The GTDRI Stories: Gravel In 2018

The DKXL was a very "Trans-Iowa-like" event which first ran in 2018

"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!

 As I approach the end of the GTDRI Stories I thought it might be a good time to contrast the ride against the landscape of the gravel cycling scene circa 2018. I also wanted to paint a bit of a picture as a backdrop concerning where things stood in 2006 when the GTDRI first rolled out.

To be honest, there was no gravel scene in 2006. It hadn't been developed yet. Looking at things from a perspective that I have, back in 2006 you would have been thought to be a madman if you rebranded your event as a "gravel race". People would have had a laugh at that, and most riders would have had no idea what the heck you were talking about. 

That's the truth. But in 2018, things had changed. Money was in Gravel™, and other forms of bicycle racing were waning fast, or had almost completely been erased from the consciousness of riders in that time. Take, for instance, 24hr MTB events. They still existed, and still do, but do they have the same weight in the general consensus of riders in 2018 as they had in 2006? No way! It's all about gravel events in 2018, and big corporations were about to make their presence known in Gravel™.

The DKXL, a new facet of the DK200 events, was announced that year, in 2018, which hearkened back to Trans Iowa and the beginnings of the gravel scene, but that bit of nostalgia was overshadowed by the purchase of the DK200 event by Life Time Fitness, a huge corporation that looked to cash in on the gravel cycling craze. 

Jim Cummings giving tribute to myself and Trans Iowa at the start of the first DKXL.(Image by Chris W. Nichols)

The USAC organization started making waves in gravel circles at about this time as well, getting together with several of the most prominent race directors and asking about gravel events. At that time, most RD's and organizers rejected any overtures made to them by USAC, and it would be several years before USAC held a gravel event nationally. 

Pro level racers, semi-pros, sponsored riders, and even trade backed teams were being seen at the bigger events like the DK200. Meanwhile, upheaval in the ranks of the early adopters of gravel was being felt as the gravel scene matured and became big business in all areas. 

And what of the lowly GTDRI? Trans Iowa was ended in April of 2018, just as all these other changes were happening. Although I felt Trans Iowa had run its course as an idea, and despite my having run out of enthusiasm for the event, I still was interested in long gravel rides and my thought was that the GTDRI was a perfect 'anti-race', gravel group ride/get together type event that I really was most interested in. 

The last Trans Iowa start. Image by George Keslin.

In fact, there was another event I used to be involved in that had been twisted out of what I had wanted it to be into a "corporate serving" thing and I always had regretted that was the case. That was a 29"er event and not a gravel event, but the "get together", just-ride mentality of that very grassroots idea was never fully realized. I felt that the GTDRI more closely resembled what I had envisioned for that, but even the GTDRI wasn't quite "that" event either. 

I also held smaller, more casual "Geezer Rides" back then as well, and these were fun and drew a wide range of riders out onto the gravel roads, some for the first time. And then there were all those gravel group rides I hosted starting in 2011. Those were hyper-local in nature and never really very big in terms of the numbers of folks that attended them. But those who did had a great time. 

Gravel in 2018 was becoming something else. Maybe it is better to say that Gravel was one thing in the beginning, back in 2005, but it now was multiple things. Different goals, different things which were seen as "necessary". Different viewpoints and different expectations. 

This all was not lost on me then, and I was hearing that some of these ideas were encroaching upon my goal for the GTDRI. I was hearing that the GTDRI was a "training ride" for other events. What?!!

This prompted me to reconsider why it was I was putting on a free ride that was supposed to be just a day on bicycles. I wrote a response to this idea I had heard about after the 2018 GTDRI, but it is relevant to where my mind was at in late 2017 and all of 2018 as well. The following paragraph was written in August of 2018 as part of my GTDRI ride report for that year. Note the foreshadowing. 

"If that's why folks are coming, well I'd rather just do my own ride and enjoy the flowers, the scenery, and not be looking at any FTP numbers afterward. And someday that's what is going to happen. Because there won't be any rides organized by me again. I'll just ride for the sheer enjoyment of it and that's not probably going to be very fast or long at some point in my future."

But by 2018 I wasn't quite out of gas in terms of putting on events, or, at least I thought that at the time. Even though Trans Iowa was off the table, there was another GTDRI to do, and with the route all locked in from the previous year, all I had to do was to pick a date and show up on time at the start. What could be easier? 

Next: The lead-up to the 2018 GTDRI.