Gravel Adventure Field Guide

Words by Adam Porter - Photography provided by Juan Dela Roca

Bold colors and vivid art—that’s what first caught my eye when I stumbled across Gravel Adventure Field Guide on Instagram. As someone creating books about bikes myself, I was instantly drawn in. The guides looked cool as a whole, but it was the artwork that really pulled me in. Each cover felt simple but full—loaded with small, thoughtful details: a crankset hiding behind a cactus, a hawk sitting on a handlebar with yellow bar tape, a gravel bike piloting a spaceship. The art does more than decorate—it sets the tone. It invites you into the kind of world gravel riders already live in: adventurous, creative, and a little off the beaten path.

I recently had the chance to talk with Juan from the team. I’d just wrapped up work for the day, and the shift from work talk to gravel bike talk was a welcome one. We connected right away. Juan cares deeply about what they’re building, and it shows. Hearing him talk through the journey—from the first spark of an idea to seeing these guides gain traction across the gravel world—was genuinely exciting to hear. This is a team you want to win at what they are doing. 

One thing that stood out? Since I’ve started down the path of being a gravel entrepreneur, I keep meeting people in the bike world who are just… generous. With their time, with their ideas, with their encouragement. Juan was no different. He didn’t just share his story—he offered his support for mine too. That kind of generosity feels like part of the DNA of gravel, however you want to define it. Grit, creativity, realness—that all shows up in the field guides they’ve built.

Here’s my conversation with Juan from Gravel Adventure Field Guide.

Thanks for talking to me, Juan. Tell me, how do you decide which locations to feature in your guides? What makes a place stand out as a Gravel Adventure Field Guide destination?

We work with destinations that are seeking to develop a gravel cycling tourism offering. Our guidebooks serve as a way to inspire, inform, and invite cyclists to explore diverse places to ride a gravel bike. We don't just go to a destination and do a guidebook. Rather, we collaborate with destinations that want to work with us. 

Collaboration begins with content development. We delve into the topics and themes the destination seeks to highlight and share with readers. Each guidebook is customized to a destination, including the content that feeds into the guidebook's stories, art, photos, and film. Route collaboration consists of guidance from local cyclists and bike shops. 

Our time in a destination varies, however, we make multiple trips to ride the routes, take photos, and immerse ourselves in a community to learn about it. We'll ride with local cyclists and visit local businesses, including bike shops. We'll try to experience community events if the schedule allows. 

What are some of the most memorable stories you've come across while researching a guide? Have there been any unexpected or funny moments during your travels?

 It's been amazing to visit so many destinations, bike shops, and rides with locals who are already familiar with the Gravel Adventure Field Guide series. One time, I was at Snowshoe, West Virginia, during the UCI mountain bike event. I stopped off there to check out the event before heading down to Roanoke, Virginia, to work on that guidebook. Met up with a crew that was from North Carolina. I was sharing some of our guides as examples of what we do. One of the books in my possession was for Bend, Oregon. A guy named John mentioned he had a brother who lived in Bend. He texted him to tell him about the book and encourage him to find a copy. His brother immediately texted back a photo and said he already had a copy. On another occasion, I was in Antigua, Guatemala, working on the guide we did there. A group of East Coast riders were visiting at the same time, including a crew from Harrisonburg, Virginia bike shop Shenandoah Bicycle Company. One guy looked really familiar, and I realized we'd met while doing the Roanoke guidebook bike shop distribution tour. Meanwhile, another member of the crew was a woman who used to work there, but now worked at a shop in New Hampshire. Turns out we'd met while doing the distribution of the Appalachian Mountain Club - Maine Woods edition. There are countless times where, while walking into a shop to drop off books, the shop employee already knows what is being given to them. This was the case most recently in Las Vegas, distributing the Ely, Nevada edition. The shop employee already had a collection of guidebooks that included Pueblo, Colorado, and San Juan County, New Mexico. Being on the road has been enlightening and inspiring to see how many people love the guidebooks and go out of they're way to collect them. 

Your guides have such a unique visual style. What’s the inspiration behind the artwork, and how do you see it adding to the experience of exploring these places?

Since the very first guidebook, our approach to the art has been to include local elements such as wildlife, landmarks, and pop culture. Both Stephen and I come from an action sports background. Snow sports, skateboarding and surfing all include a visual artistic approach to interpret the sport and lifestyle. We felt that cycling lacked some of that creative inspiration and storytelling. The idea was to create great art and graphics that could just as easily adorn a snowboard or skateboard. The idea was to also borrow from the artistic genre of magical realism, whereby there is a blend of the fantastical or mythical with the real. One graphic in particular that exemplifies this is the road grader with bikes on top. You would never see this in real life, but as a gravel cyclist, you can appreciate the work a road grader does, even if putting a bike rack on top is something that would never happen. The art is intentionally designed to offer a degree of suspension of disbelief, to be whimsical and quirky.

Your guides blend printed books with digital GPS routes. Can you tell us about the experience of using both—what does the book bring that a digital map alone can’t, and vice versa?

Guidebooks have been done for a really long time. When designing the first edition in Trinidad, a couple of things came into play. One was that analog books had fallen in popularity due to smartphone usage. People, when visiting a place typically use their phones to navigate a destination. They look for where to eat, stay, and ride. Therefore, the art illustrations were integrated to get people's attention. To have something tangible in their hand, but since most people use a digital route on their phone or head unit,  it was important to include a means to access that digital footprint. This is where the QR code to the RideWithGPS file came into focus. Secondly, most gravel routes are in remote rural areas where a phone signal isn't always readily available. The idea was to complement the digital route with an analog option for those who might need a backup way to navigate the route - a paper map. 

When you put together a guide, how do you think about the kind of experience you want the rider to have? Do you prioritize a certain type of terrain, scenery, or difficulty level?

The intent of the guidebook is to be a resource for understanding the context of place. Know what makes the place you're riding unique or interesting. The idea is to not just move through or experience a place without knowing something about the history, culture, or people of said place. Think of it as a form of placemaking while riding a bicycle. The terrain can vary, but we want to include texture. Routes go through interesting geologic areas or on roads with local history. The distances vary as well because we want to give people a reason to come back and see a different side to a destination. The texture of route designs intends to make it so nobody is bored with any one route. They have something to come back to, an experience beyond that one time in a destination. Multiple route offerings inspire people to spend more than one or two days in a destination, or to return for future trips, because there is that much to explore and ride. 

What’s your long-term goal for the Gravel Adventure Field Guide series? Are there any dream locations you’d love to feature in the future?

 Our hope is to do a gravel guide in each of the 50 U.S. states and expand internationally. The reality is that gravel is everywhere. Every state has a pocket or zone where gravel adventuring is possible. The idea is to identify those and find a way to bring a GAFG to life there. We've done an international guide in Antigua, Guatemala, already. Other countries to do a guide that would be cool are Canada, Scotland, Spain, Japan, Mexico, and Argentina. Again, gravel is everywhere. There isn't a place that we won't go, because it's all about exploring and learning. Places in the Midwest come to mind. Gravel adventures can happen anywhere on planet Earth. Ride with us. See the World. That's our motto.

After creating these guides, how has your own perspective on gravel riding, travel, or community evolved?

Gravel isn't going anywhere. It's only going to get bigger and more diverse in the years ahead. Races may come and go, but the idea of going out to explore and see what's out there on two wheels is what the bicycle has always been about.

What’s coming up next for Gravel Adventure Field Guide? Any exciting projects, locations, or new ideas in the works?

We've released guides in 2025 for Antigua, Guatemala, Ely, Nevada already, up next are Raton-Angel Fire / Colfax County in New Mexico, with two Pennsylvania books on the horizon, State College - Happy Valley and Susquehanna River Valley. Spring 2026 will see two more Colorado editions, Gunnison-Crested Butte and Sterling-Logan County, which sits on the eastern plains of Colorado. A great example of a destination most people aren't likely thinking of as a place to ride a bike. We're also in active discussions with a host of destinations across the United States. We're fortunate to have something that so many people find appealing. Again. Gravel is everywhere.

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Where can people find your guides and follow along with your work?

- Visit www.graveladventurefieldguide.com, you can check out our short films on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@graveladventurefieldguide9851 and find us on IG @graveladventurefieldguide