The Wasatch All Road is the toughest gravel race you've never heard of

Published September 20, 2023 03:00PM

The Wasatch Range, just east of Heber, Utah, is the home of the Wasatch All Road, a multi-distance race hosted by Ventum Bicycles. The brainchild of celebrated Utah cyclist Jeff Louder, a retired professional and winner of the Tour of Utah in 2008, it’s not a race to take casually. It features the infamous “Wasatch Wall,” an 11-mile technical climb with 4,000 feet of elevation gain, topping out at over 10,000 feet in elevation.

Both the 90-mile and 62-mile distances challenge riders up the wall, and by the time you reach the top, you’re only 16 miles into the race. The 90-mile race features just over 10,000 feet of climbing, while the shorter 62-mile course punches out 6,500 feet of elevation gain. This event is a race designed by a rider known for their climbing ability, so you better bring yours.

For many riders, just finishing is a challenge, and it’s a genuinely epic feat for those few who can win or ride at the front.

True to its name, the All Road is a race where, at some point, what bike you’re riding will be wrong. Mountain bikes will excel on the rocky climbs and descents. Gravel bikes are the choice for the wide gravel roads, and ridgeline doubletracks, and pavement miles across the valley.

How The Wasatch All Road played out

The men’s pro field of the 90-mile “Full Yeti” broke up early, with a strong group of four cresting the summit first, with eventual winner Truman Glasgow of Imaginary Collective in the lead, followed by Stefano Barberi of Orbea/Kask, then Kyle Trudeau, of GoodLife/Ventum/Orange Seal, and Tanner Visnick of Rockhorn Racing. After the brutish Wasatch Wall, this lead group stayed together through the newly added Soapstone loop. But it was the final climb up Mill Hollow where the final separation occurred, as one rider, then another, came off the pace. Ultimately, the race came down to a time trial across the Heber Valley, with Glasgow holding off a charging Trudeau by just a minute and a half. Barberi would hold on to third third over Visnick in fourth.

2023 Wasatch All Road pro men results

Melisa Rollins of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24 won the women pro field handily, creating a gap of twenty minutes by the end of the race over Chelsea Bolton, riding for Ventum/Eliel/KAV/IRC. She, too, had a nearly twenty-minute advantage over third-place Emma Grant riding for Ventum.

2023 Wasatch All Road pro women

The Wasatch All Road is a race that challenges even the most experienced rider and, for the more mortals among us, is a challenge that will stay with you for some time. Even the “mid” distance is still considered a massive effort, with over a thousand feet per ten miles that commonly defines a “climbing” route. Add in the elevation and exposure typical on the Wasatch Range’s open landscape, and you’re in for a race that will make the more common flat-land events look tame.