The Traka is probably second only to Unbound now in the gravel race calendar, and considering it is a lot easier to get to for many European-based riders (professionals and amateurs alike), it’s very much nipping at the heels of its more established North American rival.
The Traka offers up both a 360km and a 200km event, plus a 560 adventure route for the ultra crowd, and a 100km event at the end of the weekend for mortals and journos like me who just want to have a nice day out without burying myself to the point I can no longer write captions for a tech gallery.
Before taking on the 100km route, I spent the long weekend trawling the park that becomes something of a mini cycling festival, as well as picking up a few snaps in Girona’s old town itself.
The bikes at the pointy end of the races (of both distances) were often pretty incredible. Unlike at pro road racing, where the bikes are all relatively similar, but are exciting because of who they are attached to, the slightly lesser-known names of gravel mean the machines themselves can really shine. Couple that with what can only be described as an embarrassment of riches for a tech journalist from the bikes of the amateur riders and… well, I had a lot of photos to cut out.
To put it in perspective, my shortlist of interesting things from The Traka was twice as long as it was for Paris-Roubaix earlier this year, which is about as jam-packed as a road tech gallery gets.
Without further ado, then, here is the cream of the crop:
Let’s kick things off with Pieter Potter’s Ridley Astr RS.
The 360 distance required riders to have lights, and many also opted for additional storage.
CeramicSpeed oversized pulley wheels were two a penny.
Metal cages were the norm, for better retention. Here though they are titanium, to save a few grams.
I don’t think this Continental MTB tyre officially fits, but as we’ve said plenty in recent months, wider is better, so many riders were really pushing the limits of their frame’s capacity.
Having your computer die mid-race would be bad news, so a power bank on the top tube helps alleviate the risk.
Apparently this rear light was custom anodised.
While I didn’t check, I’m pretty sure this saddlebag is some form of hyperlight dyneema.
This wasn’t the only superlight saddle I saw, but it was the only bare carbon one. You’ve really got to know the shape works to commit this hard.
I was told these Time pedals were cut down with an angle grinder. Every little helps, I guess?
Italian brand Palu isn’t one we see much of, but this was quite an eye catcher.
Another race bike, another set of mountain bike tyres.
A more slick rear is often the choice, but here it’s also because smaller side knobs are less likely to erode your stays.
This is all about the paint for me. Alex Miller hails from Namibia, and has a truly wonderful national themed bike.
How can this not put a smile on your face?
Miller’s Giant Revolt Pro was relatively by the book, with Cadex wheels from Giant’s subsidiary brand.
Again, the capacity was maxxed out with the Pirelli tyres.
Here’s Chad Haga’s Felt Breed. The old model, though, as Haga was yet to receive delivery of the new model, meaning this bike was on its second Traka run.
This isn’t about the bike, but about the race numbers. No zip ties here, but pipe cleaners instead. Somewhat reusable, but more so they don’t produce so much plastic waste.
Up front Haga ran a Maxxis Aspen mountain bike tyre, as big as his fork would allow (can you see a theme happening here, friends?)
It’s a pretty low profile tread, but even so it is cutting it very fine.
At the rear he used the new Maxxis Reiver gravel tyre, in a smaller size so as not to ‘sacrifice paint’.
Carbon Arundel bottle cages were a bit of a rarity in the sea of metal.
Gee Schruers before the start of the women’s 360, where she sadly had to abandon following a crash.
Purple Industry Nine hub? Check. Gold SRAM cassette? Check. This rider had quite a trick Specialized Diverge.
While you’re at it you may as well go all out and get purple jockey wheels and matching spoke nipples too.
Another rarely seen brand, this titanium Tritão hails from Portugal.
While mostly brushed metal, it had some subtle purple accents.
Capped off by a purple Chris King seat collar.
And, as ever, a set of Continental Race King mountain bike tyres.
This stainless Jaegher had made its way from Belgium to be here.
While not a new bike, the Team Amani Factor Ostro Gravel always draws the eye in a crowd.
This colourway I was not familiar with though.
The head tube was tiny on this small frame, and there is plenty of room for a larger tyre still.
This Guava is about as close as a bike could get to being a hometown hero, as Guava are based in the Catalan region of Spain, just down the road in Barcelona.
A carbon Gemini chainring – very nice indeed.
Here’s a bike that was piloted to third place in the men’s 360 under Simen Nordahl Svendsen.
While the PAS Racing team all wear the same kit, they each are effectively privateers and ride different bikes.
Titanium bottle cages again, tastefully anodised to offset against the black.
A SRAM XX rather than the top end XO rear derailleur here.
Zipp’s new 303 XPLR super wide gravel wheels, shod with (you guessed it) some Schwalbe Thunder Burt mountain bike tyres.
This Fara cockpit is very unusual, and was apparently matte to begin with but Svendsen has polished it smooth with hours and hours of riding.
Ok, nobody tell the UCI and we can all get away safely.
A very neat Exposure light mount, though I imagine this may have been illuminating more of the sky than the trail at this angle.
Svendsen was unusual in that he ran a dropper post.
While it doesn’t look the most secure the light was still attached at the finish.
Why are you taking a photo of someone’s shoe, Will? Well, it’s attached to a pair of titanium Crankbrothers Eggbeater pedals which can go for just shy of €400, that’s why.
Again, the not quite ubiquitous but very nearly so CeramicSpeed solid pulley wheels.
And another very light saddle, this one from Berk.
Propped against a booth I managed to grab five minutes with Mattia de Marchi’s Basso Palta. De Marchi not only raced the 360, but backed it up by riding the 200, too.
The deep purple paint was pretty lovely in the Spanish sunshine.
While gravel groupsets dominated, De Marchi was using a Campagnolo Super Record wireless groupset, which is the most expensive on the market.
I imagine he could make use of Ekar, Campagnolo’s gravel groupset, but he’d then have to use cables which I think might be illegal in Girona.
This Supernova light was very neatly mounted under his stem.
Custom graphics were applied to his Fulcrum Sharq wheelset. I’m a big fan of these wheels; they’re super stable in crosswinds and nearly silent too.
Pirelli tyres rounded out an extremely italian build.
The old sandpaper inside the bottle cages trick from time immemorial.
An aftermarket CarbonTi top cap and aluminium headset compression bolt were on show too.
Raw carbon has somewhat fallen out of fashion, but if you’re still into it (as I am) you’ll get a kick out of this 3T.
Adam Roberge did have the new Felt Breed, and was also using Tufo tyres, which we very rarely see.
Sarah Sturm rode to a podium spot for the third year in a row, though by her own admission was pretty disappointed. Her S-Works Crux though had a beautiful paint scheme.
This Revelate Designs bag had its logo sharpied out.
Alec Briggs of Tekkers Racing had a WRX Subaru Impreza inspired Canyon Grail on show. Briggs himself used to own one, which goes some way to explaining the commitment to the bit.
Gold painted Lightweight wheels, and not even the gravel ones. That’d be an expensive rock strike…
Yep, that’s a wooden bike. It’s made by Ornus bikes, based in Italy.
The joining work around the bottom bracket is certainly impressive.
Lights were mandatory for the 360, and this wee little orange one was by far my favourite.
I couldn’t find anything on this ‘Iggy’. It’s cool though, and was one of many bespoke steel machines.
Rodagira, based in Portugal, are primarily a fixie brand, but this was a very tasty gravel machine.
A custom painted ENVE stem and fork matched the frameset.
There were a few Posedla saddles kicking about. I have one on the way, and they can be custom printed to match your behind with a kit that comes to your door.
There were a few Canyon bikes with suspension forks hidden quite badly. Something is clearly in the works here.
Of all the bespoke bikes this was by far my favourite. The owner told me it was made by his friend in his garage.
Another Gemini chainring rounded out a pretty trick build.
But it was this drive side chainstay arrangement that was the standout feature.
Plus the additional bracing going on at the bottom bracket.
And finally a very tastefully done integrated seatpost topper.
Berd nylon spokes were a rarity, but I saw at least two bikes with them on.
If you aren’t matching your Zipp 303 XPLR decals to your bike what’s even the point?
Beach Club makes some incredibly vibey bikes, but they are a real unicorn spot.
This was one of the brand’s first ever outputs I am told.
Just the right amount of bite.
While it’s recently been updated to have a standard chainstay arrangement, the old Allied Able is an interesting bike to behold.
These pulley wheels on a random Standert I haven’t seen before.
Alex McCormack was the only rider I spotted using the new Wahoo Elemnt Ace.
He rode the 560, but dipped out after some time and ‘just had a 15 hour training ride’. Here he’s running a suspension stem to help him stay in the skis on rough ground.
His Fairlight Secan is apparently a hybrid model using the rear end of the old 2.5 and the front tubes from the new 3.0 version.
A solid Wolf Tooth chainring should at least be easier to clean the muck off.
One for the #BikesOFInstagram album, this, belonging to Jaime Pintado Ruiz of Pas Normal.
A very sludgy Enve MOG left idly on a bike stand while its owner got a beer.
And a very tasty Stelbel in the same situation.
While pastel shades and muted tones are the fashion, it’s nice to see this Dolan owner sticking two fingers up to that.
Danni Shrosbree was racing aboard a brand new, and custom painted, Argon 18 Dark Matter.
Rob Britton’s Factor Ostro Gravel was decked out in cartoonish graphics.
A bit of a graffiti vibe, maybe?
Taylor Phinney, a Girona Local, was also riding on an old Allied Able that (if I’m not mistaken) he hand painted himself, at least over the original factory paint.
These white bags from POC aren’t something I’ve ever seen before, and were very 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Considering there was some hike-a-bike on the course barely anyone opted for overshoes.
Here’s a closer look at that new Canyon x DT Swiss gravel fork.
I reckon we’re looking at about 30mm of travel, with a remote lockout on the bar.
This Ribble had ‘PROTOTYPE’ painted in large letters so as to be easily spotted by journalists, but I still only managed to get this shot before it was whisked away.
And finally, away from the main event I spotted this very trick S-Works Crux leant up against the wall of a pizza joint,
Superlight carbon bottle cages? Check.
Superlight Bjorn handlebars? Check.
Superlight Bjorn stem, custom painted to match? Check. Plus a Bjorn computer mount.
Superlight Bjorn seatpost and saddle combo? Also check.
That’s your lot folks, I hope you got a decent flavour of what was on show here at The Traka. Gravel racing is continuing to grow in popularity each year, so it won’t be long until you get another one to pore over I’m sure.
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