Welcome back to Holy Spirit of Gravel: The Podcast, the only gravel podcast willing to say out loud what everyone else is whispering into their Wahoo head units: Did Lifetime just deal Gravel Earth a quiet, corporate deathblow… or are we finally watching two gravel series split into their true identities?

LTGP came out with a star studded female line up and a unknown-ish euro coded male line up (simon pellaud coded if you will). Will the most talented roster ever live up to its name?

People are dogging on Gravel Earth series right now but is it a bit too early to pile on?

Does any of it even matter because we are just two normies (out of many) who will watch anything presented to us anyway and find ways to talk about it while also bringing up Chase Wark regularly?

Lifetime rolls out the prize purse, the infrastructure, the media machine… and suddenly half the hitters are signing NDAs and smiling for drone shots. Meanwhile, Gravel Earth is posting artsy European B-roll and hoping the Americans remember how passports work.

We’ll break down:

• Europeans invading Leadville like it’s a cultural exchange program with altitude sickness

• Americans descending on Traka trying to cosplay as Girona locals

• Gravel Worlds deciding it might actually be Unbound’s real rival… and not just the quirky cousin

• BWR quietly sharpening knives

• And unaffiliated races like Mid South whispering, “You know we were cooler before everyone started chasing series points, right?”

  
  

  Plus:

  • Our totally not-actionable new bike pitches for Scott

  • The Dylan Johnson backlash, which is the gravel version of a bar fight in a Whole Foods parking lot

  • Privateers telling their fanbases to stand down in the comments like they’re running a militia

  • The Rift being spiritually annexed by Cuckoo Gravel, whether it likes it or not

  • And Holy Spirit of Gravel reminding everyone that she “DMs everyone,” but still refusing to say what those spicy insider messages actually contain. Classified. Sealed. Buried under the dangerous feed zone that everyone hates but actively contributes to its potentiality for disaster.

The end-of-season list highlights notable achievements within the sport, including, but not limited to, exceptional performances and landmark moments. This is a not an exhaustive list, and the omission of certain events or individuals does not imply a lack of significance, but rather reflects the necessarily selective nature of such a compilation and the mental duress of what it takes to produce a satire podcast for a niche sport.

Gravel is over for 2025 (unless you live in a hot place, now is our time to shine) . And privateers and normies alike have never been happier! Gravel racing is more fun to talk about than to actually DO anyway. And do we ever talk...it's a long one.

If anything mentioned in this pod offends you or we forgot about something....blame Holy's cohost who is desperately trying to get her cancelled.

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Welcome, normies, podcasters, privateers, Ben Delaney’s frenemies, and everyone who thinks they’re too cool for their local non-gravel group ride — this is the Holy Spirit of Gravel Awards 2025.

Tonight we honor the brave souls who attacked in the feed zone, denied it later on Instagram, and still somehow posted their power files publicly. Remember: gravel doesn’t believe in team tactics… unless your ‘non-team’ has matching kits, a nutrition sponsor, and a Team House with a full-time videographer and espresso machine.

In a sport where cancel culture means reporting your opponent for renting an Airbnb too close to the start line, we’re here to celebrate imperfection, chaos, and the beautiful delusion that this is still about fun.

We’ve got heroes, we’ve got villains, and by the end of tonight at least one of you will be crying like Chase Wark watching his own documentary. If you came here for structure, fairness, or clarity — you’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere around mile 47.

So clip in, unclip immediately because we’re on loose dirt, and let’s begin the only awards show that still refuses to define what gravel actually is.

Hannah Shell and Holy Spirit of Gravel meet up in the digital space after meeting in the real one to discuss all things Gravel Racing, International Travel, Sponsors, Why Gravel Mexico is so cool, What Happened at Unbound, The "Real" Gravel Worlds, Elevating The Women's Field, Road Being Stressful, Does The Feed Have Beef With HSOG?, Schedule Planning and much more. Hannah Shell has been around to see the gravel field transform in recent years and has thoughtful insights on what that means for the future.

Just when you thought the season was over and we could all go back to our normal lives not having to care about the most niche sport thats ever existed...GRAVEL BURN in South Africa debuts. It's extremely dialed and activated, probably because its put on by the same people who do Cape Epic (an MTB race I'm forced to care about because it is gravel-adjacent). Call it the Matt Beers effect!!! South Africa! Springboks! Toyota!

Anyway, young cyclist girls are all wanting DJ decks to compliment their on-the-bike skills. Call that the Alexis Skarda effect!

Before we get to any of that though we go through the On The Attack Life Time videos and some last bit of Big Sugar housekeeping til I remember something funny LDC and Deb said/did. I made some reels. Did you see them? I'll get back to making memes.

There was some interesting Midsouth news (I'll still find a way to fuck up their race).

Chris Froome was/is on that team.

DFL Culture - here to stay or downright offensive???

When editing the sound for this episode, I accidentally activated the software's AI singularity and it went ahead and summarized this episode and this is what it said:

The episode touches on the dynamic and sometimes chaotic state of content around races like 'Big Sugar' and Grazel Burn, delving into the complexities of race organization, team compositions, and the broader cultural aspects of the competitive and social sides of gravel racing. Speculations and commentary span from race logistics, fan engagement, marketing strategies, and potential industry changes. The hosts also ponder on the future of podium celebrations, cultural shifts in the sport, and the possible integration of new race formats.

It called the race GraZel Burn.

Big Sugar Gravel in Bentonville. Last stop in the Life Time Grand Prix. Your dad's favorite meme account (where he only gets like half the jokes), Holy Spirit of Gravel, was there! And once again she didn't actually ride.

Instead of commentating on the race, this time she was embedded with a privateer - and a legacy privateer at that - LDC aka Lauren De Crescenzo and her partner-in-crime/mechanic/life coach/in house guru Deb to film and produce her version of *meaningful* and *powerful* Gravel Content. It was a blast (according to Holy herself).

Shout out to LDC and Deb because without them none of this would have been possible.

This episode covers Holy's adventures with the gals and also her own personal activations.

Topics include:

• The Rave (very fun!)
• elevated Bentonville neighborhood Walmarts
• The Rave (felt like a senior lock in (in a good way))
• sisterhood of the traveling privateers
• The Rave (no specific details given but it was very fun)
• privateer diet
• THE RAVE
• bentonville baddies
• The Rave
• my (MAAP's) panel
• the rave (there was a rave)
• inoffensive Cam Jones impressions
• rave life
• hanging out at the Feed Zone
• ravers
• do pros wear SHOKZ?
• rave
• talkn MTB "world cups" with Blevins
• rav
• what its like sitting in a truck with a pro athlete after they dont win
• El Rave
• LDC and Deb 10 part HBO sports docuseries
• big ravin style
• first athlete to be sponsored by both The Feed and fast food and MAAP and PAS
• R
• Lance Haidet Pizza
• RAE
• Lunch Box Racing x HSOG
• EVAR
• Girls day out
• rraavvee
• tire testing witness
• sober rave (not me)
• media pass but not the yellow vest (me)
• white claw (rave)
• 100 mile to 50 mile race decision
• alexis skarda is a great DJ (rave)
• reading out results by name is a good use of time (Matt Beers, Sophia, and more)
• walmart (rave)
• LDC activated that shit

Two big Gravel races happened and neither were even Gravel races. (Does anyone still capitalize the world "Gravel" or is that just us?) Anywho, join the Holy Spirit of Gravel meme page admin ("Holy" for short) and her Gravel Dad best friend has they discuss Little Sugar MTB race and the UCI Gravel World Championships. Like I said neither was what we come to expect from your typical gravel race.

It all begs the question. Is the soul of elite Gravel MTB races? or is it euro-coded dusty road races? Does it matter at all? or is what really matters the pro athletes we ride along side and we connect with? We discuss it all in this episode of the pod.

Also! Big Sugar is coming up in a few days and the Holy Spirit of Gravel will be hosting a panel (i.e. activating at an activation) with the support of MAAP and some bike shop called The HUB Bike Lounge...sounds fancy! Come heckle her in person, film and tag the drama so she can show her mom. Thursday 10/16 at 5pm. We talk the the pro-normie relationship and where it fits into the future of Gravel Cycling. See you there! Also Holy skipped last weekends grassroots race so she should actually be fired and cancelled.

Topics include:

• If Holy does a decent job at this panel then this pod is cancelled
• Little Sugar hard
• Are you talking about Matt Beers or Cam Jones?
• He meant Cam Jones
• Sofia
• yes that Sofia
• no one knows that the Garmin - Strava lawsuit is about
• generational feuds over Strava segments
• MTB?
• Mountain Bike-ing?
• knowing what the Driftless region is
• results vs vibes
• contract season?
• Justice for the Rad
• name dropping the DRIFTLESS REGION
• Formula G - Holy's racing league
• gravel content creator house legal drama
• Real MTB vs Xtreme Gravel: drops and ledges, the true story
• UCI Gravel World happened
• wide ranging opinions
• its not a battle versus race types but a battle versus racer types
• chasing teammates is ok in gravel?
• sleeping in on euro race morning
• Magnus Bak Klaris
• Alexis Skarda beat machine
• Holy almost died in Trinidad, Co once
• Why did Holy skip the grassroots race?
• Holy why?
• dont forget the panel

Lots going on in this episode but it's mostly Holy complaining about getting harassed (just kidding, she loves it) by Gravel Dads at a privateer curious local, grassroots gravel race.

First off, Tom Pidcock is doing UCI Gravel Worlds because he didn't get his Vuelta stage win.  If he wins the rainbow jersey, he WILL line up at Unbound so he can fight with Keegan (also in marathon mountain bike rainbow) about the definition of Xtreme Gravel. The Gravel Earth series is over but we will endure and solder on. Doss Gravel made Holy like riding Gravel again.

Topics include:

Ranxo Gravel:

The Women's Top Three

The European Champion crashed

Holy Spirit of Gravel ruins an organic gravel moment by taking a selfie with the winners

Gravel Earth Series 2025: Did it WIN gravel 2025?

After the success of Sea Otter Girona, Launching Traka USA in Stillwater Oklahoma

Bicycle Station Interview Recap:

Riding the Midsouth Hungover 2026?

Video content coming soon?

Small business is endlessly fascinating

Reading the worst Google Reviews for the Bicycle Station, a small bike shop in Indiana

Doss Gravel:

AirBNB accommodations are the new tire width

Lauren Stephens interview

Hayden Christian, Justin McQuerry and Chase Collins

Chase Collins comedy culture critic deserves his own documentary

How to win the 30 mile race of a grassroots race

How to win tandem e-bike fat tire category at a grassroots race.

Holy podiumed but missed the podium

Someone wise once said recording a podcast between unhinged meme admin Holy Spirit of Gravel and youtube starlets The Bicycle Station would be like trying to herd cats...and we can proudly say they were not entirely wrong.

HSOG needs a new bike and she thought who better to ask than the team that has tried just about every bike under the sun and lived to tell the tale.

Jesse, Chase and Trey are content creators, small business owners and race organizers favorites of Gravel enthusiasts from across the normie and hitter spectrum.

Topics include

• ​deranged gravel dads
• ​how bike shops make money
• ​Triathletes
• ​once and for, all what is FLIGHT ATTENDANT?
• ​pushing back against the internal storage movement
• ​marathon mtb = Xtreme Gravel
• ​how to answer a business phone
• ​being sober
• ​being hungover
• ​hookless rims
• ​Wide is Right
• ​normie coded Enve Mog stem
• ​Mud culture of 2025
• ​E-Commerce state of mind
• ​Who edits the YouTube videos
• ​Was Trey kicked out?
• ​Do Allied bikes have aura?
• ​being “Post-Pas Normal”
• ​Owning a bike shops is good for your mental health

Bicycle Station youtube

Jesse, Chase and Trey on instagram

We don't know much.. but we know slightly more than you (unless you were there, because we werent). Some big races happened this weekend, Sea Otter Girona, USA Gravel Nationals and the European Gravel Championships.

And sometimes its not what actually happens during race, (because how are supposed to know without some coverage and lengthy captions) but about how we, the normie, perceive the action and then catalogue them into our memory stores. We make connections and references and build on the narrative of our own design. On a physical AND metaphysical level Gravel Cycling and Gravel Racing is truly what you make of it.

Riffs include:

• Sea Otter Girona wasn't good for elite women
• what a surprise
• E-Bike reviews
• Life Time races
• my Stable Cyclist interview
• should I have worn sunglasses for it?
• Sofia wore them for Chequamegon content
• waking up early for the European Gravel Championships stream
• but mostly staying asleep
• fuck ass gravel dad
• Rosa Kloser flat
• Italian ride diet
• the Amanda Knox story and the Italian justice system
• culture of Italian gravel (our guess)
• pre-riding Doss Gravel
• getting voice recognized on a social group ride
• next gen Gravel Fans exist
• USA Gravel Nats almost had to give Chase Wark the stars and stripes jersey
• Harry Styles Maratho to Gravel pivot when?

we had the 2025 Life Time Chequamegon MTB Festival finish line livestream on while we were recording and it ruined this episode and we will probably never pod again because of it

topics include

• Xtreme Gravel (what is it? why is it? how is it?)
• marathon mountain biking
• Cecily Diesel Decker leads the chase
• Alexey Vermeulen is a grass specialist?
• reviewing Holy's Rosa Kloser interview
• Airbnb scams resonate with the people
• French Gravel races are a vibe or something
• where will Holy stay in Bentonville for Big Sugar?
• Saga Gravel in Chile was wet and Hannah Shell won (new world hispanic race specialist?)
• Mammoth Tuff is a UCI race
• waiting for Melisa Rollins to cross the finish line