I’m thinking about next year and for some reason the idea of doing single speed gravel races sounded like a good idea (itching my desire for mechanical simplicity). I believe Unbound Gravel had a ss category, but what other events come to mind, Fascats?
Midsouth, and GRUSK (although this year they are a gravel fondo, which I’m not sure what that means since they still award prizes-great route eitherway).
Steamboat Gravel also has a single speed category!
It’s tough to find a races with much of an SS field. In my part of the country, most of the Ohio gravel events have SS. GRUSK (amazing race), and Rollin’ Coal in WV have some SS riders. I raced the short course at Michigan Coast to Coast last year SS and it was a blast. The long course had quite a few racing SS.
My 2 cents. I have done both climbing gravel races and flat ones on the SS and there are challenges to both types. I suspect that you see that racing SS is a “race within a race” and you end up where you need to be even if there isn’t an official SS category. For example, at Wild Horse Gravel I raced on my SS even though there wasn’t an official SS category. Don’t be bound by what the organizer’s categories are. Make your own adventure! You will end up near other SS racers if your gearing / fitness / race skill is similar and at the end of the day the challenge of even completing some of these races on 1 gear is a GREAT internal goal.
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Steamboat Gravel also has a single speed category!
but they inexplicably didn’t have a podium for that category. Friend was mailed a helmet. weird