I by no means thought I’d be writing an article about skilled gravel racing. But, right here we’re.
Unbound Gravel has grow to be the most important day on the gravel calendar. For many people, it’s greater than US Nationals, greater than Worlds. I made a decision to skip the US Pro Road Championships in West Virginia to deal with Unbound Gravel this yr.
As soon as in Emporia, it’s rubbing elbows with different riders and business leaders, checking climate forecasts, and ending the weeks-long ‘Unbound coaching block’. It appears like an expert highway race with greater tyres, much less sleep and pancakes at 3:30 a.m.
Earlier this season, I lined up on the Tour of the Gila, one among North America’s few remaining UCI-sanctioned highway races. And actually? Except for the lacking caravan that supported the peloton throughout 5 days of racing in New Mexico, Unbound Gravel felt simply as tactical and intense. However whereas gravel racing has developed, the infrastructure is ‘off the again’.
Gravel has modified a lot prior to now few years, particularly on the pointy finish of the race. We should maintain constructing race constructions that replicate the extent of competitors. Proper now, we’re nonetheless attempting to squeeze elite-level athletes right into a format initially designed for mass participation. There’s a robust pull to protect the “spirit of gravel”, however that spirit retains cracking below the burden of the professional area.
The vetting difficulty
Let’s discuss concerning the elite area. Technically, riders have to use. Life Time, house owners and organisers of Unbound Gravel and the array of 5 journey distances throughout two days, say they overview previous Unbound participation and outcomes from different gravel races, plus the classes throughout different disciplines. Athletes within the Life Time Grand Prix are routinely included, which, going into this yr’s Unbound Gravel, was 22 ladies, myself included, and 22 males earlier than including wildcards. On paper, that sounds truthful.
On race day this previous Saturday it felt too unfastened from the beginning. The entrance group was quick, however the ability hole was huge. Emily Newsom went down and hit her head when somebody crashed in entrance of her simply 4 miles from the beginning, she stated. There have been others, too. I needed to navigate a number of crashes on Divide Street, one of many extra technical sections of the course.
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Hannah Shell had a rider abruptly braked and she or he crashed, then flatted. Sarah Sturm crashed on Divide Street too, although she stated it was a rut that acquired her and never one other rider, and got here as much as me mid-race asking for concussion recommendation. Sadly, I’ve had loads of expertise in that division, like many others within the peloton.
I requested Sarah if she had a headache or mind fog. She simply stated her head felt “bizarre”. She couldn’t inform if it was the “regular” sort of bizarre you get from racing 200 miles or the “unhealthy” type that comes from a concussion. She pulled out of the race round mile 70 at First Help, in all probability her first DNF in a significant race. It’s loopy to suppose that in an expert sport, we’re nonetheless self-diagnosing mind accidents mid-race. This should not be the usual.
It was on Divide Street that there was an awesome divide within the ladies’s area, the place the profitable transfer acquired away. I used to be out of place, caught behind chaos. The danger setting felt larger than it ought to have.
Rewind to 2 weeks earlier, I met a rider in a sauna throughout warmth coaching. She wasn’t positive whether or not to start out within the elite area or the mass begin. She selected to start out with the elites. That shouldn’t be a selection. It’s like letting a class 5 rider resolve whether or not or not they’d like to start out with the amateurs or professionals. That is remarkable in different disciplines.
A separate ladies’s begin is a large step ahead, which organisers offered for a second yr in a row. Nevertheless, that solely works if the elite area is really ‘elite’. Vetting ought to contemplate outcomes, security, ability, and whether or not an athlete has the help to race 200 miles of tactical gravel, safely and competitively.
Help station escalation
Let’s cease pretending that is nonetheless self-supported racing. Help stations now appear like F1 pit stops – labeled coolers, musettes and hydration packs, a procession of staff tents and infinite clipboards. The highest riders present up with critical infrastructure. It is now not a luxurious, it is now required to remain aggressive.
My ‘staff automotive’ is my Honda CR-V hybrid. There are various greater automobiles, vans and different setups. Even I do know that if you do not have somebody prepared with bottles and energy at help stations, you are not racing.
Help Station 1 was in Alma, after 70 miles of racing. I ended for 10 seconds to get a brand new hydration bladder and my pockets filled with gels. By the point I acquired rolling, I used to be already off the again. The sphere had cut up in two, and my group rotated exhausting to shut the hole to these within the chase who did not cease.
Help Station 2 was one other 78 miles later. I knew I needed to roll it, and so I did. I grabbed a mussette with meals and two bottles from my crew – husband, coach and feminine mechanic Deb. Individuals have been all over the place, trying to find their help crews amongst a sea of tents and confused volunteers. It felt extra like an expo than a pit lane.
Perhaps it is time to mark elite hand-off lanes or separate pro-only zones so we do not collide with age-groupers mid-race. The 100-milers had joined the 200-mile route simply 18 miles earlier than, so it was crowded. I all the time concern that someway I’ll miss my folks and must journey again by way of the chaos, basically marking the tip of my race.
Drafting meets the parade
Then there’s the anti-drafting rule. Fast recap: Elite ladies can’t draft off males or amateurs, and vice versa. In the event you do, you’re relegated to the underside of the elite outcomes and the LTGP factors listing.
It labored properly at Sea Otter. Why? As a result of we had separate days. The elites raced on Thursday, and the amateurs raced on Friday. The elite ladies began 20 minutes behind the elite males. The course wasn’t very conducive to drafting anyway. That was the gentle launch and Unbound was the actual check.
In Emporia the elite males rolled out at 5:50 a.m. native time and the elite ladies adopted quarter-hour later. Amateurs, near 1,500 sturdy, left at 6:30 a.m. and that 25-minute hole between us and the amateurs appears like sufficient, nevertheless it’s not.
Ultimately, our chasing group of 4, Sofia Gomez Villafañe, Rosa Klöser, Cecile Lejeune, and I, caught the 100-mile riders within the ultimate 20 or so miles of the race. Most have been pretty. Some cheered, some stopped to movie us. Flattering? Certain. Harmful? Undoubtedly.
I acquired pinched behind an novice rider and needed to burn matches to chase again on. A race automotive honked repeatedly as we handed. It felt much less like a race and extra like a parade, with leisure riders pulling off the course for selfies.
We have been pushing 22 mph by way of teams going 12 mph. As well as, TT bars are nonetheless authorized for amateurs however banned for elites, so we’re weaving previous unstable aero setups within the closing miles of the game’s largest race. We took dangers as a result of that’s what it takes to win. However in these moments, the danger wasn’t simply ours. It was theirs too.
Sea Otter confirmed us the way it can work: separate days, separate fields. Copy and paste.
What wants to alter
If gravel needs to develop with out dropping its soul, it wants requirements, not purple tape. I like this sport, and I would like it to develop. However I additionally need it to be truthful, secure {and professional}.
Gravel grew up quick. It’s not the quirky cousin of highway racing anymore. It’s really its personal self-discipline, and it deserves to be handled like one.
We don’t want to return to the previous. However we do must be sincere about the place we’re and begin constructing a greater future for the place gravel is headed.
What wants to alter:
- Vet the elite fields. Don’t let folks resolve between elite and non-elite. Issues needs to be extra reduce and dry.
- Acknowledge ability gaps. Safer races begin with real looking entry standards.
- Separate begins and separate days. Elites and amateurs don’t belong in the identical bunch.
- Shield the ladies’s begin. Interval.
- Set help expectations.
- Standardize (or broaden) help. Extra construction = much less chaos = fewer journeys to the ER.
