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Gravel? What is gravel? If you live in the US, you instantly think about the big gravel rollers which you can find out in the mid west. Gravel roads where you can ride a 100 miles before turning, well at times they definitely feel like a 100 miles. Those brutal headwinds!
Reader SeanMauceri sent in this video of him riding along some of the most beautiful country roads the Northeast has to offer, just north of Woodstock Vermont amidst the Green Mountains.
Woodstock, Pomfret, Quechee Loop.
Our friend Juliet Elliot takes us away to the Italian Alps for a bit of gravel riding with PEdALED in her latest video and I don’t know about you but I need something like this right now…
If speed on all-roads and surfaces is your thing, check out the new Teravail Washburn. It’s a fast-rolling, 700x38mm, 700x42mm, 650x47mm wide tire with minimal tread, a slick center for a wide contact patch, and grippy knobs on the side for cornering on loose roads. These tires are meant for 23mm wide rims, come in a variety of casing designs, in black or gumwall, and carry a retail price of $55-$60 depending on casing. They’re sold out currently on the Teravail site but your local dealer can order them for you.
Today is full of inspirational gravel videos! The latest from Shimano sheds light on Colombia, a country known for its coffee and amazing road riding but as this video showcases, the dirt ain’t bad either! Check out the video above and read the full feature at Shimano.
Dalton Highway
We land in Deadhorse on the North Slope of Alaska in the evening under sunny skies and drag our cardboard bike boxes out of the single gate terminal. We’re the only passengers on the flight not starting a two-week work shift on the oil fields. The wind is ripping so fast, it’s hard to put the bikes together. We help each other. We velcro bags to our bikes and load up our camping gear. It’s cold enough that we put on all of our clothing layers. We cram days’ worth of food into every pack. The workers at the airport are kind and helpful. A woman gives us directions to the shop where we can buy a camping stove canister and a can of bear spray that we couldn’t bring on the plane. She asks us to leave our bike boxes in storage. They always save the big ones for hunters.
The Synchwire-constructed shoes Giro has been developing lately are really looking great. This construction is stitchless, vented, and reinforced. The Rincon is the latest in this new family of footwear. It’s a shoe for MTB riding, gravel riding, bicycle touring, and anything dirty. The Rincon features BOA closure and lots of rubber reinforcement areas for protection. Best of all, these high tech shoes only carry a $150 pricetag and yes, they come in black. See more at your local Giro dealer.
James and Pete from Upshift Velo take on an amazing 100-mile route heading out from Backyard Bike Shop to Kielder reservoir and back including some of the Dirty Reiver route. 50/50 road and gravel, but surely some of the most premium gravel riding there is to be had in the country.
The Santa Rita Pricklypear, Opuntia santa-rita, is a brilliant magenta-colored cactus, specific to the Sky Islands of Southern Arizona. The Ruta Del Jefe gravel race traverses this magical mountain range and this unique opuntia are the inspiration for Shimano’s new RX800 gravel shoes in a “purple and green” colorway. Pulling inspiration from the natural world brings awareness to these delicate ecosystems and the Santa Rita Mountains are still under attack from mineral extraction companies. Find out more about the fight to save these mountains at Save the Scenic Santa Ritas and see more details of these beautiful shoes at Shimano.
One of the best gravel rides in SoCal gets some light shed on it in this video from Gravel Bike California. Mount Lowe used to be a railway, bringing visitors up to the top of the mountain. The remnants of this railway are still evident today…
The Far Quarter film explores the past, present, and future of rural Colorado through the lens of gravel cycling. We can’t wait to share the feature-length!
I think we can all say that we might as well cancel all bike racing in 2020. People need to STAY HOME, wear masks when they leave their house, and ride in small groups until this pandemic subsides. Remember, bike racing during a pandemic is not socially conscious. Check out the press-release on why Grinduro California is postponed until September 18, 2021. Bike racing can wait…
My dream was to ride all of the major roads in Alaska and I did in 2017. I’m fourth-generation Alaskan. It’s where I got into endurance riding on my mom’s Specialized Ruby in between bartending shifts in 2014. Examining the map and fitting in the biggest rides I could on my two days off led me to the goal of riding them all, imagining what the 2D map could look like in real life and why the roads existed in the first place. Three years later, I had a wide open summer and I was ready for an open-ended adventure. Four thousand five hundred miles took me past Wiseman to the north slope at Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean, through Chicken to Eagle on the Yukon River, to the three hot springs north of Fairbanks, into Denali National Park and across the Denali Highway to Paxson. I used The Milepost, the local guidebook that chronicles every mile of Alaskan road with conditions and services. If the road is listed in The Milepost, I had to ride it. About two-thirds were paved and a third, high-quality dirt.
“I’ve always looked out to the east, where the Earth’s curvature is pronounced, and wondered. Living at the base of the Rocky Mountains, in Boulder, Colorado, sometimes feels like being at the edge of a vast ocean. Well, at one point in geological history, it was, but now Eastern Colorado is a sea of grass. I wanted to see what was out there.
With little warning or time to prepare, I stumbled upon an opportunity to immerse myself in that unknown swath of plains. I had a chance to ride my bike to Kansas.
My friend Alex Howes posted something coy about the route on Instagram. “Plotting a long bomb,” he wrote in the caption. I texted to ask if he was really doing what I thought he was doing. He was. I asked what I meant to be a leading question: “You doing it alone?” His reply: “That’s the plan for now.” Then, “Want to come swap turns for 12hrs?”
I had about four days to get ready. I was in, 100%.”
Check out the full story at the Pro’s Closet!
On June 9, 2019, the second annual Hunt of the North tested more than a rider’s speed. Not a race in the traditional sense, this gravel event pushed participants onto terrain that had no boundaries or course markings to rely on. Left only with their orienteering skills and proficiency on dirt, riders became Hunteurs as they searched for five pieces of uniquely colored gravel throughout the North…
After DK was canceled this year due to Covid19, Ted King took off on his own 310-mile ride with over 35,000′ feet of climbing across Vermont.
One of our favorite new “gravel” shoes, the Fizik Powerstrap X4 just got a facelift thanks to the team at PEdALED. Their “JARY” colorway take-over revamps the X4 in a deep blue, with PEdALED branding marked throughout the shoe in a mustard gold, complimenting the gum sole. The Powerstrap already looked great as it was but these new collaboration shoes take the cake. They retail for $192 and are in stock at PEdALED. See more high res images below…
I hope you’re not experiencing shock fade after yesterday’s post but we’re back today with more gravel bike suspension offerings, this time from Suntour. The GVX fork is their gravel travel fork, offering 40, 50, or 60mm travel options, remote lockout, 700x45c or 650x50c wheel options, magnesium construction, and 32mm stanchions.
GVX Specs:
-Magnesium lowers with a unique aesthetic specifically designed for the gravel market.
-Vertically aligned and tapered dropouts.
-100x15mm or 100x12mm dropouts with a lightweight, hollow-caped, and tool-type axle.
-32mm stanchions from A7000 series alloy, anodized black.
-A6000 forged crown.
-Crown mounted lockout, and rebound adjust. Remote lockout in development.
-Flat Mount brake to match with road and gravel type brake calipers.
-Air spring with 40mm, 50mm, or 60mm travel.
-Corresponding axle to crown by travel 436mm, 446mm, 456mm
-Corresponding offset by travel 45mm, 46mm, 47mm
-Fork offset is built into the crown.
-Max tire 700x45c or 650x50c.
-Mini fender included, stanchion mounts built in for larger fenders.
-Rated for Class 1 / E25 e-Bikes to match the growing e-Gravel trends
-Weight: 1725g
-MSRP: $499 USD
-Availability: August 2020
See more at Suntour.
