The Rift Gravel Race, live.

Two hundred kilometres around a live volcano

Black lava, glacial rivers and a road surface that exists mostly in theory, in the middle of the Icelandic highlands.

The Rift runs out of Hvolsvöllur into the highlands of southern Iceland and circles Hekla, one of the country’s most active volcanoes. Two hundred kilometres of black volcanic gravel, ash, washboard and unbridged glacial river crossings that riders wade with the bike on their shoulder. There is no shelter on the route, the weather comes off the ice cap without warning, and in late July there is enough daylight for the whole thing regardless of how long it takes.

It is one of the most remote gravel races anywhere, which is exactly why the people at home need something to look at. Livebib puts the whole loop on the map with the rider on it, distance covered and an arrival estimate for Hvolsvöllur that keeps updating — one link, free to watch, and it keeps working when the rider has been out of contact for an hour.