This Gear Got Me Through Both a Gritty Gravel Race and a Meandering Bike Tour

This past Memorial Day weekend I had the chance to race La Strada La Plata, the gravel race put on during the Iron Horse Classic, a weekend of bike racing in Durango, Colorado. The very next weekend, back in New York, a friend and I spent three days on a meandering bike tour from Brooklyn to Poughkeepsie. While these are two very different disciplines, a lot of my gear was perfect for both endeavors (including the epic Canyon Grizl CF SL 7 eTap gravel bike I’ve been testing).

Hyper-specific, niche cycling gear is a rabbit hole that is fun to dive into, but when it’s possible, I opt for something I’ll use from the road to the mountain and everywhere in between. Whether I’m doing it for practical reasons like saving space in my apartment or more thoughtful reasons like making do with less, figuring out how to make the most of a component, tool or pair of bib shorts is an equally fun rabbit hole to explore.

A gravel grinder and a tame tour

To understand why it’s so special that this gear was used for both trips, it’s crucial to understand why they’re so different.

In 1971, brothers Jim and Tom Mayer raced the first Iron Horse Classic. This was no ordinary race, though. Jim was a brakeman for the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad; T0m was a burgeoning young cyclist who loved to ride alongside the railways of southwestern Colorado. This enthusiasm for sidling up to train tracks gave Tom an idea. They would race each other, Tom on his bike and Jim on his train. The route departed Durango and went north, crossing two mountain passes before descending into Silverton for a total of 47 miles. Tom won.

Since then, the Iron Horse Classic has been raced every year, man vs. machine. The Classic is now a three-day event, consisting of the road race pioneered by the Mayer brothers, cross-country mountain bike races and La Strada La Plata, the gravel race I traveled for. La Strada’s route covered 55 miles of sun-baked gravel and had over 5,000 feet of ascent. This, coupled with a start line at over 6,000 ft of elevation, meant that my undertrained ass spent the race huffing and puffing, being beaten down by the Colorado sun. Less of a race and more of a test of willpower, the five hours I spent riding virtually solo left me with ample time to consider the gear I was using, which works out when you write for Gear Patrol.

Will Porter

Will Porter

Once I made it back to New York, I had three days to prep for a two-night bike tour. Our route was physically and spiritually the opposite of my race in Colorado: we covered 80 miles over three days; most of those miles being on an asphalt bike path that was flat as a pancake and canopied by deciduous trees — a far cry from the mountainous, piney, punishing west.

I’d be carrying everything I needed on the bike, including a tent, sleeping pad, spare clothes and a bevy of other bikepacking gear. What shocked me, though, was just how much of the gear I had just used the weekend prior was being loaded onto my Canyon for an ambling journey through Westchester County to Poughkeepsie.

The gear that got me there

The true hero of my trips was the Canyon Grizl, a SRAM eTap-equipped adventure bike that is equal parts race machine and bikepacking workhorse. The carbon gravel frame absolutely devours road chatter and the SRAM Rival AXS XPLR setup is probably the most effective drivetrain system I’ve ever used. I swapped out the stock aluminum wheelset for a set of silky smooth carbon wheels from Forge+Bond, which dropped the total weight of the bike to under 20 pounds, a benefit I enjoyed as much on the climbs at La Strada as when it was loaded down with all my camping gear.

Aside from the bike itself, my next piece of indispensable gear was my Garmin Edge 1040 Solar bike computer. After reviewing the unit last year and being blown away by the solar-powered battery life and extensive data capturing, I was eager to put the mapping features through the wringer, something I hadn’t been able to do up to that point. I used a Strava route for the race and Komoot maps for the tour, both of which are easily transferred onto the Garmin. The directions were clear — you get a notification just before each turn that includes the street or trail name — and it was simple to track my location on the map while on the move. I even was able to update our routes in real-time while on the bike tour, adding pit stops for lunch and a cheeky brewery or two.

Sterling Montes

Sterling Montes

Other gear that I found absolutely essential on both trips included tools and bags that I never leave home without. I swear by the Portland Design Works Tiny Object Presta CO2 Inflator for reinflating after a flat and love Two Wheel Gear’s seat pack (the brand makes a full range of excellent bags). In addition to the inflator from PDW, my saddle bag always includes a Crankbrothers multi-tool, preferably my F15 multi-tool, which has all the tools needed, including a chain breaker.

Mr Porter

MAAP Alt_Road Cargo Bib Shorts

• $248.50 at MR PORTER
  $355.00 (30% off)

Forge+Bond

Forge+Bond 25 GR Wheelset w/ Industry Nine Torch Disc Hubs

• $2,199.00 at forgeandbond.com

Garmin

Best Cycling GPS

Garmin Edge 1040 Solar GPS Bike Computer

• $749.99 at Competitive Cyclist

REI

Crankbrothers F15 Multi-Tool

• $40.00 at REI

The best of the rest

In addition to the gear above, I had a smattering of other gear that came with me on at least one of the two weekends, but in many cases, was in my kit bag for both. At La Strada, I wore a MAAP Alt Road Kit, including some extremely comfortable cargo bibs, a base layer and an Alt Road tee. I had never worn MAAP gear before (though I’d been admiring the Australian brand for a decade), and I would recommend its apparel to anyone looking to spend a little extra scratch on their kit. Finish that off with my Giro Aries Spherical helmet, Specialized Recon shoes and District Vision Junya Racers, and you’ve got a kit for the ages (I also love the Oakley Jawbreaker and Giro Empire VR90s).

On the bike tour, my friend Sterling was riding my own personal bike, and when he showed up at my place with his backpack full of personal gear, I had the bike kitted out for him with bags, an Old Man Mountain Divide rack and my trusty Silca Impero Ultimate II Frame Pump. He rode my State All-Road with Rival AXS XPLR which had been upgraded with some epic Chris King wheels that I’d been testing. He lauded the wheels for their smooth-as-butter rolling ability to absorb any road chatter we encountered. I camped with an MSR Hubba Hubba 2 tent, which was by far the lightest tent I’d ever used, plus we could set it up in literally two minutes. I relied on a Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite NXT Sleeping Pad and Vesper Quilt for sleeping, both of which pack down incredibly small while still putting a premium on comfort.

Sterling Montes

If you’re looking to get some gravel riding in your life, this is all gear I would recommend wholeheartedly. For a race or a tour, make a packing list and lay out all of your gear in front of you before packing it up — there’s nothing worse than getting out there and realizing that thing you really need is still at home. My final tip: you can never have too many Voile straps.

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