142 miles of Colorado ranch gravel from downtown Steamboat Springs — the flagship UCI Gravel World Series qualifier in the American West.
Build Your Personalized Race Fueling Plan — $19General, evidence-based guidance. Numbers should always be personalized to sweat rate, body mass, fitness and weather.
Evidence supports 60–90 g/hr of mixed glucose:fructose (~1:0.8) for events over 3 h, with trained guts tolerating 100–120 g/hr on gravel. At SBT's altitude most riders sit at the middle of that range on Blue and the lower end late on Black.
Baseline 17–34 fl oz/hr, biased upward on 80 °F+ ranch sections and downward in cool morning shadow. Dry mountain air adds ~7 fl oz/hr of respiratory loss vs sea level.
400–1,000 mg/L of fluid, matched to sweat sodium. Salty sweaters or riders coming from sea level typically need the upper end to avoid late-race cramping on Cow Creek.
3–6 mg/kg body mass split across the race. Common Black-route plan: 100–200 mg pre-start, 100 mg at Steamboat Lake, 100 mg at the base of Cow Creek.
Neutral aids are staffed with water, sports drink, gels and basics — but branded product varies year to year. Plan every calorie yourself; treat aid as bottle refills + salt snacks, not a fueling substitute.
1–4 g/kg carbohydrate 2–4 h before the gun from familiar low-fiber, low-fat foods. Steamboat cafés open early on race day — but experiment with menus in the days before, never race morning.
Fuel by the clock, not by feel. 15-minute head-unit alarm from the neutral rollout on Yampa Street. On Black, force a solid item (rice cake, half a bar) every 90 minutes to buffer gel fatigue.
Within 60 min of the finish: 1.0–1.2 g/kg CHO + 0.3 g/kg protein + fluids to replace 150 % of body-mass loss with sodium. Steamboat's hot springs are legendary — go after you have eaten, not instead of.
Every aid station along the SBT GRVL course, with crew access, drop-bag rules and the fueling action to execute at each stop.
Quick bottle top-off if needed, otherwise ride through. First real fueling check — should already have 40+ g CHO in the tank.
Full reset. Two full bottles, 60 g CHO on board for the run to Cow Creek, second caffeine dose staged, layers off, sunscreen re-applied. < 3 min.
Neutral aid — water and calories. Take one bottle even if not empty, one gel and a salt tab before the climb.
Refill everything. Eat one real item (rice cake, half a sandwich). Confirm cutoff margin. Force calories even if appetite is gone.
Final chance. Force one full bottle and 60 g of carbs even if you feel fine. Save one gel for the last 30 min into Steamboat.
The 5-mile pavement rollout out of town feels controlled — then splinters violently at the first gravel section. Riders who burn matches to hold a wheel here pay for it after mile 80.
20–35 mi between aids at altitude means at least 51 fl oz on the bike between refills. A single bottle empties in 60 min and leaves 60+ min dry.
Treating sea-level FTP as truth on the Cow Creek climb ends the day. Pace by HR or altitude-adjusted power (−7 to −10 %).
Ranch gravel varies from smooth hardpack to washboard to golfball rock. Rehearse casing and pressure on similar terrain — never debut on Yampa Street.
50 °F rollout at 6:30 AM chills fingers and toes. Arm warmers and a light gilet stashed at the first aid cost nothing and preserve the first hour.
High-altitude UV at 8,000 ft on exposed ranches is brutal. A sunburn by mile 60 accelerates dehydration and destroys the last four hours.
Thirst lags fluid deficit by 1–2 % — and at altitude the cue is even blunter. Structured drinking always beats reactive drinking.
Neutral aids on Black are 60–90 min apart. A pre-written card taped to your top tube (bottles, calories, layers, caffeine) prevents 3–5 min of standing decisions per stop.
Little Sugar or Unbound heat playbooks do not transfer. Altitude, dry air and long climbs punish riders who arrive without an altitude-specific plan.
Crew access is limited but real at Steamboat Lake (Black) and the finish. If your crew does not know exactly what to hand up, you will lose minutes and calories.
Get a practical planning document with the course breakdown, aid-station strategy, fueling and hydration worksheets, race-morning timeline, equipment checklist, crew notes, and space for your own plan.
Free calculators, checklists and articles to help you personalize your SBT GRVL plan.
Every athlete is different. FTP, finish time, body weight, sweat rate, weather, nutrition preferences and race goals all change what you should eat and drink.
FuelQ Pro builds a personalized race fueling strategy tuned to your ride — carbohydrate, hydration, sodium, caffeine and recovery, mapped to the course.
A Race Fueling Plan gives you a personalized strategy for this event. The free checklist helps you prepare the basics first: race-week setup, 48-hour prep, race morning, hydration, sodium, caffeine, aid stations, and backup calories.
