Best Gravel Cycling Races Southwest 2025
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.
Updated November 5, 2024 A favorite among gravel aficionados, Rock Cobbler is a quirky and challenging adventure race in/around the surrounding hills of Bakersfield, California. Rated by Strambecco as one of the…
Last Updated October 28, 2024 The Third Annual Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona, sponsored by Canyon Bikes, is a unique desert and mountain gravel experience known as the Hell of the North Desert.…
Last Updated November 26, 2024 Now celebrated on its own weekend, the True Grit Gravel Epic has become a highlight for cyclists aiming to conquer the wild backcountry of Southern Utah and…
Last updated October 28, 2024 This will be the seventh edition of the Belgian Waffle Ride (BWR) Utah in Cedar City, which is in the stunning Southwest corner of Utah and is…
Last updated October 28, 2024 This will be the 15th edition of the Belgian Waffle Ride California (Del Mar) 2025, one of the world’s most unique and respected gravel cycling experiences. In…
Last updated November 13, 2024 The Whiskey Tango Fondo 2025, affectionately known as WTF, is not your typical cycling event; it’s an extraordinary fusion of two passions—cycling and fine spirits. And it…
Last Updated May 25, 2024 — Stetina’s Carson City Paydirt 2025 has become a favorite gravel event among riders and was picked by Strambecco as one of the Best Gravel Cycling Race…
Last Updated July 5, 2024 — The 2025 event date is not confirmed — The Lost and Found Gravel Festival is a celebration of Gravel Cycling in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The…
Last updated August 18, 2024– The 2025 event date is not confirmed — Crusher in the Tushar is a popular gravel event celebrated and rated by Strambecco as one of the Best…
Last updated November 10, 2025 The 2025 event date is not confirmed — Heart of Gold Gravel 2025, produced by Bike Monkey, explores remote roads north and east of Nevada City, California.…
Last updated December 1, 2024 The Spirit World 100 – 2025 is a gravel cycling event and festival held in Patagonia, Arizona, known for its unique blend of challenging courses and vibrant community…
Last updated November 26, 2024– The Bovine Classic is a relatively new event billed tongue in cheek as “America’s 4th Hardest, Cow-Themed, Wine Country Experience” and an event that our team at…
Last updated December 1, 2024 The 2025 event date is not confirmed — Rexy Co2uT (Colorado to Utah), aka Queen of the Desert, is designed not just as a race but as…