Taking a Pulse on the Spirit of Gravel
spirit | ˈspirət |
noun
those qualities regarded as forming the definitive or typical elements in the character of a person, nation, or group or in the thought and attitudes of a particular period
Spirit by this definition is in reference to something. The tenacious spirit of a nation, for example. If you’ve stumbled on this blog, it’s awfully likely you’re a cyclist, so you’re familiar with one of the most bandied about terms in the past half dozen years, the spirit of gravel.
By the literal definition of the phrase, the spirit of gravel is the collective qualities that characterize gravel cycling. So as much as we joke that the spirit of gravel was dealt a fatal blow around the time a handful of riders blazed through the SBT feedzone, without a care for those other riders who were thinking “Gosh, it’s just about time for a speedy break and a top-off of my water bott… oh $#*% they’re riding away?!” the truth is that the spirit of gravel is alive and well.
Moreover, the reality is that once gravel even began to take shape, the spirit of gravel became everlasting. Certainly it’s fluid and in-flux, but it’s effectively the way gravel cycling is characterized and therefore with gravel cycling flourishing, so is its spirit.
My time in gravel began in 2016. I’d raced a handful of the Grasshopper Adventure Series races in the previous decade of my life, where traditional road racing was the cornerstone of my career. Inevitably I’d be in Northern California sometime in the spring for some warm weather training and as luck would have it, I’d lined up at some of the GAS’s original, classic routes. It had the feel of a hard group ride and that’s how original Grasshoppers were formed.
The winner in those days earned bragging rights and a bottle of wine. Atop a notoriously hard Pine Flat just outside of Healdsburg, I once won a tray of cupcakes and shared them with anyone hankering a sweet treat before riding downhill. Navigating a harrowing ten mile descent holding a box of pastries seemed a bit too gnarly for my taste, so even if I had wanted to eat 5,000 calories of cupcakes singlehandedly, common sense prohibited me from doing so.
Fast forward to March of 2016, recently retired from the World Tour and dabbling in all sorts of sponsor activations, but not formally racing in any capacity, Rebecca Rusch poked fun at my roadie’ness and asked me to join her in Emporia for the raced now called Unbound. A four time winner of the event and all around badass, I wasn’t going to back down from a challenge. My chauffeur from the airport was none other than another four time winner, Dan Hughes. A local Kansan with a busier schedule than most people I know, I was floored by his hospitality and generosity. He took me out for meals, lined up a pre-race massage, hosted a QnA at his bike shop, even shared his mother’s homemade pot pie the evening before my first go at the race. Dan was a gentleman and an athlete.
In that first year I did it, Brian Jensen was someone to watch. He was a name I remembered from my time racing domestically. A workhorse on the long standing Jelly Belly team, Brian had decimated the Unbound record two years prior and it was nearly guaranteed that if he went on a flyer he’d be nearly impossible to pull back. Neil Shirley was another one to keep an eye on. I forget the exact title, but if rumor is true, he’s the only person to stand on the podium of the US pro national road race, cyclocross race, and mountain bike race… or something like that. Whatever the case, Neil was an early pioneer in this growing slice of the sport, racing through a time before gravel was even a term in cycling. There were these two plus a handful of others from the professional road, mountain bike, and cyclocross ranks who had caught the off-road, gravel bug eager to fight their way to the finish line… fast.
Rebecca and Dan schooled me in the days leading into the race about the nuances of Unbound. The dangers of avoiding what looks like a puddle because in reality it’s a bike cannibalizing mess. The absurd amount of hydration necessary if we are delivered a hot and windy year. And how the delta between the weather forecast and the actual weather can be 180 degrees apart.
Despite their teaching on this exact subject, one of the earliest surprises to me was the speed in which we went through the first feedzone. This wasn’t yet an age of Formula One style pit stop, but we did squeeze the brakes long enough to exchange bottles and hydration packs, spiff off the bike, and apply a speedy dose of chain lube. Even eight years ago though, I was surprised how cutthroat it was! Back up and rolling no more than 30 seconds after I arrived, I was still forced to chase down some of the more seasoned riders.
The previous year’s winner and life long cyclist, Yuri Hauswald, recently reminded me of a story from that 2016 edition. Our front group was somewhere in the middle of the race when I hollered out and asked the group if we’d be up for a stop for a group pee. There were no more than two dozen in our lead group, but with a little bit of collective reasoning saw that we weren’t going to get caught by a chase group and, quite frankly, everyone had to go number one. So we all pulled over, literally spent more time on the side of the road there in a cow field than we had in the feedzone, but were off and riding shortly thereafter. It’s no surprise no one attacked. It was just the reasonable thing to do.
The race went well for me, enough that I crossed the line first and immediately vowed never to do it again. (With that said, I’ve now been back every year that we haven’t had a global pandemic nor a child born in my family the same week. Translation: I’ve completed six 200s and a respectable portion of one XL).
I never would have guessed the direction that gravel has gone since then. A designated gravel world championship as hosted by the UCI? Gravel bikes being the most lucrative segment of cycling, dare I say… ever? Dozens riders across the globe earning a significant income to race gravel bikes? I would have needed a magical crystal ball to have predicted anything resembling that from the dusty downtown of Emporia, Kansas that afternoon.
Competition doesn’t operate mutually exclusively from fun. Now looking back at the most recent Unbound, we rip through feed zones as quickly as possible, just as we did in 2016, we’ve just figured out ways to go faster. We don’t stop to take a group pee. We’re all a bit more coy, keeping our cards closer to our chest in regards to the tips and tricks that help us do well. The Rebecca and Dan approach of sharing the wealth of knowledge is waning, but truth be told that’s no surprise, that’s the nature of humanity and competition. The stakes are raised whenever there’s a race. Maybe awarded with cupcakes, maybe with a belt buckle, maybe with an enormous check, someone is dubbed the winner and competition perpetuates.
Don’t get me wrong, there are elements of contemporary gravel that I don’t agree with. I prefer there not be teams, for example. I think that’s the fast route to road racing off-road, and I want to keep gravel uniquely distinct. I also think teams invite dangerously higher speeds that I just would be happy to do without. Other things, like the ever-speedy trip through a feedzone, aren’t my favorite. I think Gravel Locos has a great program where they mandate the lead riders stop for a set period of time. Sure that invites other controversy, like “He only stopped for 58 seconds, not the full minute!” but I still think it’s the right direction.
Guessing the direction gravel went would be hard, but foreseeing the popularity of gravel, that’s an element of this nascent sport that’s nearly impossible to have missed. Using Unbound 2016 as an example — this sold out event that brought in thousands of cyclists from all around the world to a sleepy Kansan downtown with, at that time, a high level of boarded-up buildings and considerable unoccupancy. Even a decade ago there was a fun, secret sauce already brewing in Emporia.
The sport is changing and from its very inception, has always been changing. That’s an inevitability like the passage of time. Sports develop, human nature is to progress, performance is sought after. As soon as a number was pinned on, there was a desire to go faster.
What hasn’t changed is the pursuit of enjoyment. Whether it’s type one fun ripping around with friends or type two dragging your way to a far away finish line, whether you’re duking it out for first place or finishing your first group ride, riding a bike off-road is just fun.
Gravel riding is fun. Gravel racing is fun. The spirit of gravel is fun.