Groad Trip: Gravel’s culture shift on display at USAC nats this weekend
I was keen to experience firsthand how USAC organized the inaugural national championships, even if my personal result was a DNF after a mass pileup
After 10 years of racing professionally on the road, Pete Stetina turned off the pavement and built a solo career with gravel. In 2021, he won more gravel races than anyone else. For 2022, he’s traveling to events all over the United States and other parts of the world. Come along on the Groad Trip.
I was keen to experience firsthand how USAC organized the inaugural national championships, even if my personal result was a DNF after a mass pileup
'SBT GRVL has shown that a top tier event where the result is extremely important for a rider like myself can still include all the other ingredients that make gravel special.'
Some recent personal and professional changes had me in good mental and physical condition for Saturday's showdown with Swenson.
Bike racing and family time at the Cascade Gravel Grinder in Bend, Oregon.
Pete Stetina and Heather Jackson head to Tennessee to explore new-to-them gravel and reinvigorate the concept of an FKT.
My own disappointing result was tempered by Heather Jackson's incredible finish.
This discipline isn't what it used to be, nor what I expected it to be. I got lost, but now I am found.
The finale to a season full of challenges on and off the bike ended with everyone together at a brewery that felt like "a big house party, with friends left, right, center"
BWR Kansas provided dynamic and dramatic end of season racing, and I achieved a season-long goal
Slip sliding into seventh place on a gamble of a bike choice
Nothing disappointed about the super challenging and super inviting legendary gravel race.
After mid-race frustration and post-race social media bickering, 'this old dog got taught a new trick.'
It’s been a challenging period, ever since the start of the gravel season when Stetina fractured a wrist in a crash during Sea Otter in April.
"A frustrating but contented day," now I'm on infant watch until the birth of my children.
After a frustrating start to the season, I won on a beautifully difficult east coast course.
After two years of false starts, Stetina's Paydirt debuted on Saturday, May 21 under perfectly sunny skies.
Some 1,500 of us came together in Hico, Texas for a community event that was shaped by tragedy.
Why I decided to race, how I prepared for the 137-mile gravel race, and how it went.
I invested a lot of time and effort into improving my MTB skills. And then, alas, I went down just minutes into the first Grand Prix race.
Eight days, 91,000 feet of climbing, and 650 miles of gravel in what is basically a credit-card bikepacking race. Ooph!
I’d heard tall tales of the Rock Cobbler for years. It did not disappoint.
My sponsors have been announced, projects are in planning, and the race calendar is set. Now the uphill slog to fitness begins.
60 riders were selected to race for $250,000. How is this going to shake out?
I struggled sometimes with the travel and social media, but 2021 was the best year of my career.
Believe the hype: Riding in Arkansas is rad.
Small town, low profile, huge impact — Barry Roubaix brings together more than 3,000 riders for a great time in Michigan.
I couldn't win on the climb — uh-oh! — but I was able to find a way in the technical singletrack.
Singletrack, gravel roads, an uphill gravel TT (oh yeah!), hot springs, and an inclusive atmosphere? I was all in on Rebecca's Private Idaho.
I’m not sure if inaugural LeadBoat title is the badass or dumbass award, but I am very proud of the title and of each one of the 100 or so other racers who did it with me.
How to race two big events back-to-back, and what I plan to do for Leadville and SBT GRVL.
My view of exactly how this hard event played out, from the pre-race pressure until the post-race beers.
The Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder was such a great event, for so many reasons.
Cramping eyelids, brutal headwinds, unforgiving rocks, and racing with honor. Unbound Gravel delivered!
The stoke is growing. While connecting online has been great, many of us are looking forward to coming together in person for the Super Bowl of gravel in Emporia.
Four days of camaraderie and head-smashing competition with Colin Strickland and Ian Boswell on California's Lost Coast.
And some new projects in my ever-changing world of gravel privateer.
An unlikely story of turning gravel pro during a pandemic — and believing in oneself to make that dream happen.
Words of wisdom from Shimano's Nick Legan, and race context from me.
Happy Holidays, and here's to a bright and gravelicious 2021.
I'd be lying if I said everything was better in gravel. But here's how my new reality was on the whole.
I look back at the hours, TSS, race days, and total kilometers of my 2020 and 2019 seasons.
My Belgian Waffle Ride finish wasn't what I was hoping for, but I was happy to have raced hard and honorably like so many others there.
As someone who has raced road worlds and now races gravel, I believe there should be a gravel worlds. Here's why and here's how it could happen.
Pinning on numbers at the Lake City Alpine 50 and Fistful of Dirt felt great. I can't wait for Belgian Waffle Ride.
I don’t want to jinx myself, but I'm excited to race again in the next few weeks.
With help from Levi Leipheimer, TAMBA, and good planning, I set an FKT on the 60-mile Rose to Toads.
My summer objectives that will take equal priority alongside the races that will hopefully get the green light.
I dove deep down the rabbit hole of van conversion research, and let me tell you, it’s a slippery slope.
How I keep the stoke fire burning, and how you can, too.
Before the lockdown, I took my new bike to Arizona. Here's the lowdown on the parts I'm using.
Ride alone, pack your own snacks, know thy spigots, and other helpful rules for those who can still get out.
Beer-can shims, peanut-butter mud, and mud-puddle bike washes. Racing in Oklahoma was wild.
I'm headed to The Mid South, hoping to get the line first for the famous Bobby Wintle hug. Oh, and here are my coronavirus-avoidance tips as a long-time bike racer...
After 10 years of training for top-level road racing, I'm now charting a new course with my coach Scott Nydam.
Inside the DIY life of gravel pro and WorldTour refugee Pete Stetina.
Let's make something clear: This isn't a retirement; I am training as hard as ever, and I am stoked to race.
We discuss Peter Stetina's decision to race gravel instead of WorldTour road; plus, writer Patrick Redford talks about covering cycling for Deadspin.
The boom in gravel racing makes it a strong alternative to a career in the WorldTour thanks to increased sponsor interest and rapid expansion in events.
WorldTour pro Peter Stetina will walk away from WorldTour road racing to launch a career in gravel racing and ultra-endurance mountain biking. "This is not a retirement," Stetina says.