If we just posted this image, plus a link to the event website, we suspect quite a few of you wouldn’t read any further and would just decide to sign up anyway. That’s the power of a spellbinding image like this.
We had never heard of the town of Guadix before, but it’s now well and truly on our gravel event radar. The organisers of this year’s Octopus Gravel have decided to take their event knowhow south to find the autumn sunshine and have laid on a “ three-day gravel festival with a truly spectacular event course, unique housing and live music to meet like-minded gravel grinders from all over Europe!”
The Guadix Gravel Festival will take place from the 20th to 23rd of October in Guadix, Spain and provides “three full days of entertainment, breath-taking event courses, unique housing in cuevas, sponsor exhibition, delicious local food specialities and live music at the finish area.”
We chatted with the event organiser, Janosch Wintermantel, to get some inside scoop on the event. “ I first rode here last year when I came for a video project for SCOTT Sports and then again a few mounts later to race in the Badlands gravel event. This area was one of the regions that the Badlands course passed through, but I wanted to come back and spend more time riding here. As I started to spend more time here, I realised there was way more riding than just the section which the Badlands route covers. I wanted to put on a gravel festival here, so that gravel riders could experience more of the region. It's not just about gravel racing though – there will be live music and DJs playing on the Friday and Saturday nights.”
Something that makes the Guadix event different to many of the other gravel events out there is that the headline price includes accommodation for three nights, two breakfasts, two dinners and feed zones out on the course which will showcase some of the local specialties.
The event accommodation is pretty special too – event participants will stay in local Guadix cave houses called "cuevas". It is the Spanish word for caves and the cuevas are fully equipped apartments built inside the hills in and around Guadix. Participants can choose between sharing rooms with one other participant, having their own room in a shared cueva or having their own private cueva. There is an option to camp too if you want to sleep out under the stars.
As it’s the first year for the event, the organisers are going to deliberately keep the numbers low, but with such a great combination of trails, landscape, accommodation, climate and culture, they think it has the potential to become “the place” for gravel riding in Europe in the future.
Entries are open now and tickets are priced from €185. You can find out all the details and sign up at the event website