Gravel

Betsy Welch and Ben Delaney picked out gear for 104 miles of Oklahoma mud at The Mid South. Find out how it all fared.

On this week's episode we discuss The Mid South's decision to continue amid the coronavirus pandemic. We also speak to race winner Hannah Finchamp.

Beer-can shims, peanut-butter mud, and mud-puddle bike washes. Racing in Oklahoma was wild.

Nurses, doctors, EMTs, and firefighters are truly grinding it out right now. Let's say thanks.

Tequila feed zones? Mariachi bands? The Spirit World 100 and other grassroots gravel races succeed by putting the experience ahead of the competition.

VIDEO: Amanda 'The Panda' Nauman won the 100-mile Oklahoma gravel race in 2018 race, and she returns to Stillwater to contest for the win.

All riders who registered for the San Diego BWR will be automatically transferred to the November 8 date.

But as concerns over the coronavirus grow and recommendations for social distancing evolve, the organizers of the world's marquee gravel event know that things could change at any minute.

Payson McElveen's normalized power was 323 watts for his winning ride. Hannah Finchamp's normalized power was 202 watts - for 8 hours.

The Mid South was held as the global pandemic around COVID-19 escalated. This is what the race promoters, local authorities, and participants had to say about the event.

Colin Strickland, winner of the 2019 Dirty Kanza, is among the favorites for The Mid South, being held March 14 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He'll be racing this new-graphic Allied Able with matching new Rapha Meteor x Allied kit. More than 2,000 racers signed up for the 100-mile race on the burnt-orange clay roads, but fewer than that will take the start because of the coronavirus. For the design, Strickland provided designers references from the hills around his home in Austin, Texas.

It's been a long, strange trip for many who are in Stillwater for The Mid South gravel race, but spirits are high even as mud is likely.

Danny Summerhill trained hard to qualify for the Olympics, but the U.S. men's team didn't make it. He's redirected that fitness towards gravel.

In muddy years at The Mid South, a singlespeed with huge clearance is a great option. And that's exactly what the Stormchaser is.

I'm headed to The Mid South, hoping to get the line first for the famous Bobby Wintle hug. Oh, and here are my coronavirus-avoidance tips as a long-time bike racer...

Six students from the Thaden School in Bentonville, Arkansas head to Stillwater for their second event as a school-sponsored gravel team.

My colleagues Betsy Welch, Brad Kaminski, and I are headed to Stillwater to race The Mid South. Will our plans match reality?

Rain, orange mud, and riders with Paris-Roubaix and Tour de France experience all scheduled to descend on the first Monument of Gravel.

Big Sugar's organizers will earmark 100 spots for women after initial registration numbers were lower than expected.

No matter which bike you pick for the Crusher, at some point it's going to be the wrong choice.

What drew elite riders to SBT GRVL? Sure, there's the challenging course, beautiful scenery, and great spot on the calendar. But for some, the $28,000 in prize cash was more than enough motivation to race.

How can a first-year event become a Monument? In 2019 the SBT GRVL race became one of the most popular in the country by offering cash payouts and striving for gender parity.

From singletrack and gravel to the Grasshopper Super Sweetwater on Canyon Grail models from $1,899 to $4,999.

We check out Michael Marcxk's Canyon Ultimate. You've probably never seen a gravel race bike with a 55t chain ring and Speedplay pedals.

The Belgian Waffle Ride's punishing course and huge media footprint have attracted elite riders from multiple disciplines and helped drive them toward gravel racing.

What tires and other gear should you run at Dirty Kanza 200? Ask the woman who should know.

Dirty Kanza 200 was our only unanimous selection to the VeloNews Monuments of Gravel list, and it's easy to see why. The 200-mile race has become the most famous and prestigious gravel event on the planet.

Peter Stetina and Kristen Faulkner won Saturday's Super Sweetwater, the original event of California's Grasshopper Adventure Series.

Revelate has a full suspension frame bag on the market that fits just about any bike with horizontally-mounted suspension. We took it bikepacking and to our local lunch ride to see how it fared.

After 10 years of training for top-level road racing, I'm now charting a new course with my coach Scott Nydam.

How committing to an event improves your whole season.

King offers her experiences of riding late into her pregnancy, and what she learned along the way. She and her husband—retired WorldTour pro and current gravel racer and ambassador Ted King—are expecting a girl on March 17.

Dirty Kanza winner Colin Strickland is not your average pro cyclist, as we found when we visited him in Austin in late 2019. Strickland's constant tinkering is pushing American pro cycling in a bold new direction.

Across much of North America, spring makes a fickle bedfellow to gravel racing. We found six races where the weather shouldn't be a problem, but your early season fitness might.

Youth riders have been offered an opportunity to participate in the sold-out short course edition, free of charge.

I started cycling after getting shot by a sniper in Afghanistan. Dirty Kanza's challenge lured me in, and the family bonding has kept me coming back.

Two-time Dirty Kanza 200 winner Amanda Nauman and partner David Sheek launch event, with registration opening February 21.

Think you want to put on a gravel race? There's a lot more to consider than a cool course and a fun afterparty. We spoke to Chelsea Luttrall, founder and "one-woman show" at Colorado's The Crippler race to find out what it takes.

Force eTap AXS works quite well for gravel when it's warm and dry. But what about in snow, ice and sub-zero temps?

American Ironman record-holder Heather Jackson will race gravel in 2020 as she builds towards the world championships in Kona.

Inside the DIY life of gravel pro and WorldTour refugee Pete Stetina.

On the heels of complaints from riders and teams, the cycling governing body demands more transparency on unpaved sectors in road races.

Do you attack straight through, stop for a sandwich, or take advantage of neutral support? There is no standard across gravel races.

Versatility is the name of the game, and dirt is the playing field. The players are battery-operated, too.

The gravel season kicked off this weekend with Colorado's Old Man Winter Rally, a 100-kilometer trek across dirt roads in Boulder County. Heavy snowfall greeted racers on the morning of the event, and by the time they left the start line in Lyons, Colorado, several inches had accumulated on roadways. And then, just 15 kilometers in, the Colorado Department of Transportation made the decision to stop the event. That wasn't before VeloNews Photo Editor, Brad Kaminski, snapped some images of the snowy action in Colorado.

There are two main ways to tell Force eTap AXS apart from Red eTap AXS: with a scale (~300g) and with your wallet (~$1,000). If you like SRAM's wireless shifting style, this is a great group with a wide gearing range.

It seems every brand has a gravel bike these days. These gravel rigs are the 20 that we're most excited to ride in 2020.

In its ninth year, BWR is expanding its mixed-surface race outside of California.

From limited edition colors, to new tread patterns and widths, here's what's hot in tires, for 2020.

Let's make something clear: This isn't a retirement; I am training as hard as ever, and I am stoked to race.

Evil Bikes sought to upend conventional thinking about what a gravel bike should be. With some unique geometry choices, the Chamois Hagar did just that.

Gravel riders and race promoters are wary, if somewhat curious, of UCI boss David Lappartient's comments that the governing body may hold a gravel world championships.

Katie Hall, Kate Courtney, Alison Tetrick, and Amity Rockwell will all line up at this weekend's Grasshopper Adventure Series. What makes the gravel series so popular amongst female riders? We asked the experts.

Pearl Izumi’s X-Alp Gravel Shoes attempt to take the best characteristics of mountain bike shoes and tailor them to the needs of gravel riders.

Left-only power meters now available for Shimano GRX, plus new options for XT and XTR.

Slack geometry and a dropper post mean you can shred it like a mountain bike or grind it all day like a gravel bike.

USA Cycling invited promoters from the Dirty Kanza, SBT GRVL, and other gravel events to meet in Bentonville, Arkansas to discuss the future of off-road racing.

Indoor trainer company Wahoo launches the Wahoo Frontiers gravel racing team with Ian Boswell, who has stepped away from the WorldTour in 2020 to race off-road events.

On this week's episode we discuss media reports of Chris Froome's recovery, the changing shape of U.S. pro racing, and we hear from road pro TJ Eisenhart about why he's moving to gravel racing.

A decade ago gravel racing was an oddity for cycling's hardest core riders. Today, it's a movement for the masses.

As the decade comes to a close, tech editor Dan Cavallari and editorial director Ben Delaney reflect on what tech developments changed the bike industry in the last ten years — for better and for worse.

What's the best tire for the course? What should gravel racing be in length and format? And what causes this gravel madness, anyhow? We will be digging into all this and more in The Grind.

Check out Dan Cavallari's author page.

Check out Dan Cavallari's author page.

Check out Dan Cavallari's author page.

Check out Dan Cavallari's author page.

Check out Dan Cavallari's author page.

When the Leadville 100 MTB and SBT GRVL races were scheduled on back-to-back days, organizers decided to create a new endurance event called the LeadBoat Challenge.

We discuss Peter Stetina's decision to race gravel instead of WorldTour road; plus, writer Patrick Redford talks about covering cycling for Deadspin.

The RX8 cuts down on weight and banks on a snug fit for gravel race performance

The 200-mile race is making efforts to attract women to ultra-distance cycling. Our columnist reflected on the female experience at the Dirty Kanza