S typical elsewhere in the world. Racing is part of our competitive nature – and, increasingly, events are the safest places to train. We’ ve got a long, illustrious history in the established road and mountain-bike disciplines, hosting both the biggest individually timed road race and some of the bestknown mountain-bike stage races in the world.
ED’ S LETTER
Let’ s firm up loose gravel
PHOTOGRAPH DARYAN ROWE outh African riders tend to race more than is
S typical elsewhere in the world. Racing is part of our competitive nature – and, increasingly, events are the safest places to train. We’ ve got a long, illustrious history in the established road and mountain-bike disciplines, hosting both the biggest individually timed road race and some of the bestknown mountain-bike stage races in the world.
Gravel-bike racing, in comparison, is still a very young sport – but it’ s growing almost as fast as the bikes are evolving to suit our abundant dirt roads. And, as with any young sport, there are inevitably a few teething issues.
I was a reasonably early adopter of gravel grinding and went through the typical growing pains: teeth chattering, chain slapping and white-knuckle survival mode on corrugations with 35mm tyres and no suspension. Not long after, I upsized to 42s, which did little to improve that dislodged-eyeball sensation or my inability to pee straight post-ride. At 45mm, my sunglasses started staying on my nose and my helmet strap no longer needed tightening to liquid-sipping-only levels. I could finally speak coherently to my riding mates, although perhaps they wish I’ d stuck with skinny tyres.
It was a baptism of fire that most of you will recognise. As you’ ll see on page 56, our ultra-distance, suffer-loving cuzzies from Jozi, who run a great bike store, have picked out some sweet tech to make your sand-road riding not just bearable but genuinely enjoyable. It seems you may finally be able to leave the garage without looking forlornly over your shoulder at your full-suss, shedding a silent salty.
I’ ve been privileged to enjoy a load of gravel races, from intimate events like the Filthy Fondo in Caledon – surely one of the smoothest surfaces I’ ve experienced in SA – to the long headwind slog and equally scenic Race to the Sea; the otherworldly Gravel Burn, which, as you’ ll see on page 125, looks set to deliver a more manageable, stargazing experience this year; and the Garden Route Giro, hosted in a superb area for the sport. Beyond the contrasts in routes, services and infrastructure, it’ s been fascinating to observe the different bikes, vibes and characters at each – many of them brand new as the sport booms.
But with growth comes responsibility. Having worked closely with the crew who created the Silent Spokes short film, my awareness of cycling safety has been at an all-time high. I pass four PPA ghost bikes on every training ride. I knew three of those riders personally.
I opted to ride a gravel bike predominantly for safety, knowing I could use kerbs and dirt roads
I was dumbfounded by how I had ended up on the wrong side of the invisible middle line”
to link routes where possible. Yet after 40 years of racing all kinds of bicycles and honing a strong sense of spatial awareness, I was involved in a head-on collision with a car during a race. I was lucky to survive with just a snapped fork and cracked helmet against a broken windscreen. After coming around and making peace with the equally shocked driver – who, it turned out, I knew as a fellow trail runner – I was dumbfounded by how I had ended up on the wrong side of the invisible middle line. Processing it over the following weeks, I realised that I had learned a sense of safe racing space on bikes, but very little about how to share remote dirt roads with cars.
Talking to fellow riders revealed that I’ m far from alone in worrying about this. A gravel photographer told me she“ knuips” on every downhill, particularly when small groups pass cars on sketchy roads and blind corners. A pro rider and coach described losing her best friend in a major gravel race after a taxi passing roadworks came within a metre of them, causing a panic and a fall into its path. And just a month after my collision, French gravel journalist Stéphane Goyard was struck and killed by a car while riding the Défi200 gravel race – the driver unaware there was a race in progress.
Industry colleagues at Cycling South Africa shared similar concerns, confirming that this is a global issue. You can read Greg Stedman’ s Last Word on page 154, where he explains the importance of new UCI rules for gravel races.
We hope this 150-plus-page dirty readathon – packed with deep stories, routes to ride, rad images, rider interviews and a calendar of races – inspires you to ride your grinder further and faster. And we hope our event organisers play ball, so we can enjoy the tech-inspired comfort, speed and safety of our endless gravel roads here in sunny SA.
paul @ electricink. co. za BikeRunTri. co. za Gravel Bike Mag @ gravelbike _ sa
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