2026: Que Sheets
Photo From Guitar Ted: Trans Iowa
There was a time in gravel cycling when you arrived at the start line often knowing nothing about the day ahead.
No course upload. GPS was a thing for the military and fancy cars. No screen telling you where to go.
Just before the start, someone would hand you a small stack of paper and 3,2,1 you were off.
That simple paper became everything.
You taped it to your top tube, had created a Frankenstein clip board on your handlebars, or folded it so many times it barely survived the first hour. It told you where to turn, what roads to follow, and occasionally offered directions that felt more like a riddle than navigation.
And if you missed a turn? You might not realize it for miles. Races like Trans Iowa, Unbound, and Gravel Worlds have all had the winners altered because of missed turns.
There were moments out on empty gravel roads when riders would slow down, look around at absolutely nobody, and wonder if they were still part of the race at all.
But somehow, that uncertainty became part of the magic. And even after GPS or course markings became common, for many years, the expert riders would still print cue sheets to save them when high schoolers would go out and turn all the signs around the night before the race or their GPX file failed.
Those little pieces of paper didn’t just guide riders across county backroads. They helped define what gravel cycling would become: adventurous, unpredictable, and built on trust that the right path would eventually appear.
Tonight, we honor the humble object that once carried an entire sport forward.
Please welcome…
Cue Sheets
to the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame.
