Gravel burn 2025

[Bro Derek]

5 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

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 

Exactly that, Pidcock riding with the age group warriors is probably more impactful than him racing at the front.

I am not at all surprised by the attrition rate. I think I may have touched on it months ago in the thread. 

Getting dropped by the group and limping home beaten up every day is a very different kind of broken.

It's also easier and more tempting to stay with the group and burn all your matches than a MTB race where you simply just get dropped off the bat.

Either way, i think it is fascinating how many people actually thought riding a gravel bike flat out for a week was appealing

I've definitely never finished the swartberg gf and thought, heck yes, I'd love to do that again tomorrow... and the next day, and the next....

[DieselnDust]

I think the Gravel Burn is the new Tour de France of mountain biking…..

 

<ducks for cover>

[babse]

4 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

I think the Gravel Burn is the new Tour de France of mountain biking…..

 

<ducks for cover>

Where is the proposed Champs Elysees? 

[DieselnDust]

1 hour ago, babse said:

Where is the proposed Champs Elysees? 

Somewhere in the Eastern Cape …just follow the potholes

[splat]

8 hours ago, babse said:

Where is the proposed Champs Elysees? 

Through the Valley of Desolation and up the Main Drag to finish in front of the iconic Groot Kerk of Graaff-Reinet

[Mamil]

13 hours ago, Bro Derek said:

Either way, i think it is fascinating how many people actually thought riding a gravel bike flat out for a week was appealing

I've definitely never finished the swartberg gf and thought, heck yes, I'd love to do that again tomorrow... and the next day, and the next....

Erm ... am I the only one (not in the race) who thinks, hmmm, interesting, could be lekker....  ... maybe next year

[Zebra]

@Mamil Yes, I too,, think it could be an interesting weeks riding - an having done a good few Epics when THEY started, I do think that THIS race, too - could be brilliant - it really IS what you make it, camaraderie, yada yada, so for me, too, not just 'boring' gravel, but a fun event!

Chris

[ajnkzn]

It seems that everyone stays in the tents - can anyone confirm if the elites are on site and plebbing it, or are they in camper vans / hotels?

 

I really like the idea of them having the same experience as the rank and file - hope it's the case.

[Jensie]

14 minutes ago, ajnkzn said:

It seems that everyone stays in the tents - can anyone confirm if the elites are on site and plebbing it, or are they in camper vans / hotels?

 

I really like the idea of them having the same experience as the rank and file - hope it's the case.

Pros is living in camper vans, saw some videos of the pro's driving to new start

[ajnkzn]

OK thanks.

[warrencharlesza]

they are doing some marketing with pidcock, creating timed segments on the satges and at the end of stage 4 or 5, the best riders on those segments "race" pidcock. 

I wasnt into MTB when Cape Epic started but i'm sure it took a few events to get the international following and the rank of the event, so I assume Gravel Burn will adjust and optimise with Kevin like he did with Epic before it got sold

Got mates doing it and they are enjoying it, tough AF. The 170km bus trip was special but there was beer so that helped

[Bub Marley]

15 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

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 

Can you give share some numbers? DNF & DNS after stage 1 and 2.

[Shebeen]

is it just me or is there no way to just list the entire field in the results.

 

everything seems to be in categories.

 

https://racebase.pro/events/gravelburn/?page=results#0_B366FF

[Paul Ruinaard]

5 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

is it just me or is there no way to just list the entire field in the results.

 

everything seems to be in categories.

 

https://racebase.pro/events/gravelburn/?page=results#0_B366FF

you can expand the categories and then there is the whole list - i saw tat as well

[Headshot]

The highlights videos are pretty good if a little scripted. I was hoping A Frischknecht would dominate on his HT MTB with a real fork on the front 🙂 

[Spinnekop]

2 minutes ago, Headshot said:

The highlights videos are pretty good if a little scripted. I was hoping A Frischknecht would dominate on his HT MTB with a real fork on the front 🙂 

Insta?  Youtube? Webpage?