My Gravel Race Nightmare

I went to the dark side this weekend and dipped my toe into my first gravel race at Escot Park in Exeter. Some big lessons were learnt after transforming my Giant TCX cyclocross bike into a gravel bike. As this included opting for slick tyres, which turned out to be a terrible mistake, as the course was super muddy with awful conditions. I tried to attack the race but with zero grip it was a struggle from start to finish.

My first attempt at a gravel race didn’t involve much gravel and was a bad day for me, but it’s always fun to mix it up!

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Here we go we’ve managed to salvage a bit of footage from my first ever gravel race and I thought this was going to be a relatively chilled start cuz I thought the spirit of gravel how wrong was I it was full gas up this climb I had done

Zero warmup I was wearing a waterproof jacket so I was literally like the mellin man in a second it wasn’t even a fitted jacket but it was absolutely full send up this first climb and I think we’ done like 480 Watts I done for the first 60

Seconds of this race from no warm-up shivering to 480 Watts I was Absolut Shell City I’m not going to lie but this race went wrong from start to finish for me yes I had the wrong tires on yes I’d pumped them up like a bloody road bike

Because I’ve got to admit I was expecting a little bit more gravel than we got but unfortunately the conditions were Grim this is about as gravel As It Gets in the UK okay but we went around this this is the this is the gravel section look it’s like a bloody stream

But anyway went around this section and boys boys in front were absolutely whacking it and I was whacking it as well in a second but I was literally like the mellin man my jacket had just filled up with air my hood was filled up everything and I felt like the least

Aerodynamic person in the world I apologize about the footage you can I do wipe it keep it as clean as I can and we skipped some bits but yeah as the boys started putting the power down I was like I’ve realized I’ve made a terrible terrible decision wearing this

Waterproof jacket but at the same time I was just too much for a wuss to get cold but this first bit as I said was absolutely full full send and then we get in to the mud bath I tell you what it was an experience being on slick

Tires pumped up I reckon they were over 30 PSI I pumped him up like the day before to ride home from work on the road and I was like bamb be on ice so this first section you can see some gaps have started to open and it was mainly

Because I was wearing an absolute parachute of a jacket where’s the leader just the leader’s gone around the corner already so he was absolutely tanking it and this bit here was Mega you come down this gravel section hit a grass field right and it was just pot luck if you

Took the right line and if you were on the right line to get any sort of grip look at the lines people take down here so some people stayed High left and this course just got completely look over to the right in a second you’ll see guys shooting across over there you’ll see

Guys left but right now look at the guy there absolutely tanking through the grass I’m doing like 500 watts there and not moving because yes lesson learn you need to have mud tires on to race gravel in the UK but then we get into this next section I’m still getting absolutely no

Grip and I’m thinking oh boy this is going to be a long long 90 minutes so it’s Was a 90minut Race I’m practically back with the front guys again here but then we were off running we were full cyc across I’ll be interested to know

What the guy that won the race in on the pink bike what tires he had on because he managed to ride this section there was absolutely zero chance I could ride that climb because I was basically just wheel spinning it was Tokyo Drift out there and it didn’t get any better but I

Think Yim was that’s in the train sharp kit running just in front of me was on mud tires so super impressive that that guy at the front that’s now leading managed to ride that section but you can see how much of a difference it makes

And yeah I got it wrong this time and I didn’t do a practice lap or anything like that and on after this first lap when I realized I was not aerodynamic in my jacket I took it off and then my body went into I thought I was going to get

Hypothermia but you can see along here I’m spending more time going sideways left and right absolute colleage I didn’t know what to do because I was going on the grass I was slipping on there then I was going on the mud I was slipping on there there was just nothing

In hindsight I should have stopped and let some pressure out my tires but you know when you’re in the midst of a race and you can see the front of the race going away and every man and his dog passing you because you’re just wheel spinning you just keep going and there’s

Something I need to learn during races just to get my head more in the game and think like a normal person but we come into this next section here and I’m going to have to skip this because it was an absolute MB off and the camera just gets completely covered but by the

Time we get down to the grassy field again I was just everyone was going past me and I couldn’t I just couldn’t I was putting down power but I couldn’t go anywhere so yeah mistakes were made mistakes were definitely made and when I next when I do another gravel race a lot

Of people are going to say this isn’t gravel but it really wasn’t the organizer just couldn’t do anything about this the rain was just Tous or Toral whatever you want to call it I don’t know the word but it hammered it down and we’ve had a super wet February

So he was unlucky because if this race was like middle of the summer it would have been a wicked wicked course nice and fast the gravel sections but this next bit was Carnage down this muddy Hill on slicks the guy at the the commiss at the start said be careful

Down there on the right is an electric fence and on the left is Barb Wire so you can see I want the grass and then I remember that’s an electric fence my life means more to me I don’t know how much voltage is going through that fence

But on slick tires your boy does not want to be either in the barb wire in the electric fence so I went to the center and that was even worse because I was like I was basically ice skating I just at the point when I went past the

Rocket on that Hill I just had to laugh and say this is lovely because it’s one of them moments where it’s either laugh or cry laugh or cry right now but the one thing was I just knew that I couldn’t give up because I always waffle

On don’t give up don’t give up always keep battling so I literally just gried it out and and got on with it proper proper Trooper unlike Dell booy you’re weak Dell boy going back to the van I wanted to go back to the van so bad but

This bit again we got so we got a little bit of road gravel section in here which was a nice bit of rest bike because the bike was flying on the gra sections and some people have mentioned go up to the one in Scotland I think it’s the grock

UCI race in all honesty I just can’t do that drive to Scotland again I’m tempted yes but I’m just going to get them backside handed to me against all the pros but we got that one bit of rest bite and then we were back into the mud here we go baby this was

This bit was just brutal look I think I’m cutting the corner there I’m not going to lie obviously there was arrows out there and you’ll see in a minute I had an absolute nightmare but yeah this first lap I think I averaged like the first hour of this race I averaged

276 watts and my normalized power was 304 so they’re actually really good numbers for me the problem was I was putting down the numbers and going nowhere and you’ll see in a second just people going past me and look I’m putting down like 300 plus Watts here

Which is is good good numbers for me and the power I’ve got and nothing was happening look I’m sliding right I’m sliding left I was trying everything to find grip but the thing is the grass was so long and wet you couldn’t even power through that and the front of the race

Has just totally totally gone now and when I did take my waterproof jacket off to try look at that slip and slide holy cow this next bit was a bit of rest bite though we’re back on gravel baby we’re back shifting it was half gravel half River Absolut Carnage but yeah this this

Course would have been Mega in the summer for like if you wanted to call it like I no mega cross I’m not sure you could call it full gravel but this bit was deceptively hard because it like dragged up dragged along and then you kicked up this really steep climb that

The camera is just not going to do it justice but the Carnage of my first lap is not over just yet because more carnag is to come if you ever thought what is your worst nightmare of a lap this is it for me and to top it off I make it even

Worse in a minute but yeah this gravel section here was where I was starting to put down some power and actually shift a bit the problem was you could see like way in the distance you can see the Riders they had put so much time into me

On the mud and looking back now in hindsight in the morning I looked at the weather and I should have just took my mountain bike um it would have been so much faster but the fact that the mountain bike’s brand new I didn’t want to destroy it in this weather this was

Proper cross conditions this is worse than any cross race I’ve done this year which is just love laughable but yeah this climb here put a real sting in the legs it was like it’s like a wall I’m not the camera just does not do it justice but I’m going to play the next

Little bit of this because this is where my race goes even worse and my head just absolutely goes we get to the top of this climbing then you pull out onto another grass section it’s a little bit faster downhill it’s not as boggy but it was absolutely Baltic there was a

Headwind along this section so you can see I’ve caught the rider in front he goes back past me in a second but he has got a puncher so we’re back out onto this grassy section starting to get some speed and I have had the nightmare of all nightmares I’ve done a complete Dell

Boy and I’ve gone the wrong way in a race I got lost in a race I dad always does this even when the course is taped out so I’m used to being at like cross races mountain bike races where the course is like fully taped out but where

This is a longer lap it was more the arrows so you had to look out for the arrows me just being an absolute numpty I decided I don’t even know I didn’t even see the arrows maybe I was looking down God knows what but we come hurtling down

This next section you can just see that absolute Grim Grim conditions you got to love it but yeah we come down here so you’re flying down this hill and at the bottom of this hill you’ll see some arrows pointing to the right I don’t know if it is all the water mud getting

In my eyes sorry about the camera here yeah maybe I just had a bit of mud in my eye or something I cannot remember but I should have turned right at that road here and gone up the hill I decide to go straight on so as if my lap can get any

Worse and then I’ve come down to this section I’m like but where’s the course gone I’ve lost the course you absolute clown George I’m riding around I’m riding around I look over my shoulder I see everyone going past me going up the hill I’m like you absolute numpty George but anyway I got

On with it cracked back on and I was just trying to chase people down this was the lb with a puncher that had already just gone past me and the worst bit was in this race my average heart rate for this race was like 148 or 150

Or something that’s like 25 30 beats lower the problem was when I took my jacket off I then like I don’t know what it was I’ve never experienced this before but as if my body just went into like shutdown mode it just could it wouldn’t work any longer I was like

Trying as hard as I could look at this climb like put out 400 plus Watts up here yeah I was trying as hard as I could but there was nothing there absolutely nothing there and I don’t know if my body just got too cold or what but it was absolute Carnage and

From this point on I just went into pure survival mode you can see here I mean like the course was completely wrecked at this point and I was just having a nightmare I jumped on this mid Devon CC Riders will and we were having a chat up

Here and to be honest it was cuz I couldn’t get my heart rate up I was so cold and he was like are you that YouTuber I was like yeah unfortunately it’s me that Chopper but watch this section here he drops me like a stone I

Tried to go down to this bottom section get caught in the mud I’m doing 600 watts all almost and mid Devon CC Rider sorry I’ve forgotten your name has just pulled away from me and I’ve had to try and get up there the difference in lines was absolutely crazy at this course like

It makes you realize how important it is just to find a line that’s relatively dry but he pulled away and then it was just absolutely game over for me I tried everything I could to just survive to be honest it was pure survival mode slip

And slide I did manage to finish it off and absolutely give it everything I had on the day I came away of sixth place I think it was so I can’t be too disappointed but hopefully next time I enter some gravel race we get some nicer more favorable conditions and maybe even

I find my legs because to be honest I thought I was going to die of cold that is a terrible excuse but thanks to the organizers for putting it on and getting it done in those conditions cuz it was absolutely Grim I hope you’ve enjoyed this sort of race gravel race that I

Attended it wasn’t my day but still sixth place and I’ll catch you in the next video