Sunday, June 2nd 2024
Hammondsport, NY
About The Race
Presented by Steuben Brewing Company, the Keuka Lake Gravel Classic will host hundreds of riders from all over the country as they traverse the challenging and scenic dirt roads of the Finger Lakes beer and wine country.
The event offers two course distances that will feature vistas and vineyards, soul-crushing climbs and gnarly descents. The routes offer fast hard racing for traditional elite and masters racers and exciting challenges for gran fondo riders and new cyclists alike.
Following the races, all riders are invited to celebrate at our after party featuring prizes, music, food, and locally brewed beverages at Steuben Brewing Company.
About Steuben Brewing Company
One of the state’s best breweries, Steuben Brewing Company, offers incredible craft beers brewed with 100 % New York State ingredients in the heart of the region’s best riding and hiking terrain.
Owner, Chad Zimar and Race Director Blaine Mays, are life-long residents of Keuka Lake and have been friends since childhood. They love to share their passion for the outdoors as the brewery offers a cycling club and regular hiking adventures. Join them for a group and learn more about the brewery.
About The Course
Both the long and short courses begin at Steuben Brewing Company where riders will drop down through an old vineyard for a scenic mixed surface start along Keuka Lake.
After a short warm up, riders climb the first of several challenging hills through one of the countries oldest wine regions. This epic climb, where there is sure to be a crowd of cheering locals, leads to the first ridge crest of the day before dropping into some seasonal roads.
At this point in the ride the course splits with short course riders getting some pavement relief before tackling some more rolling gravel roads.
Long course riders are just beginning the challenges as they connect to the old Prattsburgh Gravel Classic course and race the beautiful Urbana State Forrest. In this part of the course riders will climb Newton hill before the famed technical Newton descent, rip through the Harrisburgh Hollow trails, tackle a new climb up Randleville Road, and then descent the area’s most iconic and longest-standing course feature, Hungry Hollow.
Long course riders will then reconnect with the short course for a series of rolling paved and dirt roads before descending on Toby Road for a gorgeous seasonal-use shred through more vineyards that overlook Keuka Lake, leading to the finish and after party at Steuben Brewing Company.
Our Featured Guest
Curtis J White is a professional cyclocross racer who competes across the US and Europe against the world’s best riders. For the last three seasons he has been in the top 20 at the Cyclocross World Championships while representing the US National team.
Additionally Curtis was the 2018 Pan American Champion and the silver medalists in the 2021 US National Championships. In 2022, Curtis won the USCX series championship!
Curtis, a New York native, first raced gravel in the Finger Lakes in 2019: in 2023 he will return to elevate the competition, defend his 2022 win, and enjoy the New York Curtis Cyclocross Pilsner, brewed by Steuben Brewing Company.
Learn more about Curtis on his podcast, In the Red with Curtis White, available on iTunes, Amazon Music, Spotify or anywhere you get your podcasts.
Event History
We all know that master rider who claims to have been riding gravel “before gravel was cool.” While the Keuka Gravel Classic is a first-year race, the Finger Lakes Region was far ahead of its time when it came to gravel events as it began hosting dirt road races in 2008 with the inception of The Ramble Around Prattsburgh.
Beginning as mostly a mountain bike race on dirt roads, the Ramble Around Prattsburgh evolved to host cyclocross racers before a name change in 2015 when Sam Patch Promotions began hosting the event, dubbing the race the Prattsburgh Gravel Classic – part of the nationally known, Durty Bikes Gravel Series.
From there the race grew to feature gravel racers of all abilities, from beginners to some of the top professionals in the world before morphing into its current version at Steuben Brewing.
However, Keuka Lake’s claim to cycling fame predates even the Ramble Around Prattsbugh as it was home to aviation and cycling pioneer Glen Curtiss born in 1878. Before making a name for himself in aviation and motorcycles, Curtiss built bicycles and was an avid rider on many of the roads featured on this year’s course. Curtiss’ impact still plays a heavy role in local culture with a museum dedicated to his work and located a little south of the brewery.
Race Rules
Violations of any of the rules below could lead to being DQed! Promoter reserves the right to shift start times, change course layout, and combine fields based on safety issues and field sizes. Be sure to check your pre-race email for all final details before race day.
- All riders must wear a helmet
- All courses are open to traffic so follow the rules of the road
- Do not litter on course.
- Be cool to everyone: volunteers, other racers, spectators, locals etc. A lot of people work hard to put this together, help us continue it by being cool.
- You can race any bike you want (as long as it’s not an e-bike) but we recommend an mtb or cross bike. Road bikes are not advised.
- No e-bikes in the competitive field.
- Much of the gravel is rocky and loose with some big stones on the descent. We recommend a wide tire of 38mm – 40 mm.
- Some people ride and some people race and that’s cool, but if you’re not going to race please line up towards the back of the field at the start line.
- Keep Fat Bikes Fat: bikes in the Fat Bike Division should have 3.8-inch tires or wider. Racers who enter a plus-sized mtb bikes will be DQed.
Short course is non-competitive. All riders must follow the rules of the road at all times. Traffic will NOT stop at intersections on short course. Ebikes are legal in this field.