As I continue to seek the Elusive Spirit of Gravel, I’m pleased to report I have now moved on to the inevitable “accessorizing” phase of my journey. Remember how back in the early part of this century, at the height of the fixie craze, you could obtain all manner of u-lock holsters and colored rims and top tube pads, allowing you to play Barbie with bikes?
Well the same thing goes for your broccoli bike, and taunted by all those empty accessory mounts I have now acquired and installed…a small top tube bag:
In the dark days before the Gravel Revolution a top tube bag was known as a “bento box.” It was used exclusively by triathletes and was the very pinnacle of dorkiness. But now they’re apparently acceptable, and while my corporate bag may not have the cachet or gravel cred of a designer hobo bindle from Ultraromance that you attach to your Brooks saddle with a stick, it does bolt directly to the bike:
Hey, you don’t become cool overnight. You’ve got to pay your dues first. And if that means riding around looking like the main character in a children’s book called My First Gravel Bike then I’m willing to do what it takes:
That’s the AI’s take on “a children’s book called My First Gravel Bike.” Not bad! Sure, there’s the usual mutant cockpit, but that’s a given at this point. Also, Niord Bt Galris Mgfleah is one of my favorite authors, though he’s best enjoyed in the original Gaelic.
Anyway, this bag will allow me to carry a mini pump without sticking it in my jersey, as well as some foodstuffs for when it’s finally warm enough to ride outside for more than two hours:
[“Two hours? Woosie.”]
I suspect the real reason the whole gravel bike thing took off is not for any of the reasons people usually cite (people don’t want to ride on busy roads with lots of cars; people want more versatile bikes; people can work remotely and live the desert hipster lifestyle…] but rather because roadie types are finally allowed to put small bags on their bikes.
Speaking of gravel, Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: LGH) -6,98777%, the company that owns all the gravel, is officially banning drop bars from the Leadville Trail 100:
But you will still be able to use drop bars in races with the word “gravel” in the name:
Detailed in its updated rules for its 2026 events, Life Time revealed that drop bars will not be allowed at both the Leadville Trail 100 and Little Sugar mountain bike races this year. The Chequamegon MTB Festival event will still allow the use of drop bars, as will the Sea Otter Classic Gravel, Unbound Gravel and Big Sugar Gravel.
Now, I should make it clear that I don’t really care if races have rules, nor do I care whether or not those rules make any sense. Races have rules, and that’s what makes them races and not rides. If you don’t like the rules, then don’t enter the race. So if Life Time wants to ban drop bars, or singlespeeds, or pubic hair, or anything else, that’s quite literally their business. Don’t like it? Find another race, or else you’d better book that waxing appointment now to avoid the pre-Unbound rush.
Still…why?
I did visit the rules page, and here’s what they say:
“Course compatibility?” Isn’t that up to the riders? Clearly drop bars were compatible with the course, otherwise nobody would have used them. As for “safety,” were people crashing because they were using drop bars? I’m not asking sarcastically, I’m really asking, because I have no idea. And if the ultimate goal is to preserve the integrity of Leadville as a mountain bike race or something, that doesn’t really make sense, since people have always raced mountain bikes with drop bars. [I don’t need to insert the Obligatory Tomac Photo here, do I? This isn’t the rest of the Internet, we’re all grownups here.]
Of course, not everybody agrees:
I don’t know what’s funnier: putting drop bars on a mountain bike and selling it as a gravel bike like Pinarello did, or claiming that doing so is somehow dangerous to the consumer, like this article does:
Bike brands then respond by building ready to go conversions. You don’t have to source parts; you just have to put down your credit card and you get something that’s fully engineered. Except is it? Is it actually fully engineered?
What if you are a small brand that just wants to capitalize on a trend without much investment. That would never happen in our small community, right?
Won’t somebody think of the marketing victims?!?
Also, what is Life Time saving people from exactly?
Life Time is right to kill this trend in the racing community, but you should also be thanking them. This rule change will save you from bikes like this. The actual use case is incredibly small and Leadville is at the center of that. Banning the trend there means you won’t be seeing drop bar mountain bikes winning races nearly as often. That will mean less headlines about it and that will mean less interest. Brands won’t need to respond.
Like the “use case” (barf) for most other types of mountain bikes isn’t vanishingly small? In 2026 you need separate mountain bikes for riding up hills and for riding down them. Also, if the bikes are winning races then doesn’t that mean…they’re working?
I guess the real reason mountain bikers object to this is that putting different handlebars on a bike for a specific course is a decidedly low-tech solution, and there’s nothing they hate more than simplicity.