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How the Rankings were calculated
Alright sounds good. Have a great gravel season. Yeah every week a new event pops up. Gravel has arrived! Whooohoo
Matthew pisano, We are counting the LARGEST events, not the TOUGHEST. There are a lot of amazing events not on the list. Well loved events from our neck of the woods like Rock Cobbler and Old Growth Classic didn’t make the list either. We don’t want to introduce bias by hand-picking the list. We are counting on the gravel community to vote with their wallets and time by registering for the events they want to ride. There will always be amazing events that don’t make the list, but we think this methodology represents the populist nature of the sport, and we think it will give us an ever-changing list of 100% great events that people are willing to schedule, travel, and participate in.
All that said, we are hoping people like you will let us know when we miss an event that meets the criteria. It is hard for our team to vet EVERY event. For 2020, the cutoff is 500 riders. (spoiler alert: That number will have to go up in 2021 to keep the number of ranked events manageable) A quick look tells me in 2019 Iron cross had 329 riders. Hilly Billy had 322.
BRUCE HILDENBRAND, We will be doing this in 2020!
We love you James Walsh, but you didn’t crack the top 15 in any ranked events! We are rooting for you in 2020!
FLAHUTE, if that is the same person… 21st place. Thank you for the comment. We will look into a way to verify it is the same person… This sort of thing is difficult since they are listed differently on the various race results.
well thought out rankings… bummed my event didn’t make it, a true spring classic we had well over 500 people, but our results only showed 495. we’re an hour outside of chicago the 1st weekend of April. fast and a blast a handful on the rankings list have competed and looking for more! looking forward to joining the list in 2020!
I wonder how Jamey Driscoll would rank if his #38 and #100 positions were combined to accurately reflect his results.
Hello, I am enjoying your site especially as there are few cycling sites specifically devoted to gravel. The power rankings is a cool concept. For expanding the rankings beyond the U.S., I recommend starting with the Ghost of the Gravel about an hour and a bit outside Calgary, Alberta Canada. It’s on the short end of the distance scale at 122km (75 miles), but packs in more than 6,000 feet of climbing mostly on gravel and backcountry forest service roads in the foothills just east of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
It might not have reached the threshold of 500 racers quite yet, but it will in the next year or two if it hasn’t. So, keep your eye on that one for adding to your rankings.
Merry Christmas
There are alot of midwest to east coast races you guys are leaving out. I know you cant name them all. But the east coast has alot of really tough gravel events. Thanks for mentioning the unpaved here in pa. What about the iron cross? One of the longest in the country. And the hilly Billy? Also gunnar shorgen should be on the list. For sure one of the best gravel racers out there.
Interesting concept of Power Rankings. Rather than just the number of points, I think it would be very interesting to show from where those points came. Something like Ted King(1st – BWR, 3rd – DK, 2nd – SBTGVL, etc) I think that would give an even more informed look at how many and in which races the riders competed.
No love… 🤣😬…. but I beat a lot of guys on that list… multiple times.
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Matthew pisano
March 05, 2020
Alright sounds good. Have a great gravel season. Yeah every week a new event pops up. Gravel has arrived! Whooohoo