Gravel History With Guitar Ted: Odin's Revenge

Something I saw roadside at the 2013 Odin's Revenge

Last week a "Facebook Memory" thing popped up and it was the image to the left here. It was something I saw at a gravel road race event called "Odin's Revenge". A little deal put on by some folks in and around Gothenburg, Nebraska. 

It struck me how many people that knew about the event, or had done it, were commenting in glowing terms about this, now defunct, gravel event. It was an event that left a big impression on you, if you had a part in it. So much so that one former participant in the event dedicated an entire page on his blog to gather all the stories from that event. 

It also struck me as to how that event was a prime example of the "Rise of Gravel"- if you will - as a popular activity. It is exemplary of almost every facet of "grassroots gravel" and how these old events (and some still today) are not so much contested to see which single individual outpaced everyone else as much as they were put on to see if you could outpace yourself. It was about the challenge- a personal goal- and the camaraderie forged in the mutual testing of physical prowess, mental fortitude, and the ability to process calories. In the end, there was a "winner" proclaimed, but every person that rode in the event was considered that as well. Experiences were held in higher regard than the placements. There was just something really special about all of that.

This then is a brief, and all too far short of the mark telling of Odin's Revenge's history, and its place in gravel grinding history. It is a telling of a story that I hope will begin to impart that reason, or reasons, why this event engenders such reverence six years after the last Odin's Revenge event was held.

All images from various Odin's Revenge years by me, except where indicated

The first time I remember hearing about Odin's, as we referred to it then, was in 2012 from Mike Johnson, a Trans Iowa rider at that time, and who was going to do the Tour Divide in 2013. He had gotten word of this event and was going to use it as training for his attempt. He came back from doing Odin's in 2012 and at that time I was putting on weekly gravel road group rides which Mike often attended. During one of those rides Mike unfurled the tale of Odin's from his perspective. I recall that he highly recommended that I go out and try it. So, when registration for the second Odin's opened up, I made plans to attend with Matt Gersib. 

Many older gravel events back in the day were more "home-grown" affairs, and Odin's was just such an event. So much so that when we made plans to go out, we were encouraged to stay at one of the Race Director's houses in Gothenburg. We weren't the only two that were invited as there was a full house, and the Quigley's put on a spread for us to have for breakfast that would have rivaled Granny's Thanksgiving dinner. This is just one example of why I say "grassroots gravel" events were like being invited over to someone's home for a get-together, because it was exactly that in many cases. 

Some of the pre-race meetings were held the night before in a KOA campground. Chad Quigley presiding in 2014.

So, Odin's was not pretentious. It wasn't a fancy-pants deal. But they had good, solid people running the event. The "DSG" group, as they referred to themselves as. I asked one time about the acronym, and one of them, Matt, told me that when the idea for Odin's was floated that a local said something to the effect that they were "dumb s#*ts" for even thinking about a gravel/dirt road event in their rural area. So, as the story was told to me, they adopted the slur and called themselves the "Dumb $h1t Guys", or DSG for short.

Once you rode out of the Platte River Valley, things got interesting. REAL interesting!

Of course, you had to have a route. An interesting, challenging course. Gothenburg Nebraska is right along I-80, and when you put "I-80" and "Nebraska" together most people's eye's glaze over. But then you know, if you've ridden Odin's, that they have never ventured out of the Platte River Valley, because after you get about five miles or so away from the interstate to the North or South, you will find a dramatically different landscape with some very unique features. 

Things would start out mild in the hills.....

......and they could get pretty wild!

The course! Yeah.... It's nothing like anywhere I've ever ridden before. Odin's truly had everything. Mind-numbing flats and gridded out roads near the river, big, rollers on white rock gravel, and then there were those crazy road cuts with big, dusty piles of sandy moon dust, or rutted out dirt and grass covered slots in the steep hills. 

Oh yeah, hills. Nebraska is NOT flat, and especially the Odin's course which I would say had more climbing than any Emporia based super-duper gravel event you may have heard about. Probably more than Gravel Worlds too. And it was on all those surface types making bike choice really interesting.

The fact that Odin's was in mid-June also played into the deal since out in East-Central Nebraska, it gets really hot that time of year and there are NO trees. It's nigh unto impossible to find shade on the course, unless you hide beneath an imposing dirt cut, and that wasn't very smart because that seemed to focus heat, not give relief from it. 

Riders gathered at Walkers Steakhouse in Gothenburg for the 2015 running of the event.

Of course, having a challenging, scenic, and fun route is just one part of a successful gravel event. You need the social part as well, and Odin's had that vibe down pat over its five year run. We met and finished at the KOA Kampground for the first few editions and then the DSG guys moved the pre-event to Walker's Steakhouse, an amazing 70's period piece of a restaurant. 

Either way it was done, the vibe was stellar at all the Odin's events. There was craft beer, folk music, and people just enjoying good hangs with each other. You hear a lot about the "Gravel Family" now days, almost as if that is some marketing shtick. But we old gravel geezers know what the term really stems from, and Odin's was one of the scenes that perpetuated that legend. 

A checkpoint at one of the Odin's events.

Matt Gersib rolls in to finish an Odin's Revenge. No fancy finish lines here!

So, there you have it. Low-key production, great social vibe and hang, and a doozy of a course that many who rode on will say to this day was one of the toughest, most scenic, and fun courses they have ridden. 

Odin's five year run spanned the time from "pre-Gravel®" up to when Gravel® became a 'thing' in cycling culture. The DSG Guys never took Odin's to the level beyond the home-spun, honest, transparent, and simple level which it remained at for its five year run. Although, it very well could have become one of the gems of gravel grinding, had the DSG Guys wanted to go that route. There is no doubt in my mind that this event had the potential to rival anything out there, had the town and businesses gotten in behind it and supported it. I do not think you'd have ever seen thousands of riders out there in the hills around Gothenburg, but no one could have predicted what happened in Emporia Kansas back in the beginnings of that event either. Who knows? Maybe it is better off being that legendary event only a few ever got to try out. 

A stretch of the infamous "Government Pocket Road"on the Odin's course.

"The Mud Year" This was slick, like oil-slick! Sticky mud too. Treacherous!

Personally, I had my hardest riding I've ever done at that event. the infamous "Mud Year", which for Odin's was actually 2014, saw me exhausted after reaching the first checkpoint only 48 miles into the course. I think it took me something like 6 hours to traverse that distance! 

And I bonked, I saw visions, I sweat profusely, and tore myself down mentally and physically there. I never finished one of those events. Maybe one year I could have, but I'll not ever get that chance now....

Me during the 2015 version of Odin's Revenge (Image by Outz-Trullinger)

 So, I have a lot invested into that event, and it has a place in my heart. Take that to mind as you read all this, but I still hold that Odin's Revenge is one of the best gravel/back road/adventure events ever put on in this niche of cycling. There could be other events similar to this, and I know an event is being run just a bit further West of Gothenburg over similar terrain. So, if you wanted a taste of what this was like, there is that opportunity. But an event, as I have hopefully shown, is more than a course in a certain geographical area. It's really about the people putting it on, and dare I say- its also about who shows up. Together, all of it makes for a certain stew that is hard to replicate.