 The spirit of gravel is what sets gravel racing and riding apart from other cycling disciplines. Sure, from an outsider's perspective, we may just be riding on a bunch of tiny rocks. So what's the big deal? Get over yourself, you weird cycling narcissist. And also people have been riding on gravel for over a century, but now all of a sudden you decide to make a big deal out of it. And also, I'm gonna be honest, I lost my trance a lot here. Anyway, in order to learn how to become a true gravel cyclist, you need to learn to embrace the spirit of gravel. And that's exactly what I'm gonna show you how to do in this video. First up is the way that you talk about gravel. You have to describe gravel riding to your friends as if it was some sort of supernatural religious experience or something. When in reality, you just rode a rigid bike off-road and now you've got a sore taint area. Bonus points if there's a camera rolling when you do it. Yeah, it's just so crazy the vibe that gravel is. You know what I'm saying? I mean, it's the wind in your hair and the feeling that you get and you just feel like a kid again. You know what I'm saying? And the feeling, you know? Now let's talk about equipment because this is actually very important. You may think that that cyclocross bike that's been sitting in your shed for the last five years after you decided you'd rather sit on the couch and drink beer in the fall would be perfect for seeing what this gravel thing is all about, dipping your toe into gravel, so to speak. You'd be incorrect. You're gonna need a purpose-built gravel bike. What's the difference between a purpose-built gravel bike and a cyclocross bike? That's not important. Also, for some reason, the helmet, shoes, gloves, jersey, bibs, sunglasses, multi-tools, chamois cream, chain lube and sunscreen that you use for both road riding and mountain bike riding are somehow insufficient for this cross between the two disciplines and you will need a gravel specific version of all of these items. That's what the cycling industry told me anyways and I mean, they haven't lied to me yet. Yeah, you know, this bag is actually gravel specific. Why is that? Dude, having a bag under your saddle is lame now. Get with the times. Now some of you may have even higher ambitions and not only do you wanna ride gravel or race gravel but you actually wanna go pro in grappling. Well, you're in good company because there are plenty of former world tour pros who weren't quite fast enough to cut it in the world tour as well as riders who were never fast enough to make it to the world tour in the first place as well as riders who aren't even really fast but they just have a lot of Instagram followers who are now paying their bills by riding these Frankenbikes through the neighborhoods of some poor confused farmer. Let's get back on topic though. When you're a gravel pro, it's important to not take racing too seriously. Even though in reality, this is the most seriously you've ever taken anything. Somewhat counter-intuitively, whining about the spirit of gravel being broken is a good way of doing this because nothing says I don't care like carrying way too much about rules that were never even written in the first place. For example, using arrow bars is super uncool and is a sign that you're taking it too seriously unless of course everyone else is using arrow bars in which case then it's fine. Honestly, I can't make my mind up about this whole arrow bar thing but I think that what's important is that you choose a side and then be a dick about it. Cyclists tend to be good at that. Yeah, when I'm out riding, I just pop on this t-shirt instead of a cycling jersey, tells people, wow, that guy doesn't give a fuck. You know what I'm saying? Well, what do you wear on race day then? A skin suit? Luckily, if you're a pro woman graveler, no one really seems to care if you run arrow bars or not. I wonder why that might be. Maybe it's just one of those things where you need a certain level of testosterone in your system to really give a shit about but that doesn't mean you're off the hook ladies. You have to make sure that you're not drafting off of any men that are on your team or that you happen to be married to. Is there an explicit rule about this? No, of course there's not a rule about it. This is the spirit of gravel, there are no rules but there are, look, if you break this rule, it's not like you're gonna get disqualified or something but people are gonna get super pissed on social media and if you're a gravel pro, that's actually worse. If I haven't made this clear already, being good at gravel is only 20% about how fast you are. The other 80% is about likes, followers and subscribers. I mean, if you do a gravel race and you don't post about it, then did it even really happen? Here, I'm gonna film you filming me and then I'm gonna post it on my Instagram story. What's your handle? Remember to always be obsessing about tires, and tire size, and tire tread, and tire puncture protection, and tire pressure, and tire, look, gravel can come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes you're riding on very small rocks, sometimes you're riding on slightly bigger small rocks and sometimes you're riding on rocks that are on the border between small and medium. In gravel, we call this chunky, but that's not important. What is important is that you have a tire for every possible condition and that you overthink which tire to use for hours a day. Once you've made your tire decision, be sure to criticize the tire decisions of the riders that you happen to be riding or racing with. A good trick that works well is to look straight at their tire, give it a good squeeze, and then just give her the old, good luck with that one. Yeah, you know, this community, it's just so crazy. Like, gravel just brings us all together, you know what I'm saying? And just the freedom and the vibe. It's just really something special. Hey, what about the mustache? Does that have anything to do with the spirit of gravel? I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah, you know, this graph. Think we need new tape. Thanks for watching. If there are any rules of gravel that I missed, be sure to leave them down in the comments section below. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to give it a like, subscribe, and share this video with your gravel-loving friends. I'll see you in the next one.