What's It Like To Ride A Pro Gravel Race? | Manon's First Race On Gravel!

[Music] i'm in a forest in suffolk in the east of england to take part in my first ever gravel race i thought i'd ease myself into this gravel racing nice and slowly but turns out this gravel race is also the british national gravel championships yeah i'm suffering it is brutal oh they should do a gravel race i said [Music] so yes my first ever gravel race ever since my bike packing adventure with jenny where i first got my taste for gravel riding i have been totally hooked on the weekend instead of going out on the road bike i would reach for my gravel bike and head out on an adventure it almost felt like a totally new sport all of a sudden i didn't care about my average speed or what i was doing it was all about heading out on an adventure and having a great time plus gravel riding is pretty cool you can almost say i've well and truly fallen in love with gravel riding i've even chosen to be here at this race instead of being on a beach holiday this is the first ever british gravel championships and it's been held here in bury saint edmonds it's a flat course with only 395 metres of climbing and i'll be completing three laps at the course totaling 69 kilometers so i've come down to the race a day early for a number of reasons one to sign on to get a feel for the atmosphere here and most importantly to ride the course so i know it for the race tomorrow [Music] to just come out onto the course for my pre-race ride on a little recce of the course to see what i'm faced with tomorrow but um a few kilometers in now i've had a gravel track to begin with and now just hit this nice grassy section nothing too complicated or technical too far but it looks like we're heading into the woods over there next so uh yeah better get going see the rest of the course [Music] [Music] now you might be wondering what bike i'm going to be racing on well the very kind people at kona hood i was entering my first ever gravel race and they sent me this this is the kona rove ltd yes that is a steel frame with carbon forks and i have to say there's something very visually pleasing about a steel frame and also very durable for this gravel riding so we've got shimano grx group set we've got 48 at 31 on the front and on the back we've got an 11 34 cassette so we've got 650 b wheels a little bit smaller than what you're probably familiar with these are going to be great nice and nimble for the terrain that i'll be riding on some also some chunky tires on and slick can be very fast for this nice dry terrain we've also got some flared handlebars that i haven't actually tried before but i'm very excited to be riding it should be nice and comfortable and mechanical shifting and one of my favorite details about this bike is actually the inside of the forks here which you probably can't see from far away but yeah nice little detail and this is going to be the perfect machine for my first gravel race [Music] so not only did kona send me one bike they sent me two bikes how lucky am i because apparently because i'm doing a gravel race and it's the national championships i'm gonna need a spare bike and they've sent me this this is the kona libre it's an aluminium frame and i am a big fan of the paintwork on this frame it's like a sparkly chromey blue or green i'm not sure i'll let you decide but big fan of that there are a few differences on this bike so we've got a one by setup we've got a 40 tooth chain ring on the front a sram and then an 11 42 on the back so we've also got some different wheels we've got 700 c wheels with slightly narrower tires and we've also got some cable actuated hydraulic disc brakes on this bike and alex tells me that basically means that there's a cable that runs from the lever down to the calipers and then it's hydraulic from there just hit my first bit of sand section on the course bit of everything in this course i haven't done uh much sand dried in before so we'll see how that goes i mean it's not the biggest section of sound and being a bit dramatic but hopefully i think there is more sound on the course so looking forward to hitting that seeing how i do soon if i fall off or not hopefully not fingers crossed but yeah enjoying the course so far um yeah it's just so fun and different i do love it turns out riding in sand is quite tricky no control over where you're going well i don't anyway [Music] so just on the final section of the course now and a few kilometers to go until i get back to the hq then i think i'm gonna chill out get a bit of food and then get ready for the glow ride i'm very excited to take you guys on this glow ride um never been on a glow ride before very much looking forward [Music] so we're just getting ready for our glow ride i've never done a glow ride before but basically it's a night ride we all ride around in a group with glow sticks on our bikes and if you see over there there's a start so yeah something a little bit different looking forward to it [Applause] [Music] all right are they down the glow ride i'm enjoying the glow ride yeah is this your first glow ride it is my first official glow ride yeah it's my first one the first one too but quite enjoying it oh man they're great it's something different where have you put your glow sticks on the wheels on the handlebars on the saddle so going everywhere so completed the go ride and that was very fun very much enjoyed it i'm glad i stick around for that so now it's time to wrap up get to bed really start tomorrow so obviously we got down to the race the day before did a course recce and i was absolutely fine chilled it was really nice atmosphere and everybody was you know just having a drink having some food and it was really nice and relaxed and then went back to the hotel and had a shower had a good night's sleep then got there the next day i was absolutely fine and then about 30 minutes before the race started the pre-raised nerves came and it brought back memories of you know back in my racing days and had butterflies in my belly and adrenaline but i was motivated and i was really keen to get a good start in the race because i knew that was going to be crucial [Music] [Applause] so i've got 15 minutes before i need to be on the start line and um i'd be lying if i said i wasn't nervous the nerves are finally starting to kick in they've only i've been fine up till now and it's now when everybody's trying to get ready going to the start line and i'm doing my pre-race jail i haven't done this in a long time so it's all starting to feel real again i'm bringing all the race memories back [Music] i'm about to start my very first gravel race i'm excited but i'd be lying to say if i wasn't just a little bit nervous so we're getting fired and the race was off and i actually for once got a really good start which i was very happy with i think i managed to get a third wheel going into the first narrow section and i was buzzing i was like this is great just you know try and keep up with them but my word they go off so fast in gravel races i was not expecting that i kind of thought to myself oh you know it'll ease up in 10 minutes or so but um yeah probably about half an hour later they still hadn't eased up and they were just getting quicker and i kind of i was staying with them and i was like man you you can't sustain this pace for 70 kilometers i was like you should probably you know ride your own race pace it well but i just i just wouldn't let myself let the wheel go so i just tried to stay with him for as long as possible but i think i stayed with him for about three quarters of a lap and then we hit this quite technical sandy section and i'm not the best at riding in sand but and i find it really hard to pedal over bumpy surfaces um and they just properly attacked this technical section and i was like bye bye [Applause] [Music] they were they were they were off i think maybe four or five riders kind of went up ahead and then it was me and i found myself with another girl and we kind of worked together uh for a bit but yeah those leaders they were off but me and this other girl we worked quite well together kind of took it in turns um which is quite nice to you know be riding with someone and not kind of on your own it's always easier okay so on to my second lap probably about halfway around now the group has just split and then because we were working quite well together we started to catch some of the other girls then we had a bit of a bigger group i think there was three of us going into the second lap which was quite nice and it was actually one of my old teammates amy roberts and it was just really nice to ride with it and in that second lap things started to calm down i was like right recover a little bit make sure you drink enough and get some gels in you because you're gonna need it later on in this race but yeah that second lap it was kind of like biting a little bit i was really paying for that fast start this is actually my old teammate amy roberts this is actually your first bravo race as well yes how you finding it it is brutal [Music] so everybody raced together but we started staggered so first off was the 19 to 35 men then a few few minutes later it was my age group and then we had lots of different other groups behind us in the older ages so it's actually really nice that everybody kind of raced together like i my group kind of caught some of the men but then some of the men that side behind us caught us and it's just really nice to see kind of how everybody else was riding what speeds they were riding at and some of the men were coming past so fast and it was really interesting to see what kind of lines they were taking on the course as well and very happy i did get a few cheers from the riders at wembas that was really nice and motivating [Music] hold on [Music] huh it was actually on the third lap that i had a few little dramas as well the third and final lap of course um we were on a nice flat gravel section and i was like i'll quickly whip my gopro out and do some filming of the racing um and as i got out my pocket it fell out my hand yeah that was not ideal i was like i need that gopro i need that footage to show everybody this race so they're not even going to believe me that i raced so i had to stop and it was on quite a fast section stop turn around go pick it up like the battery had fallen out the gopro was over there so that was one drama but got back on sprinted back to the girl i was riding with so i had a wheel to follow but got back and definitely didn't have that energy to sprint so i got back and um did the rest of the course fine everything was absolutely agony it was like painful to pedal on the bumps and all the technical sections but i got there nearly at the end went under the one kilometer ago banner and the last kilometer was pretty much all sand uh so i was riding in the sand um and um had a bit of a get down i don't know how it happened i was just riding i hit a big bit of loose sand and my bike just went from underneath me and yeah just face down in the sand it was not very pleasant i was like one kilometer to go i was so close to the finish and i had a crash it was all going so well until then but yeah it got back on half my body covered in sand road to the finish crossed the line um and how did i slide down [Music] i don't think i'll get down in the sun i kind of had to sit down and i was covered in like dust and sand and i just couldn't wait to take my gloves off as well because my hands weren't agony had little blisters on them as well from all the vibrations to the bars and the bumps but it's so nice to see everybody at the finish as well everybody was like oh that you know that was so hard and everybody loved it so much you could tell everybody gave a hundred percent because everybody was knackered at the finish [Music] [Applause] [Music] we actually do a gravel race i said i mean not gonna lie that was harder than i thought [Music] well done actually smashing it you guys [Music] i'm so glad i bit the bullet and did my first ever gravel race it was absolutely amazing and another big shout out to kona for supplying me with two beautiful bikes for the race um would i recommend doing a gravel race to anyone absolutely 100 do it and it was so good to see so many people on loads of different bikes like we had mountain bikes cycle cross bikes gravel bikes there was every sort of bike there taking part and you know people of all abilities you had you know olympic champions there and people that were like me just entering their first gravel race for fun and it's also great just the atmosphere at the race as well like all the families there camping like just the setup as well it's just a totally different feel to like a road race or race or a time trial [Music] so that's my first gravel race done and dusted what's my next one going to be i don't know you tell me [Music] you

Channel: Global Cycling Network

Views: 264,569

Rating: 4.974937 out of 5

Keywords: gravel, off-road, off road, race, champs, championships, national, dirt, aero, fast, pro, professional, endurance, epic, climb, climbing, climber, effort, hard, tricky, difficult, snad, GCN, Global Cycling Network, Sports, Cycling, Bike, Bikes, Bicycle (Product Category), Road Bike, Cyclist, Road Bicycle, GCN Cycling, velo, manon, lloyd, sec-feature, Ղ, n1, ඡ, ක, ཋ, ሙ, ସ, ホ, ߲‎, ዩ, ළ, Բ, Ժ, Լ, Խ, Ձ, ፕ12, ጎ, 4464

Id: FS72Cd6-vdw

Length: 17min 59sec (1079 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 25 2021