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.
Last Updated March 4, 2025– Event for 2026 not confirmed yet…A favorite among gravel aficionados, Rock Cobbler is a quirky and challenging adventure race in/around the surrounding hills of Bakersfield, California. Rated…
Last Updated March 4, 2025– Event for 2026 not confirmed yet… The Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona 2026, sponsored by Canyon Bikes, is a unique desert and mountain gravel experience known as the…
Last updated March 26, 2025 — Event for 2026 has not been confirmed yet… Now celebrated on its own weekend, the True Grit Gravel Epic 2026 has become a highlight for cyclists…
Last updated May 5, 2025 The 2026 event has not been confirmed yet… This will be the seventh edition of the Belgian Waffle Ride (BWR) Utah 2026 in Cedar City, which is…
Last updated May 6, 2025 The 2026 event has not been confirmed yet… This will be the 15th edition of the Belgian Waffle Ride California (Del Mar) 2026, one of the world’s…
Last updated May 6, 2025 The 2026 event has not been confirmed yet… The Whiskey Tango Fondo 2026, affectionately known as WTF, is not your typical cycling event; it’s an extraordinary fusion…
Last updated June 21, 2025 The 2026 event has not been confirmed yet… The Lost and Found Gravel Festival 2026 is a celebration of Gravel Cycling in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The event…
Last updated July 28, 2025 The 2026 event has not been confirmed yet… Crusher in the Tushar 2026 is a popular gravel event celebrated and rated by Strambecco as one of the Best…
Last updated October 24, 2025 The 2026 event date is not confirmed yet… Heart of Gold Gravel 2026, produced by Bike Monkey, explores remote roads north and east of Nevada City, California.…
Last updated November 6, 2025 The event for 2026 has not been confirmed yet… The Spirit World 100 2026 is a gravel cycling event and festival held in Patagonia, Arizona, known for its…
Last updated November 6, 2025 The event for 2026 has not been confirmed yet… The Bovine Classic 2026 is a relatively new event billed tongue in cheek as “America’s 4th Hardest, Cow-Themed, Wine…
Last updated November 23, 2025 The 2026 event date is not confirmed yet… Rexy Co2uT 2026 (Colorado to Utah), aka Queen of the Desert, is designed not just as a race but…




















