Gravel rides or gravel grinding have become quite popular, with many road cyclists now participating in organised gravel events or races. Increasingly, we are starting to see more road events include gravel roads within their events, like Amy’s Gran Fondo, Gears & Beers, and the Noosa Strade Bianchi.
So in this list, you’ll find a number of different gravel cycling events that include pavement to gravel road, dirt track or sand. Plus you’ll find gravel rides and gravel events near Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. As well as in regional areas in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory. You’ll also find single day and multi day gravel rides.
So if gravel grinding is your thing, or something that you have yet to try, then you’re sure to find some of the best gravel rides in this list!
Oh, and in case you are wondering what gravel cycling is, it’s a form of cycling that takes place on any terrain that falls between sealed asphalt and steep mountains. This usually means unsealed gravel roads like logging, mining and forestry roads, decommissioned service roads, or purpose-built gravel singletracks. Although some gravel paths are very smooth, you should also expect potholes, rock gardens, sand bogs, washboards, and a multitude of other challenges. Gravel biking is less hair-raising than mountain biking, and without road biking’s danger of sharing the road with cars.
Upcoming Gravel Rides and Events
You’ll find a list below of gravel rides and gravel events within Australia. Click on the first little grey box to search for rides by the Terrain (flat, undulating, mountainous, mixed), the Distance (1-40, 41-80, 81-120, 121-160, 161+ km), the Type of Ride (12 hr, 24 hr, Bike Packing, Century, Charity, Gran-Fondo, Multi-day, Race, Recreational, Retro, Tour, Ultra and Women only), the Support (Semi-supported, Supported and Unsupported), the Guiding (Guided, Self-guided, Unguided), and the Location.
Other cycling events
You can find other rides in our online Cycling Event Calendar, which has over 300 events listed in it.
Please don’t forget to leave a review of any rides you’ve attended. This helps other riders to work out if it’s a ride that they want to attend or not! All you have to do is leave a comment at the bottom of the page of the ride page. You can find a list of all the rides here.
And please do contact me if there are any MTB events that are good for recreational riders!