GET INTO GRAVEL
IN THE FIRST OF A NEW SIX PART GRAVEL AND ADVENTURE SERIES, WE LOOK AT HOW GRAVEL RIDING BECAME FIRMLY ESTABLISHED AS A FIXTURE IN THE CYCLING COMMUNITY, SPEAK TO THE PEOPLE LEADING THE CHARGE AND SHOW WHY YOU SHOULD GIVE IT A GO...
In the first of a six-part series dedicated to gravel cycling, we show you how to get started.
TELL ME ABOUT GRAVEL RIDING. WHAT IS IT AND WHERE DID IT ALL BEGIN?
The current boom started in the United States, where long, remote stretches of fire road offered a new middle ground between the worlds of road, mountain biking and cyclocross. With terrain that’s more technical – and often more remote – than your average stretch of tarmac, it allows riders to explore their passion for racing, exploration and adventure. It’s a change-up, for some, from the focus on speed and the science of hardcore road riding, and a respite, for others, who find increasing tyranny in riding on roads among speeding tons of metal.
The bike industry twigged, and created specific models to replace the hotchpotch of modified road, ’cross and mountain bikes that people were using for gravel riding, which has helped it gain a foothold as a new discipline around the world, including the UK. Gone were the days when if the road ended, so did your ride – depending on your set-up, gravel bikes were built to withstand some rather ferocious terrain.
“It’s about freedom – that sense of adventure that comes with being able to go anywhere,” says Max Burgess, a gravel convert who, with his clothing and travel company Podia.cc, organises ‘Gravelventures’ in his adopted home of Poland, and elsewhere in eastern Europe.
While there are places to get a genuine gravel experience in the UK, our network of tracks isn’t as extensive as in the US, where almost a third of its 4.1m-mile road network is unpaved. You have to dig deeper and work harder to find it, stitching together bits of road, bridleway, towpath and non-technical mountain bike trails.
But given the abject state of the UK’s pothole-strewn road network, a gravel bike, with a chunky rubber setup, might, frankly, be a better bet than a dedicated road bike.
In truth, we’ve been enjoying gravel-riding adventures in the UK for more than a century, which makes the current trend something of a throwback – only now with a trendy name and state-of-the-art bikes that are up to the job.
“IT ’S ABOUT FREEDOM THAT SENSE OF ADVENTURE THAT YOU CAN GO ANYWHERE”
“A GRAVEL BIKE MIGHT BE THE ONLY ONE YOU EVER NEED”
WHY CAN’T I JUST DIG MY OLD MOUNTAIN, HARDTAIL OR CYCLOCROSS BIKE OUT OF THE SHED, THEN? WON’T!THEY DO THE SAME " OR A BETTER!" JOB?
Well, yes and no. On the one hand, gravel bikes are niche, neither as equipped for tarmac as a road race bike nor for dirt as a suspension mountain bike. It’s the ultimate n+1 bike, where n is the number of bikes you currently own. You always need one more, and a gravel bike is just that – not a bike you need, but one you surely want.
On the other hand, a gravel bike might be the only machine you ever need. If you don’t race on the road, a gravel bike, with a simple reduction in tyre width and wheel choice, will see you just fine in any sportive or road ride with your club, and hold its own as a dedicated road bike – and be more comfortable to boot. Likewise, if you don’t mountain bike but would like to add a bit more adventure to your rides by heading off tarmac, adding some thicker rubber will do the job.
It’s this latter point of view that Sven Thiele, founder of events company HotChillee (www.hotchillee.com), subscribes to and has seen a rise in. “What I see emerging is people getting one nice frame, and two sets of wheels and tyres – a narrow, slick tyre for the road and some 38-42mm for gravel,” he says.
“I started as a road rider but I’d say 85 per cent of my riding is now done on a gravel bike. The beauty is that you’ll be riding somewhere and think ‘let’s just see what’s down there,’ and it gives you the chance to do that. I’ve ridden a 204km team time trial on the road on my gravel bike – I just took the knobblies off and put the slicks on.”
I’M STILL NOT CONVINCED. GRAVEL BIKES SOUND A LOT LIKE CYCLOCROSS BIKES TO ME…
A quick look suggests that, yes, gravel bikes share a lot in common with ’cross bikes. But there are crucial differences. Cyclocross is a sport, so the bikes are designed for the purpose of winning races. You’ll be in a lower, more racy position, with steering compatible with a cyclocross course’s sharp bends. ’Cross races run for just an hour, so such geometry is less suitable for the huge endurance tests of organised gravel races and events. ’Cross bikes’ tyre clearances aren’t as generous as a gravel bike, which means you can’t fit fat tyres in the 40mm+ ballpark (the UCI has a 33mm maximum rule for competition). Likewise the gearing; cyclocross racing is both fast and furious, and highly specified, so ranges could be smaller than the long-form, varied pursuit that is gravel riding.
To carry on the theme, ’cross bikes don’t have the same concessions to comfort as gravel bikes, which might have more flex in the seatpost or cockpit. On a dedicated ’cross race rig, you won’t able to mount mudguards or pannier racks. Not so on many gravel bikes, which is another reason why they’re such adaptable, versatile machines, whether you want to enter a gravel race or get away for a few days of bikepacking adventures.
WON’T A MOUNTAIN BIKE HARDTAIL BE MORE UP TO THE TASK?
“I’D JUST SET OFF WITH A MAP, EXPLORE BRIDLEWAYS AND SEE WHERE I ENDED UP”
On many unpaved roads, a mountain bike with front suspension is going to give you more comfort. But gravel bikes are versatile. Any gravel ride in the UK is going to involve a varying proportion of paved roads, where the gravel bike will have the edge in terms of efficiency. And when you head off road, gravel enthusiasts will tell you that what you come up against, whether it be loose rocks and uneven terrain, sand, water or root-strewn tracks, is all part of the adventure, the uncertainty of what comes next.
“I embrace that uncertainty,” says Burgess. “The difference between a hardtail and gravel bike is the speed you can ride on paved surfaces. With a 100km gravel ride you’re going to get a mixture of gravel, tarmac and some sections where you get off and push, and I don’t think such distances are possible on a hardtail.”
Everyone is always chasing progress but like the vinyl record revival in the age of Spotify, gravel bikes have, for some, reset the clock. For Deborah Goodall, one of the organisers of the Yorkshire True Grit gravel event in the North York Moors (yorkshiretruegrit.co.uk), gravel riding takes her back to the early days of riding her rigid mountain bike.
“If I went out on the same tracks and paths on my current mountain bike it wouldn’t excite me because the bikes handle it too easily,” she says. “But with a drop-bar gravel bike, you get to the bottom of a descent, look back and think ‘I can’t believe I’ve just got down that’. Maybe it just makes me feel younger!”
Thiele agrees, arguing that the test of skill and nerve he gets through riding his gravel bike in technical terrain is good news for his bike handling back on the roads: “I find the concentration level is higher and more intense, which makes the whole experience deeper and richer. Which means when you get back to tar, everything is easy. It’s really going back to the first era of mountain bikes, with people pushing boundaries without suspension.
“A lot of the gravel riders I know are of the same frame of mind. They’ve stepped away from the glitz and glamour of road riding, which we’re a part of as well [at HotChillee]. Culturally the scene is different: it’s more ‘earthy’ and more in touch with nature, and there’s a snowboarding vibe. It’s not the most serious of the cycling disciplines; there’s good camaraderie, and a freedom of expression.”
“TYRE CHOICE IS IMPORTANT IN ROAD RIDING, BUT EVEN MORE SO ON GRAVEL”
DO I NEED ANY SPECIALIST EQUIPMENT, ASIDE FROM A GRAVEL BIKE?
One of the best choices you could make is to fit tubeless tyres. You’re more likely to endure pinch flats off road and a tubeless tyre’s ability to self-fix most punctures is essential, particularly if you’re involved in gravel races or events where you’re chasing results or cut-offs, or just battling against fading light.
Tyre choice is important in road riding, but even more so on gravel. You might be on an adventure but you’ll still do well to take a deep dive into route research, to ensure your route is rideable on your gravel bike. Tyre widths go from 32mm up to mountain bike-esque 50mm, with varying degrees of tread. You’d also do well to carry tools and spares such as chain tools and links – heading away from civilisation has its perks, but it can bite you on the bum if you have a mechanical and you’re ill-equipped to fix it. Burgess is a fan of Tubolito inner tubes for when his tubeless set-up fails – the bright orange tubes can save around 100g on standard tubes and take up half the space, while being stronger to boot.
I’M NOT THE MOST ADVENTUROUS, HOW CAN I BE CONFIDENT I W O N ’ T G E T T O T A L LY LOST WHEN I HEAD OFF ROAD?
Having a route plugged into your GPS device is the best way to avoid this. Apps such as Komoot (www.komoot.com) are helpful. It’s a dedicated service for cyclists, and relies on the experience and know how of its users who suggest routes for the wider community, allowing you to build itineraries around the best gravel sections, climbs and coffee stops. Thiele and Burgess are both converts. “You can choose gravel-specific routes, and I like the way it breaks each route down into different surfaces so you know what you’re looking at. We use it to plan our Gravelventures,” says Burgess.
If you have space, and particularly on longer trips in the wilderness, an old-fashioned paper map remains as useful as ever, particularly in combination with a GPS device.
“GRITFEST IS A TWO DAY EVENT WITH TIMED SECTIONS IN THE CAMBRIAN MOUNTAINS”
HOW ABOUT EVENTS, IN THE UK AND ABROAD?
There’s an increasingly impressive mix of races and audax-style, time-limited endurance events, including the 200km Dirty Reiver (12-13 April) at Kielder Castle, Northumberland, and, as already mentioned, the multi-distance Yorkshire True Grit (21-23 June), at Hutton-le-Hole in the North York Moors. Its organisers work with landowners and gamekeepers to use private gravel tracks built for grouse shooting. They also host, for the uber-adventurous, the True Grit Dark Skies night ride in February. “The sounds in the forest at night, of owls, pheasants and deer…” says Goodall. “You hear things you just don’t hear during the day and it gives you a little shot of adrenaline.”
Also take a look at Thiele’s HotChillee, which hosts gravel events in South Africa and Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, as well as monthly rides in the UK, including a London-Brighton gravel ride. If you’re after races, Gritfest (22-23 June) is a two-day event with timed sections in the Cambrian Mountains. There’s also Grinduro Scotland, an 83.3km race on Arran (date tbc).
“We started Yorkshire True Grit in 2016,” says Goodall, “thinking it would be quite localised. Andy [Wright, who organises the event with Deborah] has a bike shop [Bikewright in Easingwold] and he thought it would help to promote the shop. We soon realised how much people were into it. The weather was apocalyptic, the worst you could imagine. We had to rescue 14 people who’d taken refuge in a pub. People were still telling us we had to do it again! From 150 in that first event, we’re hoping for 500 this summer.
“Gravel riding is no longer this quirky corner of the bike industry, it’s become trendy.” Over the next five issues we’ll be delving into the world of gravel and adventure cycling, showing you where to ride, the technique and skills involved, and finding out more about event experiences and bikepacking.