Gravel stage racing...the next big thing?

[Shebeen]

So. Clearly lots of people think this is the next big thing. Leverage the MTB stage race market which is full of people who have done it all. Throw in some provincial roads which does away with a lot of the pesky stuff like land permission and single track to build/maintain, (but keep it pricey so the riff raff don't get in the way).

Skepticism aside

https://bikehub.co.za/news/garden-route-giro-announced-a-six-day-gravel-stage-race/

https://themunga.com/munga-tkg/

what next, will the OG https://www.instagram.com/dirtysouthgravelrace/?hl=en pay for their webhosting before announcing their reply?

 

 

so is this a fad like um, Fatbikes, or a thing like, uhm Gravel bikes?

Edited December 2 by Shebeen

[betaboy]

I hope the organisers take a good look at the stats and see what the real vibe is to entering such events.

[Skubarra]

3 hours ago, Shebeen said:

So. Clearly lots of people think this is the next big thing. Leverage the MTB stage race market which is full of people who have done it all. Throw in some provincial roads which does away with a lot of the pesky stuff like land permission and single track to build/maintain, (but keep it pricey so the riff raff don't get in the way).

Skepticism aside

https://bikehub.co.za/news/garden-route-giro-announced-a-six-day-gravel-stage-race/

https://themunga.com/munga-tkg/

what next, will the OG https://www.instagram.com/dirtysouthgravelrace/?hl=en pay for their webhosting before announcing their reply?

 

 

so is this a fad like um, Fatbikes, or a thing like, uhm Gravel bikes?

Guess it depends on how you define the "next big thing" - Just on gravel burn they clearly are not going for the big numbers, I reckon they bank on the idea that money can be made of a relatively few riders doing luxury giving the organisers decent margins to profit on.

For me the 100 miler events will be where the "masses" will ride, but the competition is strong and riders fickle so I expect a few events to fall by the wayside.

[mecheng89]

Something NOT in the WC/EC will be nice for us Vaalies..

[pietas]

Fad. Might as well do it on mtb then

[Danger Dassie]

A natural progression as it grows and as cycling grows laterally. Don't think there are really that many people thinking it's the next big thing. 
Like everything else there will different types of events catering to different needs and wants. Some stage options will be part of that. We're way past the fad stage, just like when MTBs first arrived a lot of people considered it as "just a passing fad" 

[michaelbiker]

The podcast interview with Kevin Vermaak on escape collective is quite interesting. He goes into quite a lot of detail how the epic started and what it was like at the time. One thing that stood out that is related to this is that for every mountain bike that was sold in 2003, 25 road bikes were sold and that large organised road events were way more common than mtb events. Things have changed dramatically since then with fewer and fewer road events and a ton of mtb stage and single day events.  

Gravel could go this route too, who knows but if the growth of sales in gravel bikes is a lagging indicator of where SA is headed then there would definitely be a lot more gravel focused stuff.

[DieselnDust]

Gravel is the new Mtb which was the new golf.

[Super Sywurm]

Fun fact:

My mtb can ride on gravel roads, just slower.

 

 

 

I almost bought a gravel bike on a Black Friday sale, then I remembered the fun fact.

[Skubarra]

1 hour ago, Super Sywurm said:

Fun fact:

My mtb can ride on gravel roads, just slower.

 

 

 

I almost bought a gravel bike on a Black Friday sale, then I remembered the fun fact.

The way I see it for many people gravel bikes will eventually replace their road bikes, swap out the gravel wheels for road wheels and instantly you have a capable road bike for your occasional road ride. Rest of the time it's faster and  more fun than your mtb on gravel roads so you will end up using your mtb for trails only and the rest all gravel bike.

[RocknRolla]

I don't get the gravel bike thing.

But then again, I'm not the target audience. I like singletrack, I like obstacles to navigate, and a bit of thinking about the trail ahead. The trend these days are to make trails easier to ride, smoothing over the rocks, and dumbing down trails.

Recently, on the Go2berg, there was a strong gravel bike presence. Some of the riders (training for munga) was proficient in handling their bikes on the singletrack sections, but I guess more fun were to be had on a montainbike in those sections.

Other gravel bikers opted to take the "alternative gravel specific route" cutting out all the fun sections.

For me the long district roads are quite boring, but I too realise that not all trails are pure singletrack enjoyment.

To the west of JHB there are kilometers of dirt roads where one can go ride gravel for days. I prefer to do those roads on a moto.

[Super Sywurm]

45 minutes ago, Skubarra said:

The way I see it for many people gravel bikes will eventually replace their road bikes, swap out the gravel wheels for road wheels and instantly you have a capable road bike for your occasional road ride. Rest of the time it's faster and  more fun than your mtb on gravel roads so you will end up using your mtb for trails only and the rest all gravel bike.

Ja, that is actually what I wanted to do, but I have an extra set of wheels for my mtb with some lekker slicks on for the road rides.

[DieselnDust]

the best gravel bike is a hardtail mtb with drop bars. It can accommodate a wider range of tyre sizes and bigger chainrings than a full sus . 

Edited December 5 by DieselnDust
Felt the need to qualify the hardtail somewhat

[Headshot]

Many of the MTB stage races are gravel events in reality, aren't they? 

[Skubarra]

2 hours ago, Super Sywurm said:

Ja, that is actually what I wanted to do, but I have an extra set of wheels for my mtb with some lekker slicks on for the road rides.

A personal preference & unexpected feature of the gravel bike I found  -  training rides with a gravel bike on the road = fun & fast + training ride which is a combination of tar & gravel even more fun & fast.

MTB on road = boring, that is why I would opt for gravel bike over a hardtail as a 2nd bike

[KingZA]

Personally, I'd far rather do a gravel bike packing trip with some mates than this stage race thing. It's considerably cheaper and, for me, way more fun. Maybe I'm just not enough of a racing snake.

The only real downside is that you have to plan it all yourself but if that's too much of a mission there are guys out there that organise everything and take groups out for these trips.