Gralloch 2026

Even some Scottish people I spoke to had no real clue where this race was. That may have been the tipping point for me signing up for it. Remote and unknown. Two factors that more often than not lead to adventure. Convenience in race timing was on offer also. Convenience in location still being debated.

I had three weeks from Traka to when we are due to start the Badlands route. As Holly would later point out “we could have gone and sat somewhere warm in Europe you know!” Fair point, but to me it made sense to head to Gatehouse of Fleet in South West Scotland to race the 2026 edition of the Gralloch.

This was not my first UCI gravel race. Fun fact. The first gravel race I did was a UCI sanctioned world championships qualifier. A race that I secured a position at the World Championships for. A race I also secured some broken ribs in. Yes I have a pattern with ribs and bikes, you spotted it.

When I was signing up for this race, the thought of a chance to qualify for the world champs was a nice one. My real reason however was the weekend it was on and another opportunity to test myself against some of the best riders in the UK. Maybe the best.

With the 325km of Traka just two weeks ago, the equation of recovery and readiness to race was also something I was happy to try and figure out. We added in a long weekend with some old friends in Devon and then two different air B&B locations before the race started on Saturday 16th May. Lots of variables to manage. A challenge I was excited about.

When I am not training or relaxing. I am still also coaching athletes and high performance clients around the world. Working with my amazing business partners Jamie and Tom, to continue to make people better at life through InnerFight and InnerFight endurance. So no I am not living the life of a pro athlete….yet. Monday after the Traka 4:59am as I am every Monday I was in Training Peaks and love every minute of it.

That said yes I have stacked a few decent weeks of training together over the last few years. Continuing to test the efficacy of that training as well as experimenting with new techniques and approaches brings me a lot of joy. The fact that I do it in some cool places and always with Holly close by is literally my dream.

I digress. Race day, 5:29am, my alarm rings but I am already awake. I step outside and notice the fence is a bit wet. I am mistaken. It is frozen. Haaaaaa! I let out a huge laugh. “It’s a frost!” I shout to Holly and Rob who are with me up here in Scotland. They laugh. We all laugh more as Holly reminds us it’s May. We quickly let her know that British summer has no regard for the months.

Five riders from InnerFight Endurance: Mark, Rob, Rob, Charlie and I. A solid support crew: Holly, Phil, Nat, Kaz, Scott, Ash and George. This community is mental. I frequently go through my files of the last two decades and look at some of the places we have been as a community and the things we have done. It is just unreal and shows no signs of slowing down. This is confirmed when we all part ways at various times across the weekend, normally with the words, “see you in a few weeks.” So cool.

I slept super well. Ultra human confirms it. The week after Traka was gentle as I spent time south of Barcelona with Omar and Anwar recovering and talking about life. I had some good rides in Devon. Then the week leading into this race, was based out of the Lake District which blesses you with ample opportunity to test your legs. 

Racing 111km as I did at the Gralloch is far different from the longer stuff I am used to. It’s shorter than a lot of my training rides. I laugh when I think about a lot of my gravel “training” rides in Noosa, they are basically race intensity. So in the week leading into the Gralloch, I just think about riding with the boys in Noosa. It makes my smile and keeps me nice and relaxed. I joke with Holly “what we will do for the rest of Saturday?”

Friday of course has to be big on carbs. I want a big effort on Saturday. It’s not cool and not super healthy but it is the reality of the sport. 550-700G is the target whilst not causing gut irritation. I also play with Maurten Bicarb again for Gralloch. My last outing was Al Salam MTB race in Jan. I wanted a big effort.

Logistically the race is easy. We are staying 35 mins away. The start is 9:14am. I will fuel with 2 bottles of Maurten Carbs and take 8 x 40G Maurten Gels and 2 Maurten Caffiene gels with me. No need to stop. No feed stations. No water refills. No piss stops. 

What I do take additional supplies of is CO2 canisters and tyre plugs. 10 minutes into the race I see my first rider with a puncture. From then in, not more than 5km goes by without me seeing at least 1 if not 2 people with punctures or mechanical issues. Now I start to realise why not even Scottish people know where this it. It is a remote and hard land. These roads have been defined as gravel but if you held a mountain bike race on here that would be very fitting. The rocks are not huge but are big enough, loose and aside from the rutted jeep track they cover the whole course. There are no easy miles. There is certainly no ‘champagne gravel’ in this part of Scotland. 

The early morning frost brings with it sunshine, we bask in it and 5 degrees on the start line. I opt for 3 layers and arm warmers but leave my gloves behind. Bang on 9:14 we are released across the start line. 40 minutes static in staging pens into full gas. It is just under 7km up our first piece of business for the day, a solid climb. The word on the street was “do not cook yourself on the first climb.” Apparently it is notorious for giving people new FTP’s, but then also allowing them to enjoy the next 100km with nothing to give.

I chose some sort of tempo with the occasional spray of aggression into the pedals. I felt great as we started our first descent just 20 minutes into the race. My approach was similar to Traka where I was being a bit over cautious on the descents to A) Try and stay puncture free and B) Stay upright. Both paid off. This also gave me a bit more in the legs on the climbs.

Climbs that were short once we got the first one out of the way. 3km the max and many nice little 1km efforts, which confirmed to me that the recovery data was correct and my recovery from Traka was good. I was being cautious though and it shows in my post race numbers. I was also feeling good and thanking the Maurten Bicarb for doing its job as we crossed the half way point of the race. 

We had a nice group. Normal service, some working, others sitting in on the limit and others just sitting in to conserve. I was restless and wanted to go. At the same time I knew we had 1,700m climbing in this race of which there was around 800m to go. Looking back on it now I should have trusted my gut and gone earlier than I did. As Tom kindly highlighted from my post race data, my HR drift suggests there was more in the tank. My legs on the Sunday and Monday after the race confirm this was the case. We race, we learn.

Someone in the bunch mumbled about the next 4 climbs being the hardest. I knew after them it was 25km ish to the finish. I rode to the front, ignored everyone else and started riding for me. Not long into the first climb two guys passed me riding hard. I made some joke to them which I will not repeat here. It made me and a few of the lads laugh. I stayed tempo and sailed past them 90 seconds later. Never saw them again.

The trail went up. The trail went down. I never looked back. I was not bothered about what anyone else was doing. I was looking at my numbers and having a good time. My nose had been bleeding since about halfway, covering my arm warmers, my legs, shoes and my frame in spots of blood. I laughed as none dropped on my white socks. I continued to drill the pedals. This was good. 

25km to go, lots of downhill, one climb, 11km of tar. This is what I love. This is why I train. I rode past riders that were in earlier start waves. I invited each one of them to work with me. Few took the invite. Only one stayed at the party, and only for 2km. It was awesome. I was having the best time.

4km out and I see a guy up the road. As I close in on him I notice he has the same colour race number as me. More fun to have. I recognise him from the earlier part of the race. He turns back and recognises me also. I quickly play with two options. 1. Sit on his wheel. 2. Blow past him and see how deep I can go. “It’s only 4km to go” I choose option 2. 

The road was cruel but so good. Small risers. At every one I go deeper and deeper. I want to look back but I don’t. “More” I shout at myself silently. I know I have it in there, I think I can feel it. I want it to come out. We round a corner and as we do I glance back. He is way closer than I want him to be. 1.6km to go. I push again. And again. My HR has not been this high forever. I grimace and smile. 

I look down at my computer and see some sharp turns in the last 1km. I need to be smart. I need power out of them. This guy is not giving up. He is bouncing form 10m-30m behind me as each corner gives me the chance to measure it. It’s only later I saw on my data that my HR is 170, rare to say the least. Not sure if there was more, I looked anyway.

A bumpy grass finish and I get him by a couple of bike lengths. Holly, Kaz, Phil, Charlie. I can hear them all as I cross the line. 13th in my age group and a  UCI World championships place in Perth in October. Neither mean that much to me in the moment, nor now a few days later but I respect the race and the system.

What really matters is the race, the experience, what I found inside me. The people that were there for me on the finish line. My other four InnerFight team mates. (Congrats Mark and Charlie for securing your world champs spots.) Races are many things to many different people. I smile at the end. I still smile now. I had a good race. I am happy. 

7 days and we start the Badlands route from Granada Spain. 800km, 16,000m climbing. 7 days. Different from this. But it’s all part of the same. It’s all part of life. Curiosity. Happiness. Moments. Adventure. It’s cool. 

No Weakness.
Marcus