Less than 1,000 people live in Nannup, which is one of those peaceful country towns where it is serene at night, the stars above are a mass of bright pinpoints in the sky, and the rowdiest part of the day is dawn, when the bird calls deliver not a waking tune, but something more akin to a grand orchestra inviting you to launch into another day.
It's hard to imagine what's to come for this Western Australian bush town in the Blackwood Valley when driving in through the tree-lined roads on Monday night. The increasing undulations hint at what's ahead for the riders out on the challenging course for Saturday and Sunday's UCI Gravel World Championships. But it's hard not to wonder: can this small town really host a World Championships, with around 1000 riders and all the extras that come along with a rainbow jersey race?
"Nannup is isolated to an extent, but that's the reason why it has the best gravel in the world, race director Stephen Gallagher told Cyclingnews on the run into the event. "You know you can't do that in the centre of Brussels, for example.
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"This is the flip side. You can't say, 'Oh yeah, I wish we were you know in a big city'. Well, then you just wouldn't have the terrain and the environment."
Terrain and environment are key ingredients Nannup has in spades, with every new corner revealing a gravel road ripe for exploration, but there are many others, too. The biggest is perhaps the community and team around the race, determined to stare these challenges in the face and work around them in a way that may make those looking in forget they even exist.
"Let's say challenge is also a unifying calling card for all of the team," said Gallagher.
From accommodation, equipment, access to - or perhaps in this case it's more appropriate to say the development of - a good communications network both for safety and broadcast purposes, plus finding the right equipment and know-how.
"It's not like you've got it all at your fingertips, so we have to bring some things in from either abroad or out of state," said Gallagher. "But we are doing it, and we are doing it really, really well. And yes, it gives us a lot of heartache, but the other side is that we do it because we've got a huge, a beautiful location to show the world and we wouldn't have it without also having all those challenges."
What's more, the event has been in the planning for five years, and there is a depth of experience to help overcome any obstacles. For a start, the organising group putting this event together has experience from SEVEN, which joined the UCI Gravel World Series in the inaugural 2022 season and was also then announced as the host of the 2026 Gravel World Championships that very same year. Since then, the event has grown to a level where it, on a single day of racing, actually hosted more than double the number of riders that will be at the World Championships.
"I would say the most exciting and gratifying part of my role is being able to see this team of people delivering a World Championships because they're some of the most experienced, knowledgeable and passionate people from all different walks of life," said Gallagher.
What's more, the race also has the support of the broader community, with Gallagher quick to point out the level of support locally, regionally and at a state level.
So it may be a small town, but the accommodation options have been expanded with a special event campground at the Nannup recreation centre, and the broader region itself is a popular tourism destination, with the beachside Busselton, about 60km away, becoming a pre-event hub.
And as the days progress, Nannup is looking less and less like a peaceful country town and more like a World Championships host. The start-finish line barriers and welcoming signs with barcodes delivering links to information about the event that were already in place at the start of the week are being added to every day.
The streets are getting more packed with riders, the caravan park filling, the Nannup Brewery being turned into Factor House, and more and more of the infrastructure of the race and event village is popping up by the hour. The atmosphere is also growing, as riders mingle on reccy rides and in the streets, while locals are bending over backwards to talk bikes and show this bunch of riders from all around the world just how great this little town in the south-west of Western Australia can be.
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