{"id":762710,"date":"2026-06-27T01:07:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T01:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762710\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T01:07:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T01:07:36","slug":"how-sbt-navigated-the-politics-of-grvl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762710\/","title":{"rendered":"How SBT navigated the politics of GRVL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                        <img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/@jakerytlewski---Steamboat-2024167.jpg\" alt=\"How SBT navigated the politics of GRVL\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                        <a class=\"article__category\" href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/gravel-racing\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">gravel racing<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__sub-title\">Real community engagement and substantive changes paved the way for SBT GRVL&#8217;s continued success.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__thumbnail-caption\">Image courtesy of SBT GRVL.<\/p>\n<p>                                <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Ryan Simonovich\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"author__photo lazy \" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Ryan-Simonovich--150x150.jpg\" width=\"99\" height=\"99\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The snow at Steamboat Ski Resort is so light and fluffy that it\u2019s known as \u201cchampagne powder.\u201d It\u2019s the type of billowing snow that makes skiing feel effortless and the snowpack bottomless, and it\u2019s so ubiquitous in Steamboat that the resort trademarked the phrase in 2008.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Eleven years later, a group of cyclists established SBT GRVL just as the gravel discipline was kicking into high gear. The mass-start event started and finished in downtown Steamboat Springs, taking in the hilly terrain in surrounding Routt County. The smooth, fast-rolling gravel roads became known as \u201cchampagne gravel,\u201d the type of gravel road that\u2019s treated with magnesium chloride to suppress the dust and compact well, then baked to perfection in the summer sun.\u00a0But while SBT will celebrate it&#8217;s eighth edition when it rolls out of Steamboat this Sunday, June 28, its journey has not always been as smooth as its gravel. <\/p>\n<p>Word quickly got out about SBT after that first 2019 edition, and it began attracting pro racers and establishing a reputation for its diversity and inclusivity efforts. SBT quickly hit a peak of about 3,000 riders on race day and seemed unstoppable \u2013 a late summer monument of the gravel calendar.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But after the 2023 edition, organizers began hearing rumblings from Routt County\u2019s rural residents that something was wrong. Nearly 50 people filled a small conference room at a local bank, where SBT organizers heard the community\u2019s grievances.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                This post is for subscribers only<br \/>\n            <a class=\"gh-btn\" data-portal=\"signup\" href=\"#\/portal\/signup\" style=\"color:#FF6F42\">Subscribe now<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Already have an account? <a data-portal=\"signin\" href=\"#\/portal\/signin\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n<p class=\"reactions\" data-post-id=\"6a3bef77de9ce35be470eb0f\">\n                    \ud83d\udc4dYep<br \/>\n                    \ud83d\udc4eNope\n                <\/p>\n<p class=\"tags\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/gravel-racing\/\" title=\"gravel racing\" class=\"tag tag-67a677ae0c7ad49bf4f29204 gravel-racing\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">gravel racing<\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/sbt-grvl\/\" title=\"SBT GRVL\" class=\"tag tag-67a677ae0c7ad49bf4f294d6 sbt-grvl\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SBT GRVL<\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/news-and-racing\/\" title=\"News &amp; Racing\" class=\"tag tag-67a677ae0c7ad49bf4f293b3 news-and-racing\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News &amp; Racing<\/a>\n                <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"gravel racing Real community engagement and substantive changes paved the way for SBT GRVL&#8217;s continued success. Image courtesy&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-762710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}