This is the story of The Outliers' wild weekend at The Hills – a Gravel Earth Series race set against the stunning backdrop of Italy’s Prosecco region. The course promised rolling vineyard tracks, challenging climbs, and high-speed gravel racing. But as Sophie, one of our riders, quickly found out… nature had other plans. Here’s her take on a day that was anything but smooth.
When we signed up for The Hills - a Gravel Earth Series race through the vineyards of Italy’s Prosecco region -we pictured long, rolling climbs, dusty trails, sunshine on our backs, and fast descents through postcard-perfect countryside. The kind of ride that ends with sun-kissed smiles and a glass of something sparkling.
Instead, it turned into an all-out mud bath.
We pre-rode the course the day before, and it was running well. Rolling, grippy, and exactly what we’d hoped for. We were expecting around 6.5 hours in the saddle, so we cooked accordingly: a giant pot of pasta using the biggest pan we could find in our apartment. Enough to feed the whole village -or at least five hungry cyclists. Meanwhile, our mechanics were busy fettling the bikes, scrubbing off dust, and fitting our chosen Schwalbe tyres. Most of us went with the G-One Pro R, confident it was the right choice.
But then came the rain. It started in the afternoon and didn’t really let up. We knew the forecast wasn’t great, but we didn’t quite clock just how much the weather would transform the course overnight.
By 5am on race day, we were up and eating breakfast, bleary-eyed but excited. We rolled out to the start at Lago le Bandie and everything still felt manageable. This was until we hit the first grass section. Or, what had been grass. Now it was a churned-up trench of sticky mud. It hit me immediately: road pedals were a terrible decision. I'd been fine in practice, but the conditions had changed completely, and now I was constantly dismounting, slipping through the mud, crossing rivers, then remounting only to have to stop and dig the gunk out of my cleats before I could clip in again.
It slowed me down massively. Most of the field had sensibly gone with MTB cleats. I’d committed to the road setup and paid for it…lesson learned.
With the men starting 15 minutes ahead of us, the course was already well chewed up before we even got going. Honestly, it felt less like a gravel race and more like a 183km cyclocross epic. We'd originally estimated the race would take between 5.5 and 6.5 hours. In the end, it took everyone much longer. For me, it was the longest ride and race I’ve ever done: 8 hours and 11 minutes in the saddle.
I genuinely think next time I’ll stash some emergency food in the hidden downtube pocket on the new Ribble bikes - such a good idea when you're out there that long.
After finally crossing the line (relief doesn’t even begin to describe it), we made a beeline for the pasta tent. Honestly, I could’ve eaten 20 portions. Then it was back to the apartment to attempt a shower, which promptly clogged with the sheer volume of mud we brought in. We were absolutely caked, head to toe.
