What Are the Ingredients of a Great Gravel Route?
Sometimes… Nettles.
One of the things we’ve always believed at RideStaffs — and now as part of PAU — is that if you’re going to organise cycling events, you should probably spend a lot of time actually riding bikes.
That sounds obvious, but it’s a huge part of why the partnership between RideStaffs and PAU works so naturally. Riding bikes is genuinely part of the DNA of both businesses. Between the café, the shop, the workshop, the events and the regular rides, bikes are pretty much woven into everyday life here.
Which means that “work days” quite often involve disappearing into the Staffordshire lanes and gravel sectors with a GPS device and a vague idea that something looked rideable on a map.
Sometimes it works brilliantly.
Sometimes it absolutely does not.
This week Paul and I headed out to check some of the gravel sectors and feed station locations for Made of Stone 2026. Most of the day was exactly what we hoped for — quiet lanes, brilliant gravel, scenic roads and some really satisfying route connections starting to come together.
Then we found what looked like a potentially amazing new off-road section.
On the map it looked perfect.
In reality it turned out to be:
- mud
- nettles
- hike-a-bike
- regret
Safe to say that one probably won’t be making the final route.
That’s part of what goes into building events like Made of Stone though. There’s a lot more behind the scenes than simply drawing a line on a map and sending people out to ride it. We spend a huge amount of time checking surfaces, linking sections together, testing route flow, finding good feed stop locations and making sure the riding feels challenging, rewarding and enjoyable rather than just hard for the sake of it.
And honestly, we feel pretty lucky that this is part of our jobs.
The best routes usually come from riding with curiosity, making the occasional terrible decision and discovering roads and trails you’d never have found otherwise.
You can watch a bit of this week’s route testing below — including the section that definitely won’t be making the final cut…
Made of Stone takes place on 28 June and includes:
- 50km Road
- 100km Road
- 100km Gravel / Mixed Surface
You can find full event details and enter here:
And if you see us disappearing down an overgrown bridleway somewhere in Staffordshire over the next few weeks, there’s a fair chance we’re “working”.
