2023 MINNESOTA, WISCONSIN, AND THE U.P. GRAVEL BIKE RACES

Gravel Race Distances

Wisconsin, Minnesota, and The U.P. are incredible places to get lost racing gravel and building community. From the deep northwoods to rolling farm country, there is a massive variety of adventurous tracks to ride. Nearly every corner of our three states are have memorable gravel races to introduce you to beautiful terrain. Some are probably already full as you read this and others maintain a small event vibe and keep things a little quieter.

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100+ Miles

Spending more than 5 hours on a single ride can be a really beautiful adventure. By nature, gravel roads are low traffic, low speed, and often take you the pretties off-grid places to ride and century rides are going to take you WAY off the beaten path. If you've never tackled one before (and even if you have), you'll want a training plan to get your body up to a level of fitness where you can grind all on gravel and have enough power to get you to the finish line.

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50 Miles

50 miles can be a real sweet spot. You're still going to spend several hours on your bike but it's a race distance that's considerably less grueling to train for and a level of fitness that's also more manageable to maintain. Whether 50 miles is your personal mountain to climb or you're working toward a bigger 100 mile race, this is a really fun distance to ride and there's a large community of riders who spend their race days at this distance.

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25 Miles

At a "quarter century", this is a fun challenge and is a great way to get a taste of gravel racing or bring friends who are new to riding gravel.

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Gravel Racing Gear

Everyone's bike and gear setup is going to be different, but you'll want to make sure to think through some of these important pieces of gear. Having the right gear will help you keep rolling and have the energy you need to finish.

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Gravel Gear Checklist

• A bike with 38mm+ width is ideal. I prefer even wider as I ride 47mm. 

• Multiple water bottles

• Energy such as bars, gels, fruit, or candy

• Spare tubes or tire plug and sealant if you're tubeless

• Chain lube

• Pump

• Tire levers

• Multi-tool

• Navigation unit (phone or GPS)

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How to Carry Your Gear

Having a few small bags on your bike will help you carry what you need. Ideally, your bags are easily accessible while riding and can be opened and closed with one hand.

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Stem Bag

My all time favorite bag. I put all my snacks in my stem bag which is extremely easy to access while riding. If I'm out long enough, I'll even put two stem bags on. One to carry my snacks, and another for wallet, phone, and more snacks.

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Top Tube Bag

These have a similar carrying capacity to a stem bag but is opened with a zipper and won't get by your knees when you're standing to climb.

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Handlebar Bag

These are usually a little bigger than stem bags and top tube bags which means it could be only bag you need. It's a great place to ditch your long sleeve shirt after you get too warm.

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Half Frame Bag

I keep a half frame bag on my bike at all times. It's where I keep my multitool, pump, chain grease, zip ties, and Voile straps.