Kevin's story: Gravel Worlds

BaseCamp athlete Kevin Davey shared his experience at the 2026 Gravel Worlds bike race in Nebraska.

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Gravel Worlds: Sub-11 Hours and a Sprint I Didn’t See Coming

Gravel Worlds had been on the calendar for a while. Summer training went a little…off target, let’s say. Confidence wasn’t at an all-time low, but it wasn’t exactly oozing out of me either. Somewhere between “I got this” and “why did I sign up for this,” if that makes sense.

The day before, I rolled through the finish arch just to check it out. “Welcome Home, Gravel Family” stretched across the banner, red and white against a clear Nebraska sky. Quiet for now, before all the noise of race day. Snapped a photo of the finish line view: big day tomorrow!

Conditions were about as good as gravel racing gets. Dry, no rain to turn things into soup, cooler than the Midwest can throw at you in August sometimes. Except my computer clocked a peak of 117°F at one point—all that heat coming straight up off the gravel even though the air itself felt fine. You don’t notice it in the moment, just later when you look at the data and go, huh.

Wasn’t out there alone either. Over 60 BaseCamp athletes toed the line across all the distances -- runs, tris, everything -- and getting to actually meet so many of them in person, after months of just seeing names in group chats and workout comments, was probably one of the best parts of the whole weekend. Many of the coaches showed up too. Felt less like a race, more like a reunion of people who’d all been quietly grinding toward the same day.