Champagne Gravel & Uninterrupted Beauty

There are events you attend, and there are those that reshape how you experience a place.  

In Steamboat Springs, that distinction helped shape SBT GRVL, an internationally recognized ride built as much around connection and inclusivity as the roads themselves.  

“From the beginning, the idea was never simply to create another cycling event. It was to build something people genuinely wanted to be part of, regardless of experience level or background. – Amy Charity, Founding Partner and CEO SBT GRVL® 

And today, you will sense that approachable and welcoming feeling, a ride where professional cyclists, first-time participants, longtime locals, and visiting families could all arrive at the same starting line and feel equally invited into the experience.

That vision found its natural home in Steamboat.

In 2018, gravel cycling was still emerging, connected by a handful of events throughout the country. What Steamboat offered felt distinctly different. Not simply because of the terrain, but because of the culture surrounding it.

The routes were structured intentionally. Aid stations felt welcoming. Volunteers lined the course offering encouragement and support. Fresh coffee waited at the start line and the finish carried the energy of a gathering instead of the end of a ride.

Authentic hospitality, along with collaborative partnerships, led to the successful creation of a ride that felt unique, a race designed not just for performance, but to grow access and interest in the sport, especially among youth and women.

The result has been seen and felt by so many who have now experienced the quiet beauty in and around Routt County Colorado.  More than 600 miles of connected gravel roads stretch through ranch lands, rolling valleys, and wide-open terrain, offering riders the rare ability to move through uninterrupted landscapes for hours at a time. The region’s famed “champagne gravel” roads shaped and maintained to ride remarkably smooth quickly became part of the ride’s identity.

But the roads alone weren’t what made it work.

Steamboat has always carried a certain openness to it. There’s an ease to the town that encourages participation over performance and connection over spectacle. Visitors arrive for the cycling, but what often stays with them is the atmosphere surrounding it, mornings that begin slowly over coffee, conversations that continue long after the ride ends, and a community that naturally folds people into the experience.

Today, SBT GRVL includes three distinct routes designed to welcome a range of abilities while continuing to expand participation. The diversity of riders is immediately noticeable. Professional athletes stand beside riders clipping into gravel pedals for the first time. Ages range from small children to riders well into their seventies and eighties.

 

Some arrive focused on competition, while others are there simply to challenge themselves, spend time outdoors, or experience Steamboat in a different way.This is what gives SBT GRVL its energy, it becomes all about shared experiences.” Ryan Steers VP GRVL® Events

That spirit extends well beyond race weekend itself. Months before riders arrive, conversations are already underway between organizers, ranchers, landowners, volunteers, and local partners working together to shape the experience responsibly and thoughtfully. Community organizations, youth programs, and nonprofits continue to play a meaningful role in expanding access through scholarships, outreach, and volunteer support. 

The result: an event that feels deeply connected to the place surrounding it.

That connection is perhaps what resonates most strongly within Steamboat itself. Residents don’t simply observe the event from a distance. They are part of it. They host visitors and riders arriving from out of town. They volunteer at intersections and aid stations. They support local businesses throughout the weekend. In many ways, the ride has become a welcomed tradition and a reflection of the strong community that shaped it.

It’s less about scale, and more about connection.  

Spend enough time in Steamboat Springs and a pattern begins to emerge. The experiences that endure here are rarely built around spectacle alone. Shaped by intention and active participation, they are forged through a shared appreciation of the landscape. 

That authenticity, quiet but unmistakable, continues to draw people back year after year. Not simply for the ride itself, but for the sense of belonging created around it. In Steamboat, recreation often becomes a way to build community, strengthen relationships, and appreciate the landscape more fully. 

Because here, the ride isn’t separate from the landscape. 

It moves through it. 

And, for a moment, brings everything with it.