By Katherine Moore

Published: Friday, 19 November 2021 at 12:00 am

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Gravel bikes have exploded in popularity in recent years. These wide-tyred, drop-bar machines open up a whole new world of riding possibilities and have also spawned a new bike racing discipline – gravel racing.

There are now gravel races across all four corners of the globe, from single-day events to multi-stage epics. Crucially, however, gravel racing centres around fun and community just as much as it does competition.

If you’re keen to dip your toe into the blossoming world of gravel racing but don’t know where to start, here’s everything you need to know, including race formats, what you need to get started, why you should give it a go and five of our favourite events.

What is gravel racing?

Defining any part of gravel riding can be difficult and, with such varied formats, terrain and approaches, that’s the case for gravel racing, too.

However, gravel racing sits somewhere between road, cyclocross and mountain bike racing, and tends to take place on open gravel roads, dirt double tracks and snaking singletrack, often with some stretches of paved road to link off-road segments.

Gravel races are rapidly gaining popularity across the world with a variety of formats, each offering a different flavour and designed to suit a range of riding styles. From day-long races over relatively smooth gravel roads to enduro courses peppered with short and spicy singletrack, there’s something to suit everyone.

As a relatively new racing discipline, gravel racing has a strong ethos of inclusivity and fun. Although the racing is very competitive at the pointy end (especially with the recent influx of current and ex-pro road cyclists at many popular races), there’s still a keen emphasis on participation, regardless of speed.

Unlike road racing or cross-country racing, gravel races don’t tend to be categorised by ability, so you’re much more likely to see a mass start rather than separate races for ages, genders and bike types. You’re unlikely to find cash pay-outs for podium places at gravel races, but many do have quirky trophies.

Gravel-racing formats

There are three popular formats when it comes to gravel racing, each taking elements from other disciplines.

Single-stage gravel races

The first and most straightforward format is the single-stage race, where participants compete from the start to the finish line, just like a gran fondo or mountain bike marathon race.

These tend to vary greatly in distance, including much longer events, such as Unbound Gravel’s 206-mile epic.

Enduro-style gravel races

Stephen Smith / smithphoto.co.uk

Enduro-style gravel events, pioneered by the Grinduro series, are popular with many riders thanks to the blend of social riding and racing.

Just like MTB enduro racing, riders only compete against the clock during specified segments of the course, which could be climbs, descents, technical tracks or rolling sections.

For the rest of the course, riders can take a more leisurely pace if they wish, as the winners are determined by the riders with the lowest aggregate times over the enduro sections only.

Multi-stage gravel races

John Gibson Pictures / @gibbymtbphoto

For riders looking for endurance-focused racing, stage races such as the TransRockies Gravel Royale offer a multi-day format that will test the legs day after day.

These multi-stage races can either be self-supported like most bikepacking races, or supported with kit transfers and overnight accommodation options, just like some cross-country MTB or road stage races.

How fast are gravel races?

The general pace of a gravel race depends on the format, course profile, terrain and, of course, whether you’re looking at the race leaders or riders who choose to adopt more of a ‘party pace’.

At some of the fastest and most competitive gravel races, often in North America, average speeds can reach eye-watering levels, like ex-road pro Ian Boswell’s 20mph average over 10 hours in the saddle to win Unbound Gravel in 2021.

Why we love gravel racing

Wilderness Trail Bikes

Thrilling, fun and sociable: as a new discipline, the gravel-racing community has had the opportunity to develop as a 21st century cycling sport independent of historical perceptions and the restrictions of governing body rules (Editor’s note: the UCI has announced an officially sanctioned series of mass-participation events plus a gravel World Championships for 2022).

Everyone is welcome when it comes to gravel racing. Ultimately, gravel races cater for a wide variety of riders and ability levels – perhaps more so than any other bike-racing discipline. If you’re keen, you’re in.

Ride whatever bike you like, wear what you like, ride as fast or as slow as you like – gravel is often seen as a much-needed antidote to the unwritten rules spurred from other types of cycling sport.

John Gibson Pictures / @gibbymtbphoto

By moving away from traffic onto quieter roads and car-free tracks, gravel riding, and indeed racing, can take you to some spectacularly remote and wild places. Gravel riding tends to take you further from the beaten track than road cycling and typically covers greater distances than most mountain bike races.

Gravel racing gives you the opportunity to get whatever you want out of it, whether that’s the camaraderie of getting around a mammoth course and riding into the early hours of the next day to finish, or blasting around mountainside dirt trails in the hope of a podium position.

What’s true for most riders, though, is that the unique community is key to making gravel racing special.

Do you need a gravel bike?

Andy McCandlish

In a word, no. Although most events and courses will be geared towards gravel bikes, you could certainly use a mountain bike or cyclocross bike.

You’re likely to see a range of different steeds at gravel races, from aero road bikes fitted with wide tyres for the smoothest of dirt courses (yes, really; check out Peter Stetina’s 2019 Belgian Waffle Ride win aboard his Trek Madone), to MTB tandems and awesome adapted cycles at accessible courses such as the Dukes Weekender.

Where the course is known to be more technical, you might even prefer to ride a mountain bike, if you have one in your fleet. A lot of it comes down to personal preference and the terrain you’re likely to encounter.