Nutrition & Strategy on Race Day

90 grams of carbs an hour is my magic number. It’s something I’ve tried a lot in training to find out what works best for me and this is it. Little and often is also key. I've found a Veloforte energy gel every 15 minutes is the perfect gravel race nutrition strategy. Each gel contains 22g of dual sourced carbohydrates as well as electrolytes making them perfect for hot days like this year's edition of the Gralloch.

What It's Like Racing in a UCI Gravel World Series Event

Standing on the start line I had one goal. Qualify for the World Champs. I was quietly confident I could achieve this in my 19-34 category, but with gravel racing, anything can happen. One over cooked corner, one puncture or even one too little energy gels and your race can be over just like that. When the balls in your court people look at you, watching your every move and there is no hiding from it.

With the first 12km being nearly all uphill I had one goal: set a pace hard enough that it would dispatch enough riders, but not too many that no one would be left to help work together. The starting climb starts off very steep and so there is little advantage following someone's wheel, so I knew I wanted to be on the front to set the pace to my liking. Gradually increasing the pace, the front group slowly got smaller and smaller. As we crested the first climb, there were around 30 to 40 riders left.

The next 20 kilometers were fast and flowy and with there still being a big group at the front it allowed me to surf the wheels and save my energy. Lost bottles, punctures and dropped chains were a common occurrence so even though the pace wasn’t crazily spicy, it was crucial to stay switched on. I’ve raced the Gralloch UCI Gravel Race before and I knew a technical, narrow section was fast approaching as we hit the 40 km mark. Moving up through the group I used my cyclocross skills to my advantage, pushing the pace through this narrow section to go clear. With it being such a narrow few kilometres the hope was that not many would have seen me slip off the front.

With still 70 km to go, pacing was going to be crucial. I knew that this later part of the race would suit a group better than a solo rider thanks to the wider, smoother gravel tracks and so knew I just had to go all in to establish a gap. The elite race had started 5 minutes in front of us, so it was at this point I started to see riders in the distance who had been dropped which made for great motivation to help the kilometers tick by.

It was also crucial to stay on top of my fueling strategy so that I wouldn’t run out of steam towards the end of the race. Another thing a lot of people find unusual is I don’t have a power meter and ride completely off of feel. I’ve been doing this for the past 2 years and find it really beneficial for situations such as this and knowing what your body can and cannot handle. I do think power meters are extremely useful for training and also to compare performances but personally during races I like to go off of feel.

Passing the 25 km to go checkpoint, I had no idea what the situation was on the gravel, how many riders were behind me and how close were they? I had no idea and for all I knew there could have been 100 riders 20 seconds behind me chasing me down. With that in mind I kept the chain as tight as possible, choosing my lines carefully so as to not have any problems with the loose rocks out on course that could have easily caused me to have sliced a tyre or even worse, crashed.

Luckily I put down a smooth, safe ride and exited the gravel onto the final 10km road stretch to the finish. I knew I had won if I could just carry on at this pace. By this point the hills had really opened up, allowing me to finally see a few kilometers back to check no one was on my tail and potentially cause me heart break right at the end.

5 Km to go soon turned to 1 and before I knew it the finish gantry was in sight and that moment knowing you’ve won hit me. Not only had I won but I had also guaranteed myself a spot at the Gravel World Championships later on this year.

I couldn’t have asked for a better day out and to win solo after nearly 70 km attack is the best feeling and best way to win. A huge thank you goes out to each and everyone of the brands and people who support me in helping me chase results such as this and it’s these results which provide the perfect testimony to the equipment I’m using. So a huge thank you once again and I guess it’s time to start planning for gravel worlds!