by almost anyone who rode, raced or reviewed it. And I don’t mean merely liked, respected or admired, but genuinely loved.

Historically, the Crux had been Specialized’s cyclocross race bike. But by 2021, cyclocross was shrinking while gravel was booming, and Specialized wisely repositioned the Crux as the lighter, pared-down alternative to the Diverge. In doing so, they created one of the most versatile drop-bar bikes of the modern era.

The frame's impressively low weight is paired with beautiful ride quality, while the handling strikes a rare balance of agility, playfulness and stability in a way cyclocross bikes should and very few gravel bikes do.

Most gravel bikes ask for compromise somewhere along the line. The Crux asks for very little, happy to please on tarmac, gravel, light singletrack and, of course, the cyclocross course from which it was born.

Since that 2022 overhaul, the Crux has changed very little in silhouette. Later versions gained a UDH, new paint schemes and different finishing kits, but the geometry and layup stayed intact...until now.

I bought an S-Works Crux at the end of 2021 and, since then, it has carried me through thousands upon thousands of miles on gravel, pavement, snow, ice, singletrack and any combination thereof. It became my benchmark bike, the one against which every other gravel bike is measured, while also serving as the primary platform for testing new components.

Over the years, I’ve built her up with multiple SRAM and Shimano drivetrains, more wheelsets than I can remember and enough cockpit combinations to make me deeply appreciate the external routing up front.

And it’s been ridden hard. Sometimes perhaps too hard. I’ve bikepacked on it (despite it really not being intended as a bikepacking rig), ridden mountain bike trails on it and raced on it. It survived a horrendously muddy Unbound XL in 2023 and a T-bone car crash later that year. Yes, it’s had to be carbon-repaired once, but in general, the bike’s strength and versatility belied its low weight.

It’s my favourite bike I’ve ever owned. And while some of that may be sentimental, the bike truly is just that good. The handling, the low weight and, most of all, the versatility.

As I said, I raced 350 miles of Unbound XL on this bike and yet I would happily line up for a local criterium aboard this same steed. And with 32mm tyres and fenders, it makes for a fantastic road bike for long winter miles or summer adventures on sun-cracked roads. Throw on some chunky rubber—I ran 50s at Big Sugar Gravel—and a dropper post, and it rips singletrack with ease. And if you really want to blur categories even further, it’s even compatible with a suspension fork.

This is all thanks to some thoughtful, and apparently outgoing, features like external cable routing up front, a 27.2mm round seatpost, a BSA bottom bracket and already generous tyre clearance. Those details make the bike easy to service, easy to travel with and easy to customise. They also add a certain timelessness, because you won’t need to hunt for proprietary parts on eBay five years from now.

Writing all this feels a little like composing an obituary. And that’s silly because I suspect my 2022 Crux will continue to see plenty of action. And to be clear, I’m not condemning whatever comes next. The new Crux may very well be just as fun to ride, only more aerodynamic and probably faster. But it’s also bound to come with more compromises.

So take this love letter as a hot tip: snag one of the current Crux frames while they’re still available. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

As gravel cycling as a discipline has begun to define itself, so has the equipment needed to compete at the highest level. While there are two distinct offshoots forming – race and adventure, it's the former developing apace, particularly when it comes to aerodynamic efficiency. We’ve seen this maximised over the past few years, with everything from framesets to clothing adopting gravel-specific aerodynamic enhancements, but it’s in the best gravel bike wheels department where big gains are being unlocked.

Wheel manufacturers such as Zipp, with its 303 XPLR SW and locally, the Parcours FKT and Strada Gravel Aero Plus, all offer aero gravel wheelsets, and now Specialized’s component arm, Roval, is pushing the envelope even further focussing on aerodynamics and weight reduction with the introduction of two new gravel wheelsets, the Terra CLX III and Terra Aero CLX.

Both wheelsets are completely new, ground-up designs aimed at improving compliance, puncture protection and speed over the challenging courses now underscoring the sharp end of gravel racing. Roval is quick to point out that these are not merely a rehash of an existing model but completely new items: “These aren't modified road wheels. They're purpose-built for gravel reality: rougher surfaces, deeper yaw angles, and bigger tyres.”

Roval Terra Aero CLX wheelset

The goal for Roval was to create the fastest gravel wheelset, which led to over 300 digital rim-shape studies focused on areas such as aerodynamic drag, crosswind stability, structural stress ratios, weight reduction, tyre interface performance (35-60mm), and hook strength. Like the original Terra and Terra II models, the Roval Terra Aero CLX wheels eschew hookless rim architecture in favour of hooked beads for more secure tyre retention. To bolster this and ensure the tyres don’t pinch flat when using lower pressure and hitting a rut, Roval has bolstered the hooked bead profile to 5.38mm.

Unlike some wheel manufacturers, Roval’s CFD studies included the entire wheel system – tyre included- and matched it to a frameset, as shapes that look fast in isolation often produce turbulence at the tyre-rim junction, nullifying any gains. Roval’s tests included carrying out various tests, including monitoring the airflow around 45mm Tracer gravel tyres on a Specialized Crux and other metrics such as bike-fork spacing and wheel offset, expected on-course yaw distribution and yaw fluctuations specific to gravel racing.

This all led to a specific rim shape with a heavily cambered leading edge. As a result, the Terra Aero CLX wheel system delivers the same speed and performance as a 70mm-deep wheel. The result is 50/40mm front/rear ‘Chopped Aero’ shaping that reduces airflow separation behind the tread and keeps it flow attached longer at yaw – aero gains are especially strong from 5- to 12-degrees yaw, a bandwidth where gravel racers spend most of their time.

According to Roval, the Terra Aero CLX wheels were optimised around Specialized Tracer 45 gravel bike tyres and tested 5.84 watts faster than the outgoing Terra CLX II in the wind tunnel. While the wheels are designed to work best with tyres ranging from 35-45mm wide, they can accommodate tyres up to 60mm wide. The CFD studies also examined spoke airflow interactions to assess any aerodynamic advantages of including Arris carbon spokes. The results showed that thinner composite spokes consistently outperformed rounded profiles by 0.5-0.3 watts across realistic yaw angles, prevented aero flutter and provided a better integrated aero system.

In terms of specifications, the Terra Aero CLX are right on the money, weighing 1,340g (640g front, 700g rear) a pair and boasting a 38.5mm external and 27mm internal rim width. The wheels are laced in an 18/24 front/rear spoke configuration and come standard with Sinc ceramic bearings and a Ratchet EXP freehub system with 36 points of engagement.

The wheelset will retail for £2,988 (£1,299 front, £1,699 rear) in the UK and $3,400 ($1,500 front, $1,900) in the US.

Roval Terra CLX III wheelset

Roval has also introduced the lightest gravel race wheels it has ever made, weighing 1,079g for the pair (489g front, 590g rear). The wheels have been developed around a fairly shallow 27mm rim depth, but retain the same 4.86mm hooked bead profile and similar 38mm external and 27mm internal rim widths. To achieve this particular rim shape and depth, over 200 iterative rim shapes were generated using multi-factor modelling and evaluated for weight, lateral stiffness, and hook stress. Like the Terra Aero CLX, during testing, it was found that Arris-developed, wider flat-top carbon spoke delivered a 0.5-0.3 watt savings over the rounded version and were 20% stronger and 96.6g lighter than the steel equivalent.

The Terra CLX III applied lessons learned from high-pressure impact standards on the Roval Control WC MTB and Rapide CLX III wheelsets. This, paired with a tuned carbon-fibre layup, has resulted in a 21.52% reduction in lateral stiffness, providing smoother control and compliance, often compromised by vibration-induced power loss on washboard gravel.

While the Terra CLX III shares much of its hardware and specs with the Terra Aero CLX, such as the DT Swiss 180 hubs with 36T Ratchet EXP internals and Sinc ceramic bearings, the 21/24 front-to-rear spoke configuration differs. Roval quotes a system weight limit of 125g.

They will retail for £2,748 (£1,149 front, £1,599 rear) in the UK and $3,200 ($1,400 front, $1,800) in the US.

We've been sent a pair of Roval Terra Aero CLX for testing and will be publishing our comprehensive review in the coming months, so keep an eye out on the Cycling Weekly homepage.

Gravel cycling continues to carve out its own lane in the professional cycling landscape. While the jury is still out on just how far the discipline will rise, there is little doubt that a growing number of riders around the world are now making a comfortable living racing primarily on gravel.

In recent years, many of the professional gravel "privateers,” as they are known, have been riders who first built their reputations in mountain biking or the WorldTour. On the road side, names like Ted King, Peter Stetina, Ian Boswell and Petr Vakoc swapped slick road tyres for gravel.

A similar pattern has played out among riders arriving from mountain biking, with figures such as Keegan Swenson, Sofia Gomez Villafañe and long-time World Cup veterans like Geoff Kabush, Jeremiah Bishop and Rebecca Rusch bringing their off-road pedigree into the discipline.

That trend isn’t disappearing entirely: Romain Bardet’s arrival on the gravel circuit this year is proof that established road pros still see opportunity in the scene. But signs increasingly point toward a shift. A new generation of riders is beginning to emerge as dedicated gravel professionals, building careers in the discipline without first establishing themselves on the road or in mountain biking.

Here’s a quick guide to some of the new names to watch as the 2026 gravel season gets underway

Cam Jones and Matthew Wilson — The Kiwi Contingent

New Zealand and Australia are increasingly proving to be incubators for top cycling talent. Despite their smaller size, the two countries consistently produce elite riders across the cycling spectrum, and gravel has become an especially fruitful arena for talent from the Southern Hemisphere.

No example illustrates that trend more clearly than Cam Jones, who burst onto the global gravel scene in a way few young, "unproven" riders ever have.

Jones first made his mark in 2024 with strong performances at major summer gravel races like Unbound Gravel and SBT GRVL. Then, in 2025, he took a massive step forward, winning Unbound before unseating Keegan Swenson to claim the Life Time Grand Prix overall title. In the span of a single season, Jones went from a wildcard entry in the series to one of the top gravel specialists in the world.

While Jones is the obvious breakout name to watch, his new Scott teammate and fellow Kiwi Matthew Wilson could also be a major factor on the gravel scene this year. Last season, despite racing largely without significant support, Wilson delivered several eye-catching rides. He played a major role in the action at Sea Otter Gravel, finishing seventh after an aggressive performance, and appeared set to battle Matt Beers to the line at the Big Sugar Classic before a flat tyre ended his chances.

Inexplicably, Wilson was left off the Life Time Grand Prix roster. Still, expect the Kiwi duo to race aggressively together throughout the season, and to make their presence known.

Cecily Decker, Morgan Aguirre, and Karolina Migon — PAS Racing Gravel Team

It feels a tad obvious to say that Karolina Migon is someone to keep your eyes on after winning Unbound Gravel last year, but the soft-spoken Polish rider still feels like she is a bit underrated. Part of that might be due to the team she is on and the many strong riders all in the same kit.

Migon is one of three PAS Racing riders who will be racing the Life Time Grand Prix this season, and the trio looks set to all be on the shortlist of podium favourites. That said, Magon is the obvious one to watch with her win, and Unbound and the Traka are two of the biggest possible wins in the gravel world.

Morgan Aguirre is the other new addition to the Life Time Grand Prix for PAS Racing, as the American has been building a strong resume as she continues to grow into her gravel career. Aguirre is American, but she lives full-time in Girona as she has made competitions like the Gravel Earth Series and other European races a focal point, even though she has made American cameos throughout last year. This year, with the Life Time Grand Prix on the agenda, she will race in the U.S. more frequently and compete for wins throughout the calendar.

Cecily Decker is back in the Life Time Grand Prix after a massive performance throughout the series last year. She netted a second-place finish at Unbound behind her teammate Migon, but the list goes on with a third at Sea Otter, third at Leadville, and fourth at the Traka 200. It is a lot to match, but Decker could use it as a platform to become a prolific winner.

Cobe Freeburn, Cecile Lejune, and Daxton Mock — Trek Driftless

Trek Driftless overhauled its roster for 2026, adding three promising young riders to the lineup. Torbjørn Andre Røed and Paige Onweller return to provide experience, while the team looks to its new additions to inject fresh speed.

On the men’s side, Cobe Freeburn and Daxton Mock step up to Trek’s senior gravel squad after beginning their careers with the Bear Development gravel team. Both riders came from mountain biking and quickly found success on gravel. Freeburn delivered consistent results throughout the season, including third at SBT GRVL, while Mock picked up an early-season win at Valley of Tears. Paired with Andre Røed, who is a perennial podium contender at U.S. gravel races, the duo adds even more firepower to the team.

Cecile Lejeune joins the squad in a slightly different position. Already established among the top riders in the women’s field, she finished fifth overall in the Life Time Grand Prix standings last year. The marquee win has yet to come, but with only one full season as a gravel pro under her belt, Lejeune still has plenty of room to grow. Close followers of the sport may also remember her bold solo bridge attempt at Gravel Worlds, which ended in a race-ending flat just as it looked poised to deliver a breakout result.

Bradyn Lange — Canyon X DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing Team

The Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing Team is a broad coalition of international riders. For many, the big name who stands out, especially in North America, is the U.S. Gravel National Champion Bradyn Lange. Lange was the youngest man on the original Life Time Grand Prix roster, coming off an early career as a promising mountain biker.

Since then, Lange has been in the trenches of the privateer world, trying to find his own way through the ranks of gravel and marathon mountain biking before there was a truly established path. Finally, in 2025, the tenacity started to pay off as Lange consistently ranked near the top of the results sheet, culminating in a stars-and-stripes jersey in Minnesota.

The move to Canyon’s revamped gravel team was a bit surprising, as Lange had a solid spectrum of support, including Rapha and Pinnarello, but it is clear that Lange is relishing the opportunity to be a part of a system and focus on performance rather than the multitude of other logistics that all privateers have to worry about. Additionally, with Canyon X DT Swiss bringing Pete Stetina on board as part of its management team, Lange will have a strong technical and intellectual infrastructure to work from as he tackles the new year.

The jury is still out on whether the team gamble will work for Lange and the other Canyon X DT Swiss riders, but expect to see the stars-and-stripes jersey racing a ton of gravel on both sides of the Atlantic.

Kyan Olshove, Ruth Holcomb, and Griffin Hoppin — the young Americans on the rise

The Life Time Grand Prix has created a strong framework for gravel racing to develop as a professional sport. Until recently, however, the series hadn’t clearly established a pathway for young gravel specialists to rise through the ranks. In 2025, the U23 Life Time Grand Prix was introduced to fill that gap, and it quickly produced riders who look capable of stepping up to the elite level.

On the women’s side, Ruth Holcomb won the competition convincingly while also posting strong results in elite fields throughout the season. She not only proved she could contend higher up the results sheet, but she also benefits from sharing a team environment with established gravel stars like Keegan Swenson, Alexis Skarda and Tobin Ortenblad. All of this seems like the perfect breakout recipe.

The same could be said for Griffin Hoppin, who enters the 2026 season as the reigning U23 Life Time Grand Prix champion. Hoppin built his title on consistency in the U23 series while also posting several notable elite results, including fourth at the Unbound 100, 11th at Little Sugar, and top U23 honours at Sea Otter. With that foundation, he looks well-positioned to continue progressing, particularly in hillier gravel races.

The final rider stepping into the elite conversation is Kyan Olshove. Although he did not compete in the U23 series, the Michigan native closed out the Grand Prix season with a surge of strong performances. A second-place finish at Chequamegon was followed by top-10 results at both Big Sugar and Little Sugar, momentum that helped earn him a pro contract with Pinarello and a spot in the 2026 Life Time Grand Prix.

Life Time today unveiled a stacked roster of Wild Card participants, including some familiar names like Russell Finsterwald, Dylan Johnson, Haley Smith and Emily Newsom.

Entering its fifth year, the Life Time Grand Prix is the most prestigious off-road 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 44 international contestants vying for the overall series title and a big chunk of change.

Introduced ahead of the 2025 season, the Wild Card process gives riders who were not selected in the initial selection a chance to make their mark. To be selected as a Wild Card, athletes must have applied for the 2026 series, indicated they want to be included in the Wild Card pool, and must compete at both the Sea Otter Classic Gravel and Unbound. Wild Card riders will be scored on their performances at these two events, with the top three women and men being added to the 2026 Grand Prix.

In 2025, the Wild Card race led to a breakout series performance by Cameron Jones, who not only rode himself into the series, but he also won Unbound and Little Sugar before unseating Keegan Swenson for the first time since the series' inception to take the overall series title.

“The Wild Card selection has quickly become one of the most anticipated elements of the Life Time Grand Prix, and the caliber of the 2026 roster reflects the incredible depth we’re seeing in off-road cycling today,” said Kimo Seymour, Senior Vice President of Events at Life Time and Director of the Life Time Grand Prix.

"The Wild Card spots are proof that the Life Time Grand Prix cares about finding the strongest riders on the scene,” added Cameron Jones.“It 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.”

Life Time has reserved six slots in the Grand Prix for Wild Card riders, three in the women’s field and three in the men’s field. But the competition will be stiff as nearly 80 riders have applied to be part of the Wild Card pool.

These hopefuls aren’t unknown names by any means. There’s Dylan Johnson, the prominent YouTuber has participated in the series four consecutive years but missed out on selection due to a 2025 season riddled with bad luck.

Likewise, Russell Finsterwald has participated in every Grand Prix since its inception, finishing in the top 10 of the overall standings three times. He’ll surely be one to watch in the Wild Card race. Other notable names include Lance Haidet, Adam Roberge and Cole Davis.

On the women’s side, the big name in the Wild Card pool is Haley Smith. An Olympian from Canada, Smith is the only other woman besides Sofia Gomez Villafañe to have won the series, and she's been a consistent name in the field. But a below-par season saw her missing out on selection. Other familiar faces include former WorldTour rider Emily Newsom, Deanna Mayles, Hannah Shell and Brit Danni Shrosbree.

The 2026 Life Time Grand Prix kicks off on Thursday, April 16th, at the Sea Otter Classic. Unbound Gravel, the world’s premier gravel race, follows on Saturday, May 30th.

Wild Card Roster - Men

• Carter Anderson
• Martins Blums
• Caleb Bottcher
• Hayden Clarke
• Cole Davis
• Andrew Dillman
• Derek Dotlich
• Griffin Easter
• Nicolò Ferrazzo
• Russell Finsterwald
• Kyle FryJulien Gagné
• Truman Glasgow
• Joe Goettl
• Lance Haidet
• Piotr Havik
• Cole House
• Dylan Johnson
• Yusuf Johnson
• Kyle Kalish
• Nathan Knowles
• Lasse Konecny
• Alban Lakata
• Michael Lambert
• Mathijs Loman
• Sampo Malinen
• Justin McQuerry
• Leandro Messineo
• Daxton Mock
• Lawrence Naesen
• Henry Nelson
• Amaette Nsek
• Gustave Orain
• Jonas Orset
• Ethan Overson
• Ethan Pauly
• Georwill Perez Roman
• Cullen Perkey
• Matt Pike
• David Ramon Rubinat
• Jacob Richards
• Adam Roberge
• Brody Sanderson
• Miguel Santillanes Garcia
• Tim Savre
• Rogan Smart
• Marcus Spratt
• Nathaniel Spratt
• Travis Stedman
• Nathan Surowiec
• Skyler Taylor
• Jose Eduardo Tijerina Cuesta
• Daniel Van Der Walt
• Jacob Velasco
• Cory Wallace
• Chase Wark
• Alex Wild
• Matthew Wilson

Wild Card Roster - Women

• Gabriella Arnold
• Laurie Arseneault
• Anet Barrera
• Charlotte Clarke
• Leslie Ethridge
• Natalia Franco Villegas
• Elizabeth Hermolle
• Siena Hermon
• Michelle Howe
• Caitlyn Kellogg
• MJ Lopez Aguirre
• Colleen Maher
• Deanna Mayles
• Cristina Harner
• Emily Newsom
• Lejla Njemcevic
• Florence Normand
• Laurel Quinones
• Jenna Rinehart
• Hannah Shell
• Danielle Shrosbree
• Sierra Sims
• Haley Smith
• Jen Tavé
• Michaela Thompson
• Sofia Waite

We love to bust open the keyboards and speak our minds when we get pissed off. It's human nature, and increasingly it’s the fuel that powers internet discourse. In gravel racing, the debate around Life Time's recent ban on dropbars in key events shows just how quickly controversy overtakes conversation. Opinions scatter in every direction, but friction and conflict are usually what get the most attention.

Most of the time, we cover the good stuff through straight reporting. Those stories don’t carry a heavy editorial point of view. Instead, they’re built from quotes, context and letting the facts speak for themselves. That approach works for both good news and bad. Opinion pieces are different, though, and they’re far too often resistant to giving credit where it’s due, even when people clearly deserve their flowers.

So consider this a big bouquet for the races that are doing right by their participants and pushing gravel forward, even when the spotlight is pointed elsewhere.

Gravel Worlds makes massive changes to safety while boosting prize money, again

Every year, the original Gravel Worlds in Lincoln, Nebraska, adds another ring to its trunk. A race older than the vast majority of gravel events would be forgiven for standing still now and then. But Gravel Worlds doesn’t do that. It keeps growing and increasingly sets the tone for the rest of the calendar.

In 2024, that meant audacious, wall-to-wall livestream coverage complete with announcers, drones and motos on course. In 2025, the prize money arrived in a big way, with the largest single-day purse in gravel racing. Now, for 2026, the focus shifts to safety, with a major overhaul of on-course protocols, along with even more money flowing into the prize pool.

The live coverage and cash alone would be enough to warrant a tip of the cap. Fundraising at that level and taking those kinds of risks is no small feat. But in terms of progress for the gravel discipline, perhaps the most meaningful change is the decision to guarantee corner marshals at every stop sign on the course. In road racing, that’s considered the bare minimum. In gravel, many major events still haven’t committed this level of emphasis and resources to safety outside large paved intersections.

Mid South sets a tone that could unlock aspects of racing we haven’t seen yet

The key frustration with Life Time’s decision to eliminate drop-bar mountain bikes wasn’t simply the rule change itself, it was the choice to make that change instead of addressing the root safety issue at Leadville: two-way traffic created by mixing professional and amateur fields. That criticism feels especially fair because Mid South has now shown there’s a workable alternative.

Mid South, the traditional season opener for gravel racing, is one of the largest independent events on the U.S. gravel calendar, alongside races like Gravel Worlds, SBT GRVL and Barry Roubaix. It’s a favourite among elite riders, but just as importantly, it’s a foundational event for recreational participants. For many riders, Mid South is a once-a-year pilgrimage, and one of the only races they’ll pin on a number for all season.

That broad appeal, however, has created real safety challenges on race day. The wide range of abilities in a single field led to bottlenecks and risk at the start, the finish and key points on the course. To preserve the event’s balance, and avoid a serious incident, the race needed a structural solution.

Mid South found one by moving the professional race to Friday afternoon, centering its finish around the pre-race party ahead of Saturday’s amateur event. The change gives the pro race a primetime feel while eliminating congestion in critical sectors, reducing two-way traffic, and freeing up police resources for more effective road closures.

From our perspective, it’s an honest and effective step forward, and a clear example of how gravel racing might solve safety concerns without sacrificing inclusivity or its spirit.

Rule of Three doesn’t care what the going rate is for gravel race entries are

When Rule of Three came onto the scene in 2021, it was already a counterpoint to much of the gravel racing landscape. The website featured a poem, a mission statement, and a striking image of a drop-bar cyclist pointed down a trail that perhaps warranted a very different bike. The idea was simple: three types of surfaces in one 115-mile race. What was even more unqiue was the fact that the race entry fee was less than $100.

Five years later, almost nothing has changed beyond the specifics of the course. That consistency itself is what makes it progressive. From the onset, it has centred around community, embraced affordability and delivered a one-of-one experience, unconcerned with the ebbs and flows of the greater cycling calendar.

In an era of almost universal registration price increases, an increased emphasis on the professional side of gravel, and the general big-ness of races, Rule of Three’s resilience against those changes exemplifies a race doing things right.

This is not an exhaustive list, and my apologies to the races I wanted to include but couldn’t. Races like Foco Fondo, the Appalachian Journey, Vermont Overland, and Barry Roubaix are each doing great work in their communities to move the sport forward.

Races like Unbound, Leadville, The Traka, and UCI gravel events will always command the biggest headlines. But it’s often these smaller, independent events that do the real work: testing ideas, prioritising riders and quietly shaping what gravel racing becomes next. So here's to you.

Since the dawn of the sport, gravel has been synonymous with words like “innovation,” “grit,” and “spirit.” Races have become longer, routes have become more challenging, and athletes have become more experimental. While road racing obsesses over marginal gains, gravel racers think of something crazy, an idea so outside-the-box that it just might work.

Do you remember the first time a pro gravel racer put MTB tyres on their gravel bike? We all thought it was ludicrous. Yet, only a few years later, this has become the norm at races like Big Sugar Gravel. This begs the question: what’s coming next? What crazy idea in 2025 will become the norm in 2027?

As we look across the gravel landscape, a few things come to mind: increased speeds, the need for comfort, data-driven riding and battle-tested durability. In this article, we are giving you 6 predictions that could shape the future of gravel tech. Some new, some inevitable, and some just waiting for a brand bold enough to pull the trigger.

1. Gravel Aero Goes Mainstream—Especially at the Pointy End

If you are a gravel racer, you have likely thought about a thousand different ways to make your setup faster. Whether that is an integrated cockpit or a wind tunnel-tested position, you’ve likely had the thought. Despite the arduous 200-300km race distances, gravel has shifted towards race-optimised setups that include deep rim carbon wheels, aero frames, and skin-tight aero suits. What’s coming next will be an expansion on the aero priority, small but decisive refinements and a closer look at the details.

Watch for:

• Aero-optimized forks, tubes and tyre clearance
• Hydration packs stuffed into (rather than on top of) the aero skinsuit
• Lower and narrower riding positions
• Fairing-style bottle cages

2. Tyre Width Stabilizes (Or Decreases)

2025 was the year of tyre expansion, but we may have already reached the peak of the curve. As courses grew more technical, conditions more challenging, and flat tyres more consequential, gravel riders opted for larger and larger tyres. In many races, such as Unbound Gravel and Big Sugar, a significant number of pros mounted 2.2” MTB tyres onto their gravel racing setup.

Larger tyres typically provide more grip and puncture protection, but gravel tyre tech is improving rapidly. It won’t be long before 45-50mm gravel tyres are, once again, faster than MTB tyres, even on technical terrain. Of course, there will still be extreme cases where MTB tyres are faster, but those will be few and far between. And it’s not just tyre tech that is evolving at a rapid rate…

3. You Will See Suspension Forks Everywhere

Like MTB tyres on gravel bikes, suspension forks used to be for ‘extreme cases only.’ But that is changing at a rapid rate, and now you can find suspension forks on the start line of any gravel race. Even the pros are using them, and that means they are fast. While they might add a tiny bit of weight, they can also improve aerodynamics when paired with the right frame and tyre width.

Suspension forks, such as the RockShox Rudy and Lauf Grit, can improve traction and comfort across a wide range of terrain. You might want to go rigid for the fastest, smoothest gravel races, but most gravel routes include some combination of singletrack, washboard descents and wooded tech sections. When you consider the improved aerodynamics of a suspension fork setup, it becomes the go-to option for most gravel events.

4. Suspension Seatposts Become Acceptable (and Fast)

Speaking of suspension, the fork isn’t the only area you could add the bump-numbing stuff to a gravel bike. Suspension seatposts have been around for years, first earning the spotlight at Paris-Roubaix. The bumpy cobblestones begged for an innovation that improved comfort on rough terrain, and thus, suspension seatposts were born. While these bendy and flexible seatposts aren’t for everyone, they could become increasingly popular on road and gravel bikes.

Keep an eye out for:

• 20-40 mm seatposts with new suspension designs
• Adjustable “race mode” stiffness settings
• Gravel frames designed around flex posts

5. Tyre Inserts Become Standard Equipment

As gravel tyres become lighter and faster, they can also become less flat-resistant. It’s a classic negative correlation: the faster and lighter your setup, the more fragile it becomes. Gravel cycling is not the place for fragility. In fact, most pros would probably opt for a heavier and more durable setup if it cut their puncture risk in half.

While tyre tech is improving at a rapid rate, it isn’t enough to eliminate the chances of a flat. Thus, many pros have run tyre inserts to increase protection. Inserts have a bad rap of being heavy and slow. But as the tech improves, they could become a gravel rider’s best friend.

By 2027, expect most gravel setups to include:

• Featherweight tyre inserts
• Inserts enabling lower tyre pressures that increase comfort and speed
• Brands offering tyre+insert systems
• Inserts that add lateral stability for cornering

6. The Rise of “Smart” Gravel Computers

Perhaps this one is a bit of a stretch, a bonus point, and something that I would personally love to see in gravel. We all love tech, and we all love gravel. To truly combine the two, we want to see as much data as possible in real time. How cool would it be if you could see real-time surface conditions, rolling resistance and traction levels on your bike computer?

Imagine coming into a corner, and your bike computer is telling you to what speed you need to slow down to make the corner without losing traction. It’s a bit Black Mirror-esque, like piloting a self-driving car, but it could also be the future of gravel.

Those are some far-fetched ideas, but it would also be nice to have a bike computer that provides safer turn-by-turn cues and auto-rerouting that actually avoids unrideable terrain. Have you ever been rerouted onto a 65mph highway in Arkansas? Because I have.

Final Thoughts

Gravel is the most rapidly evolving segment of cycling. It is part innovation lab, part wild west, and part escape from traditional road culture. While the spirit of gravel may be dead, there is no sign that the sport is slowing down. Races are selling out faster than ever, and there are a million new gravel products every year. We’ll keep a close eye on which ones are marketing attempts and which are here to stay.

The fact of the matter is, gravel isn’t going anywhere. When there are this many talented people in a single space, innovation thrives, and crazy ideas turn into time-tested movements.

Few tyres caused the stir that Continental’s Race Kings made last year.

Sure, tyre discourse is a niche-within-a-niche of cycling culture, but when Dylan Johnson started championing the mountain bike tyre as a gravel-racing option, people took note and conventional wisdom about gravel racing and gravel tech was thrown out the window.

While it seems trivial, the hype around the tyre, specifically the 2.2 Black Chili compound, got to the point where the Continental Race Kings (a popular choice among the gravel pros) were sold out for months on end. Racers like Johnson stockpiled the tyres; others decided against tyre sponsors to get in on the action. For a time, the Race King was the king of the gravel hill, despite being a mountain bike tyre.

Continental built on that momentum in 2025, rolling out a new line of improved mountain bike tyres. The Race King was revamped, with a full range of options for casings, tread patterns, and new model names. The Race Kings are now called Dubnitals, and like their predecessor, they were sold out in the United States within just a few weeks.

We’d hoped to include the Dubnitals in our year-long test of best mountain bike tyres for drop-bar bikes, but persistent supply issues meant we had to publish the story before we got to even try them.

In the end, we found them on a third-party website a nd finally got some time on the rubber. Are the Continental Dubnitals worth the wait if you want to ride the wide-tyre wave?

Tyre specs

• Product reviewed: Continental Dubnital Race Rapid 2.2
• Actual weight: 690 grams
• Tread: Elevated knob pattern
• Hookless and tubeless compatible
• Size options: 27.5x2.2, 27.5x2.4, 29x2.2, 29x2.4
• Balck or tan side wall options
• MSRP: $87. 99 / £59.95

Ride impression

Right off the bat, the Dubnitals were easy to work with. Due to the nature of my job, I ended up swapping the tyres onto three different rims within two weeks. And each time I was able to seat the tyres with just a floor pump, making the task easy. Nothing is more frustrating than a challenging install requiring an air compressor or a run to the local bike shop.

Once riding, the Dubnitals were equally easy to get along. Some competitors, like the Maxxis Aspen ST or the older Vittoria Terreno XC, have a very small window of PSI where the tyre feels optimal. Pleasantly, the Dubnitals have a larger window that works, allowing for a higher PSI on hard surfaces and a lower PSI on loose terrain. The Dubnitals are incredibly responsive to different setups.

The tyres' prominent knobs compared to other mountain-bike-tyres-turned-gravel-options certainly didn’t make it the fastest going to and from the gravel roads and trails. The noise of the tyre on the road was louder than I was used to, which is not necessarily a test of speed, but it is still part of what makes tyres feel slow. Yet on fast, sharp corners, the sidewalls were sturdy enough to hold and prevent the tyre from diving, which happens with other, lighter sidewalls.

It's not until you hit the dirt that the Dubnitals come into their own; it almost feels like the tyres accelerate. The tyre's power and popularity comes from those elevated knobs, which add traction and ensure incredibly predictable handling, even on very loose desert terrain. Stopping power is quite pronounced as well. Sure, the knobs might hinder the tyre's pure speed, but anecdotally, that speed delta is hard to parse out.

According to those who do put the tyres through rigorous quantitative testing, the data agree. The speed penalty is not nearly as steep as the handling benefit suggests. Here is data from John Karrasch, whose method of testing is widely seen as top of the class in terms of quantitative outdoor field testing:

While it’s natural for racers to fixate on outright speed, gravel racing is rarely a pure speed equation. It’s an efficiency problem. On gravel, efficiency isn’t earned solely through low straight-line rolling resistance (though the Dubnital holds its own with the top contenders there), but also through braking traction, cornering control and the confidence to maintain momentum across broken, unpredictable terrain.

That broader definition of efficiency is where the Dubnital becomes a genuinely compelling race option. Compared with narrower, gravel-specific tyres, and even established mountain bike benchmarks like the Race King, the Dubnital consistently preserved speed through corners, rough sections and technical features. Instead of forcing riders to scrub speed and re-accelerate, it rewarded commitment and stability.

Over the duration of a race, those gains can outweigh marginal watt savings from rolling resistance alone. While several of the leading mountain bike tyres in our comparison test performed well in this regard, the Dubnital clearly stands out for its handling and composure.

Additionally, where I feel the Dubnital could outpace the other top options is around its long-term durability. I am still early in the tyre's lifetime, but I have ridden the same rubber compound on my mountain bike with the Continental Trinotal tyre. That option held its tread on the rocky trails around Phoenix, Arizona, far longer than previous tyres I have tried. It should follow that the Dubnitals may also have a long lifespan.

With that said, I did have a flat on the Dubnitals while riding rugged terrain. I sliced one on some sharp rocks badly enough that a quick plug wouldn't do the trick. I've also heard of riders experiencing punctures with these tyres on the rougher gravel terrain of Kansas and Arkansas. That very well could be a case of the prominent knobs catching smaller, sharp rocks and slicing tyres along the base of the tyre knobs, but that is speculation. It is just something I am monitoring.

Value & Verdict

Ultimately, the Continental Dubnital is a very strong all-around tyre that thrives across a wide range of surfaces and terrain. It may not be the lightest or the fastest in its category, but in real-world gravel racing and riding, those metrics tell only part of the story. What the Dubnital delivers, exceptionally well, is efficiency through control. Its predictable handling and braking traction through rough sections allow riders to maintain momentum rather than constantly shedding and rebuilding speed. That confidence is worth far more over the course of a long race or demanding ride than marginal watt savings on smooth ground.

It's this balance that makes the Dubnital one of the best mountain bike tyre options for drop-bar gravel bikes currently available. Going forward, I could easily see myself using it for racing, rowdy off-road rides, and even a bikepacking adventure or two.

Value only strengthens the case. While availability has been inconsistent, current pricing sits around an $88 / £60. Compared with the most direct competitors like the Vittoria Peyote, Schwalbe Rick and Maxxis Aspen ST, the Dubnital matches, and sometimes even undercuts, the field. Given its performance, handling advantage, versatility and expected durability, the Dubnitals' value arguably places it at the top of the growing category of extra-large gravel tyres.

For me, it doesn’t get much better than the Dubnital. They were well worth the wait, and they set a high bar for what this emerging segment should deliver.

By the time Pete Stetina says the words out loud, it is clear he has been living with them for some time.

At 38, the former WorldTour climber and one of gravel racing’s earliest true converts is stepping away from the pursuit that has defined his life since he was 16: the relentless chase of performance, results and podiums. Not from the bike itself, but from the version of cycling that demands everything, all the time.

“There’s this notion of feeding the rat,” Stetina says. “You have to keep feeding it, and it almost becomes an addiction at one point.”

For a rider who has spent his career challenging conventional paths, from the WorldTour peloton to the self-built world of gravel privateering, Stetina is determined to step away on his own terms as well. For him, retirement does not mean disappearing; it means reshaping his relationship with the sport that has shaped his life.

A full year in the making, Stetina announces his retirement today alongside the release of Feeding the Rat, a short documentary centred on his last full commitment to speed: one final, all-in effort up the slopes of Mount Washington.

A life shaped by the bike

Stetina grew up inside the sport. He is the son of former U.S. national champion and two-time Coors Classic winner Dale Stetina, and the nephew of Wayne Stetina, another national champion and Olympian. Brothers whom Stetina describes as the “dynamic duo” of American racing in the 1970s and 1980s. And by the time U.S. road cycling surged in popularity during the Lance Armstrong years, Stetina was already firmly on a path of his own.

He rose quickly through the American development system, earning national-team selections and spending his formative years racing in Europe. As an under-23, he got a taste of the yellow leader’s jersey at the Tour de l’Avenir, an early signal of his promise as a climber and stage racer. By his early twenties, Stetina had reached the WorldTour, carving out a long career with Garmin-Sharp, BMC Racing Team and Trek-Segafredo, valued for his ability to survive deep into the mountains on cycling’s biggest stages.

His WorldTour years were defined less by headline wins than by trust and durability. He raced all the Grand Tours and was a key mountain lieutenant in Ryder Hesjedal’s 2012 Giro d’Italia victory. And when opportunities did arise, he showed his own depth with podiums and top-tens at the Tour of California, Tour of Utah and Tour of Colorado.

Some less-glorious moments reshaped him just as deeply, he says, pointing to a horrific crash in the Basque Country, which left him with a broken leg and a long road back.

All told, Stetina enjoyed a solid, respected WorldTour career, one that ended not through necessity but opportunity. Rather than step away quietly or chase marginal contracts, he built a future in the then-little-known world of gravel racing, helping to define what the discipline could become.

"When I left the WorldTour, I didn't retire. I said, This is a discipline in its own right, and I’m going to come race it. It deserves to have its own professionals," Stetina recalls.

In 2019, gravel racing was still a loosely defined space. There were must-do events and some personalities, but little structure and no clear professional pathway. Stetina built his own, coining the term “privateering” to describe a one-man operation that combined racing, sponsorship, logistics and promotion.

“I based my career on gravel,” he says. “I was going to sink or swim with this ship.”

And the leap was rewarded on the results sheet. Stetina emerged as one of gravel racing’s early standard-bearers, winning Traka in Europe and the Crusher in the Tushar in the U.S., while consistently featuring at the front of events like Unbound Gravel, Belgian Waffle Ride California and Leadville. In a discipline still defining itself, he proved that a full-time gravel career was not only possible, but sustainable and fulfilling.

Six years on, the landscape is barely recognisable. Gravel racing is global, hyper-competitive and increasingly professionalised. For Stetina, that evolution has been both a gift and a mirror.

“I came to gravel to have a more fulfilling and fun experience,” he says. “And I almost feel like I’m back in the WorldTour that I left. That’s not a negative thing, but it’s so high-performance now. It extended my career even more than I ever thought possible.”

It also delayed the reckoning. “I never really did retire,” he says. “I just transitioned disciplines. Now it's time."

Why now?

Asked what made this the moment, Stetina pauses. “It’s a lot of things,” he says. “It’s complicated.”

Age plays its part, as does motivation. The hunger that once defined him no longer burns in quite the same way. “The endless pursuit of another race, another performance; it’s starting to get tiresome and not fulfilling,” he says. “Winning doesn’t mean the same anymore.”

Family plays a factor, too. “A big part of it is not having the bike dictate every angle of family life,” Stetina explains. “The bike would have to come on every family vacation. That’s not fair to my wife, to my kids growing up. I want to be more present at home.”

And then there is the sport itself. Gravel, the space that once gave him freedom, has evolved into something far sharper-edged. “I love it,” he says. “But it’s changed from what it was in 2019.”

This year was always meant to be the end. And for his last hoorah, Stetina had planned his 2025 season around one final target: the Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb.

The Mount Washington climb is short, brutal and steeped in American bike racing history. Contested and won by Tour de France veterans, Olympians and national champions such as Tyler Hamilton, Tom Danielson, Ned Overend and Jeannie Longo, the event covers just 7.4 miles (11.9 km) but climbs 4,678 feet (1,425 m) at an average 12.6% gradient, with ramps that pitch up to 22%.

His father, Dale, held the record on the climb for 17 years. When organisers reset the record books in 2022 after paving the final gravel section, Stetina saw an opportunity to reconnect with that family legacy.

“My overriding desire was to do it all right, one last time,” he says. “So that I could put myself to pasture at peace.”

He committed fully. “I went all in this year,” Stetina says, from dieting and altitude camps to bike modifications. “I wanted no regrets.”

There was also the hope that Mount Washington might provide a "beautiful moment" to close this competitive chapter: a victory, a final high point, a place to announce his retirement.

But the beautiful moment never came. Illness struck at the wrong time, and on race day Stetina could only watch as his close friend Ian Boswell rode away and claimed the win.

“This was one of the poorest seasons of my career,” he admits. “Something went wrong every race. And Mount Washington was the epitome of that. I put so much into that record and that family legacy. Looking back, I was trying to control and write my own destiny, and no one gets to do that.”

That tension is what Feeding the Rat, the documentary that accompanies Stetina’s retirement announcement, is really about. The short film captures the reckoning that comes at the end of an athletic career: knowing when to let go and how much purpose to attach to performance.

For Stetina, the bike has been his career, his community, his second life partner, and he admits he is nervous about what comes next.

One Last Lap

“I’m nervous,” Stetina says plainly. “When you retire as an athlete, it can be a midlife crisis.”

After more than two decades of measuring life in training blocks, race calendars and marginal gains, he is acutely aware of what can happen when that structure disappears overnight. “When this is all you’ve done since you were 16, you need to put that intensity somewhere else,” he says. “And if you don’t, you can spiral.”

That awareness has shaped the way he is choosing to step away. Rather than draw a hard line under his racing career, Stetina is opting for a long, deliberate exit. One that allows space to adjust, reflect and redirect. “I like the long tail,” he explains. “I think when riders just stop, you see people get in trouble. They don’t know what’s next.”

Part of that process is a farewell tour: a limited series of races that matter to him personally. “There’s no pinnacle,” he says. “It’s just a collection.” Levi’s GranFondo in his hometown of Santa Rosa, Belgian Waffle Ride California, Mid South, Oregon Trail and Steamboat. All places that shaped his gravel career and still hold meaning beyond results.

“I’m really grateful that I get to do it on my terms,” Stetina says. “It’s so rare in this sport. Usually, the sport decides when you’re done.”

Alongside that gradual goodbye, he is stepping into a new role that keeps him close to the sport without being consumed by it. Stetina will extend his relationship with Canyon and several long-time partners, attending races not as a podium hunter but as a Spielertrainer, a player-coach helping guide the next generation of gravel professionals.

“I’m truly just retiring from the pursuit of pro podiums and being a professional athlete and what that entails,” he says. "I want to keep going to these events and explore them in different ways. Maybe sometimes I’ll be quick, but that’s not the objective.”

The motivation now lies in helping others navigate a world he helped build. “When I started in gravel, there wasn’t a formula,” he says. “Now it’s a thing, which is awesome, but there’s this whole subset of younger pros who don’t know how to do it yet.”

Drawing on his WorldTour background and years of privateering, Stetina hopes to help younger riders learn not just how to race, but how to build a sustainable career.

"At this point, I feel like I've had a Master's in sports marketing just from having to privateer...so I'm going to help these young talents truly excel, especially Canyon's current and soon-to-be-announced new signings," he shares.

Still, the habits of a lifetime do not disappear overnight. “It’s weird,” he admits. “Even today, I went out and did a really hard ride, because it’s fun, but it’s also a habit. But I’m done living for speed on the bike, you know?"

It always seemed inevitable, and now it has finally happened – in the space of a few frustrated business meetings, the course of what is arguably the most important gravel race in the UK has taken a major and irrevocable steer.

You may have seen the news earlier this week that the British Gravel Championships will be run, or at least overseen, by British Cycling from now on. The original organiser, Red On Sports, has walked away from the event after failing to agree terms with BC, and while it could continue to run its own separate championships, Red On understandably decided that having two competing events (and champions) is not in anyone's best interests.

Contracts, tendering processes, money – this wasn't what gravel was supposed to be about, was it?

The unfortunate truth is that it's not easy to run any major event without money poking its ugly nose in. Even at club level you'll need to pay levees to cover insurance, while for those who work for events companies such as Red On Sports or Life Time, which runs Unbound and the Life Time Grand Prix series in the US, it's how they put food on the table.

So does this mean the so-called spirit of gravel is on its way out, if indeed it ever really existed? I would argue not – although when it comes to racing, that spirit tends to dissipate on a par with how big the event is. Take the UCI World Championships, with its road WorldTour protagonists universally riding bikes with five figure swing-tags around courses designed to satisfy any number of business concerns.

Then again, take the Tour Divide. This ultra-bikepacking event, which bisects the USA from north to south, is a completely different offering to the UCI Worlds. No entry fees or qualifications, no prizes, no support, no fancy jersey for the winner and no specific bike requirement. And yet, if you exist in the gravel sphere, you might even consider this the event with more cachet.

When it comes to what most of us think of as the spirit of gravel, Tour Divide's 'come one, come-all' approach ticks almost every box.

Tour Divide is still a race though, with winners, losers and an extremely arduous 4,400km parcours. Perhaps gravel's true spirit lies well away from finish lines and bib numbers, and can instead be found in the world of group rides, solo rides, and phone pictures of landscapes and friends with bikes leaning against gates, trees and bridges.

The onlookers who argue that Britain has no 'real gravel', or that gravel bikes are just glorified 90s mountain bikes, or a cyclo-cross bike badged differently, are missing the point, because this is the beauty of the 'discipline'. A gravel ride can encompass any surface, from tarmac, to muddy singletrack, canal towpaths to the one we all see in our dreams – that famous 'champagne gravel'.

What's more, it can be undertaken on any kind of bike. Whether it's a brand new, fully fledged gravel machine, your old CX bike, or indeed a Nineties mountain bike. Turn up to the group gravel ride on any of these and nobody will look at you funny – and that, I'd say, is the spirit of gravel.

Having inaugurated and organised the British Gravel Championships for the past five seasons, Red On Sports has walked away from the event after British Cycling opted to begin running its own version.

Red On, which also organises The Gralloch gravel event, said in a statement that it had been unable to reach an agreement with British Cycling that "protects the integrity, ambition, and sustainability of the Championships."

It added: "After choosing not to be involved during the British Gravel Championships' formative five years of growth and delivery, British Cycling is now looking to take the Championships forward under their own structure."

It went on to say it had failed to secure "key guarantees" from British Cycling that would ensure "fair and safe racing delivery, long-term [media] investment, racing for all age groups, and sustainable event growth".

Red On's Maximilian Wussler told Cycling Weekly this was largely due to age group racing that was set to be in 10-year brackets rather than the current five years, as well as difficulty funding things such as exclusive-use environments and control rooms, because of the loss of "50% of commercial rights".

Explaining the points about investment, Wussler said that BC had only offered Red On a one-year contract

"You can't invest in something if there's no guarantee of a future addition, because that's the idea of investing – you reap the rewards down the line," he said. "One would hope there's a realisation on British Cycling's front that it's going to require investment, and that can only happen if there's multi-year commitments."

Wussler added that Red On Sports had nevertheless been invited to take part in the tendering process as BC searched for an organiser, but said its plans were uninspiring and seemed like a "rinse and repeat" from other disciplines. "I think it's just more of the same, really. And I think a thriving discipline like gravel needs an approach that is appropriate for it, rather than a bit of a rinse and repeat from other disciplines."

"It's obviously not the news we were hoping to share at this point in the year," Wussler said. "It's been a long process, and it's come to what is, on the whole, a rather sad conclusion."

Red On could feasibly, and legally, continue to run its own version of the championships, but decided it would not make sense for riders or organisers.

"It would not be in anyone's interest for there to be two competing championships," Wussler said. "And that's also why, from the get-go, we've been very open to to working with British Cycling. In 2021 when the first event launched, and we did approach British Cycling about this, but at the time, it was not something they believed in or wanted to support.

"So obviously, over those sort of formative years, we made the investment and put in the time and effort and dedication to grow it," he said. "Now we're here five years later. It's a thriving discipline, and it's become a thriving discipline without British Cycling involvement. Obviously it was probably a bit of a turning point for British Cycling to say they want in."

Responding to Red On's statement, a British Cycling spokesman rejected the idea that there would be any issues over safety and fairness, saying in a statement:

“Gravel is an ever-growing and popular discipline, and we are excited to be expanding our delivery moving forward. We are currently out to tender for a sanctioned British Gravel Championships for the first time in 2026 with lots of interest from enthusiastic and knowledgeable event providers.

“We are committed to ensuring events work for everyone involved, from riders to event organisers, from volunteers to the wider cycling network, and this is central to our strategic work in modernising the sport. Fair and safe racing is paramount to our delivery of events across disciplines and is critical in our decision making when collaborating with event providers to deliver competition.”

For its part Red On remained optimistic about the future, Wussler said, with the imminent announcement of a new event, which would "essentially take The Gralloch-type format without the UCI brand to a venue in England".

"We've seen the success of The Gralloch and we're trying to bring that to more venues," he added. "And as we've seen with Dalby Forest and other venues we've looked at over the past, there's some beautiful gravel available across Britain."

The Life Time Grand Prix has announced its 2026 roster, with a cast of 22 men and 22 women hand-selected for the world’s premier endurance off-road series.

The field once again will feature top gravel and mountain bike talent from North America and around the world as the series continues to grow into an institution on the global cycling calendar. While other series have emerged, Life Time remains the biggest fish in the gravel pond.

A big change heading into the 2026 season was both an increase in the overall prize purse, with $590,000 in total winnings up for grabs, and a refined selection process. Before today, five men and five women were already guaranteed a spot in the 2026 roster by virtue of their top five finishes in the 2025 overall.

This includes the returning champions Sofia Gomez Villafañe, a former mountain bike Olympian and three-time Life Time Grand Prix winner, and Cam Jones, the first international winner of the men’s competition. Keegan Swenson will also be returning, with a marathon world championship under his belt, as will Melisa Rollins, who has shown that her potential is only growing in the off-road space.

Additionally, Griffin Hoppin and Ruth Holcomb earned their tickets to the series by winning the U23 series this year, providing a much-needed boost to the series' credentials as a viable platform to develop American talent in true professional, international competitions.

As for the other spots? Here is the breakdown of who made the cut, what that means for the series, and who might be in the mix for the key wildcard places:

Klöser, Migón, and Aguirre bring international talent to the women’s field

On the women’s side, the big new additions are, first and foremost, the past two champions of Unbound Gravel: Rosa Klöser, the 2024 champion, and Karolina Migoń, the 2025 champion.

Both riders are from Europe, which is a significant development for the women, as the female side of the LTGP has typically skewed more toward North American riders than the men's field. This year, with the inclusion of those two Europeans as well as South African Hayley Preen, Frenchwoman Cecile Lejeune, Kiwi Samara Sheppard, and Australian Courtney Sherwell, the competition is suddenly much more global.

If Unbound is anything to go by, this should be a significant boon to the competitive balance of the women’s season-long battle. While Sofia Gomez Villafañe has won the last three Life Time Grand Prix editions, she last won Unbound in 2022, the only year she didn’t win the Grand Prix overall.

That being said, the North American contingent remains strong, with Sarah Sturm returning to the series, along with US national gravel champion Lauren Stephens, after a season away from the competition. Those riders, plus the likes of Cecily Decker, Lauren De Crescenzo, Melisa Rollins, and Gomez Villafañe, should deliver a fiercely competitive 2026 season.

2026 Life Time Grand Prix women’s roster

• Morgan Aguirre – 32, USA
• Lauren De Crescenzo – 35, USA
• Cecily Decker – 27, USA
• Maude Farrell – 34, USA
• Sofía Gómez Villafañe – 31, Argentina
• Stella Hobbs – 32, USA
• Ruth Holcomb – 22, USA
• Rosa Klöser – 29, Germany
• Sarah Lange – 34, USA
• Emma Langley – 30, USA
• Cecile Lejeune – 27, France
• Karolina Migoń – 29, Poland
• Paige Onweller – 36, USA
• Hannah Otto – 30, USA
• Hayley Preen – 27, South Africa
• Melisa Rollins – 30, USA
• Ruby Ryan – 24, USA
• Samara Sheppard – 35, New Zealand
• Courtney Sherwell – 37, Australia
• Alexis Skarda – 36, USA
• Lauren Stephens – 39, USA
• Sarah Sturm – 36, USA

Merit and youth bolster the 2026 men's roster

While the Life Time Grand Prix has had a successful run in its first four seasons, one of the nagging criticisms was it did a poor job of giving young riders the best opportunity to survive. From the outside, the vague selection process and the tendency to favour established names from other disciplines rather than homegrown talent were consistent questions.

In 2026, it seems as if the organisation is making a concerted effort, as the roster seems to be oriented much more toward emerging talent as well as recent gravel and mountain bike results. These moves were made to reinforce the series as a true professional sports league rather than a series that puts selection value on things like social media following and pre-established stature.

The youth additions to the roster are a clear example of this revamped emphasis on merit, as Griffin Hoppin earned his way through this year's tough season-long competition, Kyan Olshove found his way on the podium at a Life Time Grand Prix stop and a top-10 at another one, and Cobe Freeburn has consistently been touted as one of the biggest talents in the gravel pipeline in the United States. All three of those athletes are also under the age of 25.

Additionally, of the international selections, five of the six new riders from overseas are 26 and under. Add to that this season's breakout star Cam Jones, who is only 25, and the international talent is magnitudes younger than in previous years. Once again, this is a huge stride Life Time is making to craft a series that is significantly more professional and global.

• Matthew Beers – 31, South Africa
• Zach Calton – 28, USA
• Cobe Freeburn – 24, USA
• Griffin Hoppin – 22, USA
• Brendan Johnston – 34, Australia
• Cameron Jones – 25, New Zealand
• Andrew L’Esperance – 34, Canada
• Bradyn Lange – 26, USA
• Payson McElveen – 32, USA
• Simen Nordahl Svendsen – 26, Norway
• Kyan Olshove – 23, USA
• Cole Paton – 28, USA
• Simon Pellaud – 33, Switzerland
• Marc Pritzen – 26, South Africa
• Torbjørn Røed – 28, Norway
• Andreas Seewald – 34, Germany
• Felix Stehli – 25, Switzerland
• Anton Stensby – 24, Norway
• Jan Stöckli – 26, Switzerland
• Caleb Swartz – 26, USA
• Keegan Swenson – 31, USA
• Alexey Vermeulen – 31, USA

The battle for the wild cards

The 2026 season will see a return of the wild card process, in which three men and women will be added to the roster after Unbound Gravel based on cumulative results at the first two races of the series.

With the restructuring of the selection process, the biggest name who will presumably be in this bucket is Dylan Johnson. The prominent YouTuber and a top-10 finisher at Unbound in 2024, had terrible luck in 2025, with his season disrupted when he was hit by a truck and seriously injured. While he managed to miss only one race, it no doubt caused a massive disruption in his season. The new selection criteria explicitly state only results from the past year are considered, so that meant Johnson was out of luck, especially with his major early-season goal, Midsouth, disrupted by wildfires.

Nevertheless, he knows what it will take to earn his way into the series in 2026.

Potential men’s wild card contenders:

• Dylan Johnson
• Russell Finsterwald
• Michael Garrison
• Matthew Wilson

The big name missing on the women's roster is Haley Smith. Smith, an Olympian from Canada, is the only other woman besides Sofia Gomez Villafañe to have won the series and she's been a consistent face in the field. However, besides a big win at the Migration Gravel Race, 2025 was a below-par year for the Canadian. Still, it is a surprise to see her not on the roster. It is also another testimony to the depth of the 2026 selections.

With Smith, there is no question she can be in the mix for a wild-card nod. The bigger question will be, does she want to try? The gravel calendar is broad, and after a few seasons in the Grand Prix, some riders, like Peter Stetina and Heather Jackson, have left the series behind for a schedule on their own terms.

Potential women’s wild card contenders:

• Haley Smith
• Dani Shrosbree
• Ellen Campbell
• Michaela Thompson

I knew Gravel Burn was going to be a tough race. As a South African, I have a deep understanding of the terrain, not to mention the harsh, hostile environment and weather; yet, nothing could have prepared me for what unfolded over seven days in the Great Karoo.

At dinner before Stage 1 and even in the start chute, I overheard riders chatting about their training camps and recon rides conducted on the route – something I couldn’t do, being based in the UK. Some of you may recall reading about my Gravel Burn bike check from last month. I put a lot of thought into my bike and equipment setup, testing numerous tyre configurations with various inserts. The terrain I used for testing was far from tame – I did a lot of training on rocky trails, mountain bike trails, open and exposed gravel roads, not forgetting sand. There’s a lot of sand in the South Downs over summer.

I felt confident with my equipment and my fitness, but there was one thing I couldn’t train for here in the Surrey Hills: the duration and technicality of the descents. Even if I managed a training camp in South Africa and spent time on the exact route and descents, the level of erosion from just one hour of heavy rain would render the terrain unrecognisable. I guess what I needed was long descents where I could test my equipment compliance and body fatigue.

There was a lot of washboard (corrugated ridges) on the route, which was hard and energy-sapping on the body, especially for someone like me at 60kg. I wouldn’t say I expected archetypal European or American gravel for 800km, but I did at least think there'd be periods of smoother stretches. There wasn't much of that, I'm afraid. See, African gravel is on a whole other level and needs to be respected; otherwise, you’ll pay for your transgressions in punctures, broken wheels, a wrecked body, tears, and a dwindling bank balance.

While my Cannondale SuperX Lab71 did the job, and I feel many of my equipment and component choices were correct, in retrospect, the complete setup might have been too racy for the 800km route.

What did I get right?

The Avec Aer grips I fitted a few weeks before Gravel Burn were a Godsend. I spent most of the race in the drops, as this provided added control and grip, allowing me to utilise the cushioning of the grips when the terrain became really bumpy. They also helped on the really long descents. I highly recommend the Avec Aer grips for all gravel racers looking for improved control and comfort from the front end. I finished the race with no blisters or bruising on my hands.

A chain catcher is a non-negotiable on this terrain. Every day, riders would drop their chains and lose the group, resulting in hours spent in the wilderness, often against a headwind. Every day, I’d hear the chain catcher working – even with the narrow-wide SRAM X-Sync chainring and super-stiff direct-mount rear derailleur. The terrain was bumpy and relentless, and this simple addition prevented the chain from jumping off the chainring. This gave me the confidence to push through the corrugated sections and maintain the power.

The Wolf Tooth DEL Gravel Race pedals were a last-minute addition, but an upgrade that was worth every penny. It saved me a total of 100g for the pair compared to the Shimano XTR equivalent, and that was all I needed for the race. I used them for six of the seven stages, opting for the Look Keo Blade Carbon Ceramic Ti pedals for the tarmac-heavy Stage 5. While there were moments where rock strikes and flying debris were concerns, the Wolf Tooth pedals never let me down, providing an aerodynamic and supportive platform from which to pedal effectively. They are highly robust, nicely weighted for easy clipping in at the start, and durable enough to withstand the harsh African terrain. In fact, a post-race examination revealed a few scuffs but no damage whatsoever.

The SRAM Red XPLR AXS groupset is usually rock solid and reliable. The braking modulation and precision are unmatched, and the ergonomics proved exceptional over the unforgiving terrain. I did have one unusual issue on the morning of Stage 3, where the rear mech stopped working 20 minutes before the start. In fear and panic, I barreled down to the bike mechanic station and asked for help. To my surprise, Devon Katzen from SRAM South Africa (Cape Cycle Systems) warrantied the part, fitted it in five minutes, and sent me on my way. Devon is, without a doubt, one of the unsung heroes of the event, and many riders will agree with me.

My gearing was spot on. The 42T, 10-46T proved ideal for the route profile, with enough climbing gears for the steep, mountainous stages and plenty of top speed for fast tarmac-heavy days where speed was the priority. I considered a 44 or 46T, but the stock gearing was all I needed.

I'm super happy with my decision to use the Tacx Deva bottle cage. Bottle cages are often overlooked details, but a reliable option will keep your bottle secure and look after it. I didn't lose any bottles on the course, and although on one occasion the corrugations partially dislodged it, there was enough grip to prevent it from ejecting. I highly recommend the Tacx Deva bottle cage.

My USWE hydration pack was a game-changer. Not long ago, hydration packs were frowned upon by mountain bike marathon racers, but they’re now valuable for ultra-endurance stage races such as Gravel Burn. The 1.5-litre bladder coupled with my 700ml bottle was all I needed every day and ensured my hands stayed on the bars.

What did I get wrong?

Okay, I know – I got my tyre choice wrong. I think the tread pattern of the Vittoria Terreno T30 (previously called Terreno Dry) wasn’t suited ideally to the race, especially Stage 1, which was a mud bath. In hindsight, I’d have gone with a mixed gravel Vittoria Terreno T50 with reinforced sidewalls and 50mm width front/rear. The 47mm width was a good shout, but 50mm is probably the minimum width for Gravel Burn; extra volume will do wonders for boosting grip and comfort.

I punctured on Stage 3 and Stage 7, both times at the rear. Stage 3 was a 10cm sidewall tear, which necessitated replacing the tyre completely; as a result, I lost a lot of time. Stage 7 was a small gash that I managed to plug and nurse to the next aid station. So what went wrong with my choices? Well, I wanted 47mm tyres from the start as this width proved the best in terms of plushness, grip, speed and durability. The only Terreno model that met this criterion was the Terreno Dry with Gravel Race construction and limited sidewall protection. Looking back, I should have opted for the new Gravel Endurance construction of the Terreno T30, and gone with either the 45 or 50mm width options and boosted sidewall protection - but that's hindsight for you. My choice had nothing to do with weight savings but rather the feel, grip and ride quality afforded by the 47mm width. I raced the majority of the Gravel Burn with a 50mm Specialized Tracer up front and 47mm Vittoria Terreno Dry at the rear.

In retrospect, I would have kept the Vittoria AirLiner inserts, too. I eventually refitted my inserts for Stages 4 onwards, and they made a massive difference in terms of comfort and confidence on the downhills. While inserts numb communication and ride feel, there’s more to be lost by ditching them. Make sure you experiment and find the right inserts that work for you.

What I would change

I've given this a lot of thought over the past week, particularly during the flight home. And while the SuperX Lab71 was a pleasure on the climbs and false flats, I felt I was working harder than I needed to on the corrugated flats and technical descents – and this, I believe, contributed to compound fatigue later in the week. I wasn’t alone in this regard, and there were many riders in the same boat as me. I made some adjustments as the week unfolded, but there were certain things I couldn’t change. The SuperX platform is not compatible with a suspension fork, and there’s only so much wider tyres and inserts can do.

I believe that for a race like Gravel Burn, the benefits of a suspension fork are undeniable – and the added weight is compensated for by increased control and comfort. I think a 30mm RockShox Rudy fork with perfectly set compression and rebound is a good starting point, as it will help take the edge off and lessen fatigue. It will also ensure greater control, keeping the front wheel accurately tracking with the surface. This, coupled with a large-volume tyre with inserts, I reckon, will be a popular choice next year.

Would I have been more comfortable on a gravel bike with a suspension fork? Yes, of course. Would I have finished higher up in the GC? That’s debatable and difficult to quantify. I think I would have been less fatigued and perhaps had a little more to give on the final stage, had everything gone smoothly and I hadn't punctured. So while the SuperX Lab71 got me through one of the toughest gravel stage events on the calendar, I’m sure I could have got away with riding a Cannondale Topstone – the geometry isn’t too different, it’s just a little heavier. Not only does it feature rear suspension and a 40mm Lefty Oliver fork, but it also accommodates tyres of up to 52mm. It might just be the ideal weapon for Gravel Burn - perhaps I should test this theory next year?

I also mentioned in my pre-event bike check that the Canyon Grail didn't quite hit the spot for me, but I reckon the Grail CF 8/CF 9 with RIFT or even a Ribble Ultra-Grit with suspension might have helped soften the rhythmical yet painfully perfect corrugations that played on repeat for seven days.

In the first days of November, Alexis Cartier finally rolled up to his doorstep in Montreal, a little leaner, a little dustier and with ten thousand miles in his legs. He’d been gone since April, spending the last seven months racing, camping and pedalling his way across a continent.

“That was a cool ride,” he says, with the understatement of someone describing a weekend spin. “It was a bit more than I planned: about 10,000 miles, 16,000 kilometres, of bikepacking in seven months.”

Ten thousand miles. That's about twice what the average cycling enthusiast logs in a year; roughly the distance from Montreal to Buenos Aires; or, in Cartier’s case, the distance from California to Kansas, to Colorado, to Wisconsin, to Arkansas, and finally back to Quebec.

For Cartier, 34, this wasn’t some bucket-list bike tour or sabbatical adventure; it was his commute.

The Canadian racer spent 2025 contesting the Life Time Grand Prix, America’s premier off-road race series, which spans seven months, six events and the width of the United States. He entered as a Wild Card selection, one of a handful of athletes invited to take on the series without guaranteed spots, but rather than amassing air miles between start lines, Cartier chose to ride to every single one.

Riding with purpose

Cartier’s idea wasn’t born out of wanderlust, but conviction. “I wanted to challenge the environmental impact of bicycle racing,” he says. “That was the plan when I quit road cycling. I felt there was an opportunity to do that in gravel.”

He had tested the concept in 2024, riding between a few smaller events to see if it was even feasible to combine racing with self-supported travel.

“Last year, I got better at bikepacking and tried to train at the same time,” he says. “It was fun, but I realised performance takes a bit of a hit. Still, it was no less fun. In a race, there's still a race a little further back, even if you're not all the way in the front."

When Life Time released its 2025 calendar, Cartier noticed the dates were spaced out in a way that made it possible for him to link them all by bike.

“It was the biggest project I could do,” he says. "But it's also really simple. You just do those races and link them by bike. Not that much logistics in advance: every day, you just map it and go.”

Life on the road

Cartier’s season began on the Pacific Coast, where he landed in San Francisco, California, and rode south to the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey. From there, he turned east and started crossing the continent, a journey that would take him through deserts, plains and high mountains before looping back north for one last cross-continental trek between Arkansas and Quebec.

After finishing Unbound Gravel in Kansas, Cartier boarded his only flight of the season, returning to Canada to stay within U.S. visa limits and to race the Canadian Gravel Nationals, where he finished eighth.

Two months separated Unbound from the next Life Time Grand Prix stop in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, so Cartier spent that midseason gap the best way he knows how: on the bike.

He rode out to the Great Divide, tackling a portion of the cross-continental trail with his girlfriend. He also swung by Bozeman, Montana, for the Belgian Waffle Ride, which was conveniently right off the Divide.

Beyond that “special” break, Cartier was mostly alone, tackling long miles before setting up his tent for the night.

“I carried a good tent because it’s my house,” he says. “It’s sturdy, a bit heavy, but I can get rained on or have wind and it stands up.”

Occasionally, when heat or fatigue demanded it, he checked into a hotel. “Maybe once or twice a week,” he says. “But honestly, I sleep better in the tent now. It’s my little bubble.”

Solitude became part of the rhythm. His screen time plummeted; he planned routes on his phone but otherwise read on an e-reader or simply sat outside his tent, watching the light fade.

“You live with the natural light,” he says. “When the sun goes down, you go to sleep. When the sun comes up, you ride.” And eat whenever you can.

" I've been eating a lot, that's for sure. I just eat all the time."

One bike for racing, commuting...even Leadville

In a year defined by self-sufficiency, Cartier’s equipment told its own story. His main companion was a 3T Ultra gravel bike, modified for the demands of full-time living. He outfitted it with Old Man Mountain racks and Arkel panniers, a nod to his past life as a designer for the Quebec-based bag maker.

“They’re fully waterproof and super solid,” he says. “It's fun, too, because I’m riding some of my own designs.”

Fully loaded, the bike weighed close to 100 pounds. “Heavy, but really stable,” as Cartier puts it, carrying a tent, two sleeping bags, two inflatable pillows, a small stove, extra clothes, and spares.

"Yes, two bags and pillows: to get really cozy, nice and comfortable because it got freezing sometimes," he says.

At most races, he lined up on the same machine he’d just ridden hundreds or thousands of miles to reach. But some events demanded improvisation. For Little Sugar, the mountain-bike race in Arkansas, Cartier rented a bike, something almost unheard of among professionals.

“I hadn’t raced mountain bikes in about fifteen years,” he says. “But it came back.”

At Leadville, one of the most punishing courses in the series, he raced on his gravel bike paired with a short-travel suspension fork and 650b x 2.4” tyres.

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” he laughs. “Those bikes aren’t made for suspension, but it worked. The geometry is a bit weird, but I could fit the tyres, and it was fine. Still really bumpy, though.”

That adaptability and the willingness to race with whatever equipment he had became central to his ride-to-the-race ethos. Training followed the same philosophy. Instead of structured sessions on a clean bike and smooth roads, Cartier did his intervals on a machine loaded with camping gear, racks and bags as he pedalled toward the next start line.

Better for the environment, perhaps, but not great for performance

Cartier never expected to dominate the results sheet, but he did expect to stay competitive. Early in the season, he discovered that the constant travel, the fatigue of living outdoors, and the mental effort of daily logistics made racing at his best nearly impossible.

“I thought I could train more and do intervals, but there’s stress living outside and planning stuff," Cartier says "It doesn’t seem like much day to day, but it’s always there, so you’re not in the mindset to go smash yourself because you need to keep some [energy] for decision making and surviving out there."

He still rode close to professional training volumes, around 25 hours a week, but the quality suffered.

“I tried really hard at the beginning of the season to get ready,” he says. “When I saw the results weren’t there, I focused on keeping my mental state steady.”

By midseason, Cartier had accepted that performance wasn’t the measure of success this time, but that he wouldn't try it again next season.

“I really wanted to do it,” he adds, “but I’m still a bike racer at heart, and the racing side was sidelined this year.”

The tradeoff, though, was seeing more of the United States in seven months than most people will in a lifetime. His favourite stretch? “Montana,” he says. “The riding on the Divide trail was amazing, and I had my girlfriend with me to share it.”

The least favourite came in May. “Kansas,” he says, laughing. “It was tornado season. Some days or nights, there’s no way you can sleep outside. The rain goes sideways, and lightning is everywhere. One night, there was a tornado alert, and I was in the corner of a hotel bathroom watching the radar. The tornado went about ten miles from the hotel.”

What surprised him most was the kindness he encountered.

“People are really friendly,” he says. “Maybe you’re treated differently when you have bags on your bike. You look like a traveller, not like you’re just working out.”

Looking ahead

Now home in Montreal, Cartier says he’s not planning a second lap of the continent. Next season, he hopes to spend more time training, less time travelling. He's also eying Europe.

I’m looking at a loop there around The Traka,” he says. “And I’m really looking into the Tour Divide.”

Still, there’s no denying the satisfaction of having finished what he started.

“I really liked my life riding everywhere,” Cartier says. “It’s so simple.”

Two minutes after leaving the start line of the Big Sugar Classic, I was riding towards a line of cars at 25 mph. The riders in front of me were hopping curbs in order to avoid the vehicles, with one rider nearly sliding out on the rain-slick asphalt. We were turning left onto the highway, across four lanes of traffic and towards more oncoming cars. This was supposedly the “neutral zone" of the race, but already we were racing for our lives.

In the confusion, the left side of the peloton had slipped past the pace car, and suddenly, riders were sprinting off the front of the field. In any other race, they’d be disqualified: they’d cut the course, nearly ridden into oncoming traffic, passed the lead vehicle, and launched attacks in the so-called neutral zone.

But no penalties came, so the race went on. Moments later, a race moto drifted off the back of the lead vehicle and into the peloton. Riders hesitated, unsure whether they were overtaking an official race vehicle or just trying to stay upright. By the time the moto lurched forward again, we were already barreling toward a roundabout.

When coming into a roundabout at 25 mph, which side would you choose? Neither side was faster since the race course continued straight. The race moto turned down the left side of the roundabout, so, naturally, we followed what we assumed was a race vehicle. Surely the race moto knew which way to go...

Then: chaos. Riders slammed on their brakes and skidded through the corner. A car – not a race vehicle, but a pedestrian car – sat in the oncoming lane of the left side of the roundabout. We swerved past it, missing it by just a few inches. Thankfully, we made it through safely, but I have seen riders life-flighted to the hospital from this exact scenario.

We hit the first section of gravel at 35 mph, making it through shaken but unscathed (unless you count the screaming pain in our legs). I saw a few crashes throughout the race, but 99% of them were the riders' fault. Most of the time, riders had simply come into a corner too hot.

The aid station, on the other hand, was one of the more dangerous I have experienced. After a technical and off-camber gravel descent (where some of the contenders decided to attack), we raced through the aid station at 30 mph with friends, family and soigneurs scattered across the road. I later heard from my family (who were at the aid station) that they hadn’t seen any Life Time organisers or race officials at the aid station. They just drove in on a steep gravel road and only knew where to go by following everyone else.

There were people standing on both sides of the road, which, from a rider’s perspective, is incredibly dangerous. Feeding is typically only done from the right-hand side of the road (unless you’re racing in a country that rides on the left-hand side of the road) to keep things smooth and safe for everyone. I was amazed to not see any crashes, especially since we were racing past clueless spectators at such high speeds.

Following the aid station, a steep grass climb helped split the field. From there, it was full-on racing for almost an hour before the thunderstorms rolled in. With around 10 miles to go, the rain started falling, and a few minutes later, we were racing through an absolute downpour. I could see the dark clouds in the distance, and it wasn’t long before the lightning was on top of us.

I’ve been in many sporting scenarios where the game/race/match was stopped because of lightning. I don’t know exactly what Life Time’s policy is for a lightning-caused neutralisation, but I was shocked this wasn’t it. At times, the lightning must have been less than five miles away, and we were racing across the wide open fields of Arkansas.

With a few miles to go, the rain still pelting down, we turned left onto a highway lined with hundreds of cars. All vehicle traffic was stopped in the right lane of a two-lane highway, so our group rode on the left side of the road into oncoming traffic. Thankfully, the oncoming lane seemed to be closed, but the oncoming traffic was still present, consisting of hundreds of age-group riders who were embarking on the outbound part of the course.

So there we were, racing on the wrong side of the highway in a thunderstorm, avoiding vehicles on our right and oncoming riders on our left. I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as we turned off that nightmare of a road.

There were only five miles to go once we turned off the gravel for good, and then we only had to dodge puddles on the paved roads back into Bentonville. The final climbs were tough but safe, and the final sprint was thankfully clear of all traffic.

Life Time has done an incredible job growing the Grand Prix to what it is today, but I fear for rider safety in races like these.

The organisers had told us the day before the Big Sugar race that a final decision regarding the race distance would be made at 6:30 a.m. With severe thunderstorms in the forecast, they were considering shortening the Elite races from 100 miles to 50.

On race morning, 6:30 a.m. came and went, so we all rolled up to the start line with our pockets full of gels, mentally ready for a 100-mile race. 25 minutes before the Elite Men’s start, Life Time sent out an email that the race would be shortened to 50 miles. Most riders were already on the start line, warming up, or doing their final race preparations – they weren’t checking their email.

There were more than a few riders who only learned about the course change through word of mouth. And because it was so close to the start time, some riders didn’t even have the 50-mile course downloaded to their bike computer.

When it came to the race itself, the same inconsistency applied to the safety of the neutral rollout. Why did the moto lead us into oncoming traffic? Is it illegal to pass the lead vehicle? If so, why were those riders never penalised?

If you never punish those who break the rules, they will continue to break them over and over again.

Of course, without Life Time, gravel wouldn’t have the dominating status that it has today. While other disciplines are struggling to stay afloat, gravel races are selling out in minutes. These events are receiving thousands of entries, and they still have a waitlist that is twice as long.

I loved racing the Big Sugar Classic. At times, the course was sketchy and a bit scary, but it was super fun. I would go and race it again in a heartbeat, and I recommend it to anyone who loves hard gravel racing. And clearly, Life Time is doing something right, but at every race, I hear grumblings from riders about sketchy course features, less-than-pro riders in the elite fields, and other rider safety concerns.

On one hand, I get it. People will complain about anything, and gravel racing is unpredictable. I’m sure there are people in the world who complain about Mother Theresa.

Yet, on the other hand, these are professional gravel racers who fly around the world to race their bike in every condition imaginable. When I hear 20 riders saying the same thing about a sketchy neutral zone, that is when I know that it’s gone too far. Complaining about unpredictable weather is one thing; racing into oncoming traffic in the neutral zone? That is something that needs to be addressed and fixed immediately. Don’t wait until someone gets hurt.

'Tis the season — registration season that is! If you haven't planned out your 2026 cycling season yet, you'd best get to it because the biggest gravel events are selling out fast.

To make things a little easier on you, you can find some of the biggest events of the gravel calendar, their event dates and registration details below.

Get ready, set, register!

Events in North America

Unbound Gravel

Registration: Unbound is a lottery-only event. The lottery for all distances opens November 1 and remains open through the 15th. The lottery winners will be notified on November 21.
Event date: May 29 - May 31, 2026
Location: Emporia, Kansas

Unbound Gravel is a mass-start event held in the Tallgrass Prairie and Flint Hills around Emporia, Kansas, in the middle of the United States. With five race distances on offer and five thousand participants, Unbound has become the world’s marquee gravel event.

The famous 200-mile course is a true test of endurance, self-sufficiency and equipment. In addition to needing to fuel oneself for 11+ hours of riding, the sharp flint rocks are notorious for slicing tyres and dashing podium aspirations. Along the way, riders also need to contend with the undulating terrain, exposed sun-baked roads, headwinds and, if at all wet, tyre-sucking mud.

For those seeking the ultimate challenge, there's the 350-mile option called the XL. There are also 25-mile, 50-mile and 100-mile options.

Due to high demand, the event organisers cannot accommodate everyone who wishes to participate. Therefore, a random selection process determines who will be allowed to participate in the 2026 event. When registration opens, you're entered into a lottery. Those selected to participate in Unbound 2026 will be notified on November 21.

SBT GRVL

Registration: Now open. Closes October 31.
Event Date: une 27-28, 2026
Location: Steamboat Springs, Colorado

SBT GRVL has gone through an odyssey of sorts over the last few years. Outcries from local ranchers forced the race to dramatically alter its course in 2024, before it had to shift again and reschedule in 2025. After two years of upheaval, however, the race finally seems to have some stability, returning to downtown Steamboat Springs in 2026 with pro and amateur races.

The race is divided into four distances, with the Black course hosting the weekend's racing. Separate pro men's and women's starts will precede the amateur racers, while the other courses will be considered rides focusing on recreational participation.

With a return to normalcy, SBT GRVL hopes to recapture its position as the second-largest race in America after a step back in 2025, when it had to pivot to a unique split format. Surely, many riders will be happy to see the tried-and-true format return and will be back in Steamboat this June, even if the calendar remains busy at the beginning of summer.

The Belgian Waffle Ride Series

BWR Arizona: Registration open
Event date: February 28, 2026
Location: Cave Creek, AZ

BWR California: Registration open
Event date: May 3, 2026
Location: Del Mar, CA

BWR Utah: Registration open
Event date: June 16, 2026
Location: Cedar City, UT

BWR Montana: Registration open
Event date: June 20, 2026
Location: Bozeman, MT

The Belgian Waffle Ride is now entering its 14th season and has settled into its position as the second biggest off-road (or unroad, as they say) series in the United States behind the Life Time Grand Prix

When Michael Marckx created the original Belgian Waffle Ride in 2011 in San Diego, California, he never aimed for it to be a gravel race. He modelled the race after the spirit of the Belgian Spring monuments, meaning long distances and tough, technical terrain. In lieu of cobblestones, however, Marckx routed his participants over dirt sectors.

As the years went on, Marckx and his participants embraced increasingly technical and off-road terrain. Today, BWR has become more and more centred on a group of four BWR-branded races that represent the “Quadruple Crown,” which provides an ample prize purse to those who manage to do well in all four of the premier BWR events.

That isn’t the full extent of the BWR races; the number changes as different events are added and cycled through, but they are the ones with the most attendees. Arizona, in particular, has been on the rise in recent years, offering a great course with gravel-bikeable singletrack, massive cacti, and fantastic weather.

There are several race distances on offer, but all promise plenty of "suffering over sinuous, bone grinding roads fraught with arduous climbs, mud, choking dust, leg-numbing sleet or heat and winds."

Mid South

Registration: November 1
Event Date: March 13-14, 2026
Location: Stillwater, Oklahoma

Mid South, formerly known as Land Run, is gearing up for its 13th edition, for a second year in a row (we’ll cover that later). It is considered by many to be the gravel season opener. Every year, more races in warmer places stake claim to that classification, but spiritually, it is a key harbinger for what is to come. With that growing status as one of the fundamental races of the global gravel calendar, thousands of racers make the trek to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to contest the infamous red-clay roads in either the 50-mile or 100-mile race.

While the racing within the peloton is fierce, perhaps the biggest competition, however, comes from the weather and the consequent road conditions. Every year, the race is defined by the state of Oklahoma’s red dirt. If dry, the red roads are hard-packed and fast. If wet, the clay turns to thick, soul-sucking mud that’s barely rideable and is known to destroy many a drivetrain.

Last year, the weather posed the ultimate challenge when extreme winds sparked wildfires the afternoon before the event, forcing its cancellation. While a one-in-a-hundred weather event won’t likely happen again anytime soon, it is a testimony to just how volatile it can be.

For next year, the race is evolving its schedule to include a separate elite 100-mile race on Friday afternoon. That means the event is now a full two-day affair, with a 50K ultra trail running event on Friday morning before the pro race in the afternoon. For everyone else, Saturday is the main event, with the 100-mile and 50-mile mass-start amateur races running as normal. What’s more, those with energy to burn can sign up to do "the double": a 50K running race followed by a 100-mile gravel bike race the following day.

Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder

Registration: Open now
Event Date: July 8-12, 2026
Location: Bend, Oregon, among other Oregon towns

The Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder entered the gravel fray in 2019 and quickly became one of the biggest stops on the gravel calendar as the five-day stage race throughout Oregon’s Cascade Mountains is a true one-of-one event and one of the key U.S. stops of the Gravel Earth Series.

The crux of the race is that it mixes bike racing with a travelling summer camp for adults. Every day, the peloton rolls out from the start and tackles a point-to-point stage before ending at a new campsite with everyone’s belongings sitting in huge tote bins, ready for everyone to set up their camp for the night before doing it again the next day. The hanging out between he races is almost as celebrated as the beautiful riding itself.

While the six editions since have been successful, the race is a massive lift for the organisers, stretching from the months of snow removal and roadwork before the event through the frantic five days of logistics during the race. Due to that strain, the race has come out and said it's on the clock. Only four editions of the events remain, so if you are interested in a tour of the Cascades, get on it while the getting is good.

Rebecca’s Private Idaho

Registration: Opens Novermber 17, 2025
Event Date: Labor Day Weekend, starting Thursday, September 3, 2026
Location: Ketchum, Idaho

Rebecca’s Private Idaho is the brainchild of celebrated endurance racer Rebecca Rusch. Nicknamed “The Queen of Pain”, Rusch a professional athlete, entrepreneur, filmmaker, author, philanthropist and firefighter. She's got seven world champion mountain bike titles to her name along with a long list of national and world titles in whitewater rafting, adventure racing, orienteering and cross-country skiing.

Yet, despite being a racer at heart, Rusch’s main reason behind launching her Rebecca’s Private Idaho gravel event in 2013 is showcasing her chosen home in central Idaho many, many miles of scenic, unpaved roads.

A challenging event, RPI is a race for some, a ride for others and a great party for everyone. It's well-recognized as one of the world’s largest and most popular gravel cycling races.

The event consists of a four-day Gravel stage race and several one-day gravel grinders ranging between 18 and 100 miles.

Barry Roubaix

Registration: Opens November 15, 2025
Event Date: April 18, 2026
Location: Barry County, Hastings, MI

The Barry Roubaix is one of the oldest gravel races in America and was started long before the gravel name had even taken hold.

“There’s a lot of hypotheticals out there as far as what really started ‘gravel’ racing in the area,” Scott TenCate, Barry Roubaix Co-Race Director, told Cycling Weekly.

"But here in Michigan we have very cold winters and coming into the spring, a lot of the mountain bikers couldn't ride the local trails, because we had the freeze thaw that was going on. And so they were finding alternatives to being able to ride single track and from the stories that I've heard, it kind of started to migrate towards ‘Let's ride some dirt, gravel, seasonal roads'...that kind of stuff."

Nowadays, the Barry Roubaix is among the biggest gravel races in the world with 4,000 cyclists traversing the rolling Michigan terrain every year.

The Barry Roubaix offers four course options ranging between 18 and 100 miles, $40,000 in awards cash and prizes and a big afterparty for all.

PARIS TO ANCASTER

Registration: Open now
Event Date: April 26, 2026
Location: Ancaster, Ontario

Paris to Ancaster is widely seen as the original Canadian gravel event, finishing in Ancaster, Ontario, and, as the name suggests, starting in Paris, Ontario. There are a few quirks: three distance options have different start points, but the main event is the “Centro” point-to-point race, about 110 kilometres, with a 50-50 split between pavement and dirt roads.

The race began in 1994 and has stayed close to its roots with a low entry fee, an emphasis on the local community, and a simple approach to bike racing. The race has modernised in some ways over the past few years, serving as the Canadian Gravel Nationals in 2023 and joining the UCI Gravel World Series last year.

APPALACHIAN JOURNEY

Registration: To be announced
Event Date: April 4, 2026
Location: Floyd, Virginia

The Appalachian Journey is a deep cut on the U.S. gravel calendar, a hidden gem that surely will appeal to a large swath of riders. The race is unique in its format: a two-person race in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Everyone who starts must have a buddy to ride with until the line. It is like Cape Epic, but on gravel.

That alone makes the race quite appealing but the course itself also stands out. The East Coast is not the most prolific gravel region; most of the big races are in the West or Midwest, but don’t let that deter you. The Journey is a beast of a ride, filled with over a thousand feet of climbing per every 10 miles of distance, and there's plenty of fast, technical downhill to keep you on your toes. It is truly a one-of-one opportunity to challenge yourself while also connecting with a friend in a beautiful place.

ENVE GRODEO

Registration: To be announced
Event Date: June 19-20, 2026
Location: Ogden, Utah

The Enve Grodeo is a non-race race that provides riders with a few things other “real” races can’t:

one) a glimpse into the inner workings of an important American bike brand;
two) a custom bike show;
three) a relaxed day of riding over incredible terrain.

Of course, the races don’t have the same beautiful franticness that most gravel races have, and for some, that is a deal breaker. But if you can see past it, it is an event that plugs into a facet of gravel enthusiasm that offers something different. That all being said, no one is stopping you from riding as hard as you can; there is room for that, too.

Events outside North America

THE TRAKA

Registration: registration is open but filling up fast
Event Date: April 29, 2026
Location: Girona, Spain

The Traka is Spain's —and maybe even Europe's —premier gravel race, offering 100k, 200k, and 360k route options and drawing some of the world's best gravel racers to Girona. The event may be promoted on its website as 'a non-competitive bike ride whose values are ethics, camaraderie and respect for the environment,' but with the attendance of top racers, there's no doubt that Traka is a competitive environment.

Girona, known for its pro cyclist residents and picturesque landscapes, is an ideal backdrop for this event. It has grown steadily in popularity due to its challenging courses and top-tier competitors.

DIRTY REIVER

Registration: Sold out, but waitlist spots are available
Event Date: April 24-26, 2026
Location: Kielder Forest, UK

UK's answer to American gravel racing comes in the form of the Dirty Reiver. Now in its 10th year, the Dirty Reiver is the biggest gravel event in the UK and is held in the Kielder and Wark Forest on the border of England and Scotland.

Big forests, lots of hills and endless kilometres of unpaved trails make the perfect location for a gravel event, which takes its participants to new vistas and areas of the wooded region year after year.

The mass-start event offers challenges of three lengths, 65km, 130km or 200km —all held exclusively off-pavement.

TRANSCORDILLERAS

Registration: Open now
Event Date: February 22-March 1, 2026
Location: Paipa, Boyacá, Colombia

Of all the continents that should have a lot of gravel events, South America should sit very high on the list, as the continent is filled with beautiful gravel roads criss-crossing the mountains and jungles of countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. It is a gravel cycling treasure trove, and the Transcordilleras gravel stage race in Colombia is a fantastic window into this world.

The race is an eight-day stage race that crosses several of Colombia’s most intense mountain ranges, with the ho,t humid weather of February in Colombia providing an interesting wrinkle for the riders. The race is self-supported, meaning you must bring everything you need each day, so it can also be a nice introduction to bikepacking or bikepack racing without the pressure of the clock ticking. Plus, the race takes care of finding a nice place to spend the night between the 1,000 kilometres of intense gravel stages. Former WorldTour riders like Laurens ten Dam and Annemiek van Vleuten have challenged themselves here, so you know it'll be a challenge.

RADL GRVL

Registration: Open now
Event Date: January 23, 2026
Location: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

In the past few years, RADL GRVL in Australia has replaced FNLD gravel at the top international event in the GRVL operation. The organisers of SBT GRVL have partnered with the Tour Down Under to build a U.S.-style gravel race around Adelaide, and the 112km course was an immediate hit with the race attracting several local pros and some of the favourites from the North American gravel scene.

Expect a hot race, with the date smack dab in the middle of the Australian summer. Nevertheless, the Australian cycling community is rich and has really embraced RADL GRVL as a staple of their calendar as the Tour Down Under grows year after year. Come for the gravel, stay for the WorldTour racing – that’s the idea.

THE GRALLOCH

Registration: Open now
Event date: May 16, 2026
Location: Galloway Forest Park, UK

Held just across the Scots border from the renowned Dirty Reiver and comparable in terrain, next year will see the third edition of the Gralloch. It features miles of double track scoring both deep forest and open countryside, and numerous challenging climbs offering some tremendous views.

Based on the town of Gatehouse of Fleet, this is a proper race and has always been part of the UCI's Gravel World Series, meaning the top 25% of finishers qualify to ride in the Gravel World Championship later in the year.

It's a prized win in its own right, too, with the men's event won this year by former WorldTour rider Petr Vakoc, taking the win in the men’s race after a close-fought battle with Matt Holmes, while Tessa Neefjes took the women’s race ahead of a slew of British favourites.

I grew up in South Africa and cut my teeth mountain biking and completing gruelling events such as the Absa Cape Epic. African gravel cycling is not the same as its European equivalent and a lot of international riders fail to grasp the realities of the terrain on the southern tip of Africa. As a native, not even I'm immune to the possibilities that lie beyond every corner and crest, but there are some things you can prepare for.

Sand. It's usually very deep and comes out of nowhere, sometimes going on for kilometres. Sniper thorns the size of conkers that hide in that very sand - stay away from any grass, too, as that's also a hotbed for smaller thorn clusters. Rocks as sharp as a knife, jagged enough to cut through your tyre, and hard enough to crack your frame and wheels in half. And I haven't even got to the weather and sauna-like temperatures. Wildlife? That's standard, mate. These animals are usually of the horned buck variety that make a habit of tackling you mid-stride like a rabid Eben Etzebeth. Fans of the Cape Epic will know this all too well.

You need to be prepared for all eventualities and that's why I've paid careful attention to my equipment over the past few months. Having secured an invite to Gravel Burn in March as one of only a handful of traditional media to ride and cover the event, I had time to choose my weapon of choice and eventually settled on the bike below.

In search of the perfect gravel bike platform

After testing a raft of the best gravel bikes over the past 12 months, I narrowed my choice down to three options, carefully weighing up the pros and cons of each platform. These bikes included the Specialized Crux, Cube Nuroad, and Canyon Grail - but none of them truly hit the spot, and I failed to connect with them in a gravel setting. This forced me to continue my search. As a fan of the current Cannondale SuperSix Evo platform, I thought long and hard about whether the newly launched SuperX would make the cut and decided to take a look at the bike in detail.

Securing a unit, any unit in fact, was going to take some haggling, but UK distributor Saddleback agreed to loan me the only display sample of the SuperX Lab71 on the island, which just so happened to be in my size, too. My stars were aligning, but I still needed to check if the geometry would work in an off-road setting and whether the setup and (brilliant) stock componentry needed any tweaks.

The SuperX factor

As expected, the SuperX immediately felt familiar to me. The geometry is not too far removed from its SuperSix brother, but a slightly more relaxed 71-degree head angle, longer chainstays (422mm), and a longer wheelbase (1,020mm) have added more control and stability to the platform. As the Lab71 model, it utilises Cannondale's Halo Series 0 carbon layup, which balances stiffness and compliance with a low system weight. The result is a responsive bike that climbs as well as it munches miles on the flats. Claimed weight without pedals and standard 40mm tyres is 7.2kg. I'll share the final weight of my build at the end.

Furthermore, the SRAM Red XPLR AXS 1x setup, comprising a 42T chainring and 10-46T cassette, delivers a gearing sweet spot that is good enough to crank up steep climbs and easily hit speeds of up to 50km/h on the flats without any hamster wheel-like cadence.

I also love the MOMO Cannondale SystemBar R-One bar. I'm a big fan of a one-piece bar-stem configuration, particularly for off-road riding, as this reduces the risk of the bar rotating in the stem when hitting a rut at speed. This has happened to me before on a descent, and it's frightening and could have easily led to serious injury. This integrated bar arrangement also provides a smidgeon of comfort and makes the package feel cohesive and communicative.

After just two rides, I was convinced the SuperX was the bike to use for the Gravel Burn. As mentioned above, it essentially feels and rides like my SuperSix, which is a huge win given how much time I spend racing and riding that bike. I made no changes to my fit and have even used the SuperX on a few chain gangs and long road rides, with road wheels fitted, of course. In terms of components, the bike was not perfect, and I needed to make a few minor changes to ensure it would deal with the unforgiving terrain and hostile features I'll be facing over the 800km/11,000m route.

What I kept, what I tweaked and why

Touchpoints are, without a doubt, the most essential aspect of any bike setup, as these three areas provide the comfort and support you require for long distances. Failure to ensure these areas meet your needs can result in extreme discomfort and even injury.

I kept the integrated SystemBar R-One handlebar and bar tape as is - it's just perfect, but I thought long and hard about long-term comfort and control, particularly hand fatigue after days of rough terrain and sphincter-clenching descents. To this end, I fitted a pair of 3D-printed Avec AerGrips - essentially flexible TPU shims that sit under the bar tape on your drops. These not only enhance ergonomics but also provide extra cushioning for the hands. They have proved to be a game-changer for me.

While I considered changing the stock Fizik Vento Antares 00 saddle, the more time I spent on it, the more I grew to appreciate the comfort and support it provides. I kept the saddle.

Pedals were a tricky decision. Should I go for a lighter, more aero road bike pedal or go for a more durable, mountain bike-style option? My heart said go with the road pedals, but my head said, 'mate, this is South Africa - don't be stupid.' I listened to my head and pulled out my trusty Shimano XTR M9100S, as these particular pedals are durable and relatively light, and able to withstand rock strikes comfortably. But then another idea popped into my head... The newly launched Wolf Tooth Del Gravel Race pedals. At 107g a pedal, they're over 100g lighter per pair than the XTRs and have a more aero design and slightly wider platform, so I popped those on.

The most crucial touchpoint is that of the tyre. Not only do tyres represent the only point of contact with the road, but they are also responsible for grip, speed and comfort. The Reserve 40/44 GR carbon wheels came wrapped in Vittoria Terreno T50 700x40c tyres as standard. One of the best gravel bike tyres, sure, but something I felt was way too narrow. I elected to keep the make and model, but upgrade to the Terreno T30 47c model with a semi-slick centre tread and knobbed shoulder. The extra volume afforded by this width allowed me to reduce the tyre pressure and ultimately improve speed, comfort and traction. I also tested the same Terreno T30 in both 50c front/rear and 50/47c front/rear formats, which I felt were too wide, especially since some of the stages are going to be fast. The tyres are topped up with Muc-Off sealant.

Owing to the reality of puncturing over the seven stages at Gravel Burn, I also experimented at length with tyre inserts. I fitted Vittoria Air-Liner gravel inserts, which let me reduce the pressures under 20psi front/rear but removed communication considerably, resulting in a numb wooden feel from the tyres. While these would potentially work if I were going to be racing an uber-technical one-day gravel crit course, I felt the added grams and poor feel would penalise me overall. So I ditched them but kept the high-flow Vittoria Multiway valves.

Other minor additions include a Framesandgear out-front computer mount and a chain keeper to ensure the chain stays put over rough terrain. Other hacks include taping a Pirelli PZero TPU smarttube, two CO2 cartridges and some heavy-duty tyre plugs to the toptube. I'm also going to be running just one bottle cage, offset by a USWE hydration pack.

The total system weight? 7.78kg.

I think I've managed to cover all bases with this setup and feel it represents a balanced build considering the race at hand. Whether or not my legs show up for the event, we'll have to wait and see, but for me, Gravel Burn is going to be more about the journey and less about the destination for a change.

There is some fantastic scenery to take in not to mention a chance to spot the Big Five (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino) in all their glory, so yes, of course, I'll give each stage the odd dig but I'll mainly look to enjoy the beauty of my home country, which I haven't visited since 2019.

What do you think of my Gravel Burn racing rig? Let me know in the comments below.

After finishing second in the two previous editions, Florian Vermeersch finally took victory in the elite men's race at the UCI World Gravel Championships in Maastricht on Sunday.

The Belgian rider dropped Dutchman, Frits Biesterbos with 18km of the day remaining, on one of the course's numerous short climbs, after the pair survived from the day’s breakaway. While Biesterbos initially kept Vermeersch in sight, the Belgian, who rides for UAE Team Emirates-XRG on the road, eventually showed his class, riding clear and eventually finishing 1.23 ahead.

The pair had worked brilliantly to hold off a chase by 2023 world champion, Matej Mohorič (Slovenia) and Félix Stehli (Switzerland), who had tried in vain to chase the leaders down. After dropping Stehli with 15km to go Mohorič eventually finished in third place, 1.23 behind the winner.

Vermeersch’s win will have been extra sweet after his winning move was almost a carbon copy of that which Mathieu van der Poel did to him to win last year’s title.

The win came from the only breakaway to get established, four riders going clear with 120km of the day remaining and escaping the main group. While two of the escapees were dropped, the remaining duo managed to coordinate their effort, while behind them a series of groups grew and shrank, the race in a constant state of chaotic flux.

The chasers weren’t helped by the attritional course, where narrow trails and paths conspired with constant changes in direction to prevent any organised chase, even making keeping a group together almost impossible.

Biesterbos, who rides for the BEAT Cycling Continental team on the road and mountain bike, becomes the first Continental level rider to finish on the podium at Gravel Worlds.

Tom Pidcock was the top British finisher, taking 6th place, part of a small group which crossed the line 1.41 behind Vermeersch, his efforts thwarted by the constant presence of Belgian riders disrupting his efforts.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After Nice pulled out of hosting the event, the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships was moved to the Dutch province of Limburg, the finish in Maastricht only 100km from last year’s championships in Leuven.

Starting in the small town of Beek, the Elite men covered a 180km route which was around 62% off-road, riding 3.5 laps of a 47km loop before a final stretch into the city.

Peppered with short, sharp climbs, the circuit was relatively lumpy, and the race offered a total of 1,450m of vertical ascent, but the day’s toughest climb was tackled on the homeward leg. Topping out only 10km from the line, the Bronsdalweg averaged 8% over its one kilometre, emerging onto a short stretch of tarmac used each year as part of the Amstel Gold Race, before dropping down into the eastern edge of Maastricht.

The opening stages were a cagey affair, a peloton of more than 100 of the 255 starters finishing the first lap together. British national gravel champion, Connor Swift, was among a small group to get away on that opening circuit, though they they were soon brought to heel by a peloton which was quickly being reduced.

With 60km ridden, Vermeersch’s winning move went up the road, and a further 10km on he had been joined by Belgian compatriot, Floris Van Tricht, Nils Politt (Germany) and Frits Biesterbos (Netherlands) and had 90 seconds on the chasing bunch. At one point the leaders’ advantage extended to almost two minutes, but by the time the race entered its final 80km a strong, aggressive and fracturing peloton was back within one minute and it seemed the break would be caught.

With 67km left to race Matej Mohorič (Slovenia) and Félix Stehli (Switzerland) attacked what remained of the peloton, the pair collecting Politt who had suffered a mechanical, but though they got close, they were unable to get within 30 seconds of the leading trio.

Further back, Tom Pidcock made repeated attempts to bridge but was repeatedly chased down by a phalanx of Belgians, the chase stalling each time the Briton was caught, and the group struggled to get within 50 seconds of the front. Indeed, that group soon slipped further back and out of contention.

Quinten Hermans (Belgium) did manage to get away from Pidcock’s group, first alone, before being joined by compatriot Tim Wellens and Rick Ottema (Netherlands), while the race changed complexion ahead of them when Van Tricht was dropped from the leading group.

This made no difference though, Mohrič and Stehli slipping inexorably backwards and even when Pidcock dragged Timo Kielich (Belgium) across to the Hermans group, they were unable to dent the leaders advantage.

RESULTS

UCI GRAVEL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - ELITE MEN, BEEK > MAASTRICHT (180.9KM)

1. Florian Vermeersch, Belgium, in 4:39:12
2. Frits Biesterbos, Netherlands, +40
3. Matej Mohorič, Slovenia, +1:23
4. Floris Van Tricht, Belgium, +1:40
5. Félix Stehli, Switzerland, +1:41
6. Tom Pidcock, Great Britain, at same time
7. Tim Wellens, Belgium, 1:46
8. Rick Ottema, Netherlands, +2:46
9. Timo Kielich, Belgium, at same time
10. Magnus Bak Klaris, Denmark, +3:59

The idea of aero gravel is taking the broader industry by storm, but 3T was an early adopter of the concept back in 2016 already with the original Exploro gravel bike. The Italian company has since applied its aero recipe to its complete gravel range, including the terrain-trouncing Extrema Italia and road-inspired Primo². It has also completely revamped the Racemax Italia platform to keep it relevant. 3T claims version two of the Racemax Italia is up there with the segment's best gravel bikes and says, "it represents the most race-oriented gravel bike, built to perform at its best on fast and smooth surfaces."

This might sound like a lot of marketing hype but having spent a lot of time on the burly Extrema Italia and road-going 3T Strada Italia, the company might be onto a very fast gravel bike recipe here.

Racemax² Italia gravel bike specifications

Visually, the Racemax² Italia utilises an aero-inspired design recipe across the range - underscored by a new variable-width down tube, seat tube with wheel cut-out, new seatstays and a deep time trial bike-like headtube. These tweaks have been implemented to streamline airflow around the front of the bike, bottles and tool compartment.

The Racemax Italia's geometry is on the racier side with a stack and reach figure of 569mm and 377mm, respectively. The 71.5-degree head- and 74-degree seat tube angle are on par with racing gravel bikes in the category, while the 1,015mm wheelbase and 420mm chainstays should make for a rather playful and agile machine. Four sizes are available: small, medium, large and extra large.

As with most bikes that fall under the endurance and gravel bike category, in-frame storage has become an appealing system to help free your pockets from tools and other faff. The Racemax² Italia's Fidlock storage system gets a neoprene storage bag, as well as a locking plate mechanism that doubles up as a bottle cage mounting interface. That said, the frame can also be ordered without the storage compartment.

To improve visibility, there's a five-mode, 25-lumen integrated seatpost light. It can be removed wen necessary, particularly when mounting a rear bikepacking bag.

The quest for wider tyre clearance

In terms of tyre clearance, the Racemax² Italia hasn't pushed the boundaries here but rather looked to accommodate the segment trend of going wider. As such, the maximum clearance is rated at 51mm for 1x setups, and 48mm for configurations with a front mech in place - these numbers are on par with bikes such as the Cannondale SuperX and Ribble Ultra-Grit gravel bikes.

For the best aerodynamic edge possible, 3T recommends tyre widths of between 41 and 51mm - this comes down to alterations around head tube area, which is now slimmer and uses CeramicSpeed SLT bearings. There's also a fully redesigned fork that hides the brake caliper bolts under a specially designed turbulence-reducing aero cover.

Pricing and model range

There are six complete builds and one individual frameset available, outfitted in Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo groupsets. Five colourways including ambra (amber), brezza (blue), smeraldo (green), rame (orange) and Project X (army green) are speccable from purchase.

At US$ 6,499 / £ 4,425 / €4,917, the Racemax² Italia frameset comes complete with the 3T More stem and 3T Aeroghiaia Integrale LTD handlebar.

Complete builds get the same standard hardware as the frameset but differ by way of wheels and groupset configuration. The range starts with the US$10,999 / £7,303 / €8,114 Racemax² Italia Shimano GRX 2x12 complete with 3T Discus 45|40 LTD wheels.

There are two Racemax² Italia SRAM Force XPLR AXS builds. One without the Torno Wide Crank and 3T Discus 45|40 LTD wheels listed at US$11,699 / UK: £ 7,304 / €8,115 and one with the Torno Wide Crank at US$11,699 / £ 7,745 / €8,605.

The same applies to the two premium Racemax² Italia SRAM Red XPLR AXS bikes. Both get Zipp 303 SW XPLR wheels but are available with (US$14,399 / £9,368 / €10,409 ) or without (US$13,899 / £9,368 / €10,409) the Torno Wide Crank.

The only truly all-Italian build in the line-up is the Racemax² Italia Campagnolo Super Record Gravel. As expected, it comes in at a lofty US$14,599 / £9,662 / €10,736.

Listed prices should be taken with a pinch of tax-flavoured salt, as they were given, unusually, ex-VAT. For the UK market, that's a lofty 20% to consider. With taxes, for a UK bike, you're looking at £11,594.40 for the Super Record build.

You can find out more at 3T.bike.

Please welcome Cycling Weekly's newest columnist, Sarah Sturm. Sarah Sturm is a professional American off-road racer known for her performances in the Life Time Grand Prix series, Unbound 200, Traka, Migration gravel and more. Beyond being a talented racer, Sturm is a beloved figure in the community, known for her infectious energy, vibrant personality, and commitment to growing the sport for future generations.

We're thrilled to have Sarah share her wealth of knowledge, experience and passion for the off-road disciplines with our readers. Every month, she’ll be offering a unique perspective on all things gravel, so be sure to check back. Have a topic you'd love to see covered? Drop us a line in the comments below or reach out via email at anne.rook@futurenet.com.

Gravel has been through a lot in the last seven years. We’ve seen participation soar, rules change, tyre widths grow and prize purses become lucrative. From when I first entered the professional world of off-road racing in 2019 until today, it almost feels like it’s a different sport. I went from packing my jersey pockets with PB&J sandwiches and hoping for the best to carefully accounting for every carb that enters my body during a race and following a specific race plan. That’s all to say: things have evolved quickly, and part of that is due to one series in particular —the Life Time Grand Prix.

Three years of Life Time Grand Prix

The Life Time Grand Prix was introduced in 2022 as a first-of-its-kind blend of gravel and cross-country mountain bike racing. It aimed to drum up cycling fandom outside of the European WorldTour bubble. The interest in American mountain biking, cyclocross and road racing had been eeking down a dwindling path for some time. Yet, gravel cycling was on the rise, and Life Time seemed to be perfectly positioned to capitalise.

Beyond its financial appeal, the Grand Prix was created with cycling fandom in mind. It was the brainchild of Kimo Seymour, a longtime cycling fan and executive at Life Time. Having witnessed the decline of American bike racing, Seymour longed for the excitement it once brought to the U.S. During his recovery from a near-fatal illness, he found himself with some unexpected free time—and that’s when the gears started turning.

Seymour was seeing people flock to gravel events all over the country, but these races didn’t really lend themselves to spectatorship or fan engagement. So he devised a plan. One series, six races, a big ole prize purse to lure in top-end athletes, media attention and –the cherry on top– exclusivity.

People love to hate on the Grand Prix. They criticise the limited field and the fact that riders had to apply and submit their social media as credentials. There’s also the general mocking of the gravel discipline’s legitimacy. And other events certainly were not pumped about the new series taking over everyone's calendars.

Still, there’s no denying that the series has brought a lot to the sport: new viewers, sponsors, athletes and maybe even some profit for the events and riders alike. And yet, I, a two-time series podium finisher, have decided to not return in 2025. Here’s why.

The realities of being a Life Time Grand Prix racer

When I decided to not race the series in 2025, there wasn’t a big dramatic moment. There were no tears shed, no sponsors lost, not even any hard feelings. Yet it wasn’t an easy decision, either.

During the 2024 season, I learned that it’s not fun to race and finish outside of the top 5 — or worse, outside the top 10. Surprisingly, it wasn’t super fun to be in the top 5, either. In the end, I wasn’t having as much fun as I could be. And when I say ‘fun’, I wasn’t looking for a Chappell Roan concert level of fun, I just wanted to do something exciting, motivating and fulfilling.

Here is how it feels to be in the Grand Prix:

Seven months of pressure

When you send in your application, you’re signing up for almost seven months of constant stress and pressure — if not externally, then certainly internally, and usually both. You might be thinking, “Yeah, duh, that’s what you sign up for as an athlete,” and you’d be right. But it's not the same as the pressure of an individual race. This is the constant, season-long anxiety that even if you podium or win a race, you could still lose ground in the overall standings. It amplifies the feeling of being "only as good as your last race," and it does so publicly.

I’ve compared notes with MTB World Cup athletes to see if they experience the same feeling. Like the Grand Prix, they compete within an overall series ranking but they prioritise individual races. Winning a World Cup event holds far more significance than finishing 5th in the overall standings, with the overall ranking being viewed as a bonus. One could also approach the Grand Prix in a similar fashion, but the challenge is that not all races hold equal value as they do on the World Cup circuit. For example, a win at Unbound or Leadville can be career-defining, while victories at Sea Otter or Chequamegon carry less significance. As a result, the series ranking does hold considerable value in the eyes of sponsors, media, and others, as it recognises consistent top-5 finishes.

For me, that overall running tally took away from individual achievements throughout the year. I stood on the podium at Unbound yet ended up disappointed with my fourth place in the series. It put a shadow on success for me.

This year, I will still race Unbound, Leadville and maybe one more Grand Prix event as I really enjoy the events themselves. I just want to race them without the overall looming over my head.

Money worries

If race results don’t stress you out, the financials of being a gravel privateer will. When you’re accepted into the Life Time Grand Prix series, it’s still on you to haul yourself yourself and any mechanic help to the start of the races. Travel, lodging, nutrition, equipment – it’s all on you. So for many, the money –be it prize payouts, sponsor bonuses, etc– is a huge motivator to enter the Life Time Grand Prix, especially for younger athletes trying to break into the sport and secure sponsorship. I am not immune to those stressors either, but I have positioned myself well and my sponsors pay for all of my expenses. The vast majority of my income comes directly from sponsorship deals rather than payouts from races.

The series and nothing else

Here is a hot tip on how you win the LTGP: you make it your only focus for the entire season. Don’t think about another series, a big stage race or even a one-day race. A season packed with six or seven LTGP races is plenty.

If you want to perform well, you’re dedicating weeks, or even months, ahead of a race to fine-tuning for that particular event. After the race is over, you’re going to need a couple of weeks of recovery before starting up for the next event. It really takes over your life.

If you’re a psychopath like me, you’ll convince yourself that doing two series in one season is a great idea, with some European and African races added to the mix. Everyone will tell you not to be disappointed if you don’t do well in the overall rankings. You may even convince yourself that you don’t care, and then you’ll inevitably prove yourself wrong and become extremely disappointed.

After a few seasons of this, I grew both bored and stressed out. And that combination of emotions can really wear on you.

Decision time

Fast forward to decision time. It’s October 2024, the week of my wedding, and I’m glueing pieces of cardboard together for a Halloween costume when I was texting Kimo Seymour. The application deadline was fast approaching, and I had left the decision to the very last moment - again. Those close to me know that decisions are really not my strong suit, and the stress from planning my wedding was running high. So, I applied.

Yet, on the eve of the 2025 roster announcement, I texted Kimo yet again and said I was out, and to please give my spot to someone else. And he responded, “Thank you. We love you and will want you back…unless you get really slow (laughing emoji). Some lucky rider is going to get a chance she wouldn’t have.”

And that was it, I actually left.

I know it was the right call for me. I need the freedom to do some other things in my career, and to take advantage of being an independent off-road racer. My sponsors support me, I’m established in my career, and my best years are still ahead.

The Life Time Grand Prix will always be a part of my story as an athlete; the series has helped me appreciate and become a top elite racer. The level and quality of competition at the Grand Prix races is still unmatched by most races in the U.S. For the athletes, it’s an amazing opportunity to get to push yourself at the top level, over and over again. I’m curious if that’s the thing I’ll miss the most and if I’ll come running back. Only time will tell.

After spending its inaugural years in Gering, Nebraska, the U.S. Gravel National Championships will move north to La Crescent, Minnesota, in 2025 and 2026. 

La Crescent is a small town in the southeast corner of Minnesota, right on the border of the La Crosse region of Wisconsin. It has just about 5,000 residents—3,000 fewer than Gering.

The Minnesota town, which is known as the Apple Capital of Minnesota, will host the weekend-long championship in the third weekend of September 2025, which coincides with La Crescent’s annual Apple Festival. 

In fact, A.J. Friels, Explore La Crosse’s executive director, calls the region a “cyclist’s dream.”

“We call it the Driftless Region, where the Ice Age glaciers failed to grind down a corrugated, primal landscape,” Friels said. “This untouched playground of bluffs, ridges, coulees, and valleys on both sides of the Mississippi River is crisscrossed by two networks: smooth, low-traffic county byways and rolling gravel backroads is a cyclist’s dream.”

Historically, the top three finishers in the men’s and women’s elite categories at the national event will automatically qualify for the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships, which will be held in Nice, France. Those six finishers will also be given full support from USA Cycling.

USA Cycling has not yet shared details about the elite prize purse offered at 2025 Gravel Nationals. In 2023, a $60,000 prize purse was split equally among the top elite men and women, and this year, a $40,000 prize purse will be distributed at Nationals in the same manner. 

Last year, Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles/SRAM) and Lauren Stephens (then of EF-Education Tibco-SVB, now of Cynisca Cycling) won the first-ever gravel national titles and then went on to compete at the UCI World Gravel Championships.

Age group winners will also earn spots in the World Championships, but without support from USA Cycling.

SRAM has refreshed its top-tier gravel components, with an update of the electronic Red XPLR AXS groupset, incorporating new technologies and going 13-speed. Also launched are Zipp 303 XPLR SW & S wheelsets with extra wide, deep rims, and Zipp SL 70 XPLR carbon handlebars. 

But why now? There’s no question, gravel riding has exploded in the last few years and continues to gain momentum. Gravel events and races are popping up everywhere (think The Gralloch, Dirty Reiver, Unbound Gravel and the Migration Gravel Race) and, as a result, the fields are getting hugely competitive. All the leading brands are releasing gravel-specific components, with Shimano GRX, SRAM XPLR and Campagnolo Ekar in their ranges. 

Aerodynamics has been a priority in performance road cycling for years, but watt-saving, drag-reducing equipment is now making its way into gravel. Gravel framesets are becoming more aero, so alongside the typical wide tyre clearances and numerous mounting points, we’re seeing more aggressive geometries and aerodynamic tubing, such as in the BMC Kaius. On the wheel side of things, Parcours has released their FKTs with a deeper rim that’s optimised around a specific tyre — all in the name of speed. But when you get more aero there’s usually a weight penalty. Is the penalty worth it for some aero gains? That probably depends on the rider and the race.

We've had the chance to get our hands on with the new groupset, and you can read North American editor Anne-Marije Rook's in-depth look and ride review of SRAM's 13-speed Red XPLR AXS groupset here.

13-speed SRAM Red XPLR AXS

Spotted at Unbound Gravel in Kansas earlier in the year, SRAM has now released its updated SRAM Red XPLR AXS groupset. It’s part of the triplet of flagship performance models, the others being SRAM Red AXS (road) and SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS (mountain bike).

The SRAM XPLR range was designed specifically for gravel riding, that is, to hit the gearing sweet spot and to deliver effortless shifting. These Red XPLR components have a lot in common with the Eagle Transmission MTB series: Full Mount, flattop chain, X-SYNC rings, but also borrow from the latest SRAM Red AXS groupset. They are aimed at riders who want to go fast on mixed terrain. SRAM Red XPLR AXS brings together the resilience of the Eagle Transmission with the lower weight, and the bigger, but tighter gear range required for ripping it up on gravel tracks. 

Several of the individual components are shared with those in the SRAM Red AXS road groupset, which had an overhaul earlier this year, but others have been updated specifically for the XPLR range, and the full groupset is 218 grams lighter than its predecessor, at 2,488 grams.

There are a few compatibility considerations with the new drivetrain: a minimum chainstay length of 415mm, a UDH dropout and a wide crank spindle with 47.5mm chainline.

13-speed cassette for more range and tighter ratios

Gravel racing can be relentless, and a 13-speed, 10-46T cassette provides a bigger range of gears with smaller gaps — you’ll be ready for both the big climbs and punchy sprints — and it weighs just 288 grams. The only real drawback, which may put off some, is that this is the only cassette size available or compatible with the rear derailleur.

UDH Full Mount technology

SRAM’s Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH) technology — first released by SRAM in 2019 and fast adopted by mountain bike brands — aims to ease the stress of hunting for a replacement mech hanger by creating something universal that bike manufacturers can incorporate into their frame design. 

There is a potential negative. UDH does require a bike frame with a UDH interface, so if your bike is not compatible you’ll have to rethink. Although SRAM states that most of the main gravel bike manufacturers offer UDH, it’s definitely a limiting factor.

Setup of the rear mech is simple: there’s no longer a need for adjustment screws and the alignment should be perfect with any drivetrain.

Compatibility aside, the system is extremely robust. Shifting is precise, the clutch light and efficient, and a Magic Wheel keeps the chain moving even if debris enters the lower pulley. Crash protection is built in, and the Full Mount hanger rotates back on frontal impact, moving it out of harm’s way.

It’s worth noting, SRAM wasn’t just thinking about potentially muddy or debris-covered trails when creating Full Mount, but also about travelling with your bike, the idea being that it'll survive knocks and bumps in transit unscathed — though we've yet to test this. 

Light, stiff cranks and Thread Mount chainrings

Those fitting out top-end gravel bikes are seeking speed and performance, with the vast majority opting for a 1x system to drop the weight and simplify shifting. 

The Red XPLR crankset uses hollow carbon arms and is available in a range of lengths, from 160mm to 175mm, meaning riders with shorter legs (or those seeking improved aerodynamics) are well served.

Thread Mount chainrings reduce weight and maximise stiffness, while still allowing the rings to be swapped out with ease. X-SYNC technology, found on all SRAM 1x systems, helps clear mud and maximises chain retention.

Track your watts

Not just for the roadies, power meters are now popular in other disciplines too. The SRAM Red XPLR AXS spider-based power meter provides dual-sided power measurement and promises accuracy to within +/-1.5%.

Shift-brake levers, flattop chain and calipers are shared with SRAM Red AXS

The brake levers carry over from the recently released Red AXS road groupset, and these have been a hit at Cycling Weekly.

SRAM says that it's optimised the lever and hood shape for easier braking, something that will be well received by riders with smaller hands, who should be more able to wrap their fingers around more of the lever even when on the hoods.

SRAM states there’s now an 80% lighter brake feel than SRAM Red eTAP AXS, which should make for dramatically more comfortable braking on long, fast or loose descents. Both reach and contact points are adjustable, and a textured finish is designed to aid grip and control. 

Something that’s only found on RED groupsets, a Bonus Button on each of the hoods allows you to shift up or down from just a light touch of the very accessible button. Using the AXS app, this feature is customisable, and can even seamlessly communicate with a head unit so you can flick through screens or pause the unit. 

The flattop chain is SRAM’s most advanced, with the brand stating that cutouts in the outer plates shave 13 grams over its predecessor. The brake calipers are now lighter and stiffer, and there’s more pad clearance to reduce any performance-limiting rubbing. 

Zipp 303 XPLR SW & S wheelsets

Extra wide Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheelset

Zipp has gone extra wide with its latest gravel wheels, and they’re all about speed. 

Total System Efficiency (TSE™) is the brand’s design philosophy, the goal being to consider the system as a whole. Using this concept, Zipp found what it considered the perfect gravel tyre, and then built this wheel around it. The theory is that current gravel wheels with external rim widths of around 28–30mm, paired with wide (38–50mm) tyres, do not optimise aerodynamics. Instead, the wheel and tyre combo creates a ballooning effect and, although running low tyre pressures is key to speed, the rim does not provide enough support for lateral cornering loads at these pressures, causing the tyre to collapse and therefore negating the advantage. 

The Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheel is primed to change all this with a huge carbon 32mm internal width. This increases tyre stance and prevents ‘squirm’ and reduces the potential risk of you washing out on a corner. The rim edge has also been increased for maximum protection from pinch flats. 

Additionally, these new wheels have a rim depth of 54mm, which is pretty deep for a gravel tyre and more in line with a set of fast road racing wheels. Zipp says that its aerodynamic testing showed that this depth was ideal run with a 40mm tyre.

They’re hookless and tubeless, and are best used with tyre pressures below 30psi (2.1 bars).

What does all this really mean though? Are the average speeds you need to gain a big aerodynamic benefit really reached by the average gravel rider or racer? And is aerodynamics really even a thing in gravel racing? There will be plenty of opinions out there, but gravel racing is definitely getting faster, with average speeds of over 35kph often reached by the top riders. So for the serious racer looking for every possible advantage, these wheels are worth a look, but for us mere mortals, is it really worth it? These are questions we'll consider when we come to a longer term review. 

Zipp 303 XPLR S — a more affordable wheel

Zipp’s 303 XPLR S wheels are definitely more wallet friendly, and you can save £500 over the SW wheels. They still have a carbon 54mm deep rim that’s 32mm wide, and thicker to prevent pinch flats, but there’s a 146 grams weight penalty and instead of the Zipp ZR1 hubs, you get the 76/176 hubs, with a simpler but dependable design.

If your interest in either of these wheels is piqued, keep in mind the European Tire and Rim Technical Organization standards for internal rim widths, and matching standards between a tyre and rim. These wheels do fall outside of the standards, and it’ll also be important to match the wheels with a recommended tyre (more information below).

Goodyear tyres optimised for the Zipp 303 XPLR SW & S

The tyres of choice are Goodyear XPLR Slick and Goodyear XPLR Inter, which have been specifically designed and optimised for this wheelset. If you’re going to invest in the wheels, then you’ll need to buy-in to the whole system. The XPLR Slicks are the fastest of the two, and best for the driest days and smoother surfaces. Light and supple, the ride quality is excellent and M:Wall reinforcement means you can get the pressures as low as possible, and reduce puncture risk. 

The XPLR Inters are designed for dry and mixed conditions, with side blocks for grip and confident cornering. They have the same M:Wall reinforcement as the Slick model and a lightweight, supple casing. They’re ideal if racing conditions may be more unpredictable so you're therefore looking for a more versatile tyre for the 303 XPLR SW or S wheels, and don’t mind a little extra weight (525 grams, 70 grams more than the Slick). Remember that only approved tyres can be used with the XPLR wheels. 

Complete your setup with the Zipp SL 70 XPLR carbon handlebar

This is a premium handlebar, constructed from carbon, with a goal of optimising a set up for ergonomics and comfort. The design includes a brake hose cover on the hood, which consequently creates a 'shelf', and support for your hands when on the hoods. There are big demands placed on the body during mixed terrain rides and races, and this shallow, wide bar aids speed through increased comfort and control. There are even defined locations on the drops and bar top to easily add SRAM Wireless Blips.

The details

In just a week, all eyes will once again turn to the rough, unpaved and windswept roads of middle-of-nowhere Kansas, where thousands of amateurs and pros will chase glory at the world’s premier gravel race, Unbound Gravel.

Now in its 19th year, Unbound Gravel has grown into the world’s marquee gravel event, offering five race distances and drawing more than 5,000 registered riders, along with thousands more in support, media, and spectators. This is a far cry from its humble beginnings of just 34 riders in 2006.

The event distances range from 25 miles to 350 miles, and while competition is fierce in every distance, the 200-mile race is the celebrated flagship event where cycling careers are forged (or extended) and winners become legends.

The race is a true test of endurance, self-sufficiency and equipment. In addition to needing to fuel oneself for 10+ hours of riding, the sharp flint rocks are notorious for slicing tyres and dashing podium aspirations. Along the way, riders also need to contend with the undulating terrain and the weather.

The Midwest is notorious for its unpredictable weather. The end of May brings a dynamic mix of thunderstorms with heavy rain and hail, sudden temperature swings from unseasonable heat waves to chilly spells, and even the occasional tornado, meaning that riders must be prepared for anything.

Yet despite its tough conditions, the race attracts amateurs and elite pros alike, including Grand Tour winners, world champions, Classics victors and Olympians from around the globe, all chasing glory in the infamous Flint Hills.

Organisers added a 350-mile option in 2018 for those seeking the ultimate challenge. This epic, named the Unbound XL, sees riders suffering for more than 20 hours, sometimes even double that. The race has been growing fiercer every year, with this year's contenders including Laurens ten Dam and Lachlan Morton on the men's side and former winners Lael Wilcox and Serena Bishop Gordon in the women's category.

Unbound Gravel: Riders to watch

This year's all-star cast of competitors in the 200-mile race includes America's best off-road racers, such as the dominant Keegan Swenson, Alexey Vermeulen and former winners Ian Boswell and Pete Stetina. The ever-growing international presence has never been stronger with the likes of Olympic and Roubaix champion Greg van Avermaet returning for a second attempt, former Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix winner Niki Terpstra, Grand Tour stage winner Thomas De Gendt and of course, the so-called Dutch Mafia with 2022 Unbound winner Ivar Slik among them, all taking to the start on May 31.

In the women’s Unbound 200 field, many champions from past editions will be returning, including Carolin Schiff, Sofia Gomez Villafane, Lauren De Crescenzo and Rosa Kloser. But competition will be stiff. Among the list of favourites said to be present are Traka 360 winner Karolina Migoń, past podium finishers Sarah Sturm and Paige Onweller.

Those racing the 100-mile event may rub elbows with Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM), the newly crowned Australian gravel champion, and retired Giro d'Italia Champion and World Time Trial Champion Tom Dumoulin, who's making his Unbound debut.

Unbound, like many gravel races , is a mass-start event, meaning various race categories—men and women, professionals and amateurs—tackle the course at around the same time. This format has led to several issues and controversies, particularly within the women’s professional field. Firstly, the starting frenzy and mingling of fields force riders to navigate heavy traffic before they can race on their own terms. Secondly, some female riders have capitalised on the presence of male riders to gain an advantage. To minimise conflict, Life Time Grand Prix events like Unbound now feature separate race starts for the men's and women's elite fields. Unbound has introduced a dedicated finishing chute, and as of this year, inter-field drafting is no longer legal. This means that elite riders will not be permitted to draft off those who aren't competing in the same category.

Also new in 2025 is a prize purse. Up until now, winning Unbound 200 yielded little more than a wooden trophy but this May, the pros will be splitting a $30,000 cash purse, which pays five deep for the top men and women.

Contributing to the stacked fields of the 200-mile event is the fact that Unbound is also the second stop of the Life Time Grand Prix series, in which a cast of 60 handpicked WorldTour roadies, cyclocrossers, gravel pros and MTB Olympians compete for a $250,000 prize purse over the course of the U.S.'s hardest gravel and mountain bike races.

Unbound Gravel: The 200-mile Course

The Unbound courses change every year, utilising the many less-travelled roads north or south of Emporia.

Following the mud-bogged mayhem of the 2023 event, characterised by ripped-off derailleurs and broken frames, the 2024 edition promised a challenge of a different kind with its chunkiest and most technical Northern course yet. But while Matej Mohoric was among the unlucky ones who scratched due to mechanical issues, the course actually delivered its fastest finishing time yet. Winner Lachlan Morton's completed the course in 9:11:47 with an average speed 22 miles per hour.

This year, the course again heads north, retracing much of the roads used in 2024. The northern courses traditionally feature rougher roads and more climbing than the southern courses. This year, participants will tackle 10,122 feet of climbing over the 202.4-mile route. There are two checkpoints along the way where riders' support crews will help them resupply their nutrition and check their equipment. There are two additional neutral water supply stops, called oases.

See the courses here.

How to follow Unbound Gravel live

For the first time ever, the elite men’s and women’s 200-mile Unbound Gravel races will be broadcast live, in full, to a global audience without paywalls or georestrictions.

The event’s producer, Life Time, has announced it will stream seven full hours of live coverage of the 2025 Unbound Gravel presented by Shimano exclusively on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel. The coverage kicks off at 10:00 a.m. CT on Saturday, May 31, with a pre-show before jumping into uninterrupted race action and post-race interviews.

Commentary will be provided by Life Time Grand Prix athlete Payson McElveen, who’s currently sidelined due to an injury he sustained at the series’ opening round at Sea Otter, and Meredith Miller, a former U.S. road and cyclocross pro. Longstanding cycling announcer Bill Elliston will join the two athletes in the commentary box, while Mountain Bike Hall of Famer Nat Ross and former pro Lauren Hall will be providing live updates from the course.

For those unable to watch the full broadcast, extended highlights of both the men’s and women’s elite races will be posted on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel in the days following the event.

Elite Start Lists

Latest Unbound Gravel 2025 News

• 'I’ve already won the 200, so what else could I do?' — Lachlan Morton takes on 350-mile XL at Unbound Gravel
• Grand Tour winner Tom Dumoulin to race Unbound Gravel and Sea Otter Classic — 'I’m not unfit but I’m not racing for the prizes'
• 'It's really extreme': How hard is Unbound, really? Greg van Avermaet and other Euro pros give perspective
• Is Unbound too 'epic'? Legends of gravel race defend its difficulty and revisit its gnarliest editions
• Two Dutch ex-pros say they were arrested and jailed for 'indecent behaviour' ahead of Unbound Gravel

A video showcasing the efficient pit stop of Sofía Gómez Villafañe and her four-person crew at the 2023 Unbound Gravel race has been making the social media rounds. In it, Villafañe seamlessly transitions into the checkpoint, entrusting her dirty bike to her crew, who, with the precision of a Formula 1 team, promptly get to work. One member power-washes the bike, another swiftly swaps out water bottles, while a third hands Villafane a fresh hydration pack and stuffs a new ice sock down the neck of her jersey. Meanwhile, another crew member assists Villafañe out of her potentially malfunctioning shoe and into a new one. Villafañe, for her part, quickly dumps trash from her jersey and restocks her gels. In mere minutes, she's back on the course with fresh gear and nutrition to tackle the next 60 miles of the race.

In shorter events, such as last weekend's Mid South race in Stillwater, Oklahoma, half of the riders never dismounted their bikes as they passed through the feed zone. They simply grabbed a musette from their support personnel and were off—any water stop etiquette forgotten.

The meteoric rise of gravel racing has ushered in a new era, complete with its own category of products, UCI-sanctioned events, lucrative prizes, and superstar participants. However, this professionalization and commercialization threaten the sport's ethos —the spirit of gravel, if you will.

Gravel racing was born out of adventure riding where grit, mechanical know-how, and exploration equal on-the-bike fitness. As such, the first gravel races embodied a spirit of adventure, self-reliance and resourcefulness. Participants had to rely on their own capabilities to navigate rough terrain, manage mechanical issues and sustain themselves throughout the race. It was an atmosphere that valued friendly competition over the adversarial kind, with unspoken rules regarding things like group breaks and shared effort.

These days, however, it's every rider for themselves, aided by their own mechanics and support personnel. This presents a significant advantage for riders with the means to assemble and sustain such crews, widening the gap between the haves and have-nots in the gravel racing community. Not many so-called privateers have the resources to travel from one remote location to the next with a team in tow.

Thus, like every other discipline in bike racing, gravel racing is at risk of becoming a sport where success is determined not only by physical prowess and mental fortitude but also by the depth of one's pockets and sponsorships. This financial disparity diminishes the sense of adventure, inclusivity and self-reliance that attracted so many to the gravel discipline in the first place.

To steer gravel racing back to its roots and prevent it from evolving into a road race on different terrain, I propose a simple measure for fairness and self-sufficiency: the mid-race bag drop.

Popular in ultra-endurance running and adventure races, a mid-race bag drop allows participants to access their pre-assembled supplies at designated checkpoints during the event.

I'm aware that some events already offer a bag drop, but this is meant as a service in lieu of having a personal support team and often comes at a fee. Instead, I propose to ban personal support crews and make this bag drop service included in the registration fee and accessible for all registrants. A mid-race bag drop would level the playing field by providing all participants with equal opportunities to refuel and replenish their resources, regardless of their financial means.

The current trajectory of gravel racing, with its growing reliance on support crews and external resources, threatens to undermine the core values of fairness, inclusivity, and self-sufficiency that first defined the sport. The spirit of adventure and camaraderie is diluted to the point where we risk losing sight of the qualities that made the discipline so unique. 

Enough already with the F1-inspired pit stops in gravel races; I, for one, would love to see fewer support crews and more self-reliance. Bring back the group breaks and the MacGyvering!

Don't feel lucky enough to chance it with the Unbound Gravel lottery? Well, here's your chance to score an entry to gravel's marquee event in 2025 without needing to enter the lottery. 

Unbound hopefuls will now have a new way to gain access to Unbound Gravel via its first-ever qualifying race: Heathland Gravel in Maasmechelen, Belgium. 

Heathland Gravel, organized by Flanders Classics, will be held August 9-11, 2024 and will offer 50 qualifying spots for Unbound 2025 to those who complete the 160km (100-mile) Heathland Gravel course. 

Twenty-five of the spots will be awarded based on performance, with slots being distributed to each gender and age group based on the percentage of total athletes in those age groups, with a minimum of one spot per age group, according to Heathland Gravel. The top athletes in each age group will receive the allotted spots. Spots can be rolled down if not accepted. 

The other 25 spots will be drawn at random to finishers of the 160km course.

“We are honored to be working with renowned Flanders Classics as we expand accessibility to Life Time Unbound Gravel with this first-ever European qualifying event’, said Kimo Seymour, President of Life Time Events. “[T]he entire Flanders Gravel team produce incredible cycling experiences, and we are excited to grow the reach and appeal of our UNBOUND Gravel across Europe.”

Unbound Gravel has come far since its beginnings when a few dozen off-road cycling enthusiasts gathered in the Flint Hills to race each other across the muddy, rutted roads. 

Now in its 18th year, Unbound has grown to be considered the world’s marquee gravel event, offering five race distances from 25 to 350 miles and 4,000 registration slots. The race draws amateurs and elite pros alike, with the likes of Keegan Swenson, Lachlan Morton and Sofia Gomez Villafañe all testing their skills on the Kansan roads as part of the Life Time Grand Prix series. 

The tire- and soul-sucking mud, coupled with the world-class competition at Unbound, has sparked significant interest, necessitating the implementation of a lottery system to allocate race entries."

The Heathland Grave partnership not only offers a secondary pathway to race entry, it also encourages a bigger presence of international riders. 

About Heathland Gravel

Heathland Gravel takes place in the shadow of the Maasmechelen mine shaft - a location that has hosted rounds of the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup the past two years. Its hosting of the first-ever Unbound Gravel qualifying event is a “nod to the growth of gravel racing in Europe,” according to a representative of Unbound. 

The Heathland Gravel festival also includes 70km and 110km courses, but participants in those distances will not be eligible to qualify for Unbound. Additionally, race weekend will have an expo, social rides, live music and food and drinks. 

“By combining the unmatched reputation and experience of our organizations, we are building a truly unique concept,” says Tomas Van Den Spiegel, Flanders Classics CEO. “UNBOUND Gravel is to gravellers what Kona in Hawaii is for triathletes: a monumental sporting goal and exceptional experience.”

As of publication, registration for the 160km qualifying distance is just $86 USD, or about 80 Euros. 

Although how full the 160km race is has not been disclosed, one can imagine it won’t remain open for long given the hankering gravel cyclists have for getting into Unbound. If a trip to Belgium is in the cards for you this summer, you might want to try your hand at qualifying for Unbound while there, too. 

For young Americans, embarking on a career in professional cycling has always been a challenging one. But as American road cycling struggles with dwindling participation numbers and a lack of events in the U.S. the previous stepping stones and showcasing opportunities have also gone. What's more, gravel is fast emerging as the biggest cycling sport in America, yet in this sector of privateers and individuals, development programs are non-existent. Former WorldTour-rider-turned-gravel privateer Alexey Vermeulen hopes to change that.

Vermeulen today launched a first-of-its-kind initiative called Phase II, which aims to open the doors for talented young cyclists by offering them the education, industry connections, and equipment support to realize their dreams.

The Phase II project, driven by Vermeulen's passion for nurturing talent and providing opportunities, seeks to address the daunting transition athletes face from high school racing to the professional circuit.

"I grew up with the entire USA Cycling pipeline plastered on the wall," Vermeulen tells Cycling Weekly. "It started with local results and then went on to race series results, nationals, maybe race in Europe and then from there, maybe an under-23 team or collegiate career and then domestic professional racing to WorldTour. I probably crossed every part of that off as I hit them."

For kids these days, the pathways are far less clear.

"I often get asked about the next step after NICA or a collegiate career and for the last two years, I haven't had a great answer," he says.

With Phase II, Vermeulen aims to fill this void by offering tangible support and mentorship for two hand-selected athletes. Additionally, he hopes to create a blueprint, if you will, one that he encourages other brands and entities to copy in an industry-wide effort to foster and develop young American talent. 

"I see Phase II as an open-source program that I hope a bunch of my peers and the companies they work with will pick up next year," Vermeulen says.

The project's core involves providing promising talent with the top-tier equipment, logistical backing and mentorship to compete in three Life Time Grand Prix events across the United States. 

These events include the 100-mile races at Unbound Gravel, the hilly Crusher In The Tushar and the season-finale at Big Sugar.

Vermeulen picked the shorter versions of these celebrated gravel events to set the racers up for success and bring 'validation around these shorter privateer races.'

"I've no question they can go ride 200 miles and be strong, but I don't think they're going to be able to get through eight months of Grand Prix racing. The three shorter gravel races are not easy by any means, but they are the type of races that I think someone coming into the sport at that age should be racing. Here, they get to be competitive while also providing a chance to grow and learn," explains Vermeulen.

Vermeulen stresses the importance of not just racing but also cultivating well-rounded individuals and fostering meaningful relationships within the cycling community. 

"Where I exist in this world right now is as a professional racer, but also in education – education of the companies I work with, but also education of athletes," he says. 

"I view Phase II as a chance to not only show two amazing athletes what it takes to be a professional cyclist but also to allow them to meet the people working at companies who can make that dream a reality. Bike racing is about training hard, but it is also about cultivating relationships and learning how to balance everything going on in your life."

Phase II is currently accepting applications for the two rider slots they have open. 

Phase II athletes will receive a comprehensive package that includes a fully paid trip to the Enve headquarters in Utah for a training camp, as well as paid entries and expenses and mechanic support for the three Grand Prix races. They'll also receive an Enve Mog gravel bike equipped with a Shimano GRX 12-speed drivetrain and Enve wheelset of choice. Additional support includes custom kits by Pearl Izumi, tires by Kenda, indoor training setups by Wahoo Fitness, and footwear and helmets from Shimano and Lazer, respectively.

Phase II represents a year-long commitment to nurturing talent, forging lasting relationships, and reshaping the pathways into professional cycling. Through Phase II, Vermeulen hopes to inspire a new generation of cyclists and foster a culture of support and collaboration within the cycling community.

More details and the rider application can be found here. 

The champagne-colored gravel roads of Routt County, in the northwest corner of Colorado, have become known as some of the greatest dirt roads in the world for gravel cyclists, largely due to SBT GRVL.

Entering its fifth year, SBT GRVL has quickly established itself as one the largest and most prestigious gravel cycling events in the world, with some 3,000 registered riders from 24 countries and all 50 U.S. states competing across four routes. 

Top gravel pros like Keegan Swenson and Sofia Gomez Villafañe have claimed victory in Routt County, and race organizers are proud to bring a claimed $4.5 million in taxable spending to the host town of Steamboat Springs. But not all Steamboat residents are stoked on the event.

The Colorado Sun reports that local ranchers are fed up with the event, and nearly 80 Routt County ranchers took to a county commissioner’s meeting to air their grievances and demand change.

The top complaints aired by the Routt County ranchers center around trash scattered along the race courses  –which take place on both county roads and private ranch lands– , rude cyclists, traffic, and lack of bathrooms for cyclists, who instead resort to using nearby ranch fields for relief. 

The frustration shared by locals has led the county commissioners to issue a full review of the special use permit that allows SBT GRVL and other sporting events to operate in Routt County. One challenge is that Routt County only has two types of event permits; one for events under 1,000 people and one for events in excess of 1,000 people.

Some would like to see SBT GRVL pursue a special land use permit instead of an events permit. For others, it seems as though nothing but moving the race out of Routt County will be good enough. 

CJ and Nancy Mucklow, are among the ranchers that are fed up. 

“[The race is] ill-timed, ill-prepared and full of people racing who don’t care about trash or needing to go to the restroom. The liabilities are incredible,” CJ Mucklow said. “Fifteen hundred bikers looped our road for hours.”

In response to the fall meeting, SBT GRVL CEO Amy Charity hosted a public forum to to field the ranchers' complaints.

While she admitted that there were not enough porta-potties at last year’s race and would have more in 2024, she felt that some of the claims made by ranchers were exaggerated. 

“Some of the stories got embellished, Chaity told the Colorado Sun. "…someone raised their hand and said ‘There’s trash everywhere, and it’s still there.’ We’d go out [to get the trash] and find [the trash mentioned] was an old event sign…I was expecting Coke cans and Gu wrappers,” Charity said. 

While aspects of the race such as road closures and errant trash may be frustrating, Charity shares that SBT GRVL has positively impacted Routt County economically. 

Not only does the race bring in $4.5 million in taxable spending directly to Steamboat Springs, SBT GRVL organizers have donated more than $100,000 to local nonprofits, held youth bike clinics and partnered with cycling-related nonprofits such as Ride for Racial Justice and All Bodies on Bikes. 

Routt County Commissioner Tim Corrigan confirmed the financial benefit, sharing that Routt County has “very restrictive zoning regulations that mostly prohibit commercial activity [and prohibit] short-term rentals in unincorporated Routt County.”

In essence, Steamboat Springs and only Steamboat Springs benefits from the race. Sales tax in Steamboat springs is 8.4% - with 2.9% collected by the state and 1% by Routt County.

Even with the influx of money into Steamboat Springs, some ranchers still do not feel the disruptions from race day –and the days leading up to the race– are worth it. 

If SBT GRVL’s event permit is moved to a “large special event” status, it will be subject to an annual public hearing in Routt County. Even so, County Commissioner Corrigan says that it’s unlikely the race would not be granted a permit; it will however have a say in the event's size and other conditions.

In an attempt to extend an olive branch to locals, Charity has removed two-way bike traffic on all courses and will use other, more rural roads to reduce traffic and frustration from local ranchers. She also plans to hire more safety personnel and host more public forums for feedback from locals.

Additionally, Charity is requiring all riders to sign a rules agreement before the race around rider decorum. If one rule is broken, the rider is disqualified, and anyone can report an offending rider.

As it has in other years, SBT GRVL 2024 sold out almost immediately once registration went live in early December 2023. 

The gold rush of gravel is here, but from the eyes of some locals, all that glitters is not gold. Only time will tell if Charity’s changes to SBT GRVL will be enough to change the minds of the agriculture community who have ridden along the champagne gravel roads long before any of us.

Valtteri Bottas is no stranger to going fast — the 34-year-old Finnish Formula One (F1) Driver for Alfa-Romeo has 67 F1 podiums to his name with 10 of those being on the top step. 

He is also an accomplished gravel cyclist who has tackled the Belgian Waffle Race and finished on the podium of his age group twice at SBT GRVL, a world-class gravel race in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He's fallen so hard for the two-wheeled sport that he created his own gravel bike race and  Instagram page these days, features more bike content than F1 content. 

In 2024, he aims to take it up a notch by qualifying for the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships. 

“Obviously, Formula One is the priority for me,” Bottas said in a recent episode of the Bobby and Jens podcast. “But a close second is cycling. Whenever I get the chance, I try to fit in some good [cycling] training blocks and I plan on racing some more gravel events this year - this time of year is for the bicycle.”

Bottas knew he going to be a race car driver from the tender age of six, when he first started go-karting but “bikes were always around,” he said. “Road, mountain and, now, gravel — I love to ride everything.”

Before meeting his girlfriend Tiffany Cromwell, the Australian Olympian and member of the Canyon-SRAM racing team, Bottas rode once or twice for cardio. But since the pair got together, he's been all in on bikes. 

In 2022, the pair, together with the team behind SBT GRVL, announced the creation of FNLD GRVL, a gravel race held in his home country of Finland whose inaugural 2023 race was won by  Lidl-Trek's Toms Skujiņš and Cromwell. The race includes sponsorship from Bottas’ F1 team, Alfa Romeo.

Now, with a few races under his belt, Bottas has set his sights on a new goal: to quality for Gravel Worlds in 2024. 

This year’s UCI Gravel World Championships will be held October 5 and 6 in Belgium. While there are multiple ways to qualify, Bottas will likely leverage the option of finishing in the top 25% of his 35-39 men’s age group at a UCI gravel race between now and late September 2024. Qualifying races are held across the globe, including in Kenya, Poland, Canada, Switzerland and the U.S. from April through September.

Given that Bottas must balance his schedule with 25 potential F1 race starts, he will have to be strategic about where and when he takes his chance on qualifying for Gravel Worlds. 

“I take bike racing seriously. If I enter a race, it is automatic that something happens in my brain - I will always be out there to challenge myself. I don’t mind hurting myself [in a race],” Bottas said. “I will try to qualify for Gravel Worlds [in 2024]...that’s my goal.”

As any cyclist knows, biking is so much more than mashing on the pedals. Cycling brings with it a whole host of gritty emotions: elation, frustration, determination and defeat. 

The Call of a Life Time series is releasing its second season on January 26, chronicling the highs and lows experienced by key riders in the past year’s Life Time Grand Prix circuit. 

Debuted in 2022, the Life Time Grand Prix features a cast of handpicked elite athletes, including WorldTour roadies, gravel privateers and a former elite rower, as they compete in the toughest off-road cycling events in the U.S. in pursuit of a very large prize purse.

The YouTube series follows the 2023 season and will feature marquee moments with equal coverage of the men’s and women’s competitions. Watch as Keegan Swenson dominates the Leadville Trail 100 MTB and sets a new course record by 15 minutes or the moment when riders at Unbound Gravel had to contend with soul-sucking mud and rain. 

This docuseries covers four key races: Sea Otter Fuego XL, Unbound Gravel, Leadville Trail 100 MTB and Big Sugar Gravel. There will be dedicated men’s and women’s episodes for both Leadville Trail 100 MTB and Unbound Gravel, a first for the series.

Coverage this year not only includes side-by-side camerawork, but the use of content captured from e-bikes, motos, drones, and even a helicopter, too.

The goal of season one was to raise awareness and interest in the world of off-road cycling, and after “unprecedented fan interest and acclaim,” the second season will go deeper into the lives and personalities of the athletes featured. No emotions are off-limits this season, with cameras capturing an exclusive look at some of the United States’ most popular off-road bike events as well as athletes’ “highs and lows…plenty of drama and competition, [and] heartwarming camaraderie.” 

Season two brings to light the ever-rising level of competition in the off-road cycling world, depicting how some professional cyclists are now focusing their entire careers around the prize purses and fame that come with success at the Life Time Grand Prix, which now sees riders such as Matt Beers and Danni Shrosbee traveling from across the globe to compete.

The 2024 Life Time Grand Prix

The Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda kicks off at the Sea Otter classic in April 2024. Next year’s series features 60 elite athletes, seven domestic races and a $300,000 prize purse up for grabs. 

Returning riders on the women’s side include 2023 Life Time Grand Prix series winner Sofia Gomez Villafane, Unbound Gravel XL winner Kristen Legan, Sarah Sturm, U.S. National Gravel Champion Lauren Stephens and Emily Newsom. 

For the men, Leadville Trail 100 MTB course-record holder and 2023 Grand Prix series winner Keegan Swenson, Lachlan Morton, Peter Stetina and Matthew Beers are all returning for their chance at fame - and the prize purse. 

The series begins next April in California at the Sea Otter classic and runs through October, finishing with Big Sugar Gravel in Arkansas.

Athletes will have the option to drop up to two events, entry fees will be covered by Life Time and there will be random doping controls conducted at any round.

• April 19: the Fuego XL, a 100K cross-country mountain bike race at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterrey, California.
• June 1: the 200-mile race at the infamous Unbound Gravel in Emporia, Kansas.  
• July 13: Crusher in the Tushar, a 69-mile, hilly gravel race in Beaver, Utah.
• August 10: Leadville Trail 100 MTB, a 104-mile endurance mountain bike race at high altitude in Leadville, Colorado.
• September 14: Chequamegon, a 40-mile xc mountain bike race in Cable, Wisconsin.
• September 28:  The Rad Dirt Fest, a 110-mile gravel race in Trinidad, Colorado.
• October 14: Big Sugar Gravel, a 100-mile gravel race in Bentonville, Arkansas.

The Life Time Grand Prix adventure race series will return in 2024 with its biggest prize purse yet. Come April, 60 handpicked world-class athletes will compete in a seven-race mixed-terrain race series for a $300,000 reward.  New in 2024 will be a separate start for the women's and men's elite fields at all seven events. 

Introduced in 2022, the Life Time Grand Prix is a season-long race series in which a cast of handpicked competitors travel throughout the United States to contest the country's toughest gravel and mountain bike endurance events. The racer who stands atop of the final series podium can call themselves the best unpaved racer in the country and take home a big slice of the $300,000 prize purse.

The series kicks off in April at the Sea Otter Classic with a 100-kilometer xc mountain bike race. Other grueling events include the infamous 200-mile Unbound Gravel event, the high altitude Leadville 100 and the 100-mile Big Sugar Gravel race where world champion Kasia Niewiadoma learned that gravel is "insanely hard."  

The series’ goal is to increase cycling fandom in the United States, and showcase some of the best and unique off-road events throughout the country. With the extreme distances, challenging terrain, high altitudes, and a variety of racing disciplines to master, those who’ll emerge as the winners will have to be very well-rounded cyclists indeed. 

“Preparing for the third season of the Life Time Grand Prix has been super exciting for our team, as we continue to innovate and build on the momentum from our first two years,” says Kimo Seymour, President of Life Time Events. “We’ve all worked hard this past year to grow off-road cycling in North America and we believe 2024 will bring even bigger enthusiasm and fan engagement with the sport.”

This year's series was again won by three-time national mountain bike champion turned endurance cyclist, Keegan Swenson, and Argentinean Olympian, Sofia Gomez Villafañe. Each athlete took home $25,000. 

Life Time today announced the cast of 2024, which includes the 2023 winners as well as some band new faces.

The contestants

After wading through hundreds of applications, event organizers selected 30 men and 30 women to compete in the 2024 race series.

The coming season's cast includes former WorldTour roadies, gravel pros, mountain bike olympians, cyclocross champions and pro triathletes. 

As mentioned, 2023 winners Keegan Swenson and Sofia Gomez Villafañe will return to defend their crown but they'll be met with some new challengers. 

On the men's side cyclocross Torbjørn Andre Røed, winner of the Big Sugar Gravel race, will join the challenge. As is Czechian Petr Vakoc, who raced on the WorldTour for Quickstep and Alpecin-Fenix beofre focusing on mountain biking. 

On the women's side, the new challengers include American national gravel champion Lauren Stephens, Australian WorldTour roadie Peta Mullens, and multi-time South African National Champion Hayley Preen. 

Returning contestants include Unbound winner, recent WordTour abandonee Emily Newsom, Sarah Strum, former WorldTour roadies Peter Stetina, Alexey Vermeulen, Alex Howes, Kiel Reijnen and Lachlan Morton. 

The women's field

Crystal Anthony, 42, Bentonville, Ark., 2023 USA Gravel National Championships 3rd place

Ellen Campbell, 26, Durango, Colo., 2022 Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB 5th place

Lauren De Crescenzo, 33, Broomfield, Colo., 2021 Garmin UNBOUND Gravel presented by Craft Sportswear winner 

Cecily Decker, 25, Bozeman, Mont., 2023 Belgian Waffle Ride Kansas winner 

Sofia Gomez Villafane, 29, Heber City, Utah, 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda overall winner

Anna Hicks, 23, Placerville, Calif., 2023 Life Time Big Sugar Gravel presented by Mazda 3rd place 

Erin Huck, 42, Boulder, Colo., 2022 USA Marathon MTB National Championship

Heather Jackson, 39, Bend, Ore., 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda 14th overall 

Sarah Lange, 32, Lyme, N.H., 2023 Garmin UNBOUND Gravel presented by Craft Sportswear 5th place 

Kristen Legan, 37, Boulder, Colo., 2023 Garmin UNBOUND Gravel presented by Craft Sportswear XL winner 

Sarah Max, 48, Bend, Ore., 2019 Garmin UNBOUND Gravel presented by Craft Sportswear 3rd place 

Deanna Mayles, 30, Colorado Springs, Colo., 2023 Life Time Chequamegon MTB Festival presented by Trek 3rd place

Kate McLaughlin, 35, Boulder, Colo., 2023 Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB 10th place 

Peta Mullens, 35, Bendigo, Australia, 12-time Australian National Champion 

Emily Newsom, 40, Fort Worth, Texas, 2022 Garmin UNBOUND Gravel presented by Craft Sportswear 3rd place 

Paige Onweller, 34, Grand Rapids, Mich., 2022 Life Time Big Sugar Gravel presented by Mazda winner 

Hannah Otto, 27, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2022 Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB winner 

Hayley Preen, 25, Cape Town, South Africa, multi-time South African National Champion

Jenna Rinehart, 39, Mankato, Minn., multi-time Life Time Chequamegon MTB Festival presented by Trek winner 

Melisa Rollins, 27, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2023 Belgian Waffle Ride Utah winner 

Samara Sheppard, 33, Wollongong, Australia, multi-time New Zealand MTB champion

Danielle Shrosbree, 29, London, England, 2023 Garmin UNBOUND Gravel presented by Craft Sportswear 4th place

Alexis Skarda, 34, Grand Junction, Colo., 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda 2nd overall 

Haley Smith, 29, Uxbridge, Canada, 2022 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda overall winner 

Lauren Stephens, 36, Dallas, Texas, 2023 USA Gravel National Champion

Sarah Sturm, 33, Durango, Colo., 2023 Garmin UNBOUND Gravel presented by Craft Sportswear 3rd place

Michaela Thompson, 21, Durango, Colo., 2023 Bighorn Gravel winner  

Caroline Tory, 32, Snowmass, Colo., 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda 12th overall 

Leah Van der Linden, 28, Boulder, Colo., 2023 Garmin UNBOUND Gravel presented by Craft Sportswear 8th place

Anna Yamauchi, 23, Santa Cruz, Calif., 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda 18th overall

The men's field

Carter Anderson, 20, Eagle Mountain, Utah, 2023 Belgian Waffle Ride Utah 2nd place

Matthew Beers, 29, Cape Town, South Africa, 2x Cape Epic winner 

John Borstelmann, 32, San Luis Obispo, Calif., 2023 Garmin Gravel Worlds winner 

Zach Calton, 26, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2023 Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB 6th place 

Sean Fincham, 25, Squamish, British Columbia, 2x Canadian U23 National Champion 

Russell Finsterwald, 32, Colorado Springs, Colo., 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda 4th overall 

Howard Grotts, 30, Durango, Colo., 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda 9th overall 

Finn Gullickson, 23, Colorado Springs, Colo., 2023 Belgian Waffle Ride North Carolina 3rd place

Lance Haidet, 25, San Luis Obispo, Calif., 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda 15th overall 

Alex Howes, 35, Nederland, Colo., 2019 USA Pro Road National Champion 

Dylan Johnson, 28, Brevard, N.C., 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda 16th overall 

Brendan Johnston, 31, Canberra, Australia, 2023 Life Time Big Sugar Gravel presented by Mazda 2nd place 

Bradyn Lange, 24, Camas, Wash., 2022 Life Time Chequamegon MTB Festival presented by Trek winner 

Andrew L’Esperance, 32, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canadian Marathon MTB National Champion 

Konny Looser, 34, Hinwil, Switzerland, 2x Swiss Marathon MTB National Champion 

Payson McElveen, 30, Durango, Colo., 2018 Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB 3rd place 

Lachlan Morton, 31, Boulder, Colo., 2023 Garmin UNBOUND Gravel presented by Craft Sportswear 3rd place  

Tasman Nankervis, 28, Bendigo, Australia, 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda 17th overall

Jack Odron, 20, Denver, Colo., 2023 Bighorn Gravel 4th place

Logan Owen, 28, Bremerton, Wash., 2023 Life Time Chequamegon MTB Festival presented by Trek 5th place 

Cole Paton, 25, Durango, Colo., 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda 3rd overall 

Torbjørn Andre Røed, 26, Grand Junction, Colo., 2023 Life Time Big Sugar Gravel presented by Mazda winner 

Jordan Schleck, 21, Kampala, Uganda, 2023 Gravel Locos Hico 4th place

Nathan Spratt, 28, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2023 Life Time Crusher in the Tushar presented by The Creamery 6th place 

Peter Stetina, 36, Santa Rosa, Calif., 8x Grand Tour finisher 

Keegan Swenson, 29, Heber City, Utah, 2x Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda overall winner 

Kyle Trudeau, 30, Tucson, Ariz., 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda 13th overall 

Petr Vakoc, 31, Prague, Czech Republic, 2023 Garmin UNBOUND Gravel presented by Craft Sportswear 2nd place 

Alexey Vermeulen, 28, Boulder, Colo., 2023 Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda 2nd overall 

Alex Wild, 31, San Jose, Calif., 2022 Sea Otter Classic Fuego XL 3rd pla

The 2024 Life Time Grand Prix races:

Athletes will have the option to drop up to two events, entry fees will be covered by Life Time and there will be random doping controls conducted at any round.

• April 19: the Fuego XL, a 100K cross-country mountain bike race at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterrey, California. 
• June 1: the 200-mile race at the infamous Unbound Gravel in Emporia, Kansas.  
• July 13: Crusher in the Tushar, a 69-mile, hilly gravel race in Beaver, Utah.
• August 10: Leadville Trail 100 MTB, a 104-mile endurance mountain bike race at high altitude in Leadville, Colorado.
• September 14: Chequamegon, a 40-mile xc mountain bike race in Cable, Wisconsin.
• September 28:  The Rad Dirt Fest, a 110-mile gravel race in Trinidad, Colorado.
• October 14: Big Sugar Gravel, a 100-mile gravel race in Bentonville, Arkansas. 

Gravel may be cycling’s newest race discipline, but its innovative tech is often borrowed from cycling’s other disciplines, some more surprising than others. Certainly a lot of the technology — i.e. knobby tires and gear ranges— comes from the mountain bike world but if you’re racing gravel and looking for ways to eke out every last watt, you should also look to the perhaps unlikely place of triathlon and time trialling. 

Yes, triathlon. Sure, multisport is a solo endeavor more than it is a team sport and group tactics are wildly different due to drafting penalties, but a lot of gravel riding occurs solo as well. 

The fastest triathletes, like Ineos-Grenadier’s Cameron Wurf, know how to get every last bit of speed from bikes that also offer just enough comfort when racing solo for more than four hours in Iron-distance triathlons. Many gravel bike designs incorporate some of the best features and design elements of TT bikes, with optimizations for off-road riding, for many of the same reasons. Here's some gravel tech that originated in triathlon.

Aerobars and an aerodynamic position

Nearly a decade ago, a Specialized marketing campaign declared “aero is everything.” Bikes designed to minimize aerodynamic drag now dominate road racing and multisport events. Triathletes plunk down significant money for aerodynamic bikes and for time spent in wind tunnels to get into the fastest positions possible on the slipperiest bikes. Aero setups—which put cyclists in a forward position over the bottom bracket—mean using accessories like clip-on aero bars to enable getting into low-drag positions. And gravel racers and bike manufacturers have taken notice.

Until 2023, pros racing in Unbound Gravel were permitted to use aero bar extensions on their gravel bikes. These bar extensions enable riders to get into positions on their bikes similar to those used by Olympic triathletes. While bar extensions are now prohibited in the pro ranks at some gravel races, you might still leverage bar extensions to your aero advantage, and faster with the same effort.

Frame design and tube shapes

Late model triathlon and time trial bikes feature designs that homologized around Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models with dropped seatstays, wide head tubes, and flat top tops tubes that have proven slipperiest in the wind and fastest against the clock. Tube sections that are rounded in front and squared on the trailing edge (“Kamm tail”) are the norm, as they are as effective as wider, longer and flatter shapes, but with less material required. This saves on weight and production costs.

While aerodynamics are significant at speeds in excess of 40kph, reducing aero drag at lower speeds is still effective at shaving seconds and effort. Gravel bikes feature tube shapes and overall frame designs that not only reduce drag coefficient, but also provide more comfort; dropped stays are not only aero and allow some intentional frame flex for a smoother ride. Tube wall thickness is tuned to for stiffness and to lessen road vibrations in both TT and gravel bikes.

Frame Geometry

Tri bikes with steep head and seat tube angles of 71.5 - 72.5 degrees and 77.5 - 78 degrees respectively position riders over the bottom bracket for optimal pedaling efficiency in a stretched-out position.

Gravel bikes are designed for rider comfort over longer events that may last longer than a full-distance triathlon, so there’s some divergence between the design of gravel and TT bikes.

Some gravel bikes with a 73 or 74 degree seat tube angle perform very well when traversing tricky terrain. Gravel bikes saddles are positioned slightly further behind the bottom bracket than a standard road bike ( 73.7 degree seat angle for a Trek Madone), which also adds to comfort and control for gravel riders. While frame geometry similarities may not extend from tri to gravel bikes, the “horses for courses” principle applies, which means lessons learned from designing one type of bike are adapted for engineering a different type of bike.

Aerodynamic wheels

Just as faster frame designs and tube shapes allow bikes to go faster with no increase in power, so can deep section wheels add speed and/or reduce effort. The latest innovations in wheel design are low drag and rims with sinusoidal profiles are more stable and offer superior handling when wind comes from any direction. 

Triathletes benefit from wheel designs that reduce handling-induced fatigue as well as the amount of energy needed to maintain race speeds, and so can gravel riders.

Wide tires

Wider wheels can accept wider tires, which are aerodynamically faster and have lower rolling resistance than skinny setups. To accept wider tires, bike frame and fork designs are wider, which in recent aero testing is faster than designs with ultra-tight tolerances.

Many gravel racers are likely to be more concerned with durability and tire grip, and, of course, similar tire rolling resistance principles apply. Wider tires need lower inflation pressures, which  offers more comfort and a cushioned ride for gravel riding.

Tire pressure

One of the most-asked questions of cyclists is: What tire pressure are you running? This is where gravel racers learned more quickly than triathletes the importance of how much air to add pre-ride. Racing on smooth surfaces that are relatively similar over an entire race course, triathletes have only to manage optimal inflation for tire size and their weight. Experienced and tech savvy multisport athletes riding recent generation tubeless tires often follow what road racers do, and go with the lowest tire pressure possible. Lower tire pressure offers a forgiving ride, and can be faster on smooth asphalt. 

Tire pressure is a closely guarded secret for some pro gravel riders. Like team mechanics in the pits, pro gravel racers and privateers often smile and nod, but offer an imprecise response when asked what tire pressure, while they ready their bikes next to camper vans. But the principle is the same as road and triathlon: Use the lowest tire pressure possible considering combined rider and bike weight, while also accounting for grip on varying surfaces.

Drivetrain

A relatively recent trend in triathlon and multisport bikes is the use of a single chainring to reduce aerodynamic drag caused by a front derailleur. A single chainring setup also creates a relatively straighter chain line. Marginal reductions in aero drag and friction between the chain and cassette can add up to minutes over a 180km bike segment of a full-distance tri.

Gravel riders can opt for a 1x-chainring setup for similar watt-saving rationale. But a very real concern that most multisport athletes won’t have is reducing the chance of mechanical failure if one’s drivetrain gets choked in mud.

Concealed cockpits

Integrated cockpits—bars and stems with internally routed hoses and cables—are near the top of the list of features that offer meaningful benefits. Exposed brake lines and shifter cables might appear to be too small to create drag, but over the duration of an hours-long event the grams of drag saved can mean minutes saved, especially when using aero parts.

Gravel racers who use cockpits with internal routing gain the aero edge that triathletes have been using for years. An added bonus for gravel riders using concealed cables: Fewer exposed brake lines mean easier clean up.

Integrated storage

Triathletes used to tape gels and other snacks directly to their bikes (some athletes still do) for quick and easy access to calories while racing. Many multisport racers stuff a few spare CO2s and tire plugs into a small bag mounted behind the saddle. Modern multisport bikes feature integrated and aero-shaped storage options that offer snack storage on the top tube, and compartments behind the seat tube or above the bottom bracket for keeping tire repair necessities. Another watt-saving feature are integrated hydration compartments—bladders are crammed into compartments in the down tube or behind the saddle—and have a hose and drinking straw that allows riders to grab a drink without coming out of an aero position.

Another lesson gravel racers can learn from triathletes is to prep nutrition before cramming it into on-the-bike storage. If using a sealed storage compartment, pre-open nutrition packaging before stowing it. This makes for easier hands-free or one-handed access while riding, alleviating the need to stop and use both hands to open a wrapper or bag.

Gravel bikes may lack hidden reservoirs, but storage compartments are nearly the norm on many bikes. Containers on the top tube, behind the saddle, between the top- and down tubes, and even on the front of the cockpit are so common that gravel bikes look stripped-down without a few compartments strapped or bolted on.

Don't Reinvent the Wheel

Triathletes are a strange bunch and are quick to tell you about interval workouts, what to eat, how early to go to bed, and the latest gadgets, which undoubtedly will offer a data point for going faster. If you’re a gravel rider who never plans to race against the clock you can still learn a few things that will make your off-road riding experience better. Many of these type-A multisport people do their homework and can offer excellent, practical ideas for having fun when riding solo, but next to hundreds of others doing the same thing for hours at a stretch.

Following a successful inaugural event in June 2023, Valtteri Bottas' FNLD GRVL race will return to his hometown of Lahti, Finland, on June 15, 2024. 

This year's debut attracted nearly a thousand participants from 27 countries, and saw Lidl-Trek's Toms Skujiņš tap into his road fitness to take home the top honors as well as a big slice of the  €20k pro prize purse. In the women's race, Bottas' partner and co-founder of the race, Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM), did the same.

FNLD GRVL is a partnership between SBT GRVL's Amy Charity, F1 racer Bottas and  Australian WorldTour pro Cromwell. SBT GRVL, now in its fifth year, is among the top gravel events in the United States; with FNLD GRVL, Charity and co want to create "the premier gravel event in Europe" as well.

“We’re already looking forward to returning to Lahti for the 2024 edition of FNLD Gravel and we’re excited to build on the success of 2023," says Charity.

"Once SBT GRVL wraps up in Colorado on August 20th, we will be back in full planning mode to build upon our rider experience in Lahti both on and off the bike with a few exciting changes in the works to make next year even more exciting for our sponsors and riders.”

Bottas grew up just 15 kilometers west of Lahti in Nastola, and still owns a Lake House in Lahti, which gives him out-the-door access to outdoor activities. When Cromwell introduced him to the world of bike racing in 2020, it wasn’t long before he started vying for the podium on his two-wheeled machines as well. After attending his first SBT GRVL race in Steamboat, Colorado, in 2021, Bottas was so impressed by the organization, racing and community aspect that he wanted to bring it to Finland.

In 2022, Cycling Weekly was given a chance to go explore some of Finland's best gravel offerings with Bottas as a guide, and the "land of a thousand lakes" did not disappoint.  

FNLD GRVL is held in and around Lahti on the edge of Finnish Lake Region, just an hour’s drive north from Helsinki. The region is defined by more than 55,000 lakes that dot a forest-covered plateau and also houses the highest point of Southern Finland, Tiirismaa, which tops out at just 223 meters (732 feet), meaning that breathing comes easily and hard efforts can be sustained. 

Whereas Midwest U.S. and Colorado gravel events are characterized by the vast, expansive plains on coarse gravel, at FNLD GRVL we enjoyed the rollercoaster, forest-covered terrain and varied surfaces of the various courses on offer. 

“It was a nice surprise to find myself at the top of the Women’s podium this year and it was certainly a great way to experience the full route after testing it last autumn," comments Cromwell. 

"Having ridden in the area extensively over the years I knew that Lahti had what it needed to host a world-class gravel race and now no one is left in doubt.” 

For 2024, the race will again offer its €20k prize purse, split evenly among the men's and women's pro fields in the the flagship, 177-kilometre Mighnight Sun race. In addition to the 177-kilometer challenge, FNLD GRVL also offers a 40K short course —open to both electric and human-powered bikes— and a medium-length 77-kilometres "Lakes course" which promises to give riders a small taste of everything the region has to offer.

Just like its Coloradan sibling event, FNLD GRVL will be a one-day race wrapped in a four-day event, complete with an afterparty, sauna visits , entertainment and other   activities.

Registration for FNLD GRVL will open January 9, 2024 on BikeReg. Fees range between $100 for the short course to $1000 for a full VIP package.

 “I’m very happy that the 2023 event was such a success and we look forward to returning in 2024," says Bottas.

"To see so many participants from all over the world experience our local culture and gravel cycling was so rewarding. I had many riders approach me after the race to tell me how much they enjoyed the course and their time in Lahti. Bringing an event like FNLD GRVL to my hometown is a dream come true.”

I am not a “racer” or even self-identified “cyclist” but I found myself this January 1 (or, thereabouts, because I’m a procrastinator ) in a scene familiar to many racers and non-racers, cyclists and non-cyclists, alike: looking into a new year and looking for a new challenge on two-wheels. 

The resolution I landed on was a cycling classic: to ride a century ride. And, to spice things up, I set out to tackle this century on the roads less traveled to see for myself what all this “gravel” fuss is about. For my event, I decided on Unbound Gravel in Emporia, Kansas — the poster-child for the U.S. gravel scene. And so, on June 3, I undertook the 100-mile race as my first-ever bike event, my first gravel event and the longest ride I have done to date. 

On paper, the Unbound’s 100-mile course appears to be a quite modest affair:  4,400 feet of climbing stretched over 103 miles of rolling Midwest hills in summer sunshine. Stacked next to Unbound’s 200-mile premier event, or the super-sized 350-mile Unbound XL, the 100-mile course looks like a downright fun run. Spoiler alert: it is not.

Layer in the fact that the course is 94% gravel, along with summer thunderstorms that threaten to leave riders drenched and nearly immobile in fields of clay-rich “peanut butter mud”, the Unbound Gravel 100 is no walk in the park. Though I would learn that, at times, it was an outright walk.

Adventure ensued, as I braved two days of Unbound’s pre-race expo, and a nearly 10-hour race day where I was waylaid by multiple train crossings, a classic Midwest summer downpour and almost three-miles of Emporia’s infamous aforementioned “peanut butter mud” — all in a quest to give gravel cycling a go.  

While many did not make it to their finish line that weekend on account of the elements and equipment failures, I did manage to eke out my 103 miles.  For my fellow race- and gravel-newbies looking to survive their first event, no matter the terrain or conditions, here are my lessons from the saddle, inspired by a few songs from the mental playlist that powered me through many lonely miles.  

Shake It Out - Florence and the Machine

Shake it out, shake it out…with a shakeout ride.

Before my first race at Unbound Gravel, I was a stranger to the "shakeout ride." Another ride? Don’t I want to save all of my energy for the big day? You mean I’m supposed to ride even more miles than the 100 miles I’m already riding?? 

A “shakeout ride” is gravel-speak for a short, pre-race, often social, ride to shake out the travel, keep your legs fresh (not fatigued) and to serve as a final check on your equipment in the days before the race.

I did a couple of 1 - 1.5 hour shakeouts in the days leading up to my event, which helped keep my race day jitters at bay.  My final shakeout route incorporated the beginning and end of my 100-mile course, and I highly recommend this if you’re able to pre-ride your course; watch out for routes that go through private land or require a permit for access. I tend to be a nervous starter, especially in the minutes before gun time when there is really nothing to do but wrack up my nerves while I wait (can I use the porta potty one more time?)...and wait (I packed my pump, right?)... and wait (what will I do if my derailleur breaks in the middle of nowhere?). Knowing what lay ahead in the next few miles, I staved off most of my “what kind of stupid idea was this?” start-line thoughts. And by pre-riding the end, I avoided any unexpected surprises in the moments I knew I would be most physically and mentally tired. Instead of trudging through the last miles wondering when the finish line would finally come into sight, I cruised (relatively speaking) through my last 10 miles, hills included, with ease.

The shakeout also offers you one last check on your bike set up. If your brakes have developed a mysterious noise (like mine did), you don’t want to learn about this right as you’re about to embark on 100 miles and listen to squeaky or scratchy disc rotors the whole way (which I avoided thanks to my shakeout, phew).  

Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac

“Me? 42 Pathfinders.”…”Seriously, he’s running 38s? Crazy”…”I’d do 40 RSs over 45s. Better for clearing the mud out there.”…”28psi? I’d at least do 30.”…”Too high. 22.”

You may find —as I did within 30 minutes of stepping foot in Emporia, Kansas— that introducing yourself by name is completely superfluous and borderline uncool on race weekend. Identify yourself by your tire choice and tire pressure, and you’ll give the air of a seasoned rider.  After all, if you’re not talking about your tires are you even riding gravel?

In all seriousness, the pre-ride expo will be full of promoters and enthusiastic riders expounding on the best tires, the optimal tire pressure and the best way to intake the requisite grams of carbs per hour. It’ll keep you awake at night, questioning your equipment and nutrition choices. Go ahead and sample the plethora of electrolyte offerings and make mental notes of fuel options for future rides, but now is perhaps not the time to wholesale exchange your nutrition plan for handfuls of sport gels you’ve never tried before or to completely rearrange your bike setup.  If you’re looking to make a last-minute switch to tubeless tires or you have question about your appropriate tire pressure, go ahead and ask a pro at one of the booths and they will help you out. Make informed decisions, of course, but avoid falling victim to the trap of overthinking, which will just add stress to your pre-race preparations and waste precious rest time.  

While I may be running 42mm Specialized Pathfinder Pro tires, set to 28 psi, and including a couple of Pay Day bars for fuel, what works for me might not work for you.  Skip anxiously asking ChatGPT if you should change your tires into the wee hours of the night.  Clear your mind and stay rested. You can go your own way. 

You Got It - Roy Orbison

Anything you want, you got it, anything you need, you got it in your frame bag.  

According to Athlinks data for Unbound Gravel 2023,  at least 21% of participants are listed as not having completed their full course, including 28% of the pro field and a whopping 44% of non-elite 200-mile participants.  My field fared slightly better with 15% not crossing the finish line. Judging by the hearty number of people I saw sidelined, fixing flats and cursing the mysteries of derailleurs, I’d gander that mechanical issues ruined many a day.

While you might not be able to outride bad luck, you can still be stocked against a tough break. Given the terrain and remoteness of gravel, it’s best to equip yourself with the necessities to have your best chance at completing your full course.  

Unbound Gravel published a set of gravel guides, complete with a handy equipment checklist that I think would do for just about any gravel event.  Here are some of the trials you should expect to deal with, and the “shoulds” and “wants” that I would elevate to “musts” on your own equipment checklist:

To fix a flat (or several), 

- A flat kit with two spare tubes (yes, two), levers and patches

- A tire boot (for patching a tire sidewall)

- Tire plug kit if you’re running a tubeless tire setup

To fix a drivetrain or get past a broken derailleur,

- A spare rear derailleur hanger

- A multi-tool with a chainbreaker

To be prepared against the terrain and elements,

- A paint stick, for scraping mud or debris off your bike

- An extra waterproof layer for the rain and cold.  If you get stuck in an hours-long storm, you will feel cold, even if it’s only 65 F out.

- A small bottle of chain lube

Check Yo Self - Ice Cube

Check yo’ self before you wreck yo’ self and your bike. Ice Cube’s sage adage reminds us to make smart decisions out there, or else.

The mud at Unbound was not the cute little dirty-your-socks and spray-your-face mud, but miles-long stretches of Emporia, Kansas’ infamous peanut butter mud that sticks to your tires and, quite literally, stops you in your tracks.  

Riders trudged along by foot on the grassy roadsides, clearing their tires and chainstays of mud, walked more, and stopped to repeat their cleaning routine, over and over and over again for upwards of an hour and a half until pedaling was a safe option again. Others succumbed to flats by walking the rocks to avoid the mud and the roadside lines, and still others —out of bravery or impatience— tried to ride the mud, only to clog their drivetrains with their efforts. 

With much less than a quarter of the course tackled, I watched a pickup truck full of riders be carted off the course with muddied, defunct steeds and unfulfilled hopes. “Does anyone know anything about derailleurs?” someone shouted into the throng at one point.  

While a sure number of races were not salvageable that day, some could have been with a little more patience and know-how. While out on course, I made an intentional effort to protect my drive train (i.e., no pedal smashing); I stopped to keep my chain lubed up and running smoothly and checked my thru-axle and derailleur bolts at every major checkpoint.  

Make sure you have the self-sufficiency to handle any unavoidable disasters. Before you head out, ask yourself if you actually know how to:

- Fix a flat

- Use a tire plug

- Use a tire boot

- Make an emergency single speed

If you can use a bottle opener or wine screw, you can learn to do any of these groad-side repairs. Don’t depend on anyone but yourself to get out of a pickle.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar

C’mon hills, hit me with your best shot, fire away.

I am not someone who thrives in a Type 2 Fun mindset —I leave that to your editor, Anne-Marije Rook— so it’s important for me to keep my mood up during a ride. 

Unless you are a Buddha incarnate, there is probably something out there that will get you out of the zone, maybe even get you down eventually —wind, rain, walking your bike 2.5 miles through the mud, fixing your fourth mechanical of the day…

For me, one of these nemeses is a long climb and, if I’m really honest, everybody who passes me on my way to the top. Indeed, at one point, the head of the men’s pro race really did speed past me on an uphill grind with such pace, it left me wondering if I had even been moving at all. To keep my mind from wandering to dark places on hard climbs, my secret sauce is to sing “I love climbing” to the tune of Bow Wow Wow’s I Want Candy. It sounds silly—and it is—but if I let the “you’re slow” or “this is hard, I want this to be over” thoughts creep in, I’m toast.  Singing in my head helps me meditate on pedaling, tune out the riders around me and block negative thoughts out.

Sing a song, count your pedal strokes, tape a mantra to your handlebars or pack a special treat for the top of that milestone climb on your route. Have a way of flipping on the motivation switch when you need to give yourself some free watts when you need a boost.

Car Wash - Rose Royce

Come on y'all and sing it with me, car bike wash! (OK, OK, I’m stretching a bit with this song, but I think it’s a worthwhile point).

I finished my 103-mile course in 9:50, a touch faster than my 10-hour goal, and which, given the muddy obstacle course early on, I was supremely happy about. I felt proud of finishing at all, let alone within my goal time, and of keeping a buoyant attitude for most of the day.  I left no regrets out on the groads of Emporia.

One regret came to mind later that night as I spent far too long washing the mud off my bike with just an extra toothbrush I found and a too-weak hose. I thought woefully of the stocked bike wash station I have at home, and lamented that I’d skipped the MucOff power wash at the end of the finish line earlier out of post-race exhaustion. In the end, it all worked out, as washing and drying my bike gave me a good chance to give my equipment a little TLC, and take inventory of any damage or needed repairs.  I re-lubed my chain, made a mental note to tape my head tube where my muddy bar bag had worn down the paint, and tightened my derailleur hanger which was coming loose (thank you, universe, for not serving that up in the middle of the course).  

Whether or not you’re “racing” on race day, you’re bound to put your bike through its paces, even more so than on a normal ride.  Especially if you’ve been riding your bike in the mud, give your bike a wash and re-lube your chain to prevent rust and keep your drivetrain rolling smoothly. But for any race, it can be a great idea to give your bike a once-over to make sure everything is in good working order so you’re not caught off guard on your next ride.

Inspired by the Belgian classics races, the Belgian Waffle Ride started in 2011 in San Diego County, California. It has since become one of the so-called Monuments of Gravel, and is part of a series featuring seven different events across North America. The original —BWR CA, as it is now known— features a mix of road and gravel sections and can be raced on a standard road bike. I hopped across the border to see what the more rugged, inaugural BWR BC has in store. 

Belgian Waffle Ride BC, a ride report

I raced the Wafer distance (half of the 220km Waffle) at the inaugural Canadian event on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, BWR BC, which features significantly more rugged terrain.

The race began with a neutral start behind a motocross bike. We rolled out under the start/finish gantry onto paved, rolling hills leading us into the mountains around Duncan, BC.

Our group, starting 15 minutes after the Waffle ride, was large, comprising some 200 participants, and nervous. As the first running of the event, no one knew quite what to expect, and few racers I spoke with knew the surrounding area well—most came from other parts of Vancouver Island or the mainland.

Plenty of people were happy to work on the front, so I found a good spot in the top 20 and tried to stay out of trouble. Around kilometer 15, we turned off the road onto a twisting singletrack climb. Here, it started to feel like a race: any mistake or hesitation from the rider in front was a chance to move up, and any misstep of your own resulted in, at the very least, a pointed comment from riders behind.

The climb continued onto a double track section, allowing for the group to naturally separate as the front of the race thinned out. I made it over the top in a group of six or seven other riders, and we started to work together, but a long paved descent allowed the larger group behind to catch back on.

At this point we were already working our way through groups of Waffle riders who had begun ahead of us and were pacing their efforts for a race twice the distance. Groups continued to mix and join, with each climb or dirt section forcing a selection between racers as our lead group moved its way through the race.

The second significant climb of the day began 10 kilometers later. It was longer and much harder, with steep pitches of bumpy double track. I watched a lead group of four ride away. Unwilling to go quite so deep this early in the day, I rode my own tempo and tried to keep them in sight.

A fun singletrack section spit us out at the first feed, where I pulled over to fill a bottle. Apparently this was a mistake, as I was the only one who stopped and the group I’d just left behind was now in front of me, and I was chasing solo.

I caught the tail end of the group as we entered the next dirt sector, and worked my way through the field on singletrack like an XC racer until we were back onto paved roads again. I found myself in a strong group of four off the front with a large mixed group behind.

This would be our race for most of the day—swapping pulls and dragging ourselves through the Waffle mix, trying to catch up to the four leaders on the road ahead of us. Occasionally we’d sit in a larger group and rest for a few minutes before the next little climb sifted our quartet out again.

On the course profile, the middle section of the race looked to be flat, but this turned out not to be the case. It was constant, rolling hills, some of them significant. The 110 k/68 mile Wafer course advertised an elevation gain of 1500 meters, but the real number was closer to 2100 meters, or around 7000 vertical feet of climbing. The final elevation tally for the full Waffle course was also significantly more than advertised.

The equipment conundrum 

Something that makes the Belgian Waffle Rides unique is the mixture of both singletrack and paved roads. While it is a gravel race, it’s one with a lot of tarmac. This made for some difficult decisions, equipment-wise.

Most riders were on drop bar gravel bikes with semi-slick or knobby tires between 38-42 mm. Some tread was helpful, though everything was rideable on slicks. I opted for knobby 42s, preferring the safety of wider tires on the technical parts over the speed of a narrower tire on pavement, as I correctly assumed that group dynamics would be more important on those sections. I was happy with my tire selection throughout the day and had no issues whatsoever. I wouldn’t want to ride the course with anything smaller than 38mm tires, and might even consider testing out front suspension of some kind for the rugged descents.

I rode a 2x setup with 50/34 chainrings and an 11-34 cassette, which proved inadequate. Though I appreciated having both chainrings on the road, I needed much lower gears for off-road climbing and suffered as a result. A clutched 1x setup would have been ideal for the enduro/trail single track sections, but these were brief.

Equipment choices are one of the things that makes gravel racing interesting: there may not be as many tactics playing out on the road, but technical decisions about gearing, tires, and feeds play a more significant role. Both 1x and 2x setups offer benefits and drawbacks on a course like this, and such elements make an impact on the outcome of the race.

The course

The race course was made up of four different loops which intersected one another in the Cowichan valley, akin to a four-leaf clover in shape. The Wafer course only rode three of them.

One interesting course feature was the series of culverts underneath the highway which are part of the local trail network and allow for easy crossing points. This worked well to keep riders from needing to get over open highways, as well as adding in the element of dismounting and remounting several times.

Eventually our group of four caught up with a strong group of Waffle racers, and we took the opportunity to take a breather and regroup briefly, with the final major climb of the day looming. This group was riding strongly—several of them would go on to finish in the top 25% of their race—and it was a nice surprise to see some familiar Seattle faces.

The groups split again when we reached the course turn off—they went to do the big southerly clover leaf loop and we headed into the last big climb of the day. On the run-in we picked up one of the four racers in front of us, now making us a group of five, racing for fourth place.

At this point I was running out of food and water, having planned to stop at some of the aid stations, and started missing turns at the front. I was saved from complete collapse by a volunteer at the final feed stop handing up bottles like a seasoned World Tour soigneur, and I drank what I could, and managed to choke down my last calories—my emergency energy bar and a 5 year old expired powdered drink mix (meant to be added to water) that I poured straight into my mouth and chewed like sand.

The final climb was a mix of steep and rugged sections interspersed with gentle rollers, averaging 6% for 10 km. I knew I would be immediately gapped off on the lower slopes, but was happy to go at my own pace and try to hang on for a top 10. One of the other riders flatted near the bottom, which brought our number back to four.

Once the grade kicked in, I let the wheels go and tried to keep my wattage consistent. My lower back was in rough shape from pushing too much gear and every bump and jostle threatened to cause it to seize up.

I got passed by two other racers during the ascent, but they weren’t going much faster so I knew I’d have a chance to catch them again on the way down. At this point I was concerned I was going to lose my spot in the top 10, but couldn’t push any deeper and maintained my tempo as much as possible.

When I reached the top, I hoped for a chance to recover, but the road went straight into a pedally downhill, where I knew if I could push I would make up time on those ahead of me. I put my head down and shifted into the big ring.

The descent was long, fast and rough. Some of the high speed straights had big water bars that threatened to buck me off the bike, and I had to be careful to manage the pressure on the brakes so as not to overheat the rotors.

These aren’t nicely graded logging roads —they’re fire roads: straight up and straight down— and with very little traffic on them they’re in rough shape. This was my opportunity to catch the front of the race again, so I went full speed and hoped I wouldn’t flat or crash. I went by one racer at almost twice his speed, and passed another shortly afterwards, hitting speeds well above 50 kph on rugged, potholed roads in tricky, dappled light.

It was a relief when the course turned off the fire roads and onto a steep, washed out mountain bike trail where even though I had to use every skill I possessed not to go over the bars, I no longer had to worry about a catastrophic, high-speed wreck. Signs posted on the trail first gently suggested dismounting, then strongly recommended it, but I was too fatigued to get off my bike so just held on and rode it out.

The final section was short. We dropped down to cross a set of railroad tracks, then followed a steep uphill trail back onto roughly cut primitive trails that led back to the event grounds where we’d begun, and I rolled across the line, relieved, third in my age group and seventh overall.

First impressions

I came away quite impressed with the event. Vancouver Island is a world-class cycling locale and one I look forward to going back to and exploring more, hopefully with the opportunity to look around and enjoy the views next time. The Exhibition Park was a perfect venue for the race; it had ample parking, clean facilities and a good layout for hosting a race with the accompanying vendors and booths.

Everything about the race was well-run. The course markings were very good —the only times we had issues were when we were going too fast and overshot a turn—and all road crossings had marshals stopping traffic and directing us.

I’m a fan of middle-distance gravel events for a bunch of reasons: they’re more accessible for most riders who don’t have time to train 10+ hours a week, and you can have actual fun during the race, riding hard and racing with competitors over 3-5 hours instead of being on your bike for 9+ hours (or more, see Unbound 350) and struggling just to complete the distance.

For many of us, the constraints of jobs, family and other commitments mean that training time is limited, and racing shorter events makes more sense as a result. It’s great that the option exists to race longer and challenge yourself on the same course as professional riders, but I’m happy to race and train within the time I have available. I do enjoy long adventure rides with friends, but I like to be able to stop where and when we want to and change our course if we come across an interesting looking trail.

I’d give the event two enthusiastic thumbs up, and hope to compete in other BWR events in the future. Maybe next time they’ll offer a gluten-free option, so I can sample a pre-race waffle!

Stats!

Belgian Waffle Ride BC

Waffle: 220 km/2600 (advertised) meters of climbing

Wafer: 108 km/1530 (advertised) meters of climbing

Wanna: 52 km/550 (advertised) meters of climbing

Total event participants: ~900

Weather: Dry, sunny. 11 degrees C at the start, 20 degrees C at the finish

Bike ridden: Breadwinner B-Road, custom

Gearing: 50/34 chainrings, 11-34 cassette

Tires: Rene Herse 700 x 42 Hurricane Ridge TC (tubeless) knobbies, standard casing.

It was 4 o’clock in the morning when I saw it. A white mask floating in the blackness ahead of me; two black holes where eyes should be, a white ghost catching the glow of my dynamo light. Is this the spirit of gravel? It was coming closer and closer until…holy cow! Cow! Cow!

Two cows were headed straight toward me and my newfound riding buddy on a narrow gravel farm road somewhere in the middle of Kansas. I’d been on my bike for 13 hours straight at that point. I had slogged through concrete-like mud for hours and was in a serious sleep- and calorie-deficit. By now, I had fully accepted that I’d started hallucinating, but this wasn't a figment of my imagination; we were simply encountering our first wildlife, some 170 miles into the Unbound XL. 

Unbound XL: The Ultimate Test of Tenacity

The Unbound XL is a self-supported, 350-ish mile gravel race part of the world-renowned Unbound Gravel weekend in Emporia, Kansas. You start the afternoon before the marquee 200-mile event and ride through the night until you reach the finish line some 22 to 36 hours later. Rather than an overnight bikepacking race, this is a sleep-depriving adventure that tests your endurance, tenacity and equipment. There’s no support; you’re in charge of your own fueling and mechanicals, and you’re required to bring or hire someone willing to drive out to the middle of nowhere to come get you should you need to bail or “scratch,” as it’s called in endurance events. It was first added to the weekend’s programming in 2018, and it has steadily been growing in popularity. This year’s cast of 191 crazies included the likes of WorldTour-roadie-turned-gravel-racer Ted King, ultra cyclist Jack Thompson, 2022 Life Time Grand Prix contestant Kristen Legan and last year’s course record-setter Cynthia Frazier.

The sheer distance would have been enough of a challenge in itself, but Mother Nature had a little something extra in store for us. Thunder was rumbling in the distance as we lined up in downtown Emporia waiting to be unleashed at 3 p.m. sharp. It had been raining sporadically in the days leading up to the event, and the potential for tire-sucking mud was on everyone’s mind. The thing you should know about Kansas mud is that it’s unlike the wet, sloppy muck you see in most places. It’s gritty, thick, and resembles concrete. It clogs up your drivetrain and fork in mere seconds, rendering the course unrideable and your bike immovable. When you’re preparing yourself to be in the saddle for 24+ hours already, any time spent standing still is just demoralizing. Like many at the start, I came armed with a paint stick to help clear any mud off my bike. 

We left Emporia accompanied by a police escort and plenty of fanfare. The pack was tense, jockeying for position, elbows out, like one does in a criterium. A left, a right, and another left, and we were zooming through the farm roads at race pace. Despite the long days ahead of us, the front pack meant business, and after riding for nearly an hour at an average heart rate of 182 BPM, the rubber band snapped. There was no way I was going to be able to maintain such a pace when we still had so very long to go.  

I should probably mention that this was my first time pinning on a race number in five years. I never meant to race it; I saw this challenge as something I hadn’t done before and also as a story opportunity. In between my work travel, I’d been making sure to ride consistently this spring, but even so, anything past 147 miles would make this ride my longest one yet. Thus, I merely set out to survive it. And what a survival journey it would become. 

A Race of Five Segments

There were five convenience stores along the course, which we could use for filling up water and supplies. Thus, the event was organically broken up into five segments, each around 70 miles in length. 

Segment 1: Time to find a posse

The first segment went fairly smoothly. Once I got popped from the front group, I found some new guys to ride and chat with. We took turns taking pulls, and when the initial rains came, we welcomed it. After the stifling humidity, the rain actually felt pleasant. 

We reached the first convenience store at mile 75 in decent time, but it was clear that the fast start had burned a few too many matches for some. They plumped down on the concrete parking lot. Their belongings and gas station haul strewn about around them. I didn’t have much of a strategy to get through the race, but I certainly wasn’t going to waste too much time lollygagging at the stops. When one guy started prepping a full meal, and another pulled out a toothbrush and toothpaste, I knew it was time for me to go in search of a new posse. 

Segment 2: The Mud and My Big Friendly Giant

Only one of the guys, his mouth still full of chips and the half-finished bag stuffed hurriedly in his frame bag, hopped on his bike to join me. This was Timo, a city mechanic from New Brunswick, Canada. Riding a Salsa Voyager frame with a stack height that came up to my boobs, Timo would become my Big Friendly Giant. When I asked him how tall he was, he answered, “About 6’4” — good to keep around in case of lightning.” I admit that had indeed been my very first thought upon spotting him. 

We would end up riding together for 150 miles. He was my companion through the darkness, the mud, the mechanicals, the sunrise, and the first cracks in fitness and sanity. Timo and I were well matched pace-wise, and when we rolled away from that first stop, we were gobbling up the miles hoping to catch Paige Redman. At the first gas station, someone had informed me that I was sitting in the top five of the women’s category and a podium would be in reach if I could catch Redman, who had chosen to forego the resupply stop and was somewhere up ahead. 

But then the mud came. 

We were 100 miles in and it had gotten dark at that point. The sticky clay mixture clogged up your bike and wheels so quickly that folks were going over their handlebars, and derailleurs were getting sheared off. The bikes became immovable, forcing you to drag them along any which way you could, as they were too heavy to carry. I took to the tall, wet grasses on the roadsides, hoping for a car-wash effect. 

Grit was making its way in between every chain link and cog. The chain fell off the pulley wheels and chainring every few feet. Half the time, I was using my bike like an adult-sized balance bike.

But trying to ride the grass was not without its own perils either. The ground was uneven and could suddenly disappear on you, making way for a ditch. Large rocks hid in between the grasses, slicing open tires or causing riders —myself included— to crash.

And then, there was the endless barbed wire that lined the paths and tore at people’s jerseys and skin. This continued, on and off, for 30 slow and frustrating miles. Timo and I saw each other through. He helped me get my drivetrain moving again, and I helped him fix his flat. We high-fived whenever we could pedal again, knowing full well that there was more to come. 

Somewhere along the way, I had caught Redman as well as last year’s women’s race winner, Cynthia Frazier. She told me this 352-miler was a “little too short” for her. I told her 352 was plenty enough for me. I was now sitting in second place. The podium was mine to lose, but in all honesty, this was a race of attrition. We hadn’t even reached the halfway mark yet, and it was taking everyone much, much longer than anticipated. When we reached the second stop at mile 151, we learned that many riders had dropped out already. Some due to mechanicals, others simply said, “F$!* this!” and opted for a shower and bed rather than an additional 14 hours of “adventuring.”

Despite everything, my energy was high. My legs felt good, and the clouds had made way for a bright and nearly full moon.  

Segment 3: Cracks are forming

Cracks started to show on our way to the third resupply stop. We encountered more mud, and I was forced to sacrifice my valuable calorie-containing liquids in an effort to clear my drivetrain. I had gotten very behind on my fueling and my pace was dropping. I like riding at night, but I was looking forward to the sunrise and the boost of energy that light usually provides. 

But with the sunrise came the heat and humidity. By now, I was hallucinating. Utilities poles and trees became humans, I saw orange shapes everywhere, and when I asked Timo if he, too, was seeing the lightning bugs I had been so excited to encounter, he informed me that there weren’t any. He, too, was cracked, even more so than I was, so at the third resupply stop, some 225 miles in, we went our separate ways. I gave him a first bump and said "I'll see you soon" before pedaling ahead. 

Knowing what I know now, going on without him is a decision I sorely regret. The results would have been the same, we each could have used the company, and it would have made the final third of the race far more pleasant.

Segment 4: All by myyseeeelf

I would not find anyone to ride with for the remaining 125 miles to the finish, and the solo riding got pretty dark at times. I wasn’t having fun anymore, and I just wanted to be done. I was severely in the hole calorie-wise but also too nauseous to eat. The sun-baked plains were doing me in completely. I was already writing the headlines and ledes to the stories I’d write in my head. “Coming undone at Unbound,” “I should have trained for this,” “ultra cyclists are masochists,”... 

The XL course had now merged with the 200-mile route where the pros were duking it out. The lead groups of the men’s pro race sped by me as though I was standing still. Ian Boswell and Alexey Vermeulen were kind and gave me words of encouragement. 

“Go get them, Alexey,” I managed to shout back. “How are you even talking right now?” he responded. 

Fake it till you make it. By now, there were many photographers along the course capturing the 200-mile races. I smiled and waved. But honestly, I would have cried. I just didn’t have the energy. 

Segment 5: One last gut punch

My lowest point was the last resupply stop with less than 40 miles to go. I grabbed much-needed water, coke and Gatorade. I went to the counter to pay but couldn’t locate my money. The mud had taken my paint stick, most of my gearing, and now, my money too? 

I plopped down on the ground in the middle of the store, utterly defeated. I must have looked a complete mess sitting there, covered from head to toe in mud, helmet and glasses askew, and slurring my speech from sleep deprivation. I emptied out every pocket, my vest and all my belongings until I found it. Tucked in safely in my vest pocket where it had been all along, was my credit card. 

But my little victory was short-lived. When I stepped outside with my newly acquired bounty, the sky rumbled and a monsoon-like downpour fell from the heavens. Nope! 

I stepped back inside but knew I’d have to brave the rain sooner rather than later. I had been moving so slowly for so long that I figured Frazier and Redman had long passed me. I no longer cared about the podium. I just wanted it over with. And so, I pedaled on.  

But the day wasn’t over yet. There was one last mud section ahead of me. It was carnage when I approached with pros and amateurs alike standing on the sides and uttering some choice words for Mother Nature and the course designers. I plowed through the mud determinately, only to suffer a flat the moment I got riding again. Oh, for f***’s sake. 

The sealant wouldn’t hold, and the Dynaplug struggled, but eventually, I was riding again, praying for the tire to hold. My wife was waiting for me at the finish. Watching the tracker, she was sending me countdown text messages that would flash on my Garmin screen. “Almost home!”. “One last hill!” “You crushed it!”

Did I, though? Coming across that finish line, I was the one who felt crushed. Unbound’s co-director, Kristi Mohn, awaited me at the finish. I told her those had probably been the least enjoyable two days I’ve ever spent in the saddle.

I somehow still pulled off a second-place finish —12th overall—, but it had cost me every ounce of perseverance I could muster. I do think that if conditions hadn’t been so rough, I would have quite enjoyed myself. The conditions also accounted for the high scratch rate. King, Thompson, Frazier — many of the race favorites exited early. But I am happy to report that my BFG, Timo, finished not long after me in 14th place overall.

Now, days after the event, my carbon frame is off to the repair shop, and the blisters on my hands and feet are healing. And, because I have the memory of a goldfish, I find myself already analyzing fueling strategy, equipment, and things I’d do differently next time. Wait, next time? And this is how you get sucked into ultra-endurance racing…

My Unbound XL by the numbers:

- 352 miles (every mile after mile 147 made this my longest ride in some 6 years)

- 17,257 ft of elevation gain

- Elapsed time: 28 hours

- Moving time: 24 hours

- Time spent clearing my bike and plowing through mud fields: 4 hours

- Mud sections: At least 4, including one 2-hour section

- 125 miles ridden solo

- Gas station resupply stops: 4 (I accidentally and regrettably missed one)

- 1 broken paint stick

- 1 set of gloves that went into the trash afterward

- Half a dozen hallucinations

- 0 tears shed

- a hundred profanities uttered

- 0 desire to do this again

Fuel:

- Calories burned: 9,492

- Calories consumed: not nearly enough.

What I did consume was: 

- 4 Skratch Labs High-Carb Drink Mix packets

- 5 x 1.5L hydrovest bladders of water

- 6 bottles

- 3 Gu gels

- 2 Maurtens 225 bars

- ½ a Honey Stinger Nut + Seed bar

- 1 Skratch Energy Chews

- 1 Sport Beans packet

- 6 Salt Stick tablets

- Caffeine gum

- 3 IbuProfen

Gas Station Food:

- Half an egg sandwich

- 2 Snickers

- 1 RedBull

- 1 Gatorade

- Half a coke

Interested in the bike I rode and the gear I used? See my Unbound XL gear check here.