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Calling all gravelistas


Gerard Deeley
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Looking to explore options for including gravel bike specific events on the club calendar.  This is a new event being built up from nothing so everything is on the table at this stage, no detail too small, no idea too crazy.  What would get your interest so you will ride it?  Mountain bikes and e-bikes will also be welcome in this, indeed any bike at all.

Post up here or message me.

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I'd be interested - Although the Venn Diagram of people in the club that like TTing and also like gravel riding and who would like the two to be combined might just be a circle with me in it :D

 

https://www.strava.com/routes/2926218731512168650

Thats the Corlic hill loop i mentioned last night - it's pretty short but a loop so could do laps to make up a longer distance. Although i wouldnt fancy doing the steep bit too many times! One benefit it it's all off road and closed to cars and wide. IMO about as fast on a mountain bike as it would be on a gravel bike.

https://www.strava.com/routes/2926220499691371722

This is Devol past Port Glasgow Golf Course and up to the substation. It's a loop again, some of it on road (all left turns) and has a gate. Would be slightly faster on a gravel bike but mtb would be faster on the descent part.

https://www.strava.com/routes/2926222368858057332

For a traditional TT distance then here is 10 mile around Loch Thom. Gravel bike would be faster than a mtb due to more road

That's just 3 options that are all fairly local.  There are lots of other local options  (like to the mine at Muirshiel and back down again) but a lot of them would be out and back rather than loops and some (like around the Neilston pad or up to Loch Humphrey) can be busy with walkers and we might be a bit of a nuisance!

Alternatively could go a bit further afield - Whitelee, Dunoon, or Aberfoyle etc and then do something that is longer. Not sure what the appetite would be for that but i'd be up for that too.

 

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The idea is having it as an off road sort of TT  (what format this takes i'm sure Gerard is open to ideas) in the hope that it will encourage more members to take part in club confined events (would replace the 25s on the Barrhead road which often get cancelled because of lack of interest). Also as a recognition that off road riding is a popular part of the club at the moment.

 

 

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McTavish has it bang on here.  Gravel bikes are popular and any route suitable for them could also be done on a mountain bike.  I will have to defer to others on a suitable course and the format.  We really either try something here or revert back to the existing calendar and it’s declining participation.  For what it is worth I enjoy a TT very much and I accept that I need to cast my own net wider to continue doing them as much as I have done since joining the club.

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So half a dozen ride Gravel, half a dozen ride TTS so your cancelling two or more hard TTS to increase participation, however there is no guarantee that the gravel riders would participate in a gravel race, also surly the gravel event would have to be longer in duration than our standard TTS , so how long 3/4 hours , would that then not lead itself to be done on a Saturday or Sunday . I have an MTB but don’t think I would be overly excited about riding some wide fire roads on the MTB , probably take me too long . 

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If half a dozen were riding the 25s there wouldn't be any need to change things and they would still be going ahead as normal but unfortunately its been years since there has been that sort of interest. Whether a gravel event will be more popular remains to be seen but it's worth a try

 

 

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3 hours ago, thejanullrichdietplan said:

If half a dozen were riding the 25s there wouldn't be any need to change things and they would still be going ahead as normal but unfortunately its been years since there has been that sort of interest. Whether a gravel event will be more popular remains to be seen but it's worth a try

 

 

Jan 

Totally agree but don’t think it fits in with a Tuesday night, think it fits in with a Saturday or a Sunday and a longer ride, when I ran the 25 as an CTT event we had 30 plus riders , my point is mainly about the club members not being that interested in racing so moving the goals and racing on a rough surface rather than a road will that encourage people to race . I don’t think so but you won’t know until you try it . 

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Taking on board the comments and views of other club members the idea of a competitive gravel ride does not appeal.  However one or two summer’s evening club gravel rides with a beer stop somewhere to finish may be more fitting.  As I need to get version 2.0 of the diary sorted it would be great to hear what others think about this so dates can be allocated.

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