Last week (while dealing with
Madison's declining health) we had two of our athletes in town for a 2.5 day private training camp. The focus of the camp was improving off-road bike handling skills (gravel biking). We also included swim/run training in the camp as our athletes have several triathlons on their schedule. But with their first ever ultra-distance gravel event (150-mile) happening late summer, it was important that our athletes improve their gravel skills to that they can both feel more comfortable, safe and confident when training off-road.
Although the weather was not in our favor with predicted rain all day on Thurs and Friday (the two full days of their camp), we got incredibly lucky in that we were able to drive to two different locations and entirely miss the rain. Even better, on Thursday we were able to ride in a short sleeve jersey and shorts!
For Zach and Ashley's camp (husband and wife from Nebraska) we completed the following over 2.5 days:
Thursday: 9-10am: technique focused swim
1:30-4:30pm: Gravel ride near Sumter National Forest, SC
10 min run off the bike
Friday: 7-8:30am: Master swim, group workout
1-3:30pm: Gravel ride near Zirconia, NC
30 min run off the bike
Saturday: 9-10:20am: Run workout w/ hill intervals
Riding gravel is all the rage these days. Some perks include the wider tires, disc brakes, a change in scenery, being in nature, being able to ride on the road and off the road and feeling much more adventurous on two wheels. More so, many people are switching from road to gravel biking due to far fewer cars/trucks. Although the chances of experiencing motorized traffic is very small on gravel roads, there's a greater risk of crashing due to the uneven surface under your wheels. And not all "gravel" is created equal - neither is tire pressure. There are silky smooth dirt roads and then there are washboard-like roads which will have you bouncing uncomfortably on and off your saddle. Add in climbing and descending, tight turns on loose rocks, deep sand and peanut-butter clay, you may find that gravel riding is much harder than it looks on social media. Oh and don't forget to add in riding over puddles and water crossings. You never know what you will get when riding off road. Additionally, risk of heat stress, fatigue and bonking is also greater than on the road due to the lack of "convenient" stops to refill bottles and to restock edible fuel.
The truth is that riding a gravel bike is very different than riding on the road. On gravel, you can't just sit on your bike and pedal. Weight distribution is key on technical terrain, especially with turning, braking and descending. With gravel biking, there is a lot of weight shifting that
should occur efficiently and smoothly. Whereas you may be able to get away being stiff and rigid on a road bike, safe gravel riding requires you to stay relaxed. For your bike to float freely under you, you need to become the suspension of the bike to absorb the bumps under you. When you watch experienced gravel riders, you'll notice that they are rarely sitting - there's a lot of standing, hovering, moving the hands into different positions on the handlebars/drops and weight shifting. The key is making small adjustments to stay stable and in control. When it comes to turning, this is very different than riding on the road. On a paved road, what you need to do to turn is the complete opposite of riding on gravel.
Similar to the road, you need to go easy on the brakes. When you squeeze on your brakes, your wheel is not free to roll. Depending on how quick and tightly you squeeze your brakes - and the position of your body - there's risk of washing out, losing control or flying over your handlebars. Learning how to brake on and off road (and the braking power of your brakes) is one of the easiest skills to learn to improve your safety.
When you are riding off road, it's easy to get distracted and enjoy the scenery around you. While this is easy to do on smooth surfaces, I find that gravel biking requires a lot more mental energy as I am constantly scanning 10+ feet ahead of me to find the best line. And when I'm descending, there's a lot of adjustment to find the right body position to safely navigate down a hill, especially if there are deep piles of gravel or sticky sand/clay.
Lastly, unlike on the road where you can comfortable ride with your preferred cadence, the key to off road biking is to keep up the speed, which often means pedaling with a higher cadence or a bigger gear - both can feel uncomfortable if you haven't trained yourself to ride with variable cadences (high cadence can cause great cardio stress and low cadence can cause great muscular stress). There are some scenarios where you will feel like you are pedaling and going no where. Learning to pedal at a high cadence, with great power, while also keeping your grip loose and letting the bike autocorrect is a skill that takes time to master.
Ashley and Zach did an excellent job at their gravel riding camp (no falls!). They tackled all types of conditions from crushed gravel and light sand to thick peanut-butter-mud and washboards. Karel did a great job on helping with water crossing do's and don'ts as well as climbing and descending skills. The biggest takeaway was not to tense up and to just sit on the saddle but to relax, move the body and let the bike flow under you.
If you are interested in improving your gravel or road riding skills, we have a few slots left for our April bike skills/climbing camp. You can
find out more here. Every Trimarni camp is guaranteed to include farm animals.
