Professional gravel racing is a minority part of our sport and female pro racers make up an even smaller part of the sector. Even though the numbers are relatively small, professional women racers should be entitled to the same experience when they are racing as their male counterparts. At the minute, this isn't happening and there are both rider safety issues and fairness of competition to consider. In this month's Gravel Union Talks, our guest is Caroline Livesey, pro gravel racer and newly crowned Scottish National Gravel Champion and staunch advocate for levelling the playing field in pro-women's gravel racing.

Gravel Union Talks is a podcast series full of inspiring stories, news and events from the world of gravel biking. Each month hosts Carlo and Olly will be chatting with guests who are passionate about riding off the beaten track… adventure riding, bike packing and gravel racing. 

In this episode:

Guests: 

• Caroline Livesey, professional gravel racer and extreme triathlete
• Gravel Union Talks podcast with hosts Carlo van Nistelrooy and Olly Townsend.
• GU’s editor-in-chief Olly on last month’s most popular articles on the Gravel Union platform.

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Links for the notes

•     Gravel Inspiration – Size does matter

  • When it comes to comfort, the maxim of ‘the bigger the better’ definitely applies to tyre volume on gravel bikes. We’re increasingly seeing this trend in the professional ranks in gravel racing, but until fairly recently, having capacity for bigger volume tyres was limited mainly to men’s bikes. A few companies though have realised that women gravel riders are also looking for the perfect combination of comfort and speed. Liv launched their Devote gravel bike back in 2020 and the latest version ticks all the boxes for women riders who want to get really off the beaten track. 

• Gravel Inspiration – Golden Ride Magazine - the gravel edition

  • In an era where the vast majority of cycling media is digital only, discovering a new-to-us print magazine is a real pleasure. Golden Ride magazine have already published more than 70 editions, but we only just found them! With that perfect combination of stunning imagery, thought-provoking stories and of course, the beautiful sensation of having a high quality print magazine in your hands, we can highly recommend getting hold of a copy.

• Raising awareness of Lyme disease and gravel riding

  • It’s the middle of summer and you’re out gravel riding with a group of buddies. At the top of a long climb onto a beautiful ridgeline you sprawl on the grass, relaxing, pondering life and watching the sunset. But a week later you start to feel unwell and you discover a rash which looks roughly like a ‘bulls eye.’ It’s possible that you’ve been bitten by a tick bearing Borrelia, a spirochete bacteria. If you get medical help promptly then it can be treated, but left untreated (or undiagnosed) then the risk is that you could develop Lyme Disease.