Video summary
The video documents the creator's experience at Ratt Gravel, one of Australia's premier gravel events held during the Tour Down Under just outside Adelaide. This race served as the inaugural Oceania Gravel Championships, raising the competitive stakes significantly with a championship jersey on the line and a formidable field that included road racing legends like Romain Bardet alongside top gravel specialists such as Ian Boswell, Cam Jones, and Lachlan Morton. Although the event took place in January, which is mid-season for Australian riders but early for those in the Northern Hemisphere, the competition was fierce with athletes arriving in peak form rather than recovering from off-season fatigue. The course itself featured a mix of two-thirds gravel and one-third pavement, where the Australian roads presented unique challenges with their bumpy, chip-seal surfaces full of cracks, contrasting with the relatively smooth gravel sections found on this specific route.
Strategic decisions regarding equipment played a crucial role in the creator's performance, particularly concerning tire choice and bike setup. Despite initial hesitation, the rider opted for Schwalbe Thunder Burt 2.1 mountain bike tires, which proved superior to traditional gravel tires by offering low rolling resistance on smooth surfaces while maintaining puncture protection against sharp rocks. The bike was configured with a rigid fork to save weight for the steep climbs and featured new Enve wheels. The race dynamics were heavily influenced by the first major climb occurring ten kilometers into the event, where aggressive surges from riders like Ian Boswell forced the creator to carefully meter his effort rather than chasing every attack, a strategy that allowed him to conserve energy while staying within sight of key competitors like Lachlan Morton and Freddy Ovett.
As the race progressed through hilly terrain and exposed sections with headwinds and temperatures reaching mid-80s Fahrenheit, the group dynamics shifted from pure survival to a battle for top ten positions. The final twenty-minute climb tested endurance further before the riders entered a flat valley section leading to the finish line. Approaching the end, the creator attempted a sprint but faced a precarious finish involving grass, gravel speed bumps, and a sharp corner that caused several rivals to lose momentum or overshoot the turn. Ultimately, the rider finished fourth in his breakaway group of six, securing an eleventh overall place with impressive normalized power averages that reflected a strong performance despite not being at full peak fitness for the season opener.
Reflecting on the event, the creator expressed deep satisfaction with how he executed the race and the mental boost it provided after dealing with issues from the previous year. The result validated his fitness levels against high-caliber Australian competition and restored a sense of joy and luck associated with his profession as a cyclist. Beyond the statistics, which showed an average speed of 21.5 mph and a total stress score of 259 TSS, the primary takeaway was a renewed appreciation for the sport itself. The experience served as a reminder that racing is fundamentally fun, allowing the rider to feel grateful for his career once again before concluding with thoughts on future training plans and coaching resources available to viewers.
Read the full video transcript
It seemed like Boswell was trying to
blow the race apart on this climb,
possibly for the benefit of Bardet or
Cam Jones. Either way, given the pace,
it wasn't long before I realized that if
I tried to follow every surge up this
first climb, I was going to blow up.
Welcome back to the channel. This video
is fueled by The Feed. Ratt Gravel is
one of Australia's biggest gravel races
and takes place just outside of Adelaide
during the Tour Down Under. Also, it
appears that they did get the memo about
how the name of anything gravel-related
needs to have vowels missing for some
reason. This race also just so happened
to be the first-ever Oceania Gravel
Championships, meaning there was an
actual championship jersey on the line.
Not that that would affect me because I
don't live in an Oceania country, but
what it would do is significantly bump
up the level of competition, which
brings me to my next point, the start
list. First thing to note, Romain Bardet
was in this race. Yes, that Romain
Bardet, the same Romain Bardet who has
podiumed at the Tour de France. He's one
of many road pros who has recently made
the switch to gravel, and from the
sounds of it, he's not just phoning it
in as he transitions to retirement. He
plans on leaving his mark on gravel,
which may or may not be foreshadowing
for the rider who inevitably ends up
winning this race.
Man,
it's just getting harder and harder to
get 17th place every year, huh? And he
wasn't the only big name. Unbound 200
winners like Cam Jones, Lachlan Morton,
and Ian Boswell were all on the starting
line as well, along with a whole host of
other very talented riders that I could
spend half the video rattling off if I
really wanted to bore you guys, which I
don't. That's what the science videos on
this channel are for. And while this
would be considered an early-season race
for those of us in the Northern
Hemisphere, I honestly can't even
remember the last time I did a race in
January.
This is solidly mid-season for everyone
down under. There were plenty of riders
showing up in peak form, and this was
not a dust off the off-season legs kind
of race. You needed to be on one to have
a good day here. The course itself was
about 2/3 gravel and 1/3 pavement. And
while the pavement in Australia is
unusually bumpy compared to the US
pavement, almost like chip seal most of
the time with plenty of cracks and
imperfections,
the gravel was actually relatively
smooth, at least on this particular
course.
The most notable feature on the course
though, and really the thing that
defines how this race plays out, is the
first major climb that comes 6 miles or
about 10 km into the race.
It takes about 10 minutes and averages
roughly 8% and was very clearly going to
be a big separator. All right, before I
get into how the race played out, let's
talk about bike setup. Bike choice here
was the Felt Breed Carbon, which those
of you who follow the channel will be
familiar with. By the way, if you're a
fan of this Felt United Team Edition
colorway, you can actually get one for
yourself from Victory Bicycles. Link in
the description below. If you're looking
for changes that I've made to my setup
from last year, then those big white
logos on the wheels are probably the
first thing you'll notice. Enve is my
new wheel partner for 2026, and for this
race I ran the 4.5s.
I opted for a rigid fork despite
experimenting quite a bit with
suspension forks in the past.
The course was smooth enough that
suspension didn't make that much sense,
and the weight of the bike did matter
for that first climb. And you knew I
wasn't going to end the equipment
section of this video without talking
about tires.
I know, cue the eye rolling. I'm sorry,
I can't help myself. You won't believe
this, but I actually did seriously
consider running narrower tires for this
race. Something like a more traditional
45 mm gravel tire. Wait, what? Are you
feeling okay, dude? Don't tell me you
had an existential crisis about your
unreasonably strong tire convictions,
too. Given the amount of pavement and
the smoothness of the gravel on this
course, it actually was a tough call
between mountain bike tires and gravel
tires, which is something that I don't
ever find myself saying anymore. If
you're not a regular here and you're
scratching your head as to why I would
even consider mountain bike tires in a
gravel race, then pause the video and
check this one out. Promise, I'm not
completely crazy. All of that being
said, my final decision was in fact a
mountain bike tire, the Schwalbe Thunder
Burt 2.1.
I know, all of that manufactured
suspense for nothing. The Thunder Burt
may be a mountain bike tire, but it
actually tests extremely quick on
pavement, faster than the vast majority
of gravel tires out there. And when it
comes to actual gravel surfaces, it may
be the lowest rolling resistance tire
that you can run that doesn't
immediately puncture the second that it
accidentally looks in the direction of a
sharp rock. You know, like the kind that
gravel roads are made out of. All right,
with all that out of the way, let's get
to the actual race. The race starts with
about 6 miles or roughly 10 km of
relatively flat road before hitting the
first climb. Despite looking pretty
chill on paper, the combination of fresh
legs and nerves rarely means a race
start is ever actually chill. There were
constant positioning battles and
attacks, most of which were
unsuccessful, but eventually one rider
managed to get a small gap and hit the
base of the first climb with about 30 to
40 seconds on the field. For this
opening part of the race, my normalized
power was 303 watts for a little over 16
minutes. Aggressive, but nowhere near
all out. That would change very shortly.
We hit the climb and this is where the
race really started. I entered the climb
just a couple wheels back behind Cam
Jones and almost immediately Ian Boswell
went to the front and did a massive
surge and everyone piled onto his wheel.
It's probably worth mentioning here that
Ian Boswell, Cam Jones, and Romain
Bardet are all on the same
Rapha-sponsored team, which raises the
age-old gravel racing question, are
gravel teams even real teams? Gravel
continues to exist in this weird middle
ground where sometimes team tactics are
used and sometimes they aren't.
Oftentimes gravel tactics just amount
to, "Hey, that guy up the road has the
same jersey that I have, so why don't
you chase him down and I'll just sit
back here on your wheel and save
energy." And that's about as far as it
goes. That being said, it seemed like
Boswell was trying to blow the race
apart on this climb. Possibly for the
benefit of Bardet or Cam Jones, or maybe
his coffee wasn't strong enough and he
just really needed a VO2 effort to wake
himself up. Either way, given the pace,
it wasn't long before I realized that if
I tried to follow every surge up this
first climb, I was going to blow up. So
I made the decision to meter my effort
even if that meant letting riders go.
Don't get me wrong, I was still very
close to maximum, but instead of going
right up to 100% this early in the race,
I kept it a few percent under. This
meant letting about 15 riders go up the
road, but I still had some very good
riders in sight, including Lachlan
Morton, which told me that I wasn't
heading straight into no man's land. For
the climb itself, my normalized power
was 411 watts for 10 minutes and 24
seconds, which felt like about 95% of my
limit. Extremely hard, but controlled
enough that I wasn't completely
detonating. Over the top of the climb, I
quickly found the wheel of Lachlan and
Cash Anderson, and it wasn't too long
before we picked up Freddy Ovett, Curtis
Dowdell, Tom Cheeseman, and Tom Chester
to form a solid chase group. We were
told that we were the second chase group
on the road, and we were working pretty
well together. There weren't a lot of
games being played, and it seemed like
everybody was committed to chasing. For
the next hour over the hillier part of
the course, my normalized power was 327
W. So, the chase was very much on. At
one point, we did have a group of four
within sight, but we never managed to
close it. If we did catch riders, it was
just riders that had gotten dropped from
the front group. Midway through the
race, there were a couple steep, sketchy
descents that come up pretty suddenly in
an otherwise not very technical course.
Our group managed to navigate them
without much issue, but there definitely
were times where staying alert mattered
quite a bit. In the second half of the
race, we hit a flatter section with head
and crosswinds, and by this point, the
heat was really starting to become a
factor. Temperatures were in the mid-80s
Fahrenheit or around 30°
and legs were definitely starting to
feel it. Although we were still
generally working well together, the
dynamic shifted a little bit as we
realized that a top 10 was likely up for
grabs here. Even if it can be hard to do
the mental math mid-race about how many
riders are still left up the road. As it
turns out, we were racing for eighth
through 14th place. During this flatter
section, power dropped slightly as we
started thinking ahead to the final
climb, and my normalized power here was
282 W for a little over an hour. The
final climb lasts for over 20 minutes
and it's more of a false flat than a
true climb. Drafting here absolutely
still matters. Freddy Ovett and Lachlan
Morton looked like the strongest riders
and tried numerous attacks. Freddy
managed a small gap near the top with
Cash on his wheel, but I was able to
close it down. When I did, I attacked
over the top in a last-ditch effort to
try to drop the group, but no luck.
Chester was the only rider to get
dropped here, leaving six of us to
contend the finish. For this climb, my
normalized power was 311 W for just
under 24 minutes. After this climb, we
hit the final descent and then rolled
into the last flat valley section before
the finish, which is about 6 mi long.
Lachlan led into the flats and he
clearly still had legs trying a few
attacks, but nothing stuck. I was ready
for a sprint, but I also knew that if an
attack were to work, it would probably
be in the last double track section
right before the finish. I tried to move
here, but that didn't stick either.
Coming into the finish, things get a
little precarious. You come off of a
very fast slight downhill road section
into grass, and there's even a kind of
gravel speed bump in the grass before
you hit the finish line. So, I knew that
the sprint had to start before hitting
the grass. We were all soft pedaling,
staring at each other, waiting for
somebody to start the sprint. I was
actually the one that started the sprint
probably about 250-ish meters before the
line, which in hindsight might have been
a little early. Cashes, Freddy, and
Jasper came around me, but Freddy
overshot the final corner. Curtis came
through on my inside, meaning that the
only rider I successfully outsprinted
was Freddy, who just completely botched
the corner, and Lachlan, who looked like
he didn't even attempt to sprint. So, in
case you were wondering whether or not
my sprint still needs work, well,
there's your answer. We weren't
We knew it was still embarrassing. Out
of this group of six, I finished fourth,
which left me with an 11th overall.
Sprint numbers were 1,127 max, 936 W for
10 seconds, and then for the full 3-hour
and 40-minute race, my normalized power
was 311 watts, average power was 267,
average speed was 21.5 mph or 34.6 km/h.
Average heart rate was 161 with a max of
185 and total TSS was 259. Honestly, not
bad numbers for me at all, especially
when you consider how early in the
season this race was. Numbers aside
though, what are my thoughts coming away
from this first race of the season?
Going into this race, I didn't have
super high expectations. First off, as I
alluded to, I wasn't trying to peak for
this race. It was in January and I
hadn't done a lot of race style efforts
yet. I was also much less familiar with
the Australian competition. Although
there were a few riders who I race with
regularly in the US that gave me a
decent gauge of where I stood. And to be
racing all day with riders like Lachlan
and Freddy told me that my fitness was
higher than I had anticipated. On top of
all of that, reminants from everything
that I dealt with last year were not
that far in the rear view mirror at this
point. I'll save the long explanation
here, but if you don't know what I'm
talking about, then check out this
video. I'll link it in the description
below. My confidence desperately needed
a good day going into this race and with
this result, I feel like I absolutely
got that. Overall, I'm pleased with how
I executed the race and more
importantly, it kind of reminded me that
racing is fun. I actually remember
thinking on multiple occasions while I
was out there, man, how freaking lucky
am I that this is what I get to do with
my life? And that was a feeling that I
hadn't felt for quite a while. All
right, let's wrap this video up before I
start getting too sappy. Thanks for
watching. If you want to follow my
racing closer, be sure to check me out
on Instagram. If you want to improve
your own cycling performance, then I
have coaches available through Ignition
Coach Co and online training plans which
are linked in the description below. If
you enjoyed this video, be sure to give
it a like, subscribe, and share it with
your cycling friends. I'll see you in
the next one.