The GTDRI Stories: Where Did This Come From? - Part 2

In 2006 I participated in the first DK200 which sparked ideas in my head.

"The GTDRI Stories" is a series telling the history, untold tales, and showing the sights from the run of Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitationals. This series will run on Sundays. Thanks for reading!

Once I got involved in Trans Iowa, I had pretty much transferred my riding to off-pavement. By this time I had a 2003 Karate Monkey I had set up single speed with drop bars and this became my de facto 'gravel bike'. Again- there weren't any 'gravel specific' bicycles or components at this point. We were borrowing what worked, and for many of us, the new 29" platform was making the most sense. It had a wheel size based on road bikes, and the momentum and stability of 29"ers was prized in gravel riding. 

It bears repeating here that the fact was that the DK200 guys, Jim Cummings and Joel Dyke, had researched and borrowed ideas and inspiration from Trans Iowa and that also comes into play with gravel ideas I had. I've told about how their event inspired later Trans Iowas, but it also inspired the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational. It did this in a couple of ways.

Firstly, when the DK200 was announced, I felt compelled to support it by attending and riding in it. This was because 'gravel cycling' was pretty much the DK200 and Trans Iowa. That was it. Note- There were other events "on gravel" but they typically did not bill themselves as "gravel events", as did the DK200 and T.I. The Colesburg race, which was going on then for an example, was billed as a "tune-up race" for the Chequamegon 40 MTB event. It wasn't until 2022 that they started calling that event the "oldest gravel grinder in the Mid-West". 

I was excited about what was happening with gravel events, and I know others were as well. The over-arching feeling I got back then was that this idea was so much fun - No governing bodies, rules that were minimal and easily understood. The do-it-yourself nature surrounding the entire thing. Pushing yourself beyond what you thought was possible. All of that. Event production, how you rode these events, and all the equipment choices were basically unknowns back in 2005-2006. 

I rode a single speed On One Inbred at the first DK200 (image above) and it wasn't the only single speed MTB 29"er at that event. Cyclo cross bikes were also a big deal back in the day, and you'd see a smattering of those as well. But enough about the equipment.....

The thing was that we all were very supportive of each other and wanted to see this take off. 

My '03 Karate Monkey circa 2006

Secondly, as far as how the DK inspired me, I was enamored of the longer, ultra-distance stuff and bigger rides appealed to me. It was my feeling at the time that longer events were preferable since I recalled how disappointed I had been with XC MTB events that cost a lot of money to enter and lasted maybe an hour- maybe and hour and a half. These longer "gravel grinders" were cost efficient for participants because you got an event which allowed you to ride as long as you wanted, and all day if you could. 

The 200 mile distance seemed a bit over the line for me as far as making things more on the "fun" side, so my thoughts were something a hundred plus, but maybe not more than 150-ish. That might be fun, and then that kind of worked its way into my thoughts for a "Death Ride" that I could do in the Summer on gravel. Since the DK200 was a big loop course, that worked its way into my ideas as well. In fact, the whole event idea for the GTDRI was loosely based around the DK200 profile, just not as long.

But then I got to thinking, "This needs to be a group ride." Not so much an "event", per se', as much as just a 'happening' that you could join in on, if you were so inclined. Plus, I didn't know what I was doing in terms of putting on events in 2006. I was all-new to this, and putting on another event, which I deemed necessary to further gravel grinding, wasn't so much in my wheel house. Besides, that "big-event" feel wasn't my bag anyway. So, I made it a group ride, no-drop, and kept things low-key.

My idea was 'to invite people' to my 'death ride' idea that I had been doing all along. Jeff Kerkove was privy to my spoken thoughts on the matter, since we worked together at the time. He encouraged me to take the idea to the public via a blog. Thus the "Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational" was born. Jeff actually set the blog up, and that's how the abbreviation came about for it, because a web address with the entire name would have been ridiculous. So "www.gtdri.blogspot.com" it was, and I was off and running toward putting this thing on in 2006. 

 Next: Announcing the idea, and putting it into effect.