A Very Gravel-filled FN&V!
Gravel Amplifier: The Skirmish:
The area around Northwest Arkansas is rife with mountain bike and gravel event activities, but how about something in Northeast Arkansas? That is where an event dubbed "The Skirmish" takes place.
The event is being promoted as more than just a race. It will be a "festival" of gravel, and event promoters plan a multi-day experience for those who attend. Here is a bullet point list taken from an article seen on the "Arkansas Outside website HERE.
- Live music on Friday night.
- A family-friendly “slow roll” ride through the Arkansas State University campus and downtown on Saturday.
- A vendor expo showcasing various products and services.
- Opportunities to meet and greet participating athletes.
The daily schedule will look like this:
- Thursday: Kick things off with a group ride to energize for the weekend.
- Friday: Enjoy two group rides, explore the vendor expo, meet the athletes, and attend a lively welcome party with free live music.
- Saturday: Participate in the main cycling event followed by a post-race celebration. Family-friendly activities will ensure everyone enjoys the day.
- Sunday: Wrap up the weekend with a relaxing short ride, followed by a video and photo montage showcasing the event’s highlights. Award ceremonies and prize distributions will mark the official closing.
The event will take place out of Jonesboro, Arkansas from May 29th - June 1st with the race date being Saturday, May 31st. The earlier you register the less the event costs, but overall this ranks pretty high on the dollar-per-mile scale I use to rank event value.
Comments: Can't make it into Unbound, or has that event lost you with its growth and focus? Check out this event, held on the same date as Unbound, by the way. In my opinion this will have a feel much akin to Mid-South in that the community will show out for this, but it won't have a focus on the upper echelon of athletes to the point of ignoring the average rider.
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| The last Gents Race logo. For real this time? |
The event dubbed at first as The Renegade Gentleman's Race, but eventually was known as as just "Gents Race", has posted a social media post saying that the event's run is over.
Thanking the past riders of the event in helping raise over $40,000.00 in donations for different causes, the directors of the event also rightly pointed out that the gravel calendar has become a rather crowded space in the Springtime when this event was held.
Comments: Well, we've been here before with saying this event was over, and you never know, but this time the announcement has a bit of an air of finality to it. This makes me feel like the Gents Race is truly now gravel history. The event, started in 2011, was one of but a handful of gravel specific events held in Iowa at that time. Fast-forward to 2025 and there are two multi-event series on gravel held in Iowa plus many other events which were non-existent back in 2011.
The Gents Race's unique structure, a team of five time trial, was open to interpretation enough that in some ways the event represented a "gravel RAGBRAI/party-pace event for many who participated in the event over the years. Of course, many also could take the racing part seriously, and did so, which is what made this a very unique and attractive event for many years in Iowa. It was an event challenging enough, (held during the first full weekend of April, metric century length) yet one that embodied the social aspect (party-pace option, mid-ride checkpoint at a winery, social bar time at the end), that there was an appeal across a wide section of society.
I did a look back at my experiences with the Gents Race HERE in a post from 2023. Check those images out for a feel of what this event was about.
N.Y. Roll had intended that we would talk about a few new things on the podcast including his pair of WTB i76 fat bike rims, his new Lake gravel shoes, and what we would do for a dream lighting set up for our bicycles.
While we did get around to all of that, there is a fair bit of discussion and weirdness sandwiched in between those topics. N.Y. Roll bitterly rued our rabbit trail dives, but we made it through the episode.
I think he's just being a bit sensitive concerning a comment we received saying we are just a couple of old men complaining. Which is rich considering that the comment is a complaint. Someone actually took the time and effort to let us know that. As if we weren't already aware that we complain. I mean, c'mon! If we said everything was roses we'd get lambasted for "not being real", right? Comments we make are our opinions, negative or positive. You can call that whatever you'd like. So, listen or do not listen. Complaining about our content isn't helping anyone.
Check it all out HERE if you are interested in hearing two old men complain. I jest! But it is true.....
We're hoping to get a long-time guest on next and then start in with my talks with early gravel scene folks. If you have any suggestions for a guest that you'd like to hear from concerning the early days of gravel cycling, let me know in the comments.
Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame To Reveal 2025 Class:
Monday January 27th will be the day that the next class of inductees will be revealed that are going to be enshrined in the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame in late May in Emporia, Kansas.
Electors were sent the nominees last December and asked to choose five from a long list. Of the five chosen, each had to be ranked 1 - 5 with the elector's number one vote being weighted more than the next an so on. The GCHoF board then compiled all the votes, added up their rankings, and chose three new inductees for the class of 2025.
With the announcement of the 2025 class the total number of individuals in the hall will be 19. The GCHoF started in 2021 and inducted its first class in 2022, which included seven people, including myself.
Comments: I'll be keen to see which three of the list that was sent to me to vote on will be getting the nod this year. I will have a complete commentary on the 2025 inductees next week after the announcement on Monday. So, stay tuned for that as I will have some very interesting comments depending on how this class shapes up.
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| Image courtesy of Life Time Sea Otter |
Sea Otter began as a mountain bike festival. Then as the years wore on it took on road racing and other forms of cycling, especially at the expo. Now, in 2025, under Life Time's ownership, the festival will be gravel-centric.
Life Time is holding its first Grand Prix event here and has switched it from a mountain bike event to a gravel event. 50 folks will take away free entry to Life Time's Unbound Gravel event. Furthermore, Life Time is promoting its expo as being home to "the cutting edge in gravel" components and bicycles.
Meet-ups with top gravel athletes and gravel specific workshops will also be offered this year. Life Time predicts that upwards of 70,000 folks will attend the four day event which will be held April 18th - 21 at Laguna-Seca Raceway.
Comments: With Sea Otter having taken over the role that Interbike used to have in regard to introducing new product and providing a meet-up for industry folks, it is no wonder then that "gravel" is taking over the festival. Gravel being really the only bright spot in the marketplace (besides electrified bicycles) and it certainly draws the most people in terms of events.
Expect to see a lot of cycling media sites and YouTube accounts spilling coverage all over the place starting in April.
Special Thanks: Thanks to all those who commented on the post yesterday, or who have taken the time to give me a Happy Birthday shout-out on social media. I appreciated each and every one of your messages!
Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions! Get out there and ride those bicycles!
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