The Dirty Reiver

Hey wait a minute! That logo kinda reminds me of sumpthin....

I got a message yesterday about a new event for gravel riders, only it's in the United Kingdom! Don't worry, if you want to go, you have plenty of time to figure this out. The event date hasn't been "officially" set yet, but it appears it will be sometime in April of 2016.

Okay, but what the heck is a reiver anyway? Well besides being the name of a Western Iowa college sports team, the reiver name has a chequered past wrapped up in robbery, pillaging, and general badness. The Borders Region of the United Kingdom was the reiver's territory, and these ne'er-do-well men carried out their lawlessness from the late 13th Century to the early 17th Century on both the Scots and Anglos. The event takes place there in the Borders area in the Kielder Forest on various gravel logging roads.

The event is being organized by Paul Errington, who I had the pleasure of meeting when he came and rode in Trans Iowa a few years back now. Paul also has completed the Dirty Kanza 200, and through that event he made friends with its director, Jim Cummins and they put their heads together to help Paul get the Dirty Reiver off the ground. (The event's logo kinda looks like the old DK200 logo, doesn't it?) The length of the event, 200K, is the "metric nod" to the DK200's length. The event date- again, sometime in April- is a nod to that other event I mentioned Paul was in.

So if you want to know more and need to keep tabs on the developments with this event, check out http://www.dirtyreiver.co.uk or find this event and others on the RidingGravel Events Page.