Taking an e-gravel bike on an epic desert adventure

Nestled in the far south western corner of the United States, Tucson appears to be like any other city in the arid region, famous for its cacti and desert landscapes. Except, this relatively small city also happens to be home to some of the best, if not the best, cycling in the country.

It’s something GCN’s James ‘Hank’ Lowsley-Williams and Ollie Bridgewood recently experienced while visiting the area, when they took on an epic gravel ride that was a far cry from the roads in the south of England they’re used to.

Far from a one-trick pony, Tucson is a cycling haven for multiple disciplines, including road riding, as our dynamic duo found out first hand. During their short stay, they also managed to squeeze in what is arguably the toughest group ride in the world, before tackling Mount Lemmon which, sticking to the theme, is up there with the best ascents the USA has to offer.

• Read more: Destination Tucson: The best gravel roads in the USA?

With his cycling needs not satiated by those outings, Hank found time to add one more gravel adventure into his itinerary, except this time he decided to recruit a specialist to help him navigate the local off-road routes. There was no one better for the job than Keegan Swenson.

The 30-year-old professional gravel rider will be a familiar name to those who follow the gravel scene, having totally dominated the 2023 season. His roll call of victories stretched across the full season, including, SBT GRVL, Leadville 100 and UNBOUND. In the latter, Swenson beat, among others, GCN’s own Conor Dunne, who finished over seven hours behind the American.

Unfortunately for Hank, or perhaps luckily, Swenson was still on holiday so couldn’t join him for the ride, but the American still found time to set Hank up with an epic 70km route. An epic route deserves a bike of a similar status and Santa Cruz duly stepped in to equip Hank with its Skitch electric gravel bike.

With that Hank was all set, but would the route live up to expectations? Watch the full video at the top of this page to find out.