It’s a sight to behold – hundreds of small lights dancing their way up and over the first of many small hills along the 150 miles that make up the official unofficial Gravel Worlds. Dawn has yet to hit the rolling hills of Nebraska, but the race for the off-beat rainbow jersey and metal sword that awaits the winners of one of America’s oldest gravel races is well on its way.
While the UCI has muddled the waters recently with the creation of its own sanctioned Gravel World Championship as the genre of cycling has grown, Gravel Worlds in Nebraska has been going strong for well over a decade, bringing the mid-western spirit and a special brand of suffering to the gravel roads and punchy climbs around Lincoln. (Home also to the USA Cycling National Gravel Championships.)