To be honest: I don't understand gravel sport. There is a lot of hype about gravel roads, which we mountain bikers have avoided like the devil avoids holy water for the last twenty years. Now they are celebrating these very trails as an adventure. Gravel roads suitable for trucks, aren't you serious?

And then there's the much-vaunted individuality, but in the end many gravelers look interchangeably similar. They are uniformed fashion hipsters, not freedom-loving adventurers. As an outsider, the sport of gravel remains a mystery to me.

However, gravelers have sparked something that we mountain bikers have increasingly lost: the positive spirit. Everything seems possible, everything is tolerated. People share a passion and radiate joie de vivre. People are also happy about the little things, it doesn't always have to be the epic trail of the century like it does for us. For me, gravel is like living positivism.

Mountain bikers are increasingly dominated by a completely different image. Ebikers are described as the gravediggers of the sport. Beginners are an alpine danger and have no business in the mountains. Anyone who takes shortcuts or blocks the rear wheel is declared to be a miscreant. The list of accusations could easily be extended. One look at the comment columns is enough to get the impression that hatred and disrespect run through the sport of mountain biking like a poisonous serum.

The carefree spirit of optimism that once characterized the sport of mountain biking has long since evaporated. It is precisely this positivism that is now celebrating a renaissance among gravelers. In my case, this means: I don't understand the sport of gravel. But I envy it.
 

Supplement: the new special gravel issue of Ride

A special gravel issue of Ride has just been published. With this issue, Ride ventures onto the gravel road. It offers in-depth reports from this exciting, hybrid world between asphalt and gravel, asks questions about the sustainability of the trend, provides insights into what beginners should know, portrays formative personalities and sheds light on whether Olympic medals may even be fought for on gravel in the future.