The team at Strambecco has carefully curated a list of the best gravel cycling events in the Southwest 2025. This list takes into account various factors such as reputation, route quality, location, rider feedback, and overall uniqueness of the event or race. Spanning across California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, the Southwest terrain offers a stunning array of landscapes, some of the finest cycling terrain in the world.  Mountains, canyons, mesas, buttes, high broad basins, plateaus, desert lands, and plains characteristic of the Basin and Range Province. The entire region features semi-arid to arid terrain, with events in Northern California offering old-growth forests, coastal routes, and cooler temperatures.

For those seeking the best of the Best Gravel Cycling Events Southwest 2025, we recommend events in the Belgian Waffle Ride Series, a North American series offering some of the world’s most highly respected and well-organized gravel events/races in North America.  The Belgian Waffle Ride California (San Diego) is well known among cycling enthusiasts and pros as one of the most difficult bicycle races in the US at 146 miles, 40 of which are off-road sectors.  BWR CA is the culminating event in the Tripel Crown of Gravel Series, a special competition within the full Belgian Waffle Ride Series lineup that involves participation in BWR AZ (March 1-2), BWR UT (April 5-6), BWR CA (27-28).  The series is produced by innovative production company Monuments of Cycling

If you have suggestions for other events we should consider or review; please feel free to get in touch with us or send us a note at editors@strambecco.com. You can also explore our other best guides for the region, including our Best-in-Class picks covering Road 2025 and MTB 2025.