Gravel Route Difficulty Guide

Locating a Kentucky gravel route nearest you is easy enough. See our gravel routes page or check out resources like gravelmap.com or dig into a resource like the Kentucky Department of Transportation's Rural and Secondary Road map.

Finding a route that is well suited to your riding ability can be more of a challenge. In an effort to provide you more of a detailed look of what you are getting yourself into, we've put together the following resource, which seeks to not only identify a route, but assign n overall difficulty rating of "Beginner", "Intermediate", or "Advanced", much like they do with MTB trail systems.

Notes: These ratings are not perfect, but are designed to give you a sense of the overall difficulty of a route, relative to other routes that we've ridden. Factors we considered included the riding surface (e.g. well maintained roads often make for a less technical ride) and the hilliness of a route (for this, we focused on the measurement of ft/mile, dividing the overall riding elevation for a ride by the number of miles, distance, and the percentage of the route that is unpaved. Also, be sure to check out the YouTube Video for a preview of what to expect!

Gravel Route Difficulty Ratings

Have a favorite gravel route you'd like us to know about? Reach out via the Contact page.

Want to network with other Kentucky gravel cyclists, consider joining the Kentucky Gravel Cyclists facebook group.

You can also search the Ride Video Map and search by type and location or check out a list of our favorite gravel rides.

Disclaimer: User assumes all risk and liability for any action in relations to usage of information and routes on KentuckyCycling.Org, including if actions result in injury, death, loss or damage of personal property or other complications. Kentucky Cycling, its partners, associates, and contributors accept no liability. Route information and advice is provided as a planning resource only, and is not guaranteed to be accurate or complete, and in no way should replace your own due diligence, research, and safety precautions. All users are advised to check current conditions before embarking on any route, including weather, surface conditions and closures. Riders should obey all laws including public and private land usage restrictions and guidelines and carry adequate safety and navigational equipment.