{"id":1860573,"date":"2026-04-01T13:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1860573"},"modified":"2026-04-01T13:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:06:13","slug":"the-path-less-taken-east-coast-gravel-racing-is-falling-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1860573","title":{"rendered":"The Path Less Taken: East Coast Gravel Racing Is Falling Behind"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/East-Coast-Gravel-Story-Edit.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Logan Jones-Wilkins<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated April 1, 2026 02:57PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Geography has long been the secret sauce of cycling, omnipresent in the background; always changing, always defining the rides we all go on.<\/p>\n

Physical geography is primarily what comes to mind, with the mountains, plains, forests, and valleys of the world shaping the maps and profiles of rides, no matter where you may ride. Gravel riding, especially, has been shaped by these tangible geographic changes because it often strays further off the beaten path and deeper into the wild areas where humans have less influence.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve even defined that here at Velo when we considered the geography of Kansas and how its nuances have shaped the different courses of Unbound.<\/p>\n

Yet, in American gravel, that\u2019s not the only geography that matters. Here in the states, political geography, or human geography, has come to play an outsized role in the way the discipline has thrived. The East coast is significantly behind the rest of the country.<\/p>\n

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There are no stops on the Life Time Grand Prix, no BWR-branded races after the North Carolina stop has been taken off the docket, and no supersized independent events like Mid South or SBT GRVL. There are races, but not any that bring folks from across the country or overseas to dig into.<\/p>\n

For East coast gravel enthusiasts, this is not an existential problem. There are plenty of great small and medium sized races. Yet, it does make them wonder why they can\u2019t seem to strike the same growth. To get some answers to why, we spoke to a few key promoters who would have some insight as to why.<\/p>\n

The East has all the ingredients for a great gravel racing<\/h2>\n
(Photo: unPAved of the Susquehanna)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe have tons of state forest lands, a lot of public lands,\u201d Dave Pryor, who is the founder and co-promoter of UnPAved of the Susquehanna River Valley, told Velo <\/i>of the oh-so important physical geography of Pennsylvania that makes it such a great place to ride gravel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some 25,000 miles of gravel and dirt roads within public and private lands, including the Allegheny National Forest. Pennsylvania is very rural compared to the rest of the East Coast. There\u2019s a section of Pennsylvania called the Wilds. It\u2019s basically the Northwest Quadrant of Pennsylvania. It is the acreage of Massachusetts, with 4% of Pennsylvania\u2019s population living in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dave Pryor has been using those wild lands to build one of the East-Coast\u2019s top gravel races for the last eight years. He knows more than most the power of the Pennsylvania backwoods and back roads.<\/p>\n

As gravel cycling has grown, so too has the understanding that Pennsylvania has some of the best terrain around to dig into. With this new discipline unlocked, the cycling culture in the state has thrived because of it.<\/p>\n

\"The
(Photo: unPAved of the Susquehanna)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cPennsylvania is unique,\u201d Pryor said. \u201cWe have great pockets of cycling culture around Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Lancaster, and the Lehigh Valley.\u2029There are people riding bikes all around who love to figure out the nooks and crannies of bike rides. There\u2019s always an exploratory vibe in Pennsylvania\u2019s cycling communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Yet, for racing, the human geography of the East Coast is harder to grasp \u2013\u00a0especially the disconnect between the size of the populations and the size of the gravel event.\u00a0Pryor has done enough to make his event a success. Every October, a few hundred folks gather in the small college town of Lewisburg to take on a beautiful course filled with gravel climbs and rich fall foliage. But there is a sense that there should be something bigger on the East Coast in terms of gravel.<\/p>\n

In 2019, UnPAved was no less successful than the likes of Mid South and Gravel Worlds. Yet since then, the professionalization of those races has dovetailed. Mid South and Gravel Worlds have gone global, and UnPAved has stayed local.<\/p>\n

Human geography, and the relative struggle for big gravel events to gain traction on the East Coast, may hold the answers.<\/p>\n

The challenge of what \u2018local racing\u2019 means<\/h2>\n
\"Appalachian
(Photo: Bruce Buckley )<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOne of the questions that I\u2019ve asked myself is why we don\u2019t have several thousand rider events in the East?\u201d Gordon Wadsworth asked, rhetorically.<\/p>\n

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The Virginian, known in some circles as \u201cQuadsworth\u201d for his, well, quads, has been asking the same question. Wadsworth is the co-race promoter and founder of the Appalachian Journey. The Appalachian Journey will run this weekend in Floyd County, Virginia, a rugged rural area that sits atop a high plateau in the southeastern corner of the state. The race featured in our seven hidden gems of US gravel list, and is known for its Cape-Epic style duo format.<\/p>\n

That format is a passion point for Wadsworth since he cut his teeth racing duo mountain bike events, in addition to other endurance tests. In terms of gravel, he was early to the discipline, finishing on the of Unbound 200 in the mid 2010s. Through all of this, he has seen each side of the coin and still wonders why things haven\u2019t clicked in the East in the same way they have elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a couple of 500 rider events. We may have some that sniff around a thousand, but we don\u2019t have the big marquee gravel event. Events in the East are not lower quality, that\u2019s for sure. Some of them are incredibly high quality, but they don\u2019t get the same level of attention as others do, unless it\u2019s manhandled. I don\u2019t mean that with disrespect.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s one thing if it\u2019s a Life Time Big Sugar that\u2019s got all the money in the marketing dropped in place. \u2029And even then, sometimes it doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Appalachian
(Photo: Bruce Buckley )<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Really, the crux of the challenge for East Coast gravel races revolves around the economic changes in gravel racing, especially when it comes to attracting top talent. In just five years, the calendar has filled up, and the money required for marketing has skyrocketed. The money in, however, is far from predictable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s starting to become very expensive to pull one of those marquee events off,\u201d Dave Pryor said. \u201cThe marquee events require top talent, which means you\u2019ve got to pay prize money, you\u2019ve got to pay travel expenses for them, and you\u2019ve got to put in a big marketing push. And the sponsorships aren\u2019t there right now to create one of those from scratch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe space is there, the courses are there, the support of state forestry and the governor\u2019s office is there, but it\u2019d be really expensive now to do it from nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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UnPaved as a race isn\u2019t that old, but it is night and day compared to the environment gravel exists in now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we did Unpaved in 2018, we wanted it to be from the get-go, a top-tier gravel event in the U.S. That was our challenge to ourselves. We knew we could build it from a grassroots perspective, but as event promoters, we didn\u2019t want to. We wanted to try to make a big one from the get-go. It worked well, and we had tourism support to make that happen, but it\u2019d be 10 times more expensive to do that now than it was in 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2018People will drive 20 hours to Oklahoma, but not three hours to Floyd county\u2019<\/h2>\n
(Photo: Bruce Buckley )<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All this being said, what success means in gravel race promotion is relative. Biggness is not the only measure of success. Both Pryor and Wadsworth, along with the likes of the Vermont Overland, the Southeast Gravel Series, and other successful long-standing events, have carved out businesses that reliably produce great, sustainable races every year.<\/p>\n

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Regardless of the lack of a big marquee event, there is much to be proud of for these East Coast promoters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that every gravel event that I go to as a participant, I see an Appalachian Journey t-shirt, which tells me we are as big as I want us to be in many ways,\u201d Wadsworth said. \u201cWe hit our limit of about 550 riders every year. That is a very intentional limit to preserve the smallish nature of things. It\u2019s an effort not overwhelm our one-stoplight county.\u201d<\/p>\n

That being said, no one would blame Wadsworth for striving for more.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s something about events in the East. People will drive all the way to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for Mid South. \u2029And it\u2019s a great race. There\u2019s every reason to do that. But they won\u2019t get in their car and drive three and a half hours from Richmond, Virginia, to do an event because it\u2019s too far. I understand we can hold both these things in unison, but it\u2019s a bit frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the gravel races of the East truck on, modest, engaging, and almost certainly worthy of more attention. Where that attention will come from, however, is still far from clear. Geography, as it seems, is a tricky thing to work around.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Logan Jones-Wilkins<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated April 1, 2026 02:57PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/East-Coast-Gravel-Story-Edit.jpg”] Logan Jones-Wilkins Updated April 1, 2026 02:57PM Geography has long been the secret sauce of cycling, omnipresent in the background; always changing, always defining the rides we all go on. Physical geography is primarily what comes to mind, with the mountains, plains, forests, and valleys of the world shaping the maps and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1860573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1860573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1860573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1860573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1860573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}