A video showcasing the environment friendly pit cease of Sofía Gómez Villafañe and her four-person crew on the 2023 Unbound Gravel race has been making the social media rounds. In it, Villafañe seamlessly transitions into the checkpoint, entrusting her soiled bike to her crew, who, with the precision of a Formulation 1 group, promptly get to work. One member power-washes the bike, one other swiftly swaps out water bottles, whereas a 3rd arms Villafane a contemporary hydration pack and stuffs a brand new ice sock down the neck of her jersey. In the meantime, one other crew member assists Villafañe out of her probably malfunctioning shoe and into a brand new one. Villafañe, for her half, shortly dumps trash from her jersey and restocks her gels. In mere minutes, she’s again on the course with contemporary gear and vitamin to deal with the subsequent 60 miles of the race.
In shorter occasions, akin to final weekend’s Mid South race in Stillwater, Oklahoma, half of the riders by no means dismounted their bikes as they handed by way of the feed zone. They merely grabbed a musette from their assist personnel and have been off—any water cease etiquette forgotten.
The meteoric rise of gravel racing has ushered in a brand new period, full with its personal class of merchandise, UCI-sanctioned occasions, profitable prizes, and famous person contributors. Nevertheless, this professionalization and commercialization threaten the game’s ethos —the spirit of gravel, if you’ll.
Gravel racing was born out of journey driving the place grit, mechanical know-how, and exploration equal on-the-bike health. As such, the primary gravel races embodied a spirit of journey, self-reliance and resourcefulness. Members needed to depend on their very own capabilities to navigate tough terrain, handle mechanical points and maintain themselves all through the race. It was an environment that valued pleasant competitors over the adversarial form, with unstated guidelines relating to issues like group breaks and shared effort.
Lately, nonetheless, it is each rider for themselves, aided by their very own mechanics and assist personnel. This presents a major benefit for riders with the means to assemble and maintain such crews, widening the hole between the haves and have-nots within the gravel racing neighborhood. Not many so-called privateers have the assets to journey from one distant location to the subsequent with a group in tow.
Thus, like each different self-discipline in bike racing, gravel racing is liable to turning into a sport the place success is set not solely by bodily prowess and psychological fortitude but in addition by the depth of 1’s pockets and sponsorships. This monetary disparity diminishes the sense of journey, inclusivity and self-reliance that attracted so many to the gravel self-discipline within the first place.
To steer gravel racing again to its roots and stop it from evolving right into a highway race on completely different terrain, I suggest a easy measure for equity and self-sufficiency: the mid-race bag drop.
Widespread in ultra-endurance operating and journey races, a mid-race bag drop permits contributors to entry their pre-assembled provides at designated checkpoints throughout the occasion.
I am conscious that some occasions already provide a bag drop, however that is meant as a service in lieu of getting a private assist group and sometimes comes at a charge. As a substitute, I suggest to ban private assist crews and make this bag drop service included within the registration charge and accessible for all registrants. A mid-race bag drop would degree the taking part in discipline by offering all contributors with equal alternatives to refuel and replenish their assets, no matter their monetary means.
The present trajectory of gravel racing, with its rising reliance on assist crews and exterior assets, threatens to undermine the core values of equity, inclusivity, and self-sufficiency that first outlined the game. The spirit of journey and camaraderie is diluted to the purpose the place we danger shedding sight of the qualities that made the self-discipline so distinctive.
Sufficient already with the F1-inspired pit stops in gravel races; I, for one, would like to see fewer assist crews and extra self-reliance. Carry again the group breaks and the MacGyvering!
