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Gary 'Rocketdog' Walls from the UK Gravel Collective (and regular Forumite) has shared this article with us about where he thinks gravel came from, an ...
By singletrackmag
Get the full story here:
https://singletrackmag.com/gritcx/2023/12/gravel-biking-how-it-started-how-its-going/
Isn’t 2018 quite late to the party? I was out on a Singular Gryphon ten years earlier.
Drop bars, rigid, and whatever 29er tyres you fancied - including Big Apples.
Apart from that, I tend to agree with the sentiment of that article.
Agree with the article, but it's also hard to balance. Gravel cycling is great, you spend less time on the roads with all the stress that entails, more time out in the countryside.
Getting more people involved is obviously a good thing, but that also brings commercialisation and the additional competitiveness as new niches and marketing opportunities are opened up.
2016 DR felt like a long party, 2022 felt like a commodity to be exploited.
Hilarious if , and I guess it's meant to be, somewhat tongue in cheek.
Much of what the author seems to not like is very much what he is promoting even if it's just the uniform trendy gravel riders wear. The idea that "I'll get away from the hype of cycling" is hype itself. Indeed the need to write the article contradicts what he seems to be saying. Or maybe he is just not very explicit in his writing.?
Surely what he pushing is normal cycling. Gravel isn't suddenly the cuddly version of cycling. You don't automatically get dropped on the road or the MTB. But you might. You damn well might get a hammering on our club evening gravel rides, especially when the pub is 45 minutes away and the usual arrival time is 30 minutes ahead. 10 bikes in a chain gang behind the 75 year old on his chipped ebike. Or we may do bugger all.
Having said that I find anyone trying to find meaning in anything like this ridiculous. It seems to be that too many people are looking for a niche.
I was very very late to the party in respect of getting a dedicated bike only 30 years ago. I was very late riding distances on gravel 50 years ago. (All right that might have been only 20 miles as I was 10).
Nothing has changed in cycling . All he has done is got himself in print. In deed I question the fact he has an Instagram thingy. That in itself is nowt but self glorification and contradictory to the article surely.
Isn’t 2018 quite late to the party? I was out on a Singular Gryphon ten years earlier.
It's not a competition! I think that was the main point of Rocketdog's writing. Doesn't matter if you took your 5-speed Raleigh Racer down to the local woods in 1980, or if you just bought a BSO-gravel bike yesterday, everyone is welcome and encouraged to join in 🙂
I’m very much propping up the riding slow on a dogs dinner of a bike end of gravel.
Perceptions are hard to battle as they are in people’s minds and don’t necessarily reflect reality. I’ve done 3 gravel events this year. I’ve seen a huge variety of bikes, fitness and skill levels rubbing along together just fine.
I’ll end with my ultimate yawns ville comment on when it all started.
Cycling started with “gravel”. Tarmac wasn’t invented until years after the bike
mattsccm... Wow. Respect. But so serious.
Nothing has changed in cycling . All he has done is got himself in print. In deed I question the fact he has an Instagram thingy. That in itself is nowt but self glorification and contradictory to the article surely.
How cheery was this response. As one of the followers I’d say the Instagram was a bit of a laugh and promoting going for a ride. Which is kind of what the article is about.
I enjoyed that. Thank you.
The Dorset Gravel Dash, now the Dirt Dash is said to be the first gravel event in the uk. Covid has messed up the time flow perception continuum, thingy but it’s over 10 years old now. In that time the scene has changed, the bikes too, and the people.
At first it was a very experienced hardy bunch. But you needed experience… for example a ten speed drop bar STI shifter will only work with a 9 speed MTB mech… bloody confusing. Mini V brakes and “travel agent” cable pull adjusters were also needed to get stuff working.
In recent years folk ride off the shelf gravel specific bikes… and the barriers are no longer there. The crowd has changed, and the bikes, but the vibes are still good and true. Everyone seems happy.
I really enjoyed the pioneering days of gravel, and I'm also very happy with the current scene. It’s all cool.
Since getting back into cycling, maybe 20 years or so ago, I've always ridden gravel. Riding gravel before gravel bikes just mean doing it on hybridised hardtails with semi-slick tyres (I always bemoaned the lack of decent semi-slicks). I'm currently still doing it on a rigid Singular Swift, although, rather late to the 'proper' gravel bike game, I've gathered together the parts for my first gravel bike build, which I'll be doing over the winter.
I'd suggest that there has always been gravel riding, it's what you ride rather than what you ride it on, but proper gravel bikes do seem great (I'm looking forward to trying mine out).
-- Edit --
It's all been done before - Rough~Stuff Fellowship Archive (@rsfarchive) • Instagram photos and videos
The cycling industry does seem to like its 'fads' and we seemed to be ready for gravel biking; I'm pretty sure that somewhere along the way some bike manufacture or other tried Gnarmac - basically a proto-gravel bike, which never took off.
Good article indeed, they who have most fun win...
And gravel seems to be morphing into touring in my friendship group. Another Good. Thing.
For me this was why gravel bikes were so exciting, it opened up areas I’d dismiss as too far away by MTB, or even worse, that I’d have to drive to before riding.
Couldn't agree more with this bit, I've explored more and ridden more new (and at times awesome) singletrack once I got a gravel bike than ever before, and having seen some of Rocketdog's posts I think we share a liking for the entire spectrum of what might be rideable on a gravel bike.
Sadly I really disagree with the general tone of the rest of the article though, which seems to be permeated with that tired old MBUK-esque sense of butt-hurtness about roadies and people who like riding fast* 🙄
*or at least trying to, the speeds I tend to average by rights I probably SHOULD be riding around in a lumberjack shirt with a danglemug, constantly making sure not to take myself too seriously 😎
It’s not a competition!<br /><br />
Apologies. The late to party comment was spawned by RD’s own comment that putting gravelly tyres on a rigid flat bar 29er wasn’t really gravel.
If it was a competition, I’d lose. That’s the general rule on competitions.
It’s sport, there will always be people who take it very seriously and people who don’t. For all that everyone talks about road riders being serious there have always been organisations like CTC, now Cycling UK, who are more welcoming and encouraging of just riding. There’s space for everyone and trying to demarcate what is and what is not gravel, or mountain biking or any style of cycling is self defeating and unhelpful. Just let people ride bikes how they want to ride bikes and be happy for them.
I'd be interested in seeing the timeline of when Monstercross became Gravel. I suspect it aligns with the niche becoming not-a-niche. I guess it wasn't that common to hear it this side of the Atlantic but it was a thing on MTBR for a while.
I agree with a lot in this article, especially that gravel bikes can open up riding that you otherwise wouldn't bother with if you only had an MTB. Since buying mine I've done way more 'rides from the door' linking up off road trails with quite roads. There was nothing stopping me from riding these on my MTB but the road sections would have been a drag. People often criticise gravel bikes for just being 90's mountain bikes. What I find interesting about this is I feel that rather than the bikes being a throwback to the 90s it's ethos around the scene. As Rocketdog alluded to, for gravel the rules weren't set about where you ride or what you wear, much the same as it was when I started mtbing in the late 80s, where you would find people riding in Ronhill tracksters, hillwalking fleeces and everything from Adidas sambas to walking boots. And while we enjoyed riding technical single track it was accepted that a bit of road or forest road would be needed to get to the good stuff. Riding was much more about exploring and adventure and I think this is what gravel is tapping into, for me at least. As for the racing side of things it's inevitable that it will become more serious/professional and that bikes will evolve to reflect to this just as mountain bikes have. I don't see this detracting from non competitive side of things, and while I haven't attended any of the dirt dash events I get the impression that these are more like cycling festivals rather than races. Overall I think the gravel scene will be good for cycling with the road scene requiring a high degree of fitness and the standard of technical ability in mountain bike increasing all the time, gravel is more accessible for more people.
Hmm.... So riding a cross bike around the bridleways and byways if Hertfordshire for fun in 2007, or buying a trek crossrip in 2014 doesn't count? Gravel is just a marketeers term for riding a dropped bar bike off road, and the activity significantly predates the term!
It's nothing new, but there seems to be a bigger push as all round bikes.
I've got a CX bike this year (used) as my old 90's MTB is used for an off road commute and I wanted a bike that would go on roads and trails locally without dragging out the FS which is overkill. My two road bikes are totally unsuitable for anything other than tarmac. It's great leaving the house, hitting a few farm tracks, then still rolling well on the road, then dive on tracks again.
As all round bikes they are great. Mine slightly less so as it is a race bike and no mounts, but I had spare wheels available, so gravel tyres on one set, road on another.
As Rocketdog alluded to, for gravel the rules weren’t set about where you ride or what you wear
It's nice that gravel riding frees people up just to be cyclists and have fun, but I've never really been bothered by the fashion police. I've been riding mountain bikes on roads, in normal clothes (with bar ends) for years; I still tuck my trousers into my socks like I did as a kid. And to prove that I'm still fashionably non-conformist, I'm still running 3x10.
What gravel biking does seem to do is give people like me permission to be 'serious' cyclists without the need to be skilled or performance orientated; fun and fitness is as noble an endeavour.
i enjoyed that. RD talks sense, always has.
i dont like the term gravel myself. i wont be the only one who started riding offroad on a cowhorned roadbike in the 70s. so i tent to use the term 'offroading'. all good either way.
it's 90s xc though innit really
i enjoyed that. RD talks sense, always has.
I've always respected you Tony, but that is pushing it a bit far! 🤣
Isn’t 2018 quite late to the party? I was out on a Singular Gryphon ten years earlier.
If it's a dick swinging contest i had one of the first three prototype Gryphons before the production frames were released.😘 Sam and KoS had the other two.
Prior to that it was a karate monkey with drops fitted.😉
Gryphon, MTB disguised as gravel bike
Nah. It was always a drop bar MTB.
Never disguised as anything.
Mine was always used as an MTB on MTB trails.
I used my CX bike as a gravel bike.
Yes what you say is true, point is that when I ride mine, people call it a gravel bike. I usually just say yes it is.
Shirley the peak of the UK gravel scene in 2015, not a check flannel shirt in sight!
f it’s a dick swinging contest
I was riding a modified road bike with knobblies offroad in the 80s and my dad was riding singlespeed road bike off road in the 50s
I'm a bit of gravel bike evangelist, but at the same time I worry that people (myself included) can end up treating what is really a relatively mundane niche as if it's somehow utterly unprecedented and profound...
They're just bikes, brought about by mashing up some obviously useful features, and accepting that there's not such a fixed definition of what is a 'gravel bike' is, could be an MTB with drops, a slight over tyres CX bike, a hybrid or an 'alt bar' bike.
Yes there's competitive flavours of gravel now, dunno if things like the "Lifetime Grand Prix" are really in the same non-competitive spirit as tubby Dads and third wave hipsters trundling about on bridleways and knackered B-Roads enjoying the views and a pork pie, but it's all part of a broad church of "gravel"...
I was riding a modified road bike with knobblies offroad in the 80s and my dad was riding singlespeed road bike off road in the 50s
Aye and my grandad rode the lairig ghru fixed in the late .30s (also a founder of Dundee Cycling Club). This is pointless.
For me, @rocketdog has promoted the idea and built it into a thing. Good for him. Its all cycling. Its all good.
t’s 90s xc though innit really
Yes it really is. Infact my 90s MTB often had narrower tyres and a more aero riding position.
But it’s not like that’s a bad thing. FS bike isn’t anything like a 90s MTB. So actually it’s not as good for lots of the riding from my door
Aye and my grandad rode the lairig ghru fixed in the late .30s (also a founder of Dundee Cycling Club). This is pointless.
🙂
Shirley the peak of the UK gravel scene in 2015, not a check flannel shirt in sight!
Vegetable! Pakora!
Shirley the peak of the UK gravel scene in 2015, not a check flannel shirt in sight!
lol, never seen that. and what a good weekend we had too. sundays loop was a cracker IIRC
You know, sometimes I wish I hadn’t written something. <br /><br />
I was trying to say it’s not new, not that I was the first on my Gryphon (which got used for commuting as much as anything). <br /><br />
The Gryphon was let down by the lack of drop bar hydraulic brakes, and the groupsets of the time. I had to bodge a 2x10 running an Ultegra road STI, CX front mech, 9sp XT rear mech and 10spd XT cassette. The cranks were XT with some aftermarket rings to get a reasonable top gear on a 20 road section, but a useable bottom gear off road.
Great frame, dubious groupset that worked ok 95% of the time.
Thats how I took your post IGM Missed nuance once more
Of course gravel biking is not new. Its been going on since the early days of cyling. Whats new is its use as a marketing term rather than just riding bikes
Thing is, gravel bike popularity owes so much to the roadies. The road bike boom, CX as a road culture thing and the fixed gear trend all helped create the gravel scene ... and the reason so many people are riding off-road on bikes that aren't very good at off-road stuff and have the least suitable bars for it. Don't get me wrong, it's fun and I love road bikes that can go off-road, but the appeal of gravel to new off-road riders and the type of bike they end up on might be a bit of a mis-match. Flat-bar gravel bikes aka good quality hybrids make a lot of sense and then we're getting even closer to the use that mid 80s to early 90s ATBs saw. XC is back, we just don't call it XC yet.
@IGM
Sorry if my post offended you.
I was just a light hearted thing not a dig.
I though the emoji kind of made that clear but maybe not.
Everything has been done before and will at some point be done again. Nowt new there.
I was riding home made contraptions offroad back in the early 70s just like loads of other folks my age.
I'm just glad bikes have got better so no one has to go down that route again.
First of all, thanks to Hannah and the team at ST for publishing this little piece on the website.
Reading the posts above it's great to see that some of you share the whole idea of just go for a ride, on what you like, wearing what you like, at what ever speed you like and trying to get the idea of this type of riding across to either new riders or old veterans was the whole point. loads of sub genres of cycling emerging in cycling is a great thing, more choice is always good but it brings with it tribalism and elitism that puts as many people off as it attracts.
As for when gravel bikes started, I don't claim to be at the forefront of that, clearly the sort of riding I love, just exploring anywhere by bike has been around since the first hobby horse rider took the path less travelled. 2018 was the first ride for me on a bike specifically labelled as a gravel bike so that's the date i used.
I also love the fact that these bikes are quite good at everything but a challenge on a lot of things. getting an adrenalin rush at 8mph trying to go as fast as you dare on a muddy slick trail while trying to stay upright on the bike is keeping my cycling passion alive as i approach my 6th decade. going "large" now is food portion size rather than the length of gap jump I'd attempt.
as for promoting "the trendy uniform gravel riders wear" the whole point was to do exactly the opposite of that, yes I wear a flannel on some rides, but that's because they are comfy and my choice to wear (lets not mention my colour blindness and how I sometimes turn up to rides looking like I got dressed in the dark) i've also been known to wear lycra shorts and a 3 pocket road jersey on the 2 hot days we get per year!
out of interest I lusted after a Singular Gryphon BiTD but I had loads of mtb specific parts at the time so went with a Swift, it did get a drop bar conversion once or twice though.
As the article was previously published on my website, Hannah offered me a T shirt in return for posting it on STW, I asked that instead if they could post a link to my website which they did and I'm grateful for that so hopefully adding a link here too won't get me a knuckle rap! https://ukgravelco.com/
and to try and avoid disciplinary action if anyone fancies a listen I did a podcast with Hannah earlier in the year here's a link to that https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/u9lvoSBaeFb
it's on youtube too, obviously audio only. subscribers always welcome!
https://youtu.be/PQCTS_u3UUQ?si=K7sUjsmDpsn9zYyJ
Thought it was a well written article, I love my Camino as my go to bike for just going for a ride.
I was riding a Raleigh 531 Avanti mountain bike with 26” wheels, drop bars and bar end shifters in 1993. There is nothing new. I’m still struggling with why gravel riding isn’t just turning off the road on the touring bike? I rode proper gravel in Mallorca on my Giant Propel with a new set of GP5000’s. One of my group was on 23c tubs. It’s just riding a bike, and riding is good. Sometimes gravel provides a shortcut and now I have a cross bike that can do that more easily. But a Dawes Galaxy will cope fine.
I enjoyed it, cheers RD. I've said before on this forum that it was your UKGravelCo ramblings that got me back into cycling. 🥃🥃🥃🥃
I enjoyed it, cheers RD. I’ve said before on this forum that it was your UKGravelCo ramblings that got me back into cycling. 🥃🥃🥃🥃
Things like this are what makes it all worth it 👌
Just bought my first gravel bike and can't wait to get out on it. The bit about riding along and seeing a trail so lets explore is exactly why I got it (and other cycling buddies have them and they look great fun)
Back when I was a lad over 50 years ago we just ran 'racers' with cowhorns and went what we called tracking through the woods. Got loads of punctures and broke loads of parts but brilliant fun which is what it's all about...
I’m still struggling with why gravel riding isn’t just turning off the road on the touring bike?
I've been doing the latter since I bought my Kona Sutra (2006?) and then replaced it with my Amazon (2009?). However, my 2023 Topstone is a very different beast. I'm no geometry expert but it's not a tourer and doesn't handle like one.
I also love the fact that these bikes are quite good at everything but a challenge on a lot of things. getting an adrenalin rush at 8mph trying to go as fast as you dare on a muddy slick trail while trying to stay upright on the bike is keeping my cycling passion alive as i approach my 6th decade. going “large” now is food portion size rather than the length of gap jump I’d attempt.
+100 to that 👍🏻
I was riding a Raleigh 531 Avanti mountain bike with 26” wheels, drop bars and bar end shifters in 1993. There is nothing new. I’m still struggling with why gravel riding isn’t just turning off the road on the touring bike?
Well no one said it wasn’t possible to just turn off the road on your tourer or road bike. But not surprisingly you can make a bike that’s better for this than a tourer or road bike. Infact you mention that a cross bike is better than your tourer.
So agreement breaking out all round
I don't think gravel is as exclusive as RD is trying to make it. The UCI format of gravel is the closest to the gravel I ride most (and I ride the same gravel bike as RD!) - fast, in kit and with the focus being fit and fast. A gravel ride with a average speed below 15mph is usually a disappointment to me. And if there's racing, there needs to be rules and constraints. And whoever is fastest is the one and only winner. That's racing.
But liking that doesn't preclude what RD likes to do on a gravel bike, in the same way me liking riding in a way that he doesn't seem to like doesn't preclude me going on an off road drop bar tour, or bimbling about with my mates, or ragging it down sole Singletrack. I don't get the hate for one specific type of gravel riding and racing at the exclusion of all others in the article. If it's so free and easy, why have events at all? Why give it a name other than bike riding?
All that’s really changed in cycling is the environment which surrounds it. The roads are more crowded, it’s more common among the population (outside of kids) and it’s more commercial, it’s more accessible and less technical. Maps? Nah! Fitness? Not required so much.
WE may be riding different things, but to those just starting, it’s the same thing as it was 20, 30, 40 years ago, but perhaps with less uncertainty.
"Aren't bikes brilliant?" "Isn't riding socially with friends brilliant?"
Errr yes???
Not sure on the need for a matching outfit to double underline the fact though.
I still think that gravel-bikes as we know them (drop bar, skinny tyres, etc) came from the industry wanting to sell more CX bikes to none racers. They looked at the fact people were riding MTBs on gravel and dirt tracks but also already owned XC, trail and DH bikes and someone thought “ooh, I’ve got an idea to flog these guys another bike”.
And as is always the case, these bikes evolved into what we have now.
@zerocool - my experience while working in a bike shop was actually the opposite. Lots of customers wanted (what we'd now call) a gravel bike but choice was mostly restricted to road, CX or MTB. CX bikes were restricted to 33/35mm tyre widths and were unnecessarily racey for the customers desired use. I think the mainstream industry took a while to work this out.
While we're doing Gravel...
I've seen a huge increase in the number of women on gravel bikes - solo, part of mixed-sex groups and also women-only groups. Maybe it's a local thing, but it seems to have struck a bit of a chord.
And plaid shirts... I don't get it. My ideal shirt/jersey is short enough that it is fully covered when wearing a waterproof jacket. Most plaid shirts I see are much longer. Maybe, again, it's a local thing? Or am I wrong in expecting to ride when it's wet/raining and stay relatively dry and clean?
When I stopped commuting on my posh hybrid around 2010 I put some slightly bigger rubber with knobs on and minced around a load of FOD fire roads and tame singletrack. That morphed into the same bike with wide risers and a short stem in about 2015.
I’ve now got a very capable “proper” gravel bike with drop bars. It gets used as my gravel, road, tourer, bike packer. It’s great for some things, bloody awful for others. But it’s fundamentally a bike to go riding on.
I did have some hostility when I tried a few CX races with 750mm wide bars and was turned away from a CX group ride because of no drop bars and baggy shorts. (Yes, really)
Anyway, good article Rocketdog. Question though? Are you a real gravel rider without a plaid shirt and a big bushy beard?
*Oh, wait!
We need to get the message out that you should just get out and ride your bike, there are no rules, ride what you like, wear what you like
Who are these people who don't get out there as they are too busy staying at home worrying about what to wear?
Our club rode gravel on Saturday as it was too icy for the normal club road rides. We had a complete mix of bikes from 1990s MTBs, to brand new Gravel bikes. Not a flannel shirt in sight. Lots of people had fun and no one cared what anyone rode / thought.
I think RD has been drinking too much industry propaganda.
Who are these people who don’t get out there as they are too busy staying at home worrying about what to wear?
That's what I didn't really understand, but RD does say he did a survey on his Insta which suggested some people were genuinely put off by not thinking they were fast enough etc. etc. Around me the majority of organised rides and groups are very much social, no drop etc., even those organised by the road club!
In fact I'm usually billy no mates because family commitments generally mean I want to get out early, head down, maybe fit in a coffee stop and home for lunch, so typically not keen on a 13km/h group ride starting at 9 or 10am (sadly).
@singlespeedstu - no offence taken, I was more worried about offending others.
I was out with my wife and our 17 & 12 year olds on an icy, muddy, wet, slushy, snowy gravel ride yesterday.
Great fun - and the correct clothing to wear was all off it.
And I’m lusting after a new Gryphon with a modern groupset now.
I still think that gravel-bikes as we know them (drop bar, skinny tyres, etc) came from the industry wanting to sell more CX bikes to none racers.
It can look like that from the outside but I think you give 'the industry' too much credit for ability to start these things off. Same as any trend, it's always a core of riders doing what they like, a small brand or 3 make a bike out of the influences and see some demand, the bikes get interest and at some point later the bandwagon gets momentum and that's generally where 'the industry' get on board and it comes to mainstream attention.
GT claim the Grade was an early gravel bike and that came out in 2014/15 but the Lemond Poprad was a CX bike with discs maybe 6 or 7 years earlier, The DK200 has been going a long time in some form or another, almost 20 years? Hahn Rosmann made a disc 650B all-road bike in about 2003, the 1989 Rock-Combo, Charlie Cunningham and Jacquie Phelan.. ..the TdF was on dirt roads BITD, etc.
Gravel is recent but only as a term. It's all just a series of influences, sparks and timing.
Who are these people who don’t get out there as they are too busy staying at home worrying about what to wear?
You have met some of the folk I know then? Genuinely I have a friend who always asks 'what pace will the ride be?' - even when we were proposing a few days of touring with panniers and pubs... His only experience of club rides is the fast 100km ride and much else is really hard from him to fathom. I do think that there are some people who, perhaps unintentionally, come to any group ride expecting a serious approach and significant work out as that is what group/club riding has been for them for their whole cycling career....
Are you a real gravel rider without a plaid shirt and a big bushy beard?
I clearly got it all wrong in 1989 when I pedaled my 18sp Halfords MTB (yep, at least 1 size too big) with a beard and a cheesecloth check shirt.
The beard and plaid is coincidence, can I help being a fashion trend maker? 🤷♂️
I do think that there are some people who, perhaps unintentionally, come to any group ride expecting a serious approach and significant work out as that is what group/club riding has been for them for their whole cycling career….
So key to all this I think. I'd say road clubs have dominated social cycle culture until fairly recently, at least in terms of clubs you can join, organised rides etc Vs the fairly self-sufficient word of MTB. Road clubs boomed in popularity in 2012-2015 but I expect a lot of people didn't like what they saw (depends on the club, I'm generalising here - fair to say road clubs are mainly blokes chasing performance stats anyway).
So while there was a boom in cycling participation post 2012, the road clubs and British Cycling etc failed to offer them much because it takes more time to go from newb to brisk club rider that either side probably had time or inclination for. At the same time MTB has been going more and more extreme in its imagery in that time, trail centres are cool but it's all destination stuff and people like accessibility. Gravel benefitted from all that and as Scotroutes says, look at the number of women enjoying gravel bikes (or maybe more correctly, gravel culture - they might be on any bike that works) compared to road or MTB. That bounce from road clubs to gravel is also (imo) why you see so many people happily* bimbling around off-road on bikes that are far more like road bikes than light XC MTBs.
*mostly. I see a few fear-faces or wobbles and I do wonder if they'd be happier on something less sketchy off-road, but as long as they're mostly happy and safe.. all good.
for me personally "gravel" is racey and massive distances in the style that the yanks do it (which is ace) .
What we have in the UK is dicking about on bikes.
Trying to put a label on it always seems a bit silly, but folks do like a clique to join and if it comes with ready made image and special handshake then all the better.
The big turn off for me is a the folks with a million frame bags all over the bike for a bimble in the woods. It brings back the worst bits of the born again fat bikerists, with the all the gear for the iditarod to trundle around the Wyre forest.
But as long as folks are having fun on bikes that's fab, it's still better than being a sofa slob.
The big turn off for me is a the folks with a million frame bags all over the bike for a bimble in the woods.
Yeah, but there is some logic in it. If I'm on a road bike and there's an issue, I'm likely not far from civilization/assistance so I rarely carry much. If I'm on a MTB I'm likely to be more remote so I carry more - probably in a backpack. If I'm riding a gravel bike I might end up just as remote as on my MTB but I don't like a heavy(ish) backpack when riding dropped bars. A bag or two strapped to the bike works pretty well.
Nothing has changed in cycling . All he has done is got himself in print. In deed I question the fact he has an Instagram thingy. That in itself is nowt but self glorification and contradictory to the article surely.
Oof. Someone obviously missed the "good vibes only" bit at the bottom.
Nice blog IMO, I don't see it as posturing and I think I know what he's getting at.
Gravel can be whatever you want it to be and - regardless of whether the bikes are basically just 1990s MTBs or not - it basically makes you feel the way early MTBs did.
I do wonder if those who weren't there BITD get that same feeling? Maybe there's an element of pleasant nostalgia? Or maybe it's even better for them as it's new?
I generally tend to see older guys and girls on Gravel, I think it probably reflects the sort of "big circle in the woods/moors" riding we used to do back in the '90's and 00's, and these guys have gone from those bikes to bigger bikes and trips abroad, done all that and have come all the way back around to just riding on a bike that'll do a bit of everything and they don't have to worry about it. Just pack some coffee and sarnie and a "I think I'll go that way" attitude, and you're good to go.
looks pretty cool.
Gravel can be whatever you want it to be and – regardless of whether the bikes are basically just 1990s MTBs or not – it basically makes you feel the way early MTBs did.
My thoughts exactly, last time out. A bit of road, then a farm track or tow path.
What’s down here? What’s over that hill? And away we go. Just like BITD.
For me, it’s about exploring our surroundings, finding places you would never know were there, just out in nature, riding a bike.
Riding on the road is tougher than ever, in my experience there’s a growing hostility towards cyclists and my life has been threatened twice this year.
“Gravel” is now my preferred way of getting out on my bike and as a result, I’ve found miles of Restricted Byways very local to me that I didn’t know existed. Linking them up with a bit of road, bridleway or cheeky footpaths has given me a welcome boost.
I hadn’t realised just how stressful road cycling can be. All of my road riding is on rural country back roads where People driving at speed and not expecting to come across a cyclist around the corner make for some hairy situations. My body was getting a workout but my senses had been on high alert the whole time.
Just cycling, off the road, on any bike, on any surface is all good, being out in nature without the fear of traffic is good for me!
I still think that gravel-bikes as we know them (drop bar, skinny tyres, etc) came from the industry wanting to sell more CX bikes to none racers.
I think the big brands were quite late to her party. With smaller brands meeting a need and then the bigger brands realising they were missing out.
It can look like that from the outside but I think you give ‘the industry’ too much credit for ability to start these things off. Same as any trend, it’s always a core of riders doing what they like, a small brand or 3 make a bike out of the influences and see some demand, the bikes get interest and at some point later the bandwagon gets momentum and that’s generally where ‘the industry’ get on board and it comes to mainstream attention.
There you go. From the perspective of the designer Croix De Fer and Arkose
And secondly, looking at the other pictures is a beard compulsory for gravel?
Yes, an article about how it doesn't matter what you look like, which only has photos of people who couldn't be more stereotypically 'gravel' if you tried...
Oh the ironing...
Gravel has me conflicted, basically because the stereotype is essentially everything I am!
I used to teach in a school that did not have uniform. Kids all saw this as a bonus. Because they were all about the same age and from a very narrow socio economic class band and with a healthy dollop of peer pressure thrown in this merry band of 'no rules, no uniform' warriors promptly went out and bought themselves their own identikit uniform to rebel in and be unique. Only this uniform was twice as expensive as a normal uniform and a bit less practical. Is see an element of this in gravel biking and the gravel bike 'look' so beautifully portrayed in the photos here.
Someone up-thread mentioned fatbikes. There was certainly a similar counter-culture thing going on with those for a while, with folk dressing and fitting racks, bags etc as if every ride was going to be an Alaskan expedition. It was almost mandatory to carry a stove (preferably wood-burning) and have a brew on every ride. It settled down eventually.
In the very first picture are you wearing Ronald McDonalds shoes? And secondly, looking at the other pictures is a beard compulsory for gravel?
1.Planet x toe covers
2. I think we've discussed that at least twice in this thread 😉
Just pack some coffee and sarnie and a “I think I’ll go that way” attitude, and you’re good to go.
This x 1000!
Yes, an article about how it doesn’t matter what you look like, which only has photos of people who couldn’t be more stereotypically ‘gravel’ if you tried…
I think that the whole point of wear what you like, be yourself etc is that you can wear what you want etc etc, even if people mistake how you want to be as being a cliché
And flannels don't need ironing 😉
Yep. Really needs a woman
There are at least 2 people in the pictures who will be a little distressed you've mistaken them for men
Someone up-thread mentioned fatbikes
gravel biking is the new fat biking is the new singlespeeding. Etc etc.
There are at least 2 people in the pictures who will be a little distressed you’ve mistaken them for men
Whoosh!
Gravel is just a marketeers term for riding a
dropped barbikeoff roadon tame farm tracks and stuff, and the activity significantly predates the term!
FTFY