The GRVL-XX
Project
ArMan here.
I've been riding and presenting gravel events since 2011. Considering that many of my regular rider pals are women I was struck with how few female riders were actually showing up at the organized events, typically 15% or less of the participants. It didn't make sense; you can speculate the reasons why but, instead, I decided to do something about it.
Starting in 2015 we offered a number of free entries for women into our gravel events and we also arranged a few free entries into other promoters' events. That program was a limited success and dealt a hard hand by the pandemic in 2020. Since then we introduced a guided “Intro to Gravel” no-drop category to most of our gravel events and have worked hard on our ethos - “Friends on Bikes” - to create a welcoming and inclusive vibe.
Getting more women on gravel is at the heart of the GRVL-XX Project. For a summary of current activities please scroll down this page and, for current news, please follow our GRVL-XX Project Facebook page.
GRVL-XX NOW
2020 dealt us a blow with most events being postponed into 2021 or beyond. Further, while our limited free entries into events got a few more women riding, we weren’t fully addressing the factors surrounding why more women aren’t riding gravel. We’ll be working on this with an advisory group and hope to launch some creative solutions soon.
Here’s some events you should consider riding, all of which support more women riding gravel:
GRVL Cycling Insta
