A lap of the British Gravel Championships route

Fast and furious Strade Bianche type sterrato gravel in Suffolk - but without Chianti and the pasta might not be as good

Any national championships route needs to live up to the status, so with the 2022 course now set in, er…gravel - as opposed to stone - we headed to Suffolk for a look.

The route for this year’s Kings Cup gravel races will be run on multiple laps of a 15.3km circuit around King’s Forest, and like last year’s inaugural championships, it starts on a grassy field. Through the trees, you turn right and onto the first section of proper gravel road. 

This is King’s Cup’s signature gravel, common throughout the circuit. When we rode at the end of the recent heatwave it left our tyres white, the bike coated in thick dust. It reminded me of Strade Bianche, the beautiful Italian classic race held in the Tuscan hills each spring. 

You won’t see any Cypress trees here though, there’s no significant climbing, and let’s hope September is warmer than the Italian race’s early March spot on the calendar, but this is what you ride for much of the lap.

This first stretch is littered with larger stones and the flints you often see used for buildings here on the Suffolk/Norfolk border. Though not huge, try avoiding them, they’re sharp and no one wants to puncture, but you will want to use this slightly downhill section to build some speed.

After 2.5km you’ll turn left into the trees and onto more technical and challenging terrain. You begin on a hard but occasionally grassy track, take a left hander and if you want to avoid the sand ride the narrow left-hand verge. You’ll cross some typical Breckland heathland before a brief, more challenging return to sand.

But with five of the 15.3km ridden you’re back on hard white gravel. It’s fun and fast, there are fewer large stones to avoid here, and though you’ll need to watch the puddles of dust in the bends, now is the time to make up any time you’ve lost on the earlier technical sections.

You’ll drop down slightly then climb equally gradually to the course’s most northerly point. You’ll take a left hander close to the B1106, Brandon Road, a great place for spectators. But there’s no time for a wave, this is the fastest part of the course, but it’s open and the wind was whipping across when we rode it. 

The surface changes from white to golden brown and back to white. There’s some grassy track and even a tiny bit of sand. But if you’re not having fun here you’re taking it far too seriously! Back on the forest track you’ll climb up to a right-hander. stay on the right here until you take a left back onto gravel for a couple of hundred metres. It’s another right now, through the trees and onto grass for the final 300m.

The King’s Cup race route has a bit of everything. Varying surfaces, it’s narrow in places, wide in others, technical in parts, fast elsewhere. And the winner is a worthy champion.