I think that will be the one for me, not sure if I’ve overlooked anything else.
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There’s a fun one in Pueblo: Grassroots Gravel. The Rad down in Trinidad, Rexy in Fruita, Salida 76, and more.
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More details on the route change: “She has eliminated two-way bike traffic on all courses and will use more rural roads to reduce traffic and resident conflicts.”
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Good article. Thanks.
The new courses are better than the old ones IMO. More gravel. More climbing per mile. More backcountry feel.
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Very little talk about this. Who’s going/what race?
I’ll be doing Black, first time to SBT (like Unbound, I got in last year but had to defer because I got hit by a car). In the spirit of being a weight weenie with the altitude and climbing, I’m actually thinking about running road pedals (approx 6.2 oz saving)…acknowledging that the course changed, is there a compelling reason to run SPD? My road shoes are also more comfortable than my gravel shoes.
Based on the course in 2022, I’d say there is zero issue running road pedals / shoes……but it will depend on the new course. I’d be pretty surprised though if you couldn’t do road pedals.
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I’ve ridden the new Blue course and it’s all rideable. No hike a bike anywhere. There’s a section of the new Black course that I haven’t ridden, that apparently is pretty steep and chunky. But I’d be surprised if it’s not all rideable - although you might have to pedal for a bit at 40-50 rpm. I’m hoping to ride it at some point over the next few weeks.
I’m not riding SBT this year as I’ll be out of the country that weekend.
The new courses are great. Better than previous. More gravel. More backcountry feel.
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I’ve ran road shoes and pedals at the two SBTs I’ve done and every single gravel race. The latest, KowTown Gravel had a super fun, fast, but sketch descent through faint rancher ‘road’ with dips, a lot of chunk. and loose, and for the most part was fine. Unclipping to put a fun down as I drift a corner with road setup has begun pretty normal. Probably easier/quicker/less disaster with mtb pedals/shoes but it’s what I got.
I listened to an episode of the Marginal Gains podcast recently and Amy Charity said they don’t want SBT GRVL to be intimidating and want it to be accessible to all, so this tracks.
If I was doing SBT this year, I would probably be planning on running my road pedals / shoes.
Thanks for the responses, all.
I think the big limiter for me would be if I expected to do a significant amount of hike-a-bike. For example, I didn’t walk at all during Unbound this year and definitely could’ve run road shoes, but 2023 would’ve been a different story. SBT would seem to be a different story without the variability.
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For sure. I do have mtb shoes and pedals if the conditions calls for it - super muddy or a lot of hike bike. I typically bring the pedals and shoes just in case to swap last minute pending conditions. The reason I mostly run road is because of my power meter pedals haha Once I get power on my gravel bike via crank or pedals I’d probably run mtb setup.
Obviously gravel / conditions dependent, but I am moving the other way…after years of only running MTB pedals, I started riding my Shimano road pedals and shoes last year. Lighter, shoes are more comfortable and larger platform.
Swapped back over to SPD in advance of Unbound just to be sure, but then went immediately back to my road pedals. Most fo our gravel is Category 1 type stuff…kitty litter over hard pack so there is very little need for a MTB setup.
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Longtime lurker to this forum, I finally joined to comment on this thread. I have lived in Steamboat since 2012.
You will be fine with road pedals on the new course this year. The long course this year is much harder than the previous long course even though it is 17 miles shorter. The new course has about 1,500 ft more elevation gain.
The climb you hit at about 30ish miles into the route is the hardest climb in Routt County. It’s not that long, about 20-25 minutes of effort for gravel normies. It has pitches that are so steep that in my lowest gear, 32-36, I’m almost going as hard as I can to maintain forward momentum. Grinding up with a lower cadence reduces the effort a bit. Two good lines exist going up this thing, and it’s loose and impacted by cattle at points in the year. I almost guarantee there will be walking up the steeper bits due to bottleneck effect and people stopping. The descent off the back is not your usual smooth SBT gravel either. After you get over this section, most of the course is the SBT gravel you are used too.
Sitting in the group will still be possible for a lot of the day, but this new course is tough and is going to catch some people off guard.
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Oof, I think I know the climb. First the race was too easy and basically a road race. Which I liked. Now, it’s 10k’ over 125 miles. Woof.
I agree with Dave above though, I do think this course is better and a great challenge. It’s more remote and you get to see different parts of the area than previously. The views into the Flat Tops are great and you’re kind of out there.
There is still plenty of shallow grade climbing, and the last 20-25 miles is the same as before. The addition of that tough climb, a few punchy others and a lot of gain in the back half is what I think makes it much harder.
To really answer your question about hike a bike, any walking on that tough climb would be only a few minutes
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I’ve done SBT GRVL a few times now. Did Unbound for the first time this year. I love the town of Steamboat the best but Emporia has a much more welcome vibe to it. Never felt like people didn’t want us there, in Emporia. Even way out in the middle of nowhere gravel roads, people were handing out cool drinks or had signs in their yard supporting the riders.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to do Steamboat every year but this dissatisfaction from the local ranchers is a bit discouraging.
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I hear you, and you’re not wrong.
It’s somewhat complicated though. The rural and city residents have some legitimate complaints, but I think a lot of it is related to tourism in general, changes in the town over the years, and then add in the general angst against cyclists on roads on top of it.
There is some event or festival going on almost every weekend of the summer in Steamboat + winter tourism. All of these things plus the general tourism the area receives creates crowding, traffic, and delays almost year round. People get annoyed with it all when they feel it becomes too much. With SBT being massive, and putting 1,000s of riders on the road for the entire week. It can be especially triggering. Steamboat doesn’t have just one event per year like Emporia. It started with the ranchers mostly being annoyed but I think its being roped in with the sentiment mentioned above. To a lot of residents, the SBT participate is just another tourist riding down the middle of Lincoln Ave when they’re trying to get home from work
The town has not given permits to events that have had multi year runs for the same reasons, heck even the 4th of July parade causes a bunch of angst. You can debate if the complaints are legitimate or not till the cows come home, I’m just sharing my opinion on why the event is seeing some pushback from residents.
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Emporia has lots of events…it is a a big disc golf destination (hosts the biggest disc golf tournament in the world apparently) and there are other bike events / races throughout the year (obviously none as big as Unbound, but still decent sized).
Right there with @Zirkel24. I live in Breck. The animosity towards bike events that aren’t the Breck Epic or Firecracker is exhausting. I see it both ways. We have so many events/festivals, town is always packed, shelves empty at the store etc.
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