#gravel-races

Radar

Congrats to Lael Wilcox for Winning Unbound Gravel XL!

With gravel races attracting more and more professional cyclists from road racing, being able to hold onto consecutive wins is becoming more and more difficult. Not for Lael Wilcox, however, who took on the XL at this year’s Unbound Gravel. The XL traverses 358 miles (576km) of the Flint Hills out of Emporia, Kansas, all self-supported and just as hard as years prior.

We’d like to congratulate Lael, who finished in 26 hours, 55 minutes; the first woman and 10th overall. Check out her Instagram page for more wonderful moments captured by Rue!

Go, Lael! GO!

Reportage By: Amanda Schaper & Kathy Pruitt

2 to 200: the Kathy Pruitt Story

It’s pretty common these days to see professional roadies make the transition into gravel. The racing and even the bikes are pretty similar, so it’s not a big stretch to make the leap. But what about coming to gravel from downhill? Now we’re talking about switching from races that are about 2-miles long with zero elevation gain to races that are 200-miles long with 10’000-feet of climbing. Race times go from a few minutes to hours…lots of hours. And that’s not even getting into how different the bikes are. The switch from downhill to gravel is way less common and a lot harder to wrap your head around…but let me introduce you to Kathy Pruitt.

Reportage By: Alexandera Houchin

Zhaawani-noodin: There is a South Wind – a Response to the Name “Dirty Kanza”

I can tell you one thing; whenever someone tells me what I should do, I almost always do the opposite. I have been that way for as long as I can remember. In some psychology class years back, I learned about the theory of psychological reactance. It all boils down to an idea that people believe that they possess freedoms and the ability to participate in those free-behaviors. When those behaviors are threatened, something within us is sparked and we react. I find myself pretty apprehensive when it comes to telling anyone what they should be doing. For that matter, I mostly, don’t care what anyone else is doing. A person’s true character comes out regardless. You are what you do.

Radar

#NameTheChange Change the Name of Dirty Kanza Petition

Some of our friends are petitioning Lifetime Sports to change the name of Dirty Kanza. This comes after DK founder Jim Cummins was let go from the race organization for making racist claims in support of the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks by police. The petition is as follows:

“#NameTheChange is a campaign to end the use of the slur “dirty Kanza” as the event name of DIRTY KANZA (DK) in Emporia, KS.

We, a united collective of Indigenous advocates, cyclists, people of Faith, educators, Elders, youth, local Kansas residents and builders of a Just world, ask that the name of the gravel event be changed to honor the dignity of the land and Indigenous people. The campaign calls upon the owners of the “DK”, organizers, and sponsors to do the right thing and bring an end to the use of the racial epithet.”

Read the full demands and sign the petition at Change.org.

We have a piece on the site this week that will dive deeper into this controversial subject, so stay tuned.