Q36.5 redefines the meaning of gravel riding with their 4-day Dolomite camps

The company presents an extreme version of cycling kit. Their gravel camps are no different.

We are high in the Dolomites outside Bolzano - a spider’s web of alpine rock, mountain passes, rugged towns, single-track, steep pavement and the occasional gravel road (as they are more conventionally defined). Within hours of our arrival at a members-only gravel event, I wonder why I’m not on a trail bike - a curiosity I share with one or two others. I focus on sending descents and staying upright. As the warm-up ride progresses, we head deeper into the mountains. Roads worsen, turning from rock to loose rock to forested single-track. I am so far out of my depth and I know it. And I’m on a gravel bike. The only thing to do is to try and hang on.

This is gravel riding with Q36.5 in South Tyrol - a company so intentionally extreme it is written in their vision statement. In seven years since it was created, it has built a reputation for this exceptionalism, tailoring kit not for the masses, but only for the very serious enthusiast. Days one through four at this event — one of three they currently host every year — mirrors this ethos. The routes are hard and led by several ex professionals - roadies with an expanded playground courtesy of all-road bikes (or basically road frames spec’d with knobby tires) who love to show it off.

By Friday’s 58 kilometre loop to the Passo Oclini (with roots, rocks and plenty of hike-a-bike), my definition of “gravel” ride is obliterated. Save for several blissful stretches of tunnelled forest road (built to transport supplies into the mountains during the First World War), I unclip over and over as said ex-pros make terrain appear flat. We stare at one another perplexed — me at them confused, them at me equally so.

Bikes of the bunch: Grevil’s from Pinarello on offer to several riders at the weekend camp.

We are the only people on these roads without mountain bikes. Q36.5 camp chief and retired pro Mario Kummer shrugs off the suggestion that this is anything but normal. I think about this repeatedly staring down 21 percent drops over rock, not road, white-knuckling my gravel bars for reassurance. “This is just a matter of confidence and ability acquired over time,” he says to me over conversation later in the hotel matter of factly. “Perhaps,” I reply, but as I descend on foot, lamenting my 11 x 32 cassette once more, so dramatically under geared, I hardly find the thought reassuring.

Being under-geared however is the least of my problems, I tell myself, pushing my Cinelli uphill yet again on another stretch of playing catch-up. There is nothing democratic about Q36.5 - the kit and the camps - and I get the impression they like it that way.

An Adventure Collection suited to its environment There is no better place to develop kit for adventure rides than in the Dolomites. The region is rich with terrain, weather, language and culture - each ride is so different it tells its own story. To get through the four days of riding in weather and at altitude, participants got their hands on several pieces from Q36.5‘s 2020 adventure collection: a lightly insulated gilet, a pair of Gregarious cargo salopettes (bibs) and several other accessories. Tipping the scales at 115 grams, the gilet proves invaluable on strudel stops (of which there are several). It packs very small in the palm of our hand and stows away beautifully in jersey pockets (though it had two pockets of its own). Overtop the three-season long sleeve we wore most of the trip, it cuts wind and adds warmth to temperatures that dropped when over 2000m. I have already deemed it essential for cool weather; a piece I will use to layer in winter, too.

Similarly nothing is missed with the Gregarious cargo bibs. Two tightly woven mesh pockets store plenty of bananas (old joke), keys, phones and other items while keeping everything safely stowed. Every bit as comfortable as several other Q bibs we’ve worn: equally compressive, form fitting and featuring the company’s signature chamois (which is durable and wears incredibly well over time). Both the bibs and gilet feature in signature black with neon green accents - technical bits of kit developed purely by necessity. They make the riding no less hard, but mentally, they help. A little.

Hike-a-bike anyone? This last 500 meters of ascent was one of many sections that might have been better climbed on a trail bike.

Merciless ascents over loose rock I’m not sure what my expectations were about four days billed as a “gravel experience” were. With no routes or GPX files shared prior to the start of camp, I guess there weren’t any - just steep Dolomite climbs as per their reputation and a previous trip to the area for the Maratona. In the moment, when you’re struggling to put descents together, expectation is washed away, however, replaced by a desire to find your line, keep pedalling and to apply the capabilities of your machine and the rider to its given environment. Being constantly at the limit of perceived capability is an entirely new experience to most - myself included - and it was one I was forced to embrace just about every minute of riding around Kaltern with Q. Nothing made sense at the time, while hindsight, as usual, is making things only slightly more clear.

By joining the Veloce Club, anyone can join the Q36.5 events, try new kit and ride roads and routes you might not find independently. As mentioned and similar to the RCC, Q36.5 has plans to run several of these road and gravel camps every year, expanding them based on demand. Everything — from accommodations to meals to bike maintenance to massage — is looked after, operating like a pro camp for several days of riding in the mountains. A prepped bike awaits you in the morning, having been washed and greased the night before, for example, and all one must do is swing a leg over and embrace the chaos.

As it sits in one of Italy’s most productive regions for wine and agriculture, this is undeniably as spectacular a location for riding as you’ll find anywhere in the Alps. The devil is in the details however; a full suspension XC or trail bike might be the addition needed for some to make the riding more accessible. For others, it is perhaps just time and experience, as suggested. In any case, the camp is distinctly run by one of (if not the) best apparel maker in cycling that continues to up its game. Pushing experienced riders to re-examine definitions of what’s possible on a gravel bike is perhaps just another manifestation of a desire to explore the boundaries of a sport bent on convention. Whatever the case, I’m already plotting a return in 2021.

Special thanks to Q36.5 for having HNH at their autumn gravel experience and for Haus am Hang for hosting and serving outstanding food and wine throughout our stay.