Category: Editorial

Every year for the past several years, I have posted a “State of the Gravel Scene” series in January giving my personal opinions on where we’ve been and where we are going in terms of the gravel scene. When I opened up my look at the gravel scene in 2020 and beyond this past January, these were the first words I posted:

Coronavirus Protection, With Notes for Gravel Riders – by John Ingham Note: This post is concerned with prevention and should not be taken as a…

Gritty Take: In Times Such As These – by Guitar Ted Ten days ago if you had asked me if I was going to be…

A Quick Guide To Get Your Bike Ready For Sloppy Roads – by Guitar Ted Spring is here in North America and along with that…

So, is having the UCI run a “Gravel Worlds” a benefit to gravel cycling? Would this make gravel cycling “legitimate” in terms of professional cycling? Or would this be, once again, the same old dog and pony show we’ve seen play out for decades.

Concussions are all too common. We try to be careful, yet all of us have lapses of attention and moments of poor judgment. We wear helmets, but standard helmets and even slip-lined helmets are only partially effective. Fortunately, fatalism and stiff upper lips are no longer our only remaining options. A new cellular-lined helmet may be far better at preventing concussion.

The year is about done for, so it is a good time to look back on 2019 and determine the most impactful stories on the gravel scene for the year. While there are a lot of things that happened over the course of the year, three things really stand head and shoulders above the crowd when it comes to stories we talked most about during 2019.

From world-class rides and events, to bikes and gear built for the rigors of gravel travel, never before have we had it so good. With that in-mind, MG offers up his favorite bikes and gear of 2019.

We had the opportunity to attend the recent Shimano GRX Press Camp in Columbia Falls, Montana. There, we received a glimpse into the future of gravel bikes and components, including Shimano’s awesome new GRX Di2 electronic gravel groupset.

I applaud the coming of ‘adventure’ geared cranks and kudos to Shimano for finally jumping in. I think that the 46/30 is a nice thing to have for a large segment of the gravel population, bike packers, etc. Unfortunately, if it is not perfect for your needs, it’s not like you get a chance to choose a different crank set-up when you buy your bike, forcing you to make what could be a costly swap to get what you want.