Gravel Cycling: The Complete Guide to Gravel Racing and Adventure Bikepacking

Head out for adventure on the unpaved back roads of America with Nick Legan’s complete guide to gravel grinders and bikepacking!

Gravel cycling is a glorious return to the purest roots of two-wheeled adventure. From farm roads and miners’ paths to the high passes of the Rockies and the Alps, gravel cycling and bikepacking will set you free to explore, enjoy, persevere, and discover.

Escape the traffic and ride unpaved with Nick Legan’s GRAVEL CYCLING: The Complete Guide to Gravel Racing and Adventure Bikepacking. In this ground-breaking guide, accomplished gravel cyclist Nick Legan shares everything you need to know to enjoy gravel cycling and bikepacking.

Drawing on interviews with top gravel junkies and his own hard-won knowledge from countless backcountry miles, Legan covers all the gear, bike setup, riding tips, course previews, and outfitting strategies you need to enjoy gravel cycling with confidence. He profiles 18 favorite one-day gravel races and 8 epic multi-day bikepacking adventure routes. Legan shares colorful stories of the origins of gravel cycling in North America and its rapid spread to Europe, Asia, and South America. Best of all, this full-color guide is packed with more than 350 gorgeous photographs from beautiful rides that will inspire you to seek out dirt and gravel roads near you.

Legan brings his experience as a ProTour bike mechanic to this guide, offering detailed data on bike setup, gear selection, and how to build your own dream gravel bike. He shares crucial ride-saving tips and smart ways to make sure you’ll enjoy every moment.

Over one-third of the roads in the U.S. are unpaved, which means you can enjoy the roads less travelled at the perfect pace to soak up new vistas and valleys, canyons and creeks—or push the pace over an epic day with fast friends. From gear to racing, route planning to camping—the wild ride of a lifetime awaits you in GRAVEL CYCLING.

Gravel grinders

Includes complete profiles, tips, and gear set-up for favorite gravel races and events: Almanzo, Barry-Roubaix, Crusher in the Tushar, Deerfield Dirt Road Randonnée, Dirty Kanza, Dirty Reiver, Grasshopper, Gravel Fondo, Gravel Roc, Gravel Worlds, Great Otway, Grinduro, La Gravel66, La Résistance, Land Run, Pirinexus 360, Rebecca’s Private Idaho, Trans Iowa.

Bikepacking

Offers route guides to favorite multi-day bikepacking routes: The Arizona Trail, The Colorado Trail, Denali Highway, Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Towpath, Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, Katy Trail, Oregon Outback, and Trans North California.

Nick Legan is the gear editor and road test editor for Adventure Cyclist, the official publication of the 43-year-old Adventure Cycling Association. He was formerly Technical Editor for VeloNews. He served a seven-year stint in the professional cycling mechanic ranks, working for the RadioShack ProTour team at the Tour de France and the Amgen Tour of California, and for the Garmin-Slipstream, CSC, Toyota-United, Health Net and Ofoto professional cycling teams. He is a graduate of Indiana University with honors and degrees in French and journalism.