Planning a Privateer Gravel Season
Planning a Privateer Gravel Season
It's time to look to 2025.
“…that means it costs sixty to seventy grand per year…”
For the first time in years - honestly, probably since I was a junior - I felt as if I was racing at my true potential. My performances at the start of the year opened my eyes to what I’m capable of.
Leaning back to the road is an option, especially with Ribble Rebellion. After finishing 3rd on GC at Redlands, I’d be lying if there weren’t loads of thoughts around doing more road racing. Should I go back? Do I have unfinished business there?
My athletic career is short. After leaving the U23 ranks, I came oh so close to stepping away from the competitive side of the sport. With gravel, I fell into something which ticks all my boxes. It’s an aerobic heavy discipline which suits me physiologically, it gives me freedom to do a whole new racing circuit, and it effectively allows me to run my own business too. I mean, I can’t ride downhill fast on the dirt yet so that’s not a box that’s ticked, but I digress…
Coming that close to stepping away taught me to grab opportunity and run with it.
Rebellion is cool. Really, really cool. I’m proud of everything we’ve done with it, and I’m so excited to see where we’ll take it. However, it’s not a surprise to anyone when I say I’m not a crit racer. I’ve still got thoughts about being a pure road racer again, maybe I’ll address those on here one day.
The Calendar:
There’s no need to hide this, here’s my provisional calendar next year. The first few months highlighted in green means that they’re pretty certain. The latter half of the year not so much.
I put emphasis on provisional as that’s all it is. Obviously, a lot of these dates aren’t even finalised yet and there are plenty of guesstimates.
There are a few key differences to the last two years:
Less race days (max 25), more time at home
Greater emphasis on training between races
More Lifetime Grand Prix races
Less road/crit days
Tour of Gila?
My 2024 calendar has been one hell of an adventure, but it’s a little bit too much. After last year, I learned to do less, but I need to do even less again - and I need more time at home. This year will see me spend some 220-days on the road, that’s too many. I need more time at home in between races to train, to prep, and see Maggie too.
There’s a need for more training. When I’m in one place with the ability to train well, I’m really happy. When I’m on the road constantly, I can’t get into a routine and I need a routine to be good. Girona is the best place for that, before all my big races in 2025, you’ll be seeing me doing lots of time on the slopes of Sant Hilari.
Lifetime Grand Prix features heavily on my calendar, well, US Gravel does as a whole. I’ve found my feet on the Northern American scene this season and the next part is to step up and consistently perform and be racing at the top.
"Why have you already pulled a draft calendar together?”, I hear you ask.
Well, that leads me onto my next point…
The Finances:
I’ve already pulled together a draft calendar, as I needed to know how much it’s going to cost.
As a privateer, you’re the one paying for everything: Hotels, flights, food, race entries - they all come from your own bank account. It was a scary process putting every figure in my spreadsheet and watching the number at the bottom get bigger and bigger.
When figuring a privateer budget, you have to estimate how much your calendar is going to cost and then add the salary that you want to make on top of that. Throw a 15% or so buffer on top of that, and you’re in the right ballpark.
To make things a little more challenging, cashflow can quickly become an issue. I’m not always in control of when expenses hit my bank account, and they often come at an inconvenient time. The fact that you now have to enter races more than a year in advance is crazy.
Like any business, balancing what you want to do, cashflow and budget is a constant battle. Ideally, I’d have my whole budget sitting in my bank account come January 1st, but that's not the real world.
I’m currently writing two articles “Who Funds Professional Cycling” and “The Budget of a Gravel Pro” both which will be live later this week, and early next.
Work:
At the minute, I work a few different jobs alongside racing. I’m the Team Manager of Ribble Rebellion and do all of the logistics and organisation there. Then, I have two copywriting clients who I work with on a weekly basis. Add on a small dose of freelance work and I’m a busy man.
My life is currently split in half financially. My salary comes from what I make working, and then my racing is covered by what I bring in with sponsors.
I would like to move that into a position which is less reliant on work. It’ll make me a better athlete, without doubt. At the minute, I’m trying to spin a lot of different plates and there’s stuff coming at me from all angles - there needs to be less of that if I want to race at the level that I know I can.
Everyone always says investing in yourself is the best way to improve. The biggest investment I can give myself is freeing up time. That’s easier said than done though, and ultimately comes down to me finding more sponsorship dollars.
Budget:
So, what’s the number? I always said I’d be honest with figures here…
Presuming I want to pay myself 30k* per year (average UK salary for my age, according to Google) , and my racing calendar budget comes out around the 30k mark too, that means it costs 60-70k per year (including the +15% slush fund).
For those wondering, the biggest expense in my racing budget is travel. Flights, accommodation, and general travel expenses make up just under half of the proposed 2025 race budget. That’s doing it cheap too and sleeping in a spare room, basement or couch.
*all of the quoted figures are in GBP.
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Conclusion
So there we have it. There are plenty of other things I’d like to, and probably will write about. Take two-year contracts; they're still towards the front of my mind when I go into any negotiation. I’m not gonna lie, it’s stressful every summer not knowing if you’ll have a job in a few months.
I will be going into my third year with Pullwood Consulting in 2025. We signed a two-year contract at the start of 2023, and it’s very much appreciated having a sponsor willing to back me in this way.
Project TAG, proudly partnering (both for my athletic and influencing ability) with…
While you’re here…
I’ve added a paid subscription and a ‘Buy Me A Coffee’ link to this post. As the year progresses, I’m planning on building this blog and putting out articles which I’ve always wanted to write but for whatever reason, haven’t wanted to pitch.
Any money that I make from either my Substack or BMaC link will go straight back into supporting my 2024 racing project. I am planning on keeping all content on here free to view though.