Gravel burn 2025

[betaboy]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cjrO32Uki4A&pp=ygULZ3JhdmVsIGJ1cm4%3D 👍🏻

[Eugene Oppelt]

📸 @gravel_burn

[Spafsack]

Stupid question.....the night burn DJ's, party,for who is that? I am sure the riders are needing early sleeps, rest. 

[nathrix]

 

[Eugene Oppelt]

Now. Brrrrr.

📸 @CSkosan

Edited October 27, 2025 by Eugene Oppelt

[Shebeen]

47 minutes ago, nathrix said:

 

Thank you. I watched this last night and it was well done

[Wannabe]

32 minutes ago, Eugene Oppelt said:

Now.

📸 @CSkosan

cskosan did well on yesterday's stage. He says the sun is coming out, looks like it's going to be a good day.

[warrencharlesza]

Payson McElven is doing a daily podcast on the Gravel Burn.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1QC0QPTdpu0y44sm0JJ9tg?si=rgYIb-DtTtKka29eEnbqEQ

Edited October 27, 2025 by warrencharlesza

[nathrix]

Edited some random feeds from yesterday's stage 1

 

[nathrix]

From todays feed a quick edit of stage 2

 

[Shebeen]

2 hours ago, warrencharlesza said:

Payson McElven is doing a daily podcast on the Gravel Burn.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1QC0QPTdpu0y44sm0JJ9tg?si=rgYIb-DtTtKka29eEnbqEQ

is it any good? worthwhile for a SA local to listen to or more overseas focussed? See he had the frenchies on stagfe 1

[warrencharlesza]

27 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

is it any good? worthwhile for a SA local to listen to or more overseas focussed? See he had the frenchies on stagfe 1

he had people the winner of stage 1 for the women and the chap who came third or fourth. Payson isnt racing at the pointy end so its a bit watered down, seems its an end of year holiday with some efforts thrown in for a fair amount of the pro's. They did underestimate the Prince Alfred climb, using stava average gradient as the base research. So i wonder how the guy with the 50T went up that in the wet. 

[Bub Marley]

11 minutes ago, warrencharlesza said:

he had people the winner of stage 1 for the women and the chap who came third or fourth. Payson isnt racing at the pointy end so its a bit watered down, seems its an end of year holiday with some efforts thrown in for a fair amount of the pro's. They did underestimate the Prince Alfred climb, using stava average gradient as the base research. So i wonder how the guy with the 50T went up that in the wet. 

I like that they’ve gotten the likes of Pidcock in and Jackson to create hype but if they’re on holiday then it kinda defeats the purpose. They should probably target the gravel professionals rather than roadies as these guys will most likely take it more seriously. 

 

Not sure what other date they could use though. I get the Lifetime guys have basically just wrapped up their long season so perhaps they might be on holiday. If you have it earlier in the year then it conflicts with the lifetime series so most likely no one will come. You cant also have it in Feb / March as that will conflict with the Epic. 

 

I think the only way to get more pros to race it more seriously is money. Make it worth their while. Obviously easier said than done. 

[WaynejG]

Looks like better weather for them today

[Bro Derek]

2 hours ago, Bub Marley said:

I like that they’ve gotten the likes of Pidcock in and Jackson to create hype but if they’re on holiday then it kinda defeats the purpose. They should probably target the gravel professionals rather than roadies as these guys will most likely take it more seriously. 

 

Not sure what other date they could use though. I get the Lifetime guys have basically just wrapped up their long season so perhaps they might be on holiday. If you have it earlier in the year then it conflicts with the lifetime series so most likely no one will come. You cant also have it in Feb / March as that will conflict with the Epic. 

 

I think the only way to get more pros to race it more seriously is money. Make it worth their while. Obviously easier said than done. 

The thing is, who from the gravel scene is actually going to create any sort of stir outside of the gravel scene, who are already following?

Big names got people talking, they have done their job 

I can name Keegan Swensen and I can't even remember who won world champs without really thinking about it.

One needs to remember that hype doesn't equal performance. Most top SA influencers and hype merchants are pretty average at the actual doing. 

Most of the big fish small pond 'Big names' in gravel carry far less weight than not massive names in road cycling that non bike dorks have seen on supersport watching TDF highlights. 

A non racing Tom Pidcock will create more yapping than a racing Ivar Slik or Peter Stetina who no one outside of the niche has even heard of

[DieselnDust]

25 minutes ago, Bro Derek said:

The thing is, who from the gravel scene is actually going to create any sort of stir outside of the gravel scene, who are already following?

Big names got people talking, they have done their job 

I can name Keegan Swensen and I can't even remember who won world champs without really thinking about it.

One needs to remember that hype doesn't equal performance. Most top SA influencers and hype merchants are pretty average at the actual doing. 

Most of the big fish small pond 'Big names' in gravel carry far less weight than not massive names in road cycling that non bike dorks have seen on supersport watching TDF highlights. 

A non racing Tom Pidcock will create more yapping than a racing Ivar Slik or Peter Stetina who no one outside of the niche has even heard of

Not sure what people were expecting from Pidcock. He arrived  day or two before the registration and get to Knysna. I’m sure he’ll have a few goods to race or maybe he’ll just sit and ride and chat to whomever wants to shoot the breeze. That privilege alone is probably going to bring quite a few people back in 2026. 
 

In the mean time the 45+ crowd is following the event and watching their fellow 45+ mates come to the realisation that gravel racing has more in common with a PPA road race in the Perdeberg region than the cape epic and wondering just wft they got themselves into. 
cape epic allows you to trundle along at endurance pace , get to the finish and you can call yourself awesome. Gravel burn asks you to smash threshold and stay there for a few hours till the legs scream enough and then you still have 40km to ride in a blown state. 
the DNFs yesterday and DNS today raised my eyebrows. More than I expected