Unbound Gravel is the most prestigious gravel cycling race in the world, and several former winners from that race will be on the starting line next week in the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder.

While Unbound is a traditional one-day gravel race staged in late May near Emporia, Kansas, Oregon Trail features five days of racing through the Central Oregon Cascades.

“The thing that continues to make this incredibly unique is it’s the only gravel stage race in North America,” said Chad Sperry, race director of the Oregon Trail. “There’s a couple in Africa and a couple in Europe. It’s kind of intriguing in itself as an event, compared with the more traditional one-day events.”

The Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder started in 2019 and the Central Oregon race has quickly grown to become perhaps the most competitive gravel cycling event on the West Coast.

The five-day gravel cycling race includes about 300 riders pedaling some 360 miles with nearly 30,000 feet of climbing.

The sixth edition of the race starts on Wednesday and runs through Sunday, June 29, on gravel and dirt roads throughout the Central Oregon Cascade Range. The race is fully supported, as riders are set up with camping tents, gourmet food, etc. each night. The race starts and finishes at Seventh Mountain Resort west of Bend.

“As far as pro fields go, there’s probably not another event on the West Coast that’s got the depth and talent of pros that we have coming this year,” Sperry said. “It’s the best we’ve ever seen in the five years of history that we’ve had this event. We’ve got a number of former Unbound winners that will be here.”

That includes this year’s men’s winner Cameron Jones of New Zealand, who claimed victory in the main 200-mile race. Also racing in Central Oregon is Rob Britton, of Vancouver, British Columbia, who won the 350-mile Unbound XL race.

Arguably the best woman in the sport right now, Sophia Gomez Villafane, is back to race this year on the Oregon Trail. The Argentinian who lives in Heber CIty, Utah, won Unbound in 2022 and finished third this year.

“The real exciting thing is, four of the past five winners of the Oregon Trail women’s race will be toeing the line,” Sperry said. “Just some amazingly talented riders, and once again we’re on the World Gravel Circuit with the Gravel Earth Series. So we’ll be getting international attention, and we’ve got a lot of riders coming in from Europe again this year.”

But Central Oregon cyclists are also part of the field, as they always have been. Bend’s Serena Bishop Gordon, who has finished second three times in the Oregon Trail, is back to race. Bishop Gordon finished second in the Unbound XL this year.

Other Bend riders and former Oregon Trail winners Rebecca Fahringer and Carl Decker will also race through the Cascades next week. The Oregon Trail also includes masters, open and junior categories.

Oregon Trail stages

The challenge of the Oregon Trail race is evident by simply looking at the itinerary:

Day 1: Bend to Gilchrist (80.1 miles, 4,463 feet of climbing)

Day 2: Gilchrist to Oakridge (92.8 miles, 5,070 feet of climbing)

Day 3: Oakridge time trial (25.5 miles, 3,106 feet of climbing)

Day 4: Oakridge to McKenzie (west end of McKenzie pass) (86.5 miles, 8,886 feet of climbing)

Day 5: McKenzie to Bend (76.8 miles, 6,162 feet of climbing)

“One major change is we’ve taken out Santiam Pass and we’re sending the riders up and over McKenzie Pass instead,” Sperry said. “That is paved up over 242. Santiam Pass this year is so dry and so gnarly. Spectators are welcome to watch the finish at Seventh Mountain Resort. Or if they want to go out on the course, Dee Wright Observatory would be a great place to hang out and watch these riders come up and over the pass.”

From road to gravel

Sperry is the former race director of the now defunct Cascade Cycling Classic road stage race, an event that was held for 39 years in Central Oregon but has not been staged since 2019. (The one-day Cascade Cycling Classic Criterium has been staged in Bend the past two years.) Sperry switched to producing gravel races to avoid the stress and complications of road stage races, including dealing with increased vehicular traffic in Central Oregon.

Sperry said the Oregon Trail has supplanted the Cascade Cycling Classic as the most prestigious cycling race in Oregon, noting that the Oregon Trail has the deepest pro field on the entire West Coast.

That follows the trend of gravel racing taking over road racing as the most popular form of bike racing in North America.

“Road racing is not coming back in North America,” Sperry said. “Back when we were doing the Cascade Cycling Classic and Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, you could have 45 to 50 road cycling races and events in Oregon in a calendar year, and 10 to 12 major road stage races. The calendar this year has only one road stage race, and eight official road races.”

Sperry, who lives in Redmond, explained that his company Breakaway Promotions has been able to adapt by moving from road cycling races to gravel races. He also produces the Gorge Gravel Grinder each April in Dufur and the Cascade Gravel Grinder in early June in Sisters, both one-day races.

“We don’t even race in the city limits, and we’re utilizing all of these old logging roads and fire roads that are so deep in the forest we may see only three or four cars over an entire day,” Sperry said of the Oregon Trail race. “We’re creating this amazing event, with world-class competition, but we’re not tying up the Bend city streets. It reduces my stress, but most importantly, the community can get behind it because it’s not a massive inconvenience for them.”