Gravel History With Guitar Ted: A Snapshot From 2011

 Welcome To Gravel History With Guitar Ted! This will be a random series here on the blog where I will give you my take on the history of gravel riding and racing in the modern era.* 

There may be a "Ted-terview" or two where I speak with those from the early days of the Modern era of Gravel as well. 

Today in "Gravel History With Guitar Ted" we are going to go back to the year 2011. This was at the zenith of the "Discovery Era" in terms of gravel riding. The time where we as gravel riders had sussed out many things that did or did not work for us and set-ups on bikes were reflecting this. 

It was also a time where some bikes started to be designed with a bent towards usage on gravel, but were not marketed as "gravel bikes". That term and that category were not in use yet, but within a year of this image I am about to share, "gravel" as a category was definitely being utilized by several brands. This means that at this time in 2011, plans were being laid and products were in development already which would change the face of cycling forever. While all that is true, Steve Fuller, the owner of this bike at the time, tells me that this same bike, in largely the same form, finished top-ten at the 2009 DK200 event. So, it represents the then "state of the art" in gravel travel.

That's why I felt the following image from the inaugural "Gents Race", then known as the Renegade Gents Race, was of particular interest as it clearly shows a few things that were rather common by 2011. So, while I apologize for the saturation of Gents Race subject matter over the past five days, please excuse me for that and take a close look at the following image. 

"Captain" Steve Fuller on a Salsa Cycles La Cruz during the 2011 Renegade Gents Race.

This is a great image and maybe at first glance you may think, "Well, this is no big deal", but the devil is in the details, as they say, and when you really drill down into this image, several things jump out at you. Let's take a closer look then, shall we? 

• The Bike: Let's start with the obvious. The Salsa Cycles La Cruz disc brake bike was never marketed as a gravel bike, but the unsaid intention was for this to be a "catch-all" bike model which could be a road bike, a single track bike, or used on gravel. Salsa marketed it then as a "split-personality" bike. Ostensibly sold as a disc brake cross bike that could use "up to 42mm tires", the La Cruz represented the cyclo - cross bike's dominance in the gravel cycling world at this time. Note the large, open front triangle for shoulder portaging, necessary for cyclo - cross racing. The geometry also was cyclo - cross based with a high bottom bracket. Disc brakes were still kind of odd, but they were the way forward not only for gravel bikes, but eventually road racing style bikes as well. Lastly, this represents the height of steel as a frame choice for gravel, which many riders at the time preferred due to its toughness in extreme conditions and also due to the perceptions that steel was okay to "sacrifice to the gravel", as this sort of cycling is hard on paint jobs and frame materials. 
• The Tires: This might be the perfect example if only for the tires this bike has on it. The Schwalbe "Marathon" series of touring tires were THE tire of choice in the gravel scene from about 2008-2013 after which time the Clement MSO and Challenge Tires models took over the gravel cycling marketplace. These Schwalbe tires weren't easy to track down at times since importers did not understand that gravel riding was even a thing. So getting your hands on a tire that many in the cycling business world thought was a niche tire for the rare market of touring cyclists wasn't always easy. However; it performed admirably in the most severe gravel conditions and warded off punctures well. It wasn't perfect, as it was a heavy, ponderous tire with a stiffer casing, but it would do the trick. 
• The Handlebars: Take a look. No flared drops! The bars are also a bit narrowish looking. This is because many riders were using typical road bike drop bars for gravel riding back then, and that is also based in cyclo - cross where flared drops were not in wide usage either. So, where did the whole flared drop bar thing come from? Actually, I may have had some influence on that, since I was a big flared drop bar advocate for 29"ers back in the 2000's and I also asked for that sort of bar on the 2014 Raleigh Tamland. The Salsa Cycles Fargo development was also heavily influenced by those of us that had Salsa's ears at the time who were flared drop bar converts. That bike became a big influence on the gravel scene early on as well. So, there may be a case to be made there, but this image doesn't lead us to that conclusion. Instead, it is a reference to when things weren't so flared and points to today's renaissance of road bars on gravel bikes in narrower widths. 
• Of Note: Besides those three big things I noted the Jaand Frame Pack, a triangular little bag that was immensely popular in the 2000's gravel scene, but quickly gave way to the "half-frame bag" idea which was most perfectly exemplified by the emergence of the use of Revelate Designs' "Tangle Bag". Also- you can see the spoke card-cum-cue sheet navigation tacked to Steve's stem here. GPS files were coming, but cue sheet navigation was still a big thing back at this time. Finally, note the lack of "adventure warts"- the ubiquitous accessory mounts found on most gravel bikes now, which were not commonplace in 2011. Especially on a cyclo - cross based design which were always minimalist in that regard.

That's a look at a time capsule from 2011. Is there anything you see that I missed? Let me know in the comments. I hope that you enjoyed this look back at gravel history!

* The "Modern Era of Gravel" started when Trans Iowa was concocted by myself and Jeff Kerkove in the Fall of 2004. From that point forward what became known as a new niche of cycle-sport and cycling culture was born.