SBT GRVL® is approved for 2026

July 29, 2025 Shannon Lukens

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By Shannon Lukens.

The SBT GRVL® ride will be happening June 26-28 next summer, with the race and ride on one day this year, instead of two. The permit was approved by the Routt County Board of County Commissioners Tuesday. Here’s SBT GRVL owner Amy Charity.

“I’m ecstatic. The team has worked so hard, especially the past couple of years, to really listen to our county, the rural residents, and work closely with the commissioners. And we’ve come up with something where it really is the best of what we’ve done for the past six years. It will be safe, it will be fun. We’re bringing it all back to downtown Steamboat Springs, and we couldn’t be more thrilled.”

Video of unanimous vote

Agenda and presentation at Tuesday’s meeting

In their presentation to the county, Charity said after 2023, it was brought to their attention that they were having a negative impact on rural residents so they worked on changing the race.

Charity told commissioners, “I would say this is the safest gravel race in the country. We’ve designed a plan that the county can feel good about.”

In past commissioner meetings, rural residents were highly outspoken against the race. At Tuesday’s meeting, 12 people spoke at public comment, both in person and online. All were in favor. PJ Wharton, president of Yampa Valley Bank, said, “There were mistakes made, but they listened.”

The expo on Yampa Street will be that weekend with the ride and race all on the same day, on that Sunday, June 28. Everything will be south of Highway 40. There will be no 2-way cycling traffic on any roads.

There will be 87 port-a-johns along the course. Preliminary coordination with local law enforcement will continue.

There will be no shakeout rides in the week leading up the event. Those are group rides held throughout the county. So those aren’t happening.

Extensive community engagement will continue. This summer, there were 350 residences along the course. SBT GRVL organizers visited all homes that they could and sent two mailers to each residence.

The date in June will also continue. It used to be in August but that conflicted with the Routt County Fair and haying season.

Again this year, they did extensive trash pick up along the course, after the race. “Our goal is to leave Routt County cleaner than when we found it,” said Charity.

Charity said the SBT GRVL® ride is the largest local economic contributor on the summer calendar in Routt County, since 2019. They are still calculating, but they said the event brought in about $4 million this year, spent at restaurants, on lodging, at shops, and entertainment. SBT GRVL is a locally owned business and they spent $275,000 hiring local businesses to help with the event.

Commissioners discussed the changes before the unanimous vote, one of which was an increase in rider numbers to 2,750. This summer’s event had 2,550 sign up and about 2,400 participate.

Commissioner Angelica Salinas said she appreciated the change of date so as not to conflict with the Routt County Fair, she asked for a week-long Command Center on the week of the event, she thanked race organizers for their transparency and accountability, and she said the cumulative impact needs to be considered. She was also in support of a “consolidated footprint,” of moving the event to one day, for 12 hours. “Organizers have shown they can run a safe and well-organized event.

Commissioner Tim Redmond said he wanted to give organizers credit for taking their requests so seriously. “My number one job is public safety.” He said he also approves having the event on one day instead of two and not spreading it over the county as much. This summer, the ride started in Steamboat Springs and rode through Routt County. Sunday was the pro race which started in Hayden and road south of Hayden. Commissioner Redmond added, “Thank you for your continued efforts.”

Commissioner Sonja Macys says with all of the changes that have been made, it is nice to see that “This has become the new normal.” She agreed that there had been drama in the past but it is “not here now.”

The county’s legal team will review any proposed road closures.