Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Gravel Grinder News: Evidence Of Gravel Cycling's History

Courtesy of Warren Wiebe. Thanks!
Gravel riding has produced a niche, an offshoot of cycling, which had, up until this pandemic, been one of the bright spots in the cycling industry. That and HPC/electrified, motorized bikes. Anyway, this has engendered much speculation and thought in some circles as to 'who was first'.

I generally dislike such pursuits since they almost always end up in speculations, hurt feelings, and inconclusive evidence. I always just say that we know people were cycling off-pavement before us, and then there came Trans Iowa, the Dirty Kanza 200, the Good Life Gravel Adventure/Gravel Worlds, and the Almanzo 100. Events which essentially helped put gravel riding on the map. The 'Modern Era' of gravel riding, if you will, started in late 2004.

But be that as it may, we all know, and I have oft pointed out that, gravel riding was happening on an organized level for years before this. We know Richard "Deke" Gosen was putting on events on gravel around Decorah, Iowa in the 1980's, and we know that there was a "Colesburg 40" event in Northeast Iowa on gravel before Trans Iowa. We also know about something called the "Flinthills Death Ride".

John Hobbs had been putting this event on starting in 1988. It was mostly understood at that time to be a mountain biking ride, but it was always on the gravel roads of the Flint Hills in Kansas. I was recently reminded of this again by a good friend, Warren Wiebe, who is a native of Kansas and had done this event in the past. As he was cleaning out some things during these times of staying around home, he found an old "Flinthills Death Ride" newsletter. (Remember those? Times before e-mail!)

I posted an image here which is pretty high-res, so you should be able to 'embiggen' this enough to read it. If you do, you'll notice a few things that might remind you of events that came afterward. I never was influenced by John Hobbs, but it would seem that in some areas, we were on the same page.

Anyway, it is good to be reminded that all this hullabaloo about 'the world's premier gravel event', or this is 'the grandaddy of all gravel events' is kind of - well not kind of, it is ignorant of the past and basically self-important marketing chutzpah. There are pioneers of gravel grinding, and then there are the unknown, the forgotten promoters of the past that were doing just what we are today, but within the confines of the 'Analog Age' which kept them a secret from most of the cycling world.

Starting in the 2000's, we had the benefit of the 'Information Age', where ideas were shared at lightning speed and little revolutions like gravel riding and racing got a foothold and spread around. Now we have to remind people that this was the case, or they will remember what they want to remember, and invent stories where there are no memories to fit a narrative. History can make us aware and teach us if we let it, and I think this is a great thing. Thanks Warren, this was a good reminder of times past and gravel riding's history.

7 comments:

MuddyMatt said...

Well said said and humbly done Mark. Parallels everywhere at the moment too.

Matt

S.Fuller said...

I saw some postings for this event after doing my first DK200 in 2008. I really wish I would have taken the time to come back to Kansas to do it for at least one time.

Everything old is new again.

Anon said...

Cool flyer! Though I never got a change to ride it, this was the first gravel race that I ever encountered. At the time, I had just moved to Kansas and was looking for MTB races. I stumbled upon this but thought it didn't look like much of a MTB race. It did plant the seed for possibilities in my new home though. Shortly after that I had a CX bike and started doing mixed surface rides.

Zed F. said...

The Black Fly Challenge would have been celebrating it's 25th year this year.

Motocraftsman said...

Fun Fact, The Death Ride began in Matfield Green, KS. John Hobbs would scare the s**t out of you before you even started. I don't remember much about encouraging words, or finish line hugs. I remember dehydration, sunburns, and a cool medal. It was only 62-ish miles but it was brutal. There was a local woman that rode a litespeed titanium road bike on the route in the mid-late 90's, and I believe she finished multiple events.

Guitar Ted said...

@Motorcraftsman - Thank you for those memories! I'd heard the course was about 70 miles or so, but the course may have changed a bit over time, I suppose. The toughness of those roads combined with the time of year must have made that event beastly. Thanks again for the comment!

Slim said...

Indeed, a very good point about the ‘history’ of gravel riding. Just like we tend to focus on ‘history’ meaning where things were written down, that does not mean things didn’t happen in a ‘pre-historic’ time or setting,, but they were not being written down.