Gravel As The Great Equalizer
We’re not quite there, yet.
Devin bikepacking in Cuba. Photo: Saara Snow
By Devin Cowens
@dev_rox
Gravel used to be this thing people did, and it was fun, and you didn’t really talk about it, or if you did, it was happening in the deep corners of reddit and in in-person conversations prior to the explosion of social media. Pre-pandemic, gravel caught its wave and it was riding high, then the pandemic showcased an unpredictable bike boom, folks getting outdoors, and turning to more solo and small-group activities. It’s being discussed as this great equalizer—but it’s not, despite having the potential to be that.
A few years ago, I started biking more regularly at the cusp of a breakup, itching for community when I found myself with more time and needing distractions. I got my first geared road bike, volunteered for an Open Streets event, and found myself equipped to navigate the Atlanta cycling scene with ease. Or so I thought. I was approached with unprompted commentary on various aspects of my bike and clothing, given explanations of things I preferred not to engage in, and was sized up before I had an opportunity to even open my mouth. After a number of conversations, a lot of research, and many unwelcoming group rides, my road bike sat in the corner while I found myself on my first bikepacking trip, atop a $90 Specialized Rockhopper I bought on Craigslist, and two borrowed panniers. This trip, with some fellow cis women, ignited a fire in me that brought me back to what I was looking for when I started this process. I stumbled on WTF Bikexplorers (now Radical Adventure Riders) after a quick Google search for “women bikepacking” and was happy to find there were groups of people organizing in this way because they too were tired of participating in cycling spaces dominated by white cis men. I reached out to them for involvement and eventually launched a local chapter of sorts in Atlanta, with the aim of creating the community I was craving when I first started out. I’m fully steeped in the bikepacking, gravel, and cycling communities, and while a number of opportunities and connections have led me here, I’d be remiss if I didn’t step back for a second.
The history of cycling tells of black and white photos of Englishmen with relics, color photography of white men tucking in large packs of riders, and details about how cycling was introduced as an actual sport. Not a peep about Kittie Knox, the Buffalo Soldiers, or Major Taylor. Unless you specifically search for these names, they aren’t detailed within the context of, or alongside, the white history. Who’s version of history is this? As such, we’ve seen the cycling industry become a reflection of the colonizer’s playbook—see something I want, take it, erase the people I got it from, make it elitist, rinse and repeat.
Photo: Saara Snow
Unfortunately, gravel racing is hugely inaccessible; it requires traveling to remote areas while descending on smaller towns, having the perfect niche bike, and paying loads of money for race fees and lodging. Though efforts are being made to change this, it’s important to acknowledge, yet again, that something has been co-opted to fit the colonizer’s playbook. So, when asked what can be done by the community to make cycling more accessible, diverse, and inclusive, my answer is this:
Involve and center BIPOC, trans, and non-binary people to write blog posts; review gear, as how to-experts; give 101s and tell their stories on an on-going basis (hint: you probably need to go out of your way to do this).
Create opportunity and invite more voices; allow them the space to contribute to this community that they have been a part of, and not just on issues related to their identities and social justice.
Recognize that self-education is a long-term process, and not something that is going to happen overnight on one’s journey to anti-racism (hint: stop checking boxes).
Make space and step back—a nod to RAR Guiding Principles. Just because you have an idea for a story doesn’t mean that you’re the best person to tell it.
I look forward to seeing grav.elle become a welcoming space for women who enjoy riding gravel, free of measurement—women who represent a range of intersections and gender diversity, as well as a range of type of cyclists, from beginner to veteran to pro, and for those who ride gravel two miles a day to those who choose to suffer for hundreds of miles in the saddle, and everything in between.
Devin is a connector, event planner, and advocate for BIPOCs in cycling. She’s a member of RAR gravel team and manages a bikepacking group for FTWnB riders in Atlanta. Find her on IG: @dev_rox.
