US gravel racing grinds on as more Spring Classics cancelled

Amidst a fast shrinking Spring race calendar, 2019 Dirty Kanza champ Colin Strickland and his METEOR X ALLIED team have announced they will race the Mid South this weekend in Oklahoma - a lone bright spot in racing news as a trio of Belgian Classics are cancelled and the Giro start, with Hungry under a state of emergency, is postponed. It’s all a bit sh*t at the moment.

The Mid South features iconic red roads, ruts, gravel, and plenty of undulating hills. It ain’t Strada Bianche, but it’s something. This years’ start will see 2,700 riders compete, including an elite contingent taking aim at the gravel season’s first major prize. Strickland and team will be on these stealthy looking Allied Able’s - some much welcomed eye-candy amidst all the doom and gloom.

“I am stoked Allied Cycle Works has painted a custom ABLE to match our kits, I can’t wait to put both the kit and the bike through its paces across Mid South’s unforgiving dirt!. If you dig it. STAY TUNED, and RIDE YOUR BIKES!” said Strickland in a press release.

Enjoy the riding this weekend, readers. There will be racing in 2020, just none on European roads anytime soon. Meantime, other races will have a chance to shine, like this one. Images courtesy of Rapha.