Gravel supporting road<\/h2>Races such as the Tour de Georgia are no more. – Doug Pesinger \/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cIt\u2019s not a replacement; it\u2019s not an either\/or situation,\u201d Tim Johnson, a former professional American cyclist who raced internationally in a variety of disciplines, tells BikeRadar. \u201cOne way to look at it is that riders have more options now, rather than less.<\/p>
\u201cAt the same time, there aren\u2019t 10 US-based UCI Continental teams to choose from for pro riders. California, Georgia, Missouri, [The Tour of] Albert and [Tour de] Beauce [in Canada] are gone,\u201d Johnson adds. \u201cIn terms of UCI races, there is a decline in US-based [road] racing.\u201d<\/p>
Eric Hill founded Project Echelon in 2015 and says his job running the US-based UCI Continental team has become more challenging in the current landscape. But he\u2019s not about to throw in the towel on road racing.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cIs gravel killing road? That\u2019s not the story. You read that enough times, though, and you start to believe it,\u201d Hill says. \u201cMy take on gravel is that it gets people on bikes and that\u2019s a good thing. It\u2019s our responsibility and the media\u2019s responsibility to not create haves and have-nots between road and gravel.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cFor whatever reason, we in cycling are really good at separating people instead of bringing people together. Road is equally guilty of it, pooh-poohing gravel instead of saying it\u2019s an interesting discipline.\u201d<\/p>![\"Overall](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-73948498-scaled.jpg\")
Janez Brajkovic, Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie and Pavel Padrnos celebrating at the Tour de Georgia 2007. – Doug Pesinger \/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>Like Johnson, Hill believes gravel can complement road racing. \u201cIt\u2019s supplementary to road racing,\u201d he adds. \u201cThat\u2019s where we\u2019re going with it. It is a great way to build community, to test depth and skills, to work on bike skills and all these things. Let\u2019s not knock it down, but it\u2019s definitely not a replacement for road racing, it\u2019s a supplement to road racing.\u201d<\/p>
Amy Charity is the co-founder and co-owner of gravel events SBT GRVL and FNLD GRVL, and raced professionally on the road. She echoes the sentiment shared by Johnson and Hill, while acknowledging that top-level racing opportunities have diminished for road-focused riders in the United States.<\/p>
\u201cI don\u2019t think gravel has replaced road; there is still a space for both,\u201d Charity says. \u201cRoad racing has certainly declined a lot. Looking back on my racing days, California, Utah, Colorado, Philly\u2026 most of them don\u2019t exist anymore. <\/p>
“That said, I don\u2019t think there is a future where there are no more crits, road races, time trials. We often see roadies at our events who do both road and gravel, and the same for mountain bikers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>
For participants old and new<\/h2>![\"Start](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/06\/EMILY-SIERRA-%2540em.sierra-2023-FoCo-Fondo-60-1.jpg\")
The FoCo Fondo gravel event in Colorado attracts more than 2,000 participants. – Emily Taylor<\/figcaption><\/figure>There are a few ways to compare the momentum of gravel and road, and it\u2019s helpful to look at amateur participation and professional riders separately.\u00a0<\/p>
For participants, gravel can mean racing or just completing a distance, more akin to mass-participation running events. In the US, most road races are organised with the cooperation of USA Cycling, which, much like British Cycling, categorises riders by experience and skill level. Gravel, by contrast, has no such centralised governing body and no racing licence is required.\u00a0<\/p>
This makes it easier to get into gravel, Charity says, and it’s a key factor in lowering the barrier to entry.<\/p>
\u201cThere are very few barriers to entry for gravel; you need a bike and you go onto a website and sign up,\u201d Charity says. \u201cFor road, you have to figure out, what category am I? What licence do I need? Because of that, gravel is simple. You sign up with your parents, your friends or your kids and you can all race together.<\/p>
\u201cThat\u2019s one side, but many promoters work year-round to make gravel more inclusive, to make people know they can come to gravel events and feel welcome because of all the opportunities and variety.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>
Husband-and-wife team Zack and Whitney Allison got their start in pro road racing, and the couple now both race gravel and put on the gravel event FoCo Fondo in Colorado, which attracts more than 2,000 participants.\u00a0<\/p>![\"Shot](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/06\/EMILY-SIERRA-%2540em.sierra-2023-FoCo-Fondo-136-2-1.jpg\")
Gravel events can cost less than road events. – Emily Taylor<\/figcaption><\/figure>While not easy to stage, gravel events can be permitted and carried out with less cost than road events, according to Zack Allison.<\/p>
\u201cFoCo Fondo, and other gravel events in our area, feel quite a bit more sustainable from a few different perspectives of promotion,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cWe can produce a larger racing event in waves [of riders] with road controls and neutral sectors, and with routes that leave pretty close to downtown Fort Collins. The City and County both understand there’s a positive economic impact to them and pretty low impact on traffic, being mostly on rural gravel roads.”<\/p>
Allison says if they tried to recreate the event as a road race, the impact on driving would be \u201cenormous\u201d and the chance of getting the authorities on board much lower.<\/p>
\u201cAnother aspect of sustainability is that the costs overall are lower and more scalable,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe can have nearly any type of rider participate, from a 12-mile trail route with kids to a 118-mile race with gravel pros seeking to win money.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cWe’re not subject to USAC or UCI rules and regulations. You don’t need a licence to race. Each wave is for distance, with all scoring categories riding together. This allows us to have waves over 500 people with 2,500 estimated starters.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cWhile we do have lead and follow vehicles, a fenced-in finish chute, and timing chips and a timing company, we don’t have to have massive rolling enclosures, USAC course marshals, 50 different categories for age groups and genders that all leave separately.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cAll of those things become a burden and take budget away from promoting the event to the\u00a0wider range of people that make up a larger gravel event.\u201d<\/p>
BikeRadar contacted USA Cycling for statistics and a comment on road racing in the US, but did not hear back.\u00a0<\/p>
Privateer pros<\/h2>![\"Timothy](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-990280352-scaled.jpg\")
Timothy Johnson racing at the World Cup Hofstade cyclocross race in Belgium. – Tim de Waele \/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>Very much unlike many road events, where amateurs have followed or emulated professionals, gravel began as an amateur endeavour, with a smattering of professional athletes \u2013 many of them recently retired road racers \u2013 racing gravel as a second career.<\/p>
Johnson raced in Europe on the road before making his way as what we now call a privateer, including in cyclocross. Being a professional gravel racer is now a career option in its own right and gives top-level riders a new option when competing.<\/p>
\u201cThe higher the elevation gravel racing gets in terms of professionalism, finances and quality of events, it really is about being the best cyclist, which is music to my ears, and riders can have more choices,\u201d he says. \u201cComing from where I did, we were told to specialise and were actively told not to do things that weren\u2019t [road racing].<\/p>
\u201cWhen I was racing cyclocross, \u2019cross was growing faster than people realised, and I was racing for more money and had more sponsors than people assumed, for many years,\u201d he says. \u201cIt may be similar for some riders now with gravel.\u201d<\/p>
For Hill with Project Echelon, the dearth of elite racing in the US has proven a challenge and has prompted his team to seek out more racing in Europe.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s made us be more intentional about what our goals are and how we are going to achieve them,\u201d Hill says. \u201cI don\u2019t know if we would be racing as much in Europe as we would be now, and getting the publicity and attention that we\u2019re getting as a programme if all those US races still existed. I wish they were still there. It supports a bigger ecosystem. We would probably carry a bigger roster.\u201d<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s not a replacement; it\u2019s not an either\/or situation,\u201d Tim Johnson, a former professional American cyclist who raced internationally in a variety of disciplines, tells BikeRadar. \u201cOne way to look at it is that riders have more options now, rather than less.<\/p>
\u201cAt the same time, there aren\u2019t 10 US-based UCI Continental teams to choose from for pro riders. California, Georgia, Missouri, [The Tour of] Albert and [Tour de] Beauce [in Canada] are gone,\u201d Johnson adds. \u201cIn terms of UCI races, there is a decline in US-based [road] racing.\u201d<\/p>
Eric Hill founded Project Echelon in 2015 and says his job running the US-based UCI Continental team has become more challenging in the current landscape. But he\u2019s not about to throw in the towel on road racing.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cIs gravel killing road? That\u2019s not the story. You read that enough times, though, and you start to believe it,\u201d Hill says. \u201cMy take on gravel is that it gets people on bikes and that\u2019s a good thing. It\u2019s our responsibility and the media\u2019s responsibility to not create haves and have-nots between road and gravel.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cFor whatever reason, we in cycling are really good at separating people instead of bringing people together. Road is equally guilty of it, pooh-poohing gravel instead of saying it\u2019s an interesting discipline.\u201d<\/p> Like Johnson, Hill believes gravel can complement road racing. \u201cIt\u2019s supplementary to road racing,\u201d he adds. \u201cThat\u2019s where we\u2019re going with it. It is a great way to build community, to test depth and skills, to work on bike skills and all these things. Let\u2019s not knock it down, but it\u2019s definitely not a replacement for road racing, it\u2019s a supplement to road racing.\u201d<\/p> Amy Charity is the co-founder and co-owner of gravel events SBT GRVL and FNLD GRVL, and raced professionally on the road. She echoes the sentiment shared by Johnson and Hill, while acknowledging that top-level racing opportunities have diminished for road-focused riders in the United States.<\/p> \u201cI don\u2019t think gravel has replaced road; there is still a space for both,\u201d Charity says. \u201cRoad racing has certainly declined a lot. Looking back on my racing days, California, Utah, Colorado, Philly\u2026 most of them don\u2019t exist anymore. <\/p> “That said, I don\u2019t think there is a future where there are no more crits, road races, time trials. We often see roadies at our events who do both road and gravel, and the same for mountain bikers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p> There are a few ways to compare the momentum of gravel and road, and it\u2019s helpful to look at amateur participation and professional riders separately.\u00a0<\/p> For participants, gravel can mean racing or just completing a distance, more akin to mass-participation running events. In the US, most road races are organised with the cooperation of USA Cycling, which, much like British Cycling, categorises riders by experience and skill level. Gravel, by contrast, has no such centralised governing body and no racing licence is required.\u00a0<\/p> This makes it easier to get into gravel, Charity says, and it’s a key factor in lowering the barrier to entry.<\/p> \u201cThere are very few barriers to entry for gravel; you need a bike and you go onto a website and sign up,\u201d Charity says. \u201cFor road, you have to figure out, what category am I? What licence do I need? Because of that, gravel is simple. You sign up with your parents, your friends or your kids and you can all race together.<\/p> \u201cThat\u2019s one side, but many promoters work year-round to make gravel more inclusive, to make people know they can come to gravel events and feel welcome because of all the opportunities and variety.\u201d\u00a0<\/p> Husband-and-wife team Zack and Whitney Allison got their start in pro road racing, and the couple now both race gravel and put on the gravel event FoCo Fondo in Colorado, which attracts more than 2,000 participants.\u00a0<\/p> While not easy to stage, gravel events can be permitted and carried out with less cost than road events, according to Zack Allison.<\/p> \u201cFoCo Fondo, and other gravel events in our area, feel quite a bit more sustainable from a few different perspectives of promotion,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cWe can produce a larger racing event in waves [of riders] with road controls and neutral sectors, and with routes that leave pretty close to downtown Fort Collins. The City and County both understand there’s a positive economic impact to them and pretty low impact on traffic, being mostly on rural gravel roads.”<\/p> Allison says if they tried to recreate the event as a road race, the impact on driving would be \u201cenormous\u201d and the chance of getting the authorities on board much lower.<\/p> \u201cAnother aspect of sustainability is that the costs overall are lower and more scalable,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe can have nearly any type of rider participate, from a 12-mile trail route with kids to a 118-mile race with gravel pros seeking to win money.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cWe’re not subject to USAC or UCI rules and regulations. You don’t need a licence to race. Each wave is for distance, with all scoring categories riding together. This allows us to have waves over 500 people with 2,500 estimated starters.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cWhile we do have lead and follow vehicles, a fenced-in finish chute, and timing chips and a timing company, we don’t have to have massive rolling enclosures, USAC course marshals, 50 different categories for age groups and genders that all leave separately.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cAll of those things become a burden and take budget away from promoting the event to the\u00a0wider range of people that make up a larger gravel event.\u201d<\/p> BikeRadar contacted USA Cycling for statistics and a comment on road racing in the US, but did not hear back.\u00a0<\/p> Very much unlike many road events, where amateurs have followed or emulated professionals, gravel began as an amateur endeavour, with a smattering of professional athletes \u2013 many of them recently retired road racers \u2013 racing gravel as a second career.<\/p> Johnson raced in Europe on the road before making his way as what we now call a privateer, including in cyclocross. Being a professional gravel racer is now a career option in its own right and gives top-level riders a new option when competing.<\/p> \u201cThe higher the elevation gravel racing gets in terms of professionalism, finances and quality of events, it really is about being the best cyclist, which is music to my ears, and riders can have more choices,\u201d he says. \u201cComing from where I did, we were told to specialise and were actively told not to do things that weren\u2019t [road racing].<\/p> \u201cWhen I was racing cyclocross, \u2019cross was growing faster than people realised, and I was racing for more money and had more sponsors than people assumed, for many years,\u201d he says. \u201cIt may be similar for some riders now with gravel.\u201d<\/p> For Hill with Project Echelon, the dearth of elite racing in the US has proven a challenge and has prompted his team to seek out more racing in Europe.<\/p> \u201cIt\u2019s made us be more intentional about what our goals are and how we are going to achieve them,\u201d Hill says. \u201cI don\u2019t know if we would be racing as much in Europe as we would be now, and getting the publicity and attention that we\u2019re getting as a programme if all those US races still existed. I wish they were still there. It supports a bigger ecosystem. We would probably carry a bigger roster.\u201d<\/p>For participants old and new<\/h2>
Privateer pros<\/h2>
![\"Garmin](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-1234137102-scaled.jpg\")
![\"Hugo](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-1995168141.jpg\")