World Champs mud: the long road to Edition Zero

By Andrew Young Nannup, Western Australia · Men 50-54 · 10 October 2026

It’s been a couple of weeks since the Gravel World Champs in Nannup, Western Australia. The mud has been washed off, I’ve had a bit of time to recover, and I’ve been thinking back over the race.

We had a great crew staying together in Busselton, with Kiwis from Wellington and Te Awamutu, plus a few now living in Perth and Tasmania. It was good to share the week with people who were just as keen to be there.

Training had gone well, especially with business, family and everything else to fit around it. I’d raced the course earlier in the year and finished on the podium against two very good athletes, so I was keen to see how I’d go against the best in my age group.

Race week in Nannup

We flew in midweek, rode some of the course and got ourselves ready for Saturday. Nannup was full of riders from all over the world. You’d look around and see Marianne Vos, Ben Swift, Florian Vermeersch, Keegan Swenson or Matt Beers. Not your everyday café crowd!

Jeremy Presbury was there to race the elite men. He was having a great day until a puncture put paid to his chances.

Our age groups raced on the same day as the elite women, and it was wet and slippery. Gee Schreurs had a heavy crash, as did a number of age-group riders. We were on the familiar SEVEN course, around 125km with 3,200m of climbing. For most of the day you’re either going up or coming down, with very little chance to recover.

There’d been plenty of talk about the infamous ‘pea gravel’, although to us Kiwis a lot of it looked much like the gravel we ride at home. Once it was wet, though, you had to pay attention.

Finding my way back

My S-Works Crux 5 was everything I could have asked for. I ran 55mm SILCA RCG3 tyres at 23psi in the front and 24psi in the rear, and felt confident on the bike even when things got slippery.

The glasses lasted about 15 minutes before the mud made them useless. Before long you couldn’t tell what bike someone was riding or which team they were in. We were all much the same shade of brown.

I had a flat patch about 75 minutes in, but managed to come out of it and finish strongly. I picked up around 15 places to finish 11th. Of course, you look back and wonder where you might have found a bit more, but I was pleased I’d been able to get going again and make up ground.

The men’s age-group podiums were full of former pros. Even the group above mine had a former Grand Tour rider with several top-10 finishes. I reckon the fields will only get stronger as more roadies who don’t want to be mountain bikers, and mountain bikers who don’t want to be roadies, find their way into gravel!

Next stop: Edition Zero

I took a week off afterwards, then eased back into riding. Next up is Edition Zero in Waimate, approximately 250km with 3,600m of climbing.

I’ve put together a better winter of training than I have in many years. If I’m going to have a go at that distance and see what I can do, this feels like the year to do it.

I’ll be on the Crux 5 again, this time trying the new 55mm Specialized Pathfinder tyres.

I’m still working out how best to prepare for 250km. There’ll be a couple of longer rides over the next few weeks, and I’ll need to get the fuelling right. It’s a long way, but I’m keen to give it a crack.

Here we go!