Off the beaten track! A unique UCI Grave event in Drenthe; the Gravel One Fifty. The Province of Drenthe is the setting for this worldwide Gravel Tour in which a total of 11 countries participate with a total of 15 events, one of which is in the Netherlands. It is a professional race, but also for recreational users with distances of 150 and 80 km.
Gravel 150 starts at the Gevangenismuseum in Veenhuizen, a picturesque building situated in a scenic town at the border of the three northern provinces of The Netherlands (Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe). With a surrounding of plains, forest and a rural area in general, the conditions are perfectly suited for an off-road event. With a mix of dirt roads, gravel roads and grass sections, the route connects most of the stunning and diverse cycling sites in the area.
The course is also interesting for spectators as it winds through a few villages in a network of smaller roads and loops often close to each other so easy to make shortcuts for spectators to watch the riders on different locations.
The town of Veenhuizen is part of the Unesco region “Kolonieen van Weldadigheid” and is marked by beautiful 19-th century buildings and lies in the heart of the most undisturbed regions of the Netherlands. Groningen and Assen, the two main cities in the region, are at a maximum of a 40-minute drive away.
Both cities have an avid cycling community consisting of cycling clubs, cycling café’s and a variety of facilities like a velodrome and enthusiastic race organizers. All of these are supported by local bike shops in the region.
