https://www.fieldmag.com/articles/salomon-gravel-running-guide
Just when I thought I had all the running shoes I needed, turns out I'll be needing some new gravel ones🙄
Oh GTFO. "Gravel" my arse - it's called running, some on trails, some on roads. The second half of that article is actually pretty perceptive and gets to the nub of it: "gravel" is a lifestyle thing, where 'running on trails and road' is seen as for outdoorsy types, gravel is open to all.
They can FRO
Running is shit anyway
No point getting wound up by how others describe activities. It has zero effect on you unless you let it. Do what you want, call it what you like. It really doesn't matter.
I’m a size 7 ,should I try a 9 to make the trails come alive?
it's called running, some on trails, some on roads
Been doing that for years, keeping in training for my refereeing (grass running, I presume). I thought that’s what trail shoes were designed for anyway. You’ve only got to look at the “gravel” uniform they sell to us cycling mugs to see why Salomon’s marketing dept have got on the case.
But I just want flat barred (zero-drop wide-toe-box) hybrid shoes.
Hmmm... so what's Wild Running?
This is very funny. At least with gravel riding, there was an argument for a new genre of bikes (which already existed).
This is composed of 100% vibes.
I’m a size 7 ,should I try a 9 to make the trails come alive?
No, but running with your legs forced slightly further apart will revolutionise the sport.
WTF is that person wearing wrapped around their head? I can't look at any promotional images now without thinking it has been farted out by AI. But I fear that might actually be real.
so what's Wild Running?
When there is a hungry lion stalking you?
Running is shit
Better than the other way round (but only marginally) 😉
Don't worry we'll have another new genre of bike along at any minute to take our mind off it.
I’m a size 7 ,should I try a 9 to make the trails come alive?
No, size 7 trainer on left foot, size 9 on the right - mullet shoes ftw.
Gravel? Pah. I've had a pair of downcountry speed crosses for years
My trainers are proper dh gnarrpoon shoes, I put them in the car, drive to the gym, mince around a bit nowhere near using the shoes to their ability, chat, get back in the car and drive home via a coffee shop.
WTF is that person wearing wrapped around their head? I can't look at any promotional images now without thinking it has been farted out by AI. But I fear that might actually be real.
I think it's
100% vibes.
Ie. You're probably right that it's AI. A head scarf s to shield them from the blazing summer sun.... maybe? Except it looks like a foggy damp late autumn morning, judging by grass and bushes. And the rope/twine wrapped around her, wtf is that?
It would drive me mad having all that crap wrapped around me while running.
I love the pullout quote on their web page:
"The gravel consumer is a sports person but is also someone very creative and inspired by culture."
The gravel consumer is 12 years old.
I hate everything in that article. But... my usual loop is half trail (rock scrambling, slippery mud surface, unkept farm track) and half road. My old Asic Nimbuses were amazing running shoes but did get torn by the gorse and were a bit lightweight for the rocky parts; my current Brooks Caldera are too aggressive in the tread outside the little toe, and behind the heel.
I want a halfway house shoe, hoping Asics trail shoes might hit the spot; but if not, maybe I need... a gravel shoe?! 🤣
Except it looks like a foggy damp late autumn morning
It looks like a hideous, smog blighted, urban hellscape (with a hill on the edge), so she is probably wearing it as she can't breath. Which given they recently held a gravel event in Manila seems likely.
-Gravel-Manila-Soc-Med-1-(2)_600x.jpg?w=600&h=750)
Yeah, Trabuco's on my list. Would you happen to know if the sizing's the same as their road shoes (ie Nimbus)? I'm struggling to find a store to try one on...
“What’s cool is that you have these shoes that you can go do a run in and then grab a drink after and you don’t look like an idiot,”
Really?
My shoes would be the least of my worries about going for a drink straight after a run. I'm usually drenched in sweat wearing clingy thin polyester clothes.
It's probably so they won't get embarrassed about being involved in such a BS marketing campaign?WTF is that person wearing wrapped around their head?
^^ The same lady appears in the initial photo with the daft headwear and in the subsequent orange-coloured promo photo. You can match the tattoos on her arm. So she's presumably a paid model, or Salomon staff.
Anyway, after reading it, 'pretentious claptrap' were the words that came to mind.
Is it another sport for when you're
1. too unfit for road running (/road riding)
but also you
2. don't have the skills for fell running (/mountain biking) either.
But you do have some tats and an abundance of conceit so, yeah, you definitely need a new cool label
My trainers are proper dh gnarrpoon shoes, I put them in the car, drive to the gym, mince around a bit nowhere near using the shoes to their ability, chat, get back in the car and drive home via a coffee shop.
Did you get the optional car charger for them?
"The gravel consumer is a sports person but is also someone very creative and inspired by culture."
The gravel consumer is 12 years old.
The gravel consumer is a Yorkshireman!
What they're saying through marketing stuff is people are not so bothered by racing culture, tight lycra and performance data anymore. And tarmac is not where they feel comfortable (I hate running on tarmac, have always preferred XC/trail running when I get the occasional urge).
Gravel or whatever you want to call XC now is just a tag for a load of stuff related to getting away from the racer mentality. By the time it's put into a marketing deck it's full of waffle like that but it's simple.
It happened in bikes, same has happened in running. Bike companies still default to racing as main marketing effort but it's because it's easy and obvious, it's just one of of the things the bike industry does that seem stuck in the 90s.
seems marketing people in running are full of the same bullshit as the ones in cycling.
So, just running still, but edgier - odd fashion choices, all the tats and bands in their airpods you haven't even heard of yet.
It basically boils down to the Rapha logic. "running is currently done by runners. How do we make it more attractive to non-runners - and charge those noobs a fortune?"
carving out a culture-first category for runners
Damn, that is where I am going wrong. I need more culture in my running.
Maybe it's for people who need something to do in between "wilding swimming" and posting about how it changed their lives on Instagram?
https://www.bikeradar.com/news/strava-year-in-sport-2025
🤨
Well a pair of trainers is considerably cheaper than even an entry level bike, and as my daughter likes to keep reminding me, gen z is skint (apparently).
Some of the recentish fashion things are absolutely hilarious. A spoof of the worst shit from the 80's and 90's. Like someone went, right let's combine the dress sense of a roided-up 90's WWF wrestler with a greasy 80's computer nerd. Porn tach, greasy mullet, dayglo patchwork shell suit, sad sack dungarees, giant aviator clear lensed glasses, videogame/manga/Rick and Morty/blackwork tattoos plastered all over arms and legs. I can't help but laugh when I see someone with the full set!
That's bonkers. It's pretty simple really, if it's mostly dry and pretty flat underfoot, road shoes are fine. If it's a bit boggy, undulating, muddy, trail shoes purely for the big lugs for grip/Goretex features.
My usual door-to-door 5k route features 2km of gravel and my road shoes are fine, heck even my long run loop has about 7k of gravel and I've never once thought "Man, I wish I had better shoes designed specifically for this surface type, it really affects my running"
I know some road running shoes have literally no grip on them, to the point if it starts raining when you're out you run like bambi on some paving but we're in the UK where it rains most of the time, I'd assumed everyone considers the soles of the running shoes they're choosing and making sure the fit is right, not just picking them because they're fashionable... But that being said I've seen some of these running tiktokers with hydration vests on for a 5k smashing one bottle filled with water the other with electrolytes and smashing two gels in, and in another video showing off 8 different pairs of random running shoes with little to variation other than brand and you can't forget an obligatory carbon plated pair for the local parkrun so, I digress, maybe to the person with common sense this seems stupid as f. But to a marketing team who's switched on to current trends this is like potentially printing free money
But that being said I've seen some of these running tiktokers with hydration vests on for a 5k smashing one bottle filled with water the other with electrolytes and smashing two gels in, and in another video showing off 8 different pairs of random running shoes with little to variation other than brand and you can't forget an obligatory carbon plated pair for the local parkrun so, I digress, maybe to the person with common sense this seems stupid as f. But to a marketing team who's switched on to current trends this is like potentially printing free money
Sound like the bike world, just with a lot less £ being spend
My shoes would be the least of my worries about going for a drink straight after a run.
I always wonder about the obsession with it being the shoes that make you look odd in an after ride cafe visit as a plus for riding with flat pedals.
on for a 5k smashing one bottle filled with water the other with electrolytes and smashing two gels in
With my pace, and according to some recomms, 2 gels is not enough to fuel for an hour....but not sure if I qualifies as running.....
on for a 5k smashing one bottle filled with water the other with electrolytes and smashing two gels in
With my pace, and according to some recomms, 2 gels is not enough to fuel for an hour....but not sure if I qualifies as running.....
To be fair the average adult holds 400-500g of glycogen stored in the muscles and liver which equates to around 1600-2000kcal, even if a 5k took you one hour thats what, 500-900 kcal? So any average adult should be able to run for 60-90 minutes without the need for gels as long as they have eaten normally in the past 12-24hrs. To put it into context in terms of gels (glucose, used differently, only used for glycogen if depleted enough) you'd need circa 20 gels to fill your glycogen stores. Your body will use glucose for energy first, but if lacking it taps into your glycogen stores. Glucose is like having energy in your wallet, glycogen is the energy in your bank. If the bank runs out you risk a bonk so use gels to keep topping your wallet up until the training session is done.
The only running I do is running out of money.
That's bonkers. It's pretty simple really, if it's mostly dry and pretty flat underfoot, road shoes are fine. If it's a bit boggy, undulating, muddy, trail shoes purely for the big lugs for grip/Goretex features.
I've always thought that it's a bit like tyres - dependent on your preferences and local conditions. A lot of my local stuff could do with near fell shoe levels of mechanical grip, but there's enough rock and intermittent harder surfaced stuff that you need a bit more cushioning, but not so much that it screws up underfoot stability and ground feel.
My compromise shoe for that stuff is the La Sportiva Mutant, which is billed, by La Sportiva, as 'suitable for trail and sky-race races and training over medium-long distances and on technical terrain' or by RunRepeat as 'fierce trail running shoes'. I like the idea of 'fierce trail running' a lot more than 'gravel', which sounds more like Peak District rail trails.
Anyway, you can label stuff however you - or the brand's marketing department - wants but in the end you just choose what works for you. The gravel running thing seems a lot more contrived than gravel biking tbh, but I guess you could argue that 'gravel' and 'all road' or even some main stream endurance road bikes are sat in quite a similar space in a lot of cases.
But mostly, it's all marketing bollocks really.
But mostly, it's all marketing bollocks really.
It's certainly very tempting to file this under "marketing bollocks", but I believe gravel biking was a grassroots thing before it became (very succesfully) commoditised and marketed.
Gravel running may be less successful if it's not actually a thing IRL already.
But actually, quite a bit of my running is on gravel, and I don't race or chase times, so maybe I'm already a gravel runner and didn't realise? 🤯
It's certainly very tempting to file this under "marketing bollocks", but I believe gravel biking was a grassroots thing before it became (very succesfully) commoditised and marketed.
I think most things are that way. Marketing rarely invents things, it just reflects or promotes a version of it at some point in the growth cycle to sell more stuff or give other companies a slice of the pie. Sometimes it does it well, sometimes not, it's a creative area that's driven by money/sales - tricky mix.