Danni Shrosebree, Dylan Johnson and Adam Roberge have bound together to become Team Felt UN1TD. James Ion gets the lowdown on the newest “collective” to hit the gravel race scene, as well as some tips and tricks to help get you riding stronger and faster!

Let us not kid ourselves, being a professional rider is tough and it's even tougher when you live like a nomad on the privateer circuit. No one is going to do you any favours or wait for you if you have a bad day. 

Image courtesy of @La Santa Vall

“I won't lie, it is not all plain sailing”, Danni Shrosbree tells me “Social media is great at portraying the amazing parts of racing, cycling and travelling, But, behind closed doors, the 5 am training starts before work each morning take their toll”. Despite the toll, Danni went on to finish fourth on debut at Unbound and secured her place in the LifeTime Grand Prix in 2024. 

Veteran racers Dylan Johnson and Adam Roberge got to know each other on the Jukebox Team, another collective, which came to an end last season, which is when their management agency stepped in.“Inspire Athlete Management has been working hard to put together a collective “team” for a while now.” says Peter Cosentino “IAM represents professional cyclists in all disciplines, including Dylan, Adam, and Danni. In our efforts to help support privateer racers, the idea of a collective to distribute resources amongst the riders made a lot of sense.”

A collective rather than a team, a united front to take on the gravel races and trails of North America. It's quite a collaborative process especially in such a difficult scene, with each rider bringing their knowledge and experience to make the group stronger, yet still retain their sense of self. “Each rider continues to compete as an independent” informs Simon Williams from IAM. “However, whenever possible, some expenses and resources can be shared amongst the athletes and that is where a program like this can really shine. Each rider can custom tailor their program for the year, while enjoying some of the benefits and support of a team.”

Self-portrait image courtesy of @Adam Roberge

Last year Adam got, unfairly, criticised for using road race tactics in a gravel race, which is absurd as all racers use tactics. How are his fellow racers addressing this, is there talk among the peloton, or is it something of nothing? Quite rightly Adam tells us this is a conflict from the past and the whole incident does appear to be a storm in a teacup. However, it is an issue that keeps raising its head especially when the “spirit of gravel” comes into question. This is of course subjective and one could argue that forming a collective like Felt UN1TD brings the spirit to the fore. Spirit or no, gravel racing is evolving, “We believe that we will see more collectives and teams, similar to ours” says Micheal Chan of IAM. “It’s really hard to get the support you need as a privateer, which is what inspired us to start this program in the first place.” 

Danni has already started her season over in Europe racing the first leg of the Gravel Earth Series at Santa Val in Spain “The turnout was amazing. World tour riders rocking up and all sorts across both the men’s and women’s racing. It was such a competitive field and some immensely hard racing! Was cool to see”. 

Deeper and more professional fields are being seen more and more as some of the best riders turn to Gravel. Tactics must start to become an even bigger part of racing, but how do Dylan and Adam see this? “Dylan, most of the time, takes too many pulls [on the front], so I guess he's always helping me” jokes Adam, “My ‘strategic collaboration’ with Dylan is to be confirmed” but what he can say is that “this unified program, which blends individual support with team synergy, presents a fantastic opportunity for us to collectively uplift and enhance each other's performances.” 

Danni will not be able to benefit from any race day tactic support from the boys, but this collective will help her with her big goals of the season. “I would love to do a good result at unbound again of course. But Traka is also a key one and Badlands at the end of the year of course. I would love to qualify for the Worlds again and get a decent result there!”

Simon, Peter and Micheal are the men behind the scenes. The amount of money involved in gravel racing is only getting bigger, as are the sponsors who want a return on their investment. How does this fit in with the ethos and the collective spirit?

“The collective is an excellent marketing opportunity for both brands and athletes” states Simon. “Each athlete brings their unique mix of followers. The athletes help amplify each other’s messages through the collective, and vice versa”

So, a collective approach, may not lead to a deluge of road race tactics but it will allow riders to fulfil their potential with the background support and the team synergy that is missing from the privateer model. And what's the goal for Felt UN1TD? Adam puts it simply “Winning as many gravel races as possible is the goal!”

Image courtesy of @taylorfarman

Dylan Johnson’s Hot Takes:

Dylan Johnson is as well known for his YouTube channel as his riding skills, so it made sense to take the opportunity to pick his brain about strength training and upgrades for normal people.

Strength Training:

“To be honest, strength training for "normal people" and strength training for fast people really shouldn't look that different at all” suggests Dylan. “Without question, the number one exercise is the squat. Hopefully, you have access to a gym or a squat rack because the main muscle group that you will want to focus on if you want to get faster on the bike is the quads and because they are so strong they require a lot of weight to adequately stress. Doing air squats or squats with stuff you can find around the house really won't cut it after the first couple of sessions. If you invest it should be well worth it though, there is plenty of research that shows that heavy squats specifically improve power output on the bike.”

Upgrades:

“The first place I would start is tyres, I actually think that tyres may be the most important piece of equipment for gravel racing. This is because they affect comfort, handling, and speed, there is a pretty big difference in rolling resistance between the slowest and fastest tyres, and punctures are common in gravel and picking the right tyre prevents that from happening in the first place. 

 I think the industry has gravel tyre size wrong right now. There is almost no course where I would even consider a 38 or 40 and yet that's a pretty standard size to see. Instead, I'm usually on tyres wider than 45mm and lately have been using tyres over 50mm with even better results. This isn't because I ‘feel’ like wider tyres might be faster, more comfortable and handle better. It's because I've tested them and they ‘are’ faster, more comfortable and handle better and I'd go as far as to say the current crop of lightweight XC mountain bike tyres have a lower rolling resistance than the equivalent gravel tyre.

 Fortunately compared to other parts on the bike, tyres are relatively cheap to upgrade, so that is where I would start. Whatever tyres your gravel bike came with are probably too small, I would go bigger. In fact, I would go as big as the clearance in your frame will allow for most gravel riding. Some of my favourites are the 47mm Specialized Pathfinder Pros, 45mm Pirrelli Cinterato, 45mm Continental Terra Speed, and 2.1 Schwalbe Thunder Burt.”

Image courtesy of @alexeroot

The Bike:

All three riders will be aboard the Felt Breed Carbon, a machine built for speed, how did the team get involved with Felt, who came up with the brilliant paint job and what are their first impressions?

“Well, the bikes have just gotten into the hands of the athletes recently, so we’ll have to wait to see what they think. First impressions seem positive though!” says Peter “Felt was a brand that we felt (no pun intended) shared similar values to us and to the athletes. They are a brand that is truly focused on performance, as our athletes clearly are. As for the paint job, Lumarcolors helped bring to life the bold branding of the team. Keep your eyes peeled for the matching kit soon too”

Will Felt be allowing Dylan to fiddle around with the set-up? If so, what do you have planned?

“Right from the beginning, Felt has recognized Dylan’s analytical mind and has always been open to him playing around with the set-up, no matter how unorthodox. Felt is looking to UN1TD for rider feedback, and this group is the best you can ask for to put these bikes through their paces. In the few short weeks, Dylan has had his bike, there have already been numerous experiments in the works. We will have to wait to see what he ends up with at each of the races… even we don’t know!”

So how does Dylan feel about his new ride, will he be making any adjustments? “Absolutely, the Felt Breed Carbon gravel bike is actually the perfect bike for it and may squash the need for a drop bar hardtail. The bike has suspension-ready geometry meaning that when you throw a gravel suspension fork on it doesn't change the position or handling of the bike. Of course, my favourite feature of the frame is the massive tyre clearance. I have 2.1 MTB tyres in the bike right now with some room to spare which again is perfect for those drop bar hardtail courses. I have some other ideas in mind for certain races this season so keep an eye on how this build evolves.”