Is gravel racing really an 'old man’s sport'?
Recently a GCN YouTube show debated why gravel racing seems to be an 'old man’s (and woman’s) sport', with so few young riders. Have they got a point?
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There’s no denying that the number of younger riders in gravel races is low, though when you take a broader look, the overall rider numbers are often huge. The majority of those 5000 or so riders on the start grid for a major race like Unbound are not there to race as such – they’re along for the personal challenge and experience, which somewhat goes against the old school bike racing grain, where things are all about performance, results, and - yes - elitism.
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Thus, when you do the maths, the number of juniors seems low, though it’s surely not a bad thing for the sport and society in general to also have more numbers of 'older' riders too.
2025 Cannondale SuperX gravel bike, by off-road.cc
If you do compare this to a road or XCO race then the ratio may seem grossly out of proportion, though it’s unlikely that the majority of average Unbound riders would even consider lining up for a road race with just 60 or so riders - at the most, and I guess this is what makes gravel different to other branches of the sport, it’s more about participation for the majority, hence bigger overall entry numbers.
There is an overall decline in younger riders racing throughout cycling, with cyclocross perhaps being the one that still manages to hold its own there, so comparatively speaking, it isn’t just a gravel issue.
Why is it happening?
First up, gravel racing as a sport does have that old, gritty endurance whiff about it. Plus, a junior road race may be just 40-50 miles long, a youth race much less, and yet a 100-mile off-road gravel race is considered short. That may not quite hit the mass appeal button for many young riders.
2024 festka spectre gravel hero.jpg, by Liam Mercer
Having shorter course options for younger riders in with the overall mix wouldn’t be a bad thing, as Unbound did, and US Cycling also have a small but evolving junior national gravel series. This would be great to see in the UK too, yet that could somewhat be leading towards the “officialdom” of national cycling federations, which comes with a whole different flavour to the major independent gravel races, which could dim its rebellious shine to some, both old and young.
The cost of progress
'They’ve' been saying for 30 years now that cycling is the new golf, and in some ways, they do have a point, perhaps more so in financial terms than anything else. There’s no getting away from the fact that cycling (and life in general) has become very expensive, especially if you intend to race and travel around.
2024 gravel burn 4.jpg, by Liam Mercer
This financial implication is a nasty hurdle for many, not least for younger riders and their families, who may not have a particularly affluent background. Many will argue that you can still race in Aldi kit and on a second-hand 1990s MTB, while eating grass. Sure, that’s true – but, as a young working-class kid trying to score a lift to a race, turning out on an old clunker, scraping together the steep entry fee, then finding yourself up against others on the latest and greatest, for many, that’s a non-starter.
Can this financial playing field be levelled? In the society we now live in, that would be tough to get across the line. As much as this may raise a few highbrow eyebrows, perhaps implementing certain equipment-level retractions for younger riders would be a solid starting point, as would organisers committing a proportion of the entry fees from other categories to help keep entry costs lower for younger riders.
The other elephants in the corners
When it comes to riders leaving the sport in their late teens, there’s nothing new there – it’s an age-old trend that comes with reaching a certain age, when new distractions and attractions appear. This is also, to a fair extent, why there are so many “born again MAMILs“ in cycling now – rediscovering what they left behind all of those years ago, and that scenario will never change.
2024 gravel burn 2.jpg, by Liam Mercer
Times have changed dramatically over the last 20 years, and simply going out and ripping around the local woods with your mates on old clunkers is now largely a virtual thing played out on iPads in dark rooms, which is a growing societal issue with no solution in sight.
Talking of which, it’s time this old gravel relic escapes the evil keyboard to go scare himself stupid riding all out on skinny tyres with no suspension – just like it’s 1995 again, which, at the end of the day is what it’s all about for many of us – fun and escapism, not the race.
As to why so much of the media and bike industry is so race polarised has always bemused me, especially given that only a fraction of bikes sold ever get raced – but that one’s for another time.
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