2026 Gravel Events Cost Survey

The 2026 Gravel Events Cost Survey

The Gravel Events Cost Survey is a random look at events across the USA which are primarily gravel based cycling events to see what it costs to go ride organized events in the year 2026. 

I did a similar thing last year  so take a look there for comparisons. Note to any readers of this survey: I have opinions which may not line up with what you believe. This is my take on this subject.  

How The Survey Was Done: I began my survey by taking a look at some promotions that started coming into the inbox here and taking notes on distances offered versus registration costs. Then I added events from BikeReg using their geographic breakdown of the nation and the events listed in each region. I noted some events were listed in more than one region so I avoided those for the survey, or only used an event listed twice across regions in one region that made sense to me. 

Here are the regions as broken down by BikeReg: New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Rocky Mountains, South Central, Northwest, and Southwest/Texas. (Note: I combined the Southwest and Texas regions because the events overlapped so much) So, I used four events from each region, (last year I used three) trying to use a different state in each region where possible, and this brought in 37events. (I accidentally used FIVE events from one region. Sorry!) I also included the one event I had already been noting previously as mentioned from promotions So a total of 38 events were included. (One more than last year)

 The Events: So, what types of "gravel" events were included? Of course, their are a few "biggies" in the survey: None of which I used last year. But I have unheralded events from all across the nation. So, there is a range from very inexpensive to well over four (!!) figures in cost and everything in between. 

I chose the regional events based upon a few things. First, I only looked at the names of the events and where they were located to get a good representation of events all across the USA. Names of events came into play where I recognized names from a long time ago and are events that have been well-established. I also included some events which had names that just struck my fancy. For instance, "The Lit Whizzy". 

But this year I tried to find as many events with "gravel grinder" in their name as possible, (rather easily done, by the way) and any event with a skull as a logo or having "skull" in their name. I know....weird, but it helped randomize my selections. 

What I Am Trying To Show: My baseline for a gravel event value is based upon how much it cost per mile to register. So, if an event is 100 miles and cost 100 bucks to enter that event has a cost of a dollar per mile. 

You'd think that the biggie events would skew the rating far more to the spendy side but I found that many smaller events are charging a LOT more these days for registration. And it should be no wonder. "Gravel" is the hot ticket for competitive bicycle events these days and the genre' shows no signs of slacking off yet. Event directors and organizations are seeing the big time events charging three-digit entry fees and are following their example. 

Also, this survey is an average cost analysis. I am not breaking down these by regions or in any other way. I am just curious to see how far above the old "dollar-per-mile" limit we used to use for gauging events we have gone now and what the new baseline might be. That's it. I'll give that average cost per mile for 2025 and then give you some trends I have noticed while doing this survey. 

The cost analysis was done over 109 distances/costs. This year's survey has 51 unique distances from 12 miles all the way up to 350 miles.  

Average Cost Per Mile: So, in this year's survey, I found an event with a free distance, a beginner's distance of 18 miles, and the most expensive distance was from an event which charged the a 200+ dollar fee for all its distances making the 40 miler come in at cost of $6.02/mile.  The event with the highest entry fee at $1.400.00 for either distance offered actually wasn't too bad $4.83/mile and $4.00/mile costs. 

Most event distances in this year's survey cost between $1.00 and $2.00/mile. I found this a bit surprising. This wasn't even close, by the way. The next group of event distances - Over $2.00 to $3.00/mile - had  almost 30 less examples. So, I think it is safe to say the overall average is going to be under $3.00/mile yet. At least it is in the examples I pulled from BikeReg this year. 

Comments: My initial impressions were that event prices felt higher than before, but in reality, the events I pulled from seem pretty average and close to last year's average per mile cost. Keeping in mind I am not considering aid stations, swag, after-parties, etc. This is purely money versus mileage. 

I also did not include any "bucket-list" events. Those skew the results, and since one in particular uses a lottery, it is harder to determine "costs" to the rider. Finally, I think focusing on events which are available to most everyone across the nation makes more sense than focusing on the ultra-exclusive, "bougie" events.  

It was immediately apparent while doing my research that a rider gets more value out of an event if they choose the premier/longest distance offered. Many events are really oppressive when it comes to what they are charging for shorter distances to the point it makes me wonder if they are actually trying to discourage folks from taking shorter distance options. Just for an example, one event was charging more than double for its shortest distance per mile versus their longest distance. 

Sometimes this is a factor of events making each distance the same fee. I suppose this streamlines their planning but it sure makes me not want to choose a shorter distance when I can pay less per mile to ride more.  

I tried to sprinkle USAC events in my survey. This did not seem to make much of a difference one way or the other in cost per mile. But those events do have loads of categories. Some non-USAC events did as well, but these were by far in the minority in terms of the 38 events I looked at. There were far more with very simplified categories. 

I did also notice some older events still chugging along but there were far more I'd never heard of, and I was just in there at Bike Reg a year ago. Finally, it seems there are fewer events this year, but I could be off on this. I did not count, it just felt that way to me. 

It's good to know you can still find events with a less than $1.00/mile cost, and many are good values from this standpoint alone. I am not taking into account anything like courses, views, or extras. So, this shouldn't be used to gauge any specific events. I just do this exercise more out of curiosity, and to check in on the health of grassroots gravel across the USA. 

I hope you found that interesting. Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions.