Gravel racing is so damn hard

Throughout the week of SBT GRVL, Trek Driftless riders and staff gradually built an imposing wall of canned seltzer on the mantel above the fireplace of their rental condo. It measured 28 cans wide and seven cans high at its two tallest points, but it had no buttressing in the back. A stiff breeze from an open window could have sent it toppling. And all around this fragile edifice, they did the work of bike racing. 

From Monday to Sunday, the team discussed recon, tactics, equipment choices, and meal prep. They checked the weather and coordinated training rides. They talked idly about plans after the race and after the season, like the places they wanted to visit, camp, and ride. Building the wall was its own kind of work, too, a way to pass the time and tamp down the persistent low hum of anxiety before Sunday’s race. No matter what happened, good or bad, they were all in for a world of hurt.

Torbjorn “Toby” André Røed highlighted the day, sprinting to second place in the men’s race behind only Keegan Swenson, a rider on a legendary run of success. The result was one of the best of Røed’s career, along with sprint victories at Big Sugar in 2023 and Mid South last March. A great day for the 27-year-old Norwegian, for sure, but one that hardly felt “good.” After he collapsed into a lounge chair past the finish line, he recounted a day spent battling stomach problems, heat, and hanging on for dear life in an elite group of riders.

“It was a rough day. I tried to eat and drink, and it just didn’t sit well. I had to not drink or eat too much, so I just sipped here and there and tried to get through it,” Røed said. “At the end, I just really wanted to get to the finish [laughs].”

Driftless riders trained every morning they were in Steamboat Springs, scoping out different portions of the course on their rides, and working with mechanics Tom Price and James Sullivan afterwards to make tire, wheel, and drivetrain adjustments to account for what they experienced.

Dialing in a strong bike setup is one of the most pivotal and most maddening aspects of gravel racing. Because of the length and range of obstacles at each course — not to mention the changing weather conditions that can occur mid-race in mountain climates — the “perfect” race day rig is a myth. Riders knowingly make sacrifices to some aspects of their race in hopes of making greater gains in others.

For example, Paige Onweller opted for 50mm tires at SBT GRVL, following a trend of ever-increasing tire sizes within the pro gravel fields. She had a strong day in a chaotic race. A rutty descent in the back half of the course took out one of the pre-race women’s favorites, Lauren De Crescenzo, with a broken collarbone. Onweller stayed upright and scored a fifth place finish, passing sixth-place Sarah Lange on the technical Cow Creek descent late in the race to secure her spot on the podium.

But Onweller still had a gnawing feeling of “what if” after the finish. She wondered if lighter, narrower tires might have helped her on the brand new climbing sections on this year’s revamped course.

“I feel like the equipment choices are always hard for these events,” Onweller said. “It was very much a mental game just to stay positive, and to know that what’s on my bike, I gotta run. And that’s part of gravel. You’re always balancing your equipment. And in the end, my bigger tire did allow me to attack on Cow Creek.”

On race day, Price and Sullivan were the first staff members up at 4 a.m. They drove to the start line in the Trek van, and laid down warm-up rollers for the riders near the start line. SBT GRVL is a mass start, which means that amateurs and pros line up together. By staking out space, Price and Sullivan made sure that the Driftless crew would be able to start near the front of the pack, alongside their fellow pros.

The riders woke up around 4:30 a.m., almost two hours before their 6:15 start, so that they could consume and settle a proper breakfast before the action began. At 5:15, they rode three miles to the line. By 5:45 a.m., they were all together, warming up, chatting with their compatriots, taking in last minute gels, listening to music through their headphones, or performing some other small ritual, after a week of small rituals, in preparation for the moment when they would finally be set free upon the course.

Most riders arrived at the line in the morning darkness. The sun had nearly fully risen when the starting countdown began. Ten seconds, and then the riders would bring their work to light. 

Unfortunately for Russell Finsterwald and Haley Hunter Smith, they were unable to give their best. Finsterwald’s race ended with a crash at high speed. The sequence of events is hazy, but the end result isn’t: A flat tire, busted rear wheel, and a sore shoulder.   

“A bit of a rough day for me at Steamboat. Flatted and crashed out on the first really big descent,” Finsterwald said. “I just try to block it out as quickly as possible [laughs]. I’ve been racing long enough that I know the bad days come, and those are just what make the good days even more special. 

“There’s a race in Nebraska next week [Gravel Worlds], and I was on the fence about doing it. And having a bad race this weekend makes me want to do that one more.”

Smith made it past the halfway point of the race before making the wise decision to bow out. She has been battling breathing issues all year, even while recording strong finishes at races like Leadville (10th), Unbound (4th), Sea Otter (4th), and Mid South (4th). SBT’s high intensity start never let Smith find her rhythm. 

“My day was going pretty well until I had a breathing episode, and I couldn’t get it under control,” Smith said. “I was real bummed about it, but Paige and Toby had really good days. It’s just sad, but it’s a bike race, and I had to prioritize my well being.”

A race week is a delicate thing, impressive as it stands, but easily felled. To be a bike racer, you need to commit wholeheartedly to your preparation, even as your own fragility looms over you. You have to manufacture confidence and find distractions to drown out any doubt. Smith knew that her breathing troubles might crop up again in Steamboat Springs, but she gave herself no option other than to race full force. 

“Once you have a little bit of time to cool down and your systems come off Red Alert, you always ask yourself, ‘Did I quit?’ That’s hard,” Smith said. “But I do know that I always give 100 percent of what I have available to me. That’s one thing that I know is a core piece of my identity.”

Toying with one’s own perilous limits isn’t recommended in most professions, but it’s de rigueur in gravel racing. Some people even call it “fun.“

But that doesn’t mean that the bad days don’t hurt like hell. And when you fly that close to the point of catastrophic failure so often, you develop a special perspective. There’s no choice but to face racing’s judgment. And to move forward, there’s no choice but to learn from it. 

“That’s part of why we do this. You have to reckon with those things,” Smith said. “And I know that I didn’t quit, and I know that I made the right decision, but those are uncomfortable emotions and experiences that you have to deal with. 

“It’s cliche, but they do give you a little more fire for next time.”