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The OBED Team Rides SBT GRVL 2025
Over the past few years, SBT GRVL in Steamboat Springs has quickly grown into one of the biggest and most prestigious gravel races in the world. Perhaps the event grew too big, too quickly, though, as it clashed with some residents, ranchers, and law enforcement, forcing organizers to change the date (from August to June) and format.
SBT GRVL has been one of our favorite events for years. With these new changes, though, would the gravel vibes at SBT GRVL 2025 match previous editions? The OBED team went to find out. We displayed our best carbon gravel and endurance road bikes at the SBT GRVL Expo while a few of our intrepid OBED employees cruised Saturday’s Green Course, and two OBED Ambassadors raced Sunday’s all-new Black course.
OBED at the SBT GRVL Expo
The OBED team set up camp in the SBT GRVL Expo and put our GVR and Boundary gravel bikes on display, as well as our RVR endurance road bike. While the GVR was the choice of our crew riding Saturday and Sunday, they reported that the terrain was so smooth and fast, the more aerodynamic RVR would likely be a solid option, too. We’ve seen the RVR win gravel races before, and with a set of 35-38mm tires, it’d rip up the course’s climbs!
Some people at the expo were introduced to OBED for the first time. For me, one of my favorite experiences is how excited people get seeing all of our paint colors and learning that they can customize their bike’s color scheme when they order. For many, the perfect gravel bike is as much about self-expression as it is about performance. We even had a customer fall in love with the RVR and order one on the spot.
Free Bike Services
Did you know that we bring a pro mechanic (or two, or three) to every event we attend? If you ride an OBED, you’re a part of the OBED family, and we’ll inspect and service your bike for free! It’s an easy way to enter race weekend with complete confidence that your bike is dialed.
Free Spoke and Terrain Magazines
Throughout the expo, we handed out free copies of OBED’s gravel zine: Spoke and Terrain. We launched a new issue at UNBOUND Gravel, and we’ll be handing out print copies for free at upcoming gravel events. I’m a bit biased, but I think the stories and photos in Spoke and Terrain are amazing. It will be available online, but if you want a print version, look for us at Gravel Worlds in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Big Sugar Gravel in Bentonville, Arkansas!
Plenty of Non-Gravel Fun
Jonathan took a dip in the dunk tank!
Race expos are for picking up race packets and brand activations. But that doesn’t mean we can’t all have fun too! We enjoyed free coffee, donuts, and breakfast tacos, a kid’s strider race, and a mid-day group yoga session courtesy of Chamois Butt’r, cornhole at the Kask Helmet booth, derailleur repair racing at the SRAM booth, and a dunk tank at the Wahoo booth.
Outside of the expo, Steamboat Springs is full of great food, great views, and great fun. Yampa Valley Kitchen was our favorite brunch spot. We also visited Steamboat Springs’ Alpine Slide and raced each other down the hill. There was only one crash (it was me), and the excitement definitely got us all into the racing mindset. We followed this with the Steamboat Pro Rodeo on Saturday night. I don’t claim to understand anything about Rodeo (and I still know very little), but it was an amazing slice of Americana that many of us won’t forget.
Plenty of Good Gravel Vibes
Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is super different from our hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and it’s one of our favorite places to visit. We were worried that the new SBT GRVL wouldn’t have the same magic as the old event. The expo was a bit smaller, and the premier Black Course was less epic (more on that below). But in the end, we still had tons of fun.
While there were a few disgruntled locals putting up signs in their yards, there were more who embraced the event. A few signs saying “We Love Gravel Riders” gave us hope for the future of this event. In general, the vibes in town were full of passion and joy, and we hope that never leaves!
OBED Rides the SBT GRVL Green Course
SBT GRVL has changed a lot for 2025. It’s now split into two days. Saturday featured a “ride” with the traditional Green (37 mi), Red (56.7 mi), and Blue (99 mi) courses. This is intended to be a less competitive event, sort of like a Gran Fondo. Riders are timed, but there are no podiums or prizes. But as we all know, when a big group of riders line up at an event, a bit of (healthy) competition is to be expected.
Lining up right at the front was OBED’s VP of Sales, Chris Brown. Brown is a former top-level mountain biker and a very experienced racer. Normally, he’d ride the longer Blue course or be racing Sunday’s Black course. Today, though, he was here to support his son Jonathan in his first major gravel event. Jonathan is only 12 years old, but he’s already a monster on the bike. He even managed to put the adult riders on the Litespeed team (our sister brand) in the hurt locker during a friendly group ride earlier in the week.
When the Green course group set off at 7:30 AM, Jonathan flew right off the front on his GVR. His climbing prowess allowed him to establish a solid gap. On the run-in to the finish, he started fading a bit against the headwinds, but he stayed ahead and crossed the line first with a time of 1:54:01—within minutes of the Green course record. Keep an eye on this kid, because he just might be the next Keegan Swenson!
Starting farther back were two more OBED stalwarts: Brad DeVaney, our Lead Product Engineer, and Justin Gagnon, an OBED Sales Specialist and Bike Builder. Brad and Justin finished the Green course together, riding at party pace, and had a great time chatting and taking in Steamboat’s gorgeous mountain views.
Eagle-eyed readers may notice that Justin is on a new prototype OBED gravel bike. I can’t say anything yet, but here’s a sneak preview:
OBED Races the SBT GRVL Black Course
The premier event, SBT GRVL’s Black course, took place on Sunday. For permitting purposes, it is the only event actually considered a race. It featured a police escort and rolling road closures for safety. Instead of starting in Steamboat like years past, it now uses a circuit starting in Hayden, Colorado, about 30 minutes from Steamboat. Amateurs ride two laps (79.3 mi) while the pros ride three laps (116.9 mi).
Two OBED ambassadors came to take on Sunday’s Amateur Black course: Serghei Tvetcov and Torey Lasater. Serghei is a former road pro, Romanian road race and time trial national champion, Olympian, and now a cancer survivor heading up the Bloodstone Squad. Torey is an experienced gravel racer, but she’s also an Emergency Medicine Resident MD, ultrarunner, thru hiker, combat veteran, and physical therapist.
Both raced aboard OBED’s gravel race bike, the OBED GVR. With its stiff and lightweight frame, it was perfect for the quick accelerations and punchy climbs on the Black course. Since he planned to fight for position in the front group all day, Serghei chose a more aero setup with narrow 37 cm ENVE SES Aero Road bars, deeper ENVE SES 4.5 wheels, and some fast 44mm Rene Herse Corkscrew Climb tires. Torey planned to maintain a consistent pace all day, and her GVR featured comfy wide bars, HED Vanquish V45 wheels, and 45mm Panaracer GravelKing SK tires.
Serghei showed that he’s still strong after his Leukemia treatments. He stuck with the front group through the first lap, and he maintained a 19.97 mph average to finish 47th overall. Torey started farther back, but she used her world-class patience and massive endurance engine to consistently pick off riders throughout the day as they cracked on the hills and in the heat. She even caught the Litespeed Team, who went out way too hard. She finished in just over 4 and a half hours and was 6th in her age group!
See You at Gravel Worlds and Big Sugar Gravel!
The OBED team will be traveling to Gravel Worlds in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Big Sugar Gravel in Bentonville, Arkansas, next. Come find us at the expo to see our gravel and endurance road bikes and get a free copy of Spoke and Terrain. If you’re riding an OBED, our pro mechanics will tune it up for free! You can also swing a leg over our bikes and chat with anyone from the OBED team about the joy of riding gravel! Hope we see you there!
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