Cyclocross Vs Gravel

Knowing your Gravel-Grinder from your CX...

- Oli Munnik

When South African cyclists chat about riding drop bars off-road, they generally use the word ‘cyclocross’. And as a generic term, that would have been fine – up until the recent emergence of ‘gravel’ or ‘adventure’ riding.

In fact, cyclocross is quite narrowly defined: as a lap race (much like cross-county MTBing) that takes place on mixed terrain. The premier CX World Cup season runs from October to March, and is governed by strict rules set out by the UCI – maximum tyre size, for instance, is 33C.