9 Essential Tips for Riding your First Gravel Race (avoid my mistakes!)

I took part in my first UCI level gravel event and learnt a few lessons along the way, and also spoke to some pro gravel riders about what advice, tips and wisdom they can share with people doing their first ever gravel race or event.

Content
00:00 My mistakes and lessons
3:41 Pro advice to riding first gravel event

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Hello viewers. So I’ve just survived my first ever UCI gravel event just about it was a close call at times but I got around in mostly one piece and I definitely learned a few lessons and made some mistakes along the way which I’ll share in today’s video. And also we’re here for some actual pros and more experienced gravel cyclists about the tips and wisdom they can share with us all today which is especially important if you are doing your first ever gravel race event or sportive. Better to learn from other people’s mistakes than make them yourself. So before we hear from the pros, let me share my experience from riding the GRIC in Scotland at the weekend and the mistakes I made and the tips I would share with you based on my experience. The first one is don’t start too fast. I made the mistake of getting caught up in the race for the first corner, the first climb, and going way harder than I had planned. I’m a I’m a sucker for getting carried away at the start of a race. And it was made especially tough because we weren’t able to warm up before the race. So going from standill to full gas in a matter of seconds was very tough on my old body. So I would recommend a warm up before the race or event if you can which wasn’t available at the gratic because we had to line up in our age pens about 45 minutes before the start. So we stood around for ages with cold legs. So that made it really tough. So given that cold start, I would should have gone for a slightly more relaxed start. But I know the importance of getting a good start, not getting held up in traffic in the sort of pinch points through town and into the first climb. And my aim was to get a good start and then provide some sliding space on the first climb, which I definitely did slide. I slid a long way back on that first climb as my my body was screaming at me, my heart rate through the roof, and my glutes were shouting at me very loudly because of what I was asking from them from a cold start. So unless you’re racing to win, which I wasn’t, and you are just racing to finish, maybe don’t be so caught up in the start line pandemonium and ride to your own heart rate. Right to power if you have a power meter on your bike and try and pace yourself better than I did on the first climb. I have a big mistake, the biggest one I regret is going higher on the tire pressures than I would normally do. I was freaked out by people punchering on the recon and my own experience of the recon and realizing the gravel in Scotland in this area of Scotland is way tougher and way harder than anywhere I experienced in my life. So to minimize the risk of punching even running tubeless because even with no inner tube to pinch with tubeless you can still pinch the tire sidewalls between a rock and a rim and it’s also damaging the rims to be conscious about as well. So I went higher on the tire pressures to minimize the risk of a failure. But in doing so, I minimized the amount the tire can deform on a rough ground and minimize how much suspension I effectively had. And my arms just couldn’t cope with the relentless pounding over 4 hours of racing. So I should have stuck to my guns. as stuck to low pressures I know work for me and relied on my faith in my equipment choices on the day and not be deterred by what’s happening around me on the the day before the race. Those then are the mistakes I made and the tips I take away from my first ever UCI gravel race. But now, let’s hear from some actual gravel pros who did much better in a race than I did and some much more experienced and seasoned gravel riders about the tips and wisdom they can share with us in today’s video. I would definitely say make sure to take care of your equipment in this race especially cuz it it’s pretty rocky. It’s pretty chunky out there and a lot of people’s races ended last year like mine last year ended just with like a a big hit and I just was using wheels that weren’t strong enough. Um so you broke your wheels. I broke my front wheel. Okay. So, I kind of had to limp home the last 15k or so and my race is done. Like I just stopped thinking I had a flat and I stopped and sealant was coming through the rim. Uh so, so that was a pretty that was pretty bad. But yeah, I would say yeah, have your uh equipment dialed and when in doubt or there’s a a classic saying in Canada at least like it’s better to be looking at it than looking for it. So, it’s better to have in this race like a bit wider tires, having foam inserts, a little bit lower pressure just because yesterday if you’re like with road you’re everyone’s nickeling and dimming like oh I got I have to have these aeros socks I have to have this helmet’s faster than this helmet where gravel it’s like well we’re going to average 30 odd tomorrow and it’s half up half down and like the aerodynamics on a downhill are less important and uphill you’re going 20k an hour and it’s it’s better just to have maybe a couple more watts here and there but have like a really a bike you can trust I think is really key. And then for nutrition, it’s just keep getting it in. I’m going to use the uh Castelli has like a a hydro pack for the back. So last year there was bottles being jettisoned all over the course on some of the rockier downhills. So I just have the hydro bag. So I’m like, “Okay, got the foam inserts. I got the wide tires. My all the liquid I need is on my back. So if I lose a bottle, it’s like, okay, I have enough water, the bare minimum on my back to get me through the whole race.” Um especially because Grow it’s very nature conscious and they don’t want people driving all over in the national park here. Um it’s it’s good to just make sure you have the stuff you need at the start. Have a bike you can trust and not like not risk it cuz it’s a it’s a long lot a long way to come up here to Scotland and run too narrow of tires or road pedals or something where it’s like oh that broke my race is done. My day is done. So that would be my advice is play it safe. for food and for equipment. We’re here at the Grow. Yes. What one bit of advice would you give to somebody doing their first gravel event, whether racing or just riding for fun? Is there one bit of advice that you would offer them or mistakes to avoid? Uh bike setup or nutrition or casing? What’s the thing? Can I give two? You can give two. Yeah, of course. A lot of salt on board cuz you especially like it’s I mean it’s probably about 50° right now. You will lose so much salt. get salt tablets in you. I think that’s a thing that a lot of people just don’t do correctly anyway when they’re hydrating is like you need salt as well as water to be able to hydrate. So take on salt. Uh and my second one would be put the biggest tires you can on your bike cuz like in terms of comfort makes a massive difference. A third one use a tire pressure calculator. Stra do one, Wolftooth do one. They are really good at giving you an idea of what kind of pressures you should be running and it’ll probably come out a lot lower than you think, especially if you’re coming from more of a road background. Uh, but trust the process. Take a little bit out every time and the confidence it will give you is unbelievable. I I I mean I I did the the Flanders Sport what a month or so ago and I ran 32s on a Argon 18 Krypton which is their like all road bike and I ran 30 PSI. Wow. Okay, that’s low. Yeah, I had I had a great time. And on this I’m running 20. Please put your hands together to 54. I mean I just went that feels about right. That’ll do. I did check it. Yeah, about two days ago. But lower better generally. Lower is generally scared going low. Yeah, exactly. I think I think a lot of people are quite nervous about that, but it will really change your experience a lot, I think. And it will give you a lot more confidence, especially especially descending some of the rough stuff. It really does change that. Hi, I’m Toby Perry and I’m from Ashford, Kent. And what bit of advice would you give to somebody doing gravel for the first time? I’d say just be confident and trust your bike because it can do a lot more than you think. That simple. Yeah. Yeah. do that. Everyone gets really nervous and twitchy and when you tense up is when you crash and have problems. So, as long as you’re calm, you end up being fine. What give you like bike setup equipment choices, gearing, tires? Uh, slightly wider tires is always just nice for extra bit of grip and that and just gives extra bit of comfort. So, yeah, it fits like biggest tires you can fit on your bike normally and see what see what you enjoy. just checking everything’s tight and the amount of people I see with like just their shoe cleat that come loose after two hours of gravel and I have I’ve had it happen to me where my cleat and I’ve lost the cleat bolt. So just checking everything’s at the right torque, the right settings and that’s how I can only say to people prepare your bike. Like just don’t just think, oh yeah, it’s tires and everything else. It’s it’s everything. My biggest tip would be improving your bike handling skills. And I think this is the problem that most riders have when they’re doing their first gravel event. It’s not like road where there’s a you can just pick any line. You need to look through the corners, pick your lines very carefully. Uh basically hits the apex and then exit the corners. And yeah, always looking ahead of you if there’s any obstacles coming up such as large rocks. You don’t want to be hitting those. So yeah, just improving your confidence on the bike as much as possible. I think that would be just a general really good tip that a lot of people can improve from. So there we are. Hopefully some useful tips and advice if you are doing your first gravel event. And if you are, let us know what event you’re doing by dropping a comment down below. And if you are watching this and you have done some gravel events and you feel there’s some advice and tips that were missed in today’s video, then feel free to drop a comment down below. But that is all for today. I’ll see you again very soon. Thank you so much for watching.