The State Of The Gravel Scene: 2023

  In January 2018 I posted a five part series on what I thought was the "State Of The Gravel Grinding Scene". It really is a retrospective/editorial piece, I suppose, since it does present the historical background of what I term as "modern day gravel racing and riding", which I hold to have begun when Trans Iowa kicked off in 2004.

Now, a whole five years later, things have radically changed in the gravel scene. What is more, things are set to change even more in 2023 and beyond. This post seeks to lay out what I think will happen based upon my observations and from where we are now at the end of 2022. 

Remember- THIS IS MY OPINION. Your thoughts and views on the matter may be quite different. I welcome any reasoned and considered opinions which you can share with me at g.ted.productions@gmail.com. 

Gravel Family or Gravel Factory?

While I was contemplating the state of gravel and considering what I would write about, it struck me that an easy way to give my thoughts a simple definition would be to use the analogy of the "gravel family". Now days, you might think the term is the trade mark of one event called Gravel Worlds. They kind of co opted the term several years ago. However; they weren't the originators of that idea. The idea which defined all those folks who congregated at the earlier gravel events and who ended up becoming like family to each other. 

Early gravel events had smaller fields and there was a certain core group of riders that became well known on the circuit. They in turn welcomed others in, and it became much like a family reunion when these older events had pre-race meetings and social activities. Obviously, it was one of the main components for the gravel grinders early success and popularity. 

I've written about different aspects of this phenomenon in the gravel scene before. I tried searching my blog to see when "gravel family" was used earliest in my writings, but my search function does not recognize that concept,. Instead it kept giving me separate results for any post with those two words in it. Bah! Suffice it to say that the concept has been around about as long as the modern gravel riding scene has been around. 

DK200 pre-race meeting 2010. Back when it was more like a family reunion than a corporate affair.

Somewhere along the line it was decided, or maybe "accepted by default" is a better way to say this, that "bigger" meant "less intimate and personal". Events started behaving more like businesses and less like hosts inviting you over for coffee and cakes. Things got more "serious" and the concept of economic benefits started to attract those who had zero interest in, or any idea about, the way many of the gravel events got started and what it was that made them attractive in the first place.

I need to pause a moment here because this is a very complex, tangled web that needs to be carefully handled. I don't mean to say that the concept of making money is necessarily a bad thing. Event directors, volunteers, and venues need money to keep the wheels greased and to be able to put out a welcome mat that retains the good stuff about an event, but also one that has amenities that riders are looking for. This is not at all easy to do. 

However; it is my opinion that once the attendance for an event reaches a certain size, after that point the event becomes less about "everybody" and more about certain groups, and more about abstract ideas which may be popular at the time. People get left behind and slip trough the cracks. That "family" feeling doesn't exist anymore. It's kind of like the difference between seeing a band in a small venue and seeing a band in a stadium with 40,000 people. Both have their appeal, I suppose, but in the gravel scene, we didn't grow and have appeal because we were like the big concerts. We made hay with the more intimate concept. 

It's more difficult to not feel like "just a number" when crowds are so big now.

With many events reaching attendance figures into the thousands of riders, the unavoidable waiting in lines, jockeying for food, a place to stay, and the processing of entrants into the event becomes less like family and more like a "factory" assembly line. Get in, get out, wait here, line up. When its over, you are not only exhausted from the effort of the ride, but just as much from having to run that whole gauntlet of registration for the event, getting there, being run through all the lines to pick up schwag bags, and number plates, and then off to bed. 

Afterward you just want to get out of there and go home. Wait....what?!! That's so goofy to anyone that was around in the earlier days of these events. But then again- if you don't know- you don't know. A more factory approach may be how you think things should be, and well, how else could it be done? 

And now you've got the Pro riders with their set ups and special vehicles and training regimes that cannot be messed with because there is money and sponsorships on the line here. The average gravel riders line up over there, the serious ones, which are racing for prizes and monetary rewards? They get the front of the field to themselves. And listen- I get it. There is no way you'd want the Pros trying to blast their way through floundering seas of recreational riders and weekend warriors. I'm just illustrating the fact that there are two very different things going on here now. There are two classes of people being defined. While the efforts to try to mix those together have been admirable, it is time to separate these elements. 

An article in the "New Yorker" which was published late in 2022 was quoted on social media as saying the following: "...gravel racing, an American innovation, allowed an elite contest to be underwritten by the people who lose."

Provocative? Yes. Harsh? Maybe, but the author is not necessarily wrong about that. At least in terms of the bigger, more produced events, that is perhaps the case more than it is not. And listen, many people think that is fine. They are okay with that concept. These are people that want to hold up the elite and - well, worship them. They want to be "associated with greatness" even if it means that as part of their allegiance to the elite, they have to foot the bill for the elite to participate.They want "kings" and "queens" and are willing to ride their coattails. 

From Trans Iowa v13. Image by Ari Andonopoulous.

On the other hand, a smaller group is more capable of experiencing an event as a shared experience. This typically forges life-long connections, and fosters equity. There are no "kings" or "queens". There is just 'The Group" and everyone is valued, more or less, in the same view. 

Everyone's experience is valued, and all are welcome without being judged. This is a hard thing to foster with an event with big attendance numbers where the focus is a lot less on the rider's experience with each other. The rider experience in a personal sense is also important, but that has overridden the community aspects of the gravel scene. With the economic and social needs of the elite riders earning a living at riding gravel at stake, many events have decided to cater to their needs as this group brings notoriety and that brings sponsorship money to the events. 

That's when 'making coin' trumps 'making relationships' at some events, at least in some senses. That's when things begin to feel more corporate and less "fun". Again- the corporate, athlete worship, large group dynamic, "big deal" effect is an attractive type of event for a lot of people. Obviously, or people wouldn't go to attend these events. But that's not how this gravel thing got started, and in the end, people will return to something more like "family" - be that traditional gravel riding, community walking, playing pickle ball..... I don't know what it will be - but this cycle will be repeated and "big time gravel" will collapse under its own weight. 

When will THAT happen? Is it happening NOW? I don't think you'll see a line where the tide turns on the gravel scene. One day people will notice that there is something "else" that is more akin to a small community and a family like atmosphere and whatever THAT is will take over. Slowly. But I think we're getting to that point for many, and for some we've already passed that point. 

Meanwhile, enjoy the gravel scene while you can, because it ain't gonna get any better than it is now, in my opinion.