thewashingmachinepost




..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

gravel cycling: the complete guide to gravel racing and adventure bikepacking.
nick legan. velopress softback 290pp illus. £21.95

gravel cycling - nick legan

on islay's west coast lies loch gorm, a freshwater patch of water with its western shores only a stone's throw from the atlantic ocean. overlooking its eastern side is rockside farm on which has been built, islay's most westerly distillery: kilchoman. originally constituted as a small farm distillery, recent construction work has been undertaken in order to increase its output, thanks to the ever-increasing popularity of islay's single malts. in fact, in a perfect case of the tail wagging the dog, the distillery bought out the farm not so very long ago, utilising much of the land to grow barley for their 100% islay product.

i have bored you all to death over the past few years by continually relating the need for the pot ale left over from the distilling process to be removed by means of large forty-foot articulated tankers. this applies in particular to kilchoman, for unlike all of islay's other distilleries, it is not sited at the sea-side; at no time did it ever dispose of the pot ale into a nearby stretch of water. now that production has expanded, there is more of this waste to be removed and the added weight in the tankers has begun to make itself visibly known on the singletrack road surface.

to put not too fine a point on it, the surface is disintegrating and if suitable repair is not effected soon, within a year or two, the road to the distillery will be little more than a gravel track.

gravel cycling - nick legan

the state of this road has already had me undertake the festive 500 on a specialized crux cyclocross bike, replete with its 33mm tyres in order that i might enjoy a comfort not afforded by the average and not so average road bike. assuming the song to remain the same, the sunday morning peloton will soon all have need of a velocipede capable of riding on gravel. in which case, nick legan's new title is most timeous in its appearance.

the author is currently technical editor at america's adventure cyclist magazine, where he is ideally placed to be an authority on the joys of bikepacking, a contemporary form of cycle touring that relies more upon bags designed to fit in the nooks and crannies of the bike frame, rather than relying on the racks and panniers beloved of the cycle tourists of yesteryear and of arguably more traditional thought. but as the book bears witness, there is no need to undertake multi-day offroad rides in order to appreciate the pleasantries offered by gravel cycling.

that this is definably an american publication is never in doubt, if only because gravel riding on this side of the pond can scarcely compare with the 2013 (US) Department of Transportation report which noted "...nearly 1.4 million miles of the country's 4 million miles of public roads are unpaved." many of these north american unpaved roads are indeed topped with gravel and even apparently maintained by by the state. as legan mentions in his introduction "...we get to experience them anew after additional gravel is laid, or grading work is completed." it seems eminently possible that north america pays greater attention to the quality of its gravel roads than britain lavishes on tarmac.

gravel cycling - nick legan

unfortunately from a british perspective, the north american bias is inescapable, graphically underlined by the opening pages featuring a map of america overlaid with adventure bikepacking routes. chapter three features a year's overview of one-day domestic events, interspersed with "...advice from the organizers as well as past winners. What bike to to bring, tires of choice, gearing recommendations and tips on race nutrition..." though not all the included events are of a competitive nature, the comprehensive nature of these pages ought to leave no-one in any doubt as to what to expect from this sub-genre of cycling activity.

there follows a further chapter on one-day international events, though here the word gravel appears to have been substituted by "Mixed-surface riding..." presumably on the basis that most off-road tracks in europe feature less gravel and more dirt. or, if looking specifically at the uk, mud. the international chapter features rides in australia, france, britain (dirty reiver), spain and germany, to name but a few. multi-day events are also covered midst interviews with experienced riders, though the book was apparently published too early to include this year's hotchillee gravel event in the atlas mountains, but omits 2017's london-brighton gravel ride.

all the included chapters are superbly illustrated with a copious number of colour photographs along with a few drawn illustrations and i confess that, while i am rather attracted to the realm of velocipedinal gravel aboard a brightly coloured cyclocross bike, i could spend many a happy hour just gazing at the pictures.

gravel cycling - nick legan

of course, the alternative to riding competitively, or even under the conditions of a gravellious sportive, is to festoon an appropriate bicycle with bike packs and head off into the sunset. bikepacking is allegedly one of cycling's growth areas, but legan advises "Because of this additional heft, lower gears, better brakes and wider tyres can be useful bike modifications for multiday rides.". this may be the most pertinent chapter in the book, if organised events are not your thing, offering as it does, practical advice on handlebar choice, bike pack choice, useful and relevant tips and tricks as well as assistance for those intent on camping and an interview with eric parsons of revelate designs purveyor of sturdy frame-fit bags to ease the toil of luggage transportation.

the final chapter concerns the prospect of building "your gravel dream machine." of all the book's contents, this seems the most superfluous; given the frequency with which bike models are chopped and changed, those on show are possibly already out of print so to speak.

those domiciled in north america with a hankering for adventures over the 'roads less travelled' (as daniel wakefield pasley would have it), nick legan's 'gravel cycling' would be a prudent addition to the cycling bookshelf. on this side of the atlantic, its attraction is lessened somewhat, unless you plan on imitating rapha's late lamented continental by visiting across the water with bike in tow.

nick legan's 'gravel cycling' is available in the uk from cordee books, or in the usa direct from velopress

saturday 27 january 2018

twmp ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................