The Gralloch, held in Gatehouse of Fleet, Scotland, is the UK’s contribution to the UCI Gravel World series, and arguably one of the biggest. This year, some 2,800 riders turned up to race on the sunbaked gravel of Dumfries and Galloway, on a 111 km course that delivered speed and punctures in equal measure.
Before we dive into the bikes and tech, a little bit about how the UCI Gravel World Championships work and why the Gravel World Series are an integral part of that: the Worlds is an opportunity for pros to secure yet another rainbow jersey, but in the spirit of gravel, if you’re an amateur with the legs and the logistics, you can qualify too. The Gravel World Championships are open to everyone, kind of; you just have to earn your spot through one of over 30 qualifying races in the UCI Gravel World Series. The Gralloch, now running for the third time, is one of those, and part of its attractiveness is the fact that you get to race on the same course as the pros, regardless of your racing experience, as long as you're between 19 and 74 years old.
Despite being fast and – from afar – seemingly tame, the gravel in this region is notorious for punctures. In fact, if you survived without a tyre issue here, you could already be classed as a winner.
The flinty type of rocks that seem to be native to this area are sharp, and if we go by the categorisation of Silca's tyre pressure calculator, most of it is firmly in the 'class 4' category. This year, there was a mere one puddle on the course, which I confirmed when riding the inaugural sportive version of the event a day after the UCI race.
The bikes of Gralloch
With literally a couple thousand riders and their bikes packed into the small village, the Gralloch was certainly a deep dive into gravel tech, from pro gravel race rigs to enthusiast builds. And despite the wide range of riders racing to qualify for the UCI Gravel World Championships, there were a few common takeaways from the setups.
First, it seemed that while wider tyres – or even MTB tyres – are generally becoming a thing in gravel, the majority is still rolling on 45 mm tubeless tyres, preferably with a tyre liner. Swapping the front tyre to a gripper tread pattern was common, as was running slightly higher pressures for the rough course.
Second, there is no such thing as the perfect gravel setup. Bikes at this UCI race ranged from hardtail mountain bikes to hybrids, to top-spec gravel bikes with road pedals, featuring AliExpress components, Classified hubs and unreleased wheels and forks.
And beyond the tech, events like Gralloch continue to showcase how taking part in a gravel race isn't about having the latest and flashiest stuff, and even if we've featured some nice pro bikes here, there were hundreds of picture-worthy everyday riders' bikes to admire too. Read on for all that and more.
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