The 2022 TransRockies Gravel Royale

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The 2022 TransRockies Gravel Royale

TransRockies has become an institution in the stage racing world: they have been around since the beginning. In late August, the inaugural Gravel Royale was their first foray into the world of gravel racing. The edition of the truly off-tarmac event makes sense, as the main critique of TransRockies in years past has been riders complaining about too many gravel roads. Sounds like they’ve just been honing the course for a real gravel throw down! After the four stages, Rob Britton of Victoria, BA and Rach McBride of Vancouver, BC took the top step in the Elite Men’s and Women’s categories, respectively. What follows is Barry Wicks‘ rider journal from each of the four days which gives a stream of consciousness account, followed by his interviews with other competitors. Each interview maintained the same format and consisted of just three questions designed to skip the small talk: What is your favorite color? What are you reading right now? What is the meaning of life? Enjoy the ride!

Radavist x Komoot: The Women’s Montañas Vacías Bikepacking Challenge

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Radavist x Komoot: The Women’s Montañas Vacías Bikepacking Challenge

“I think the big highlight for me was just the energy—the energy shared any time I passed someone, or they passed me—I’d stop and think I was alone, and all of a sudden, I’d turn a corner and see someone I knew. The energy we left echoed through those mountains.”

This past April, in the quiet Spanish town of Teruel, a few hours east of Madrid, 56 riders set out by bike to take on the Komoot Women’s Montañas Vacías Bikepacking Challenge, an eight-day exploration of one of the least-populated regions in Europe. The 57th rider, Josie Fouts, followed along in the media van and recaps the challenge below.

Note: This article is part of a sponsored partnership with Komoot. We’ll always disclose when content is sponsored to ensure our journalistic integrity.

Shimano Showcases Ten Custom Bikes With Stunning Silver GRX Limited

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Shimano Showcases Ten Custom Bikes With Stunning Silver GRX Limited

At this year’s Unbound, Shimano will be unveiling its new GRX Limited group, which offers silver components for drop bar and flat bar GRX kits. It’s been a while since a big brand offered up a brand new, high-end group in silver, so as you might have guessed, we’re stoked to share this news with you.

To commemorate this special moment, Shimano pinged ten framebuilders to showcase this new kit, so let’s look at each of the builders’ creations below…

Sink Into the Earth: Lael Wilcox Rides the 827 Mile Arizona Trail

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Sink Into the Earth: Lael Wilcox Rides the 827 Mile Arizona Trail

On April 12, 2022, Lael Wilcox set out to ride the 827-mile Arizona Trail faster than anyone had before. She completed her ride in 9 days, 8 hours, and 23 minutes on April 21. This is her story.

Note: Lael’s time is not recognized by the AZT Race administration which prohibits media coverage. The current official records: Men’s – Nate Ginzton – 9:10:44; Women’s – Chase Edwards – 10:18:59

Senderos of the Spanish Pyrenees: Basque Country Singletrack

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Senderos of the Spanish Pyrenees: Basque Country Singletrack

Spain is known for its people and their energy. Dinners at 10:00 p.m. are not unheard of, if not mandatory, in order to fuel the even later “madrugada”—a word used to describe that amorphous and intoxicating time spent in the streets after midnight and before the sunrise with hundreds of other souls savoring every last scrap of their waking hours. When I visited Spain twenty years ago I was a sponge for this lifestyle and spent six months in Madrid soaking up the culture, the clubs, and the calimocho. But this trip would open my eyes to an entirely different Spain, one more suited to my forty-year-old self.

The Custom Gravel Beauties of the 2021 Chris King Open House: Baum, Bixxis, Legor, Prova, Victoire

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The Custom Gravel Beauties of the 2021 Chris King Open House: Baum, Bixxis, Legor, Prova, Victoire

For the past five years, we’ve hosted in-depth documentation of the annual Chris King Open House and for the second year in a row, this showcase has gone virtual. Yet, don’t fret, because we have a beautiful showcase of some incredibly talented, international builders for you today. With a catalog spanning the globe, ranging from Australia to Italy, Spain, and France, we’re bringing gravel offerings from Baum, Bixxis, Legor, Prova, and Victoire to the web for you to enjoy from the comfort of your home or office. These bikes feature an extremely limited run of grey and turquoise Chris King bits which won’t be available to the public but have informed the paint designs for each of these noble steeds.

I hope you’re ready for some delicious gravel bikes! Let’s jump right in…

A Preview of the Kromvojoj Event: Road Touring in Catalonia – Stronger than Vinegar

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A Preview of the Kromvojoj Event: Road Touring in Catalonia – Stronger than Vinegar

For me, riding a bike has always meant three things; experience, adventure, and escape. From childhood, it’s given me the opportunity to experience new, it’s given me the freedom to explore, to embark on adventures near and far, and it’s also given me a much-needed escape from my battles with mental health. Cycling has also introduced me to a community of amazing people and this for me is perhaps the greatest benefit of riding because they never fail to enrich the three reasons I love the bike.

Julien’s 2-11 Cycles MR4 Stainless Steel Gravel Bike

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Julien’s 2-11 Cycles MR4 Stainless Steel Gravel Bike

As I drive home to Barcelona from a photoshoot in the South of Spain, I dream about the next three days. They will be calm and tranquil while I worked from home. Then, my phone buzzes with a message from Mike, a friend and owner of a bed and breakfast in the Pyrenees Mountains in France. He needs help with a last-minute photoshoot further north in the Basque Country. By last minute, he means tomorrow. No time for a rest. I live for photoshoots. It’s my job. My passion. The lure of home will have to wait, as the car stays packed and continues northward toward France.

A few hours later I am in the French Basque Country, in the town of Saint Jean de la Luz. Mike has brought me to his friend, Julien’s house. It is like the rest of the neighborhood, an etxea, in typical Basque construction with white walls crossed by solid timber beams, covered with a clay terracotta roofs. And there in this iconic French village sits the subject for the day. It’s a fresh, stainless steel 2-11 Cycles. So fresh that it’s barely been out on the road yet.

Dancing on Fascism’s Grave: Beyond Bike Racing in Euskadi 

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Dancing on Fascism’s Grave: Beyond Bike Racing in Euskadi 

More than a year later, I’m still captivated by the memory, the scene, the moment.

It was a hot autumn day, one of the last of the year before the seasonal chill poured from the Bay of Biscay into the Spanish Basque Country. A young man stepped into the middle of the road. He wore a flapping outfit of white with a red handkerchief and belt. It was the kind of attire that flails down the narrow streets of Basque cities during the annual running of the bulls in Northern Spain.

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Badlands 2020: EF Gone Racing with Lachlan Morton

The Badlands is a 700km non-stop unsupported gravel race through the Sierra Nevada of southern Spain. This route traverses some of Europe’s highest mountains and its only true desert. Only the fittest and capable athletes complete this event and is the perfect challenge for EF Gone Racing’s Lachlan Morton.

After the last-minute cancellation of the Cape Epic mountain bike race in March, the endlessly adventurous Australian was eager for another off-road odyssey. All we had to do was try and keep up…

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The Carpathian Traverse Trailer

In 2019 Gaëlle and her Bombtrack headed out for a staggering loop around Europe, covering all it’s countries within. From the heat of southern Spain to the frozen coast of Scandinavia, while traversing the Carpathians somewhere in the middle – home to brown bears and wolves…