Gravel's Beginnings, Culture Past, Present & Future

As part of my 20th year of blogging here I present today this article on the history, culture, and future of "gravel" riding. This was an assignment I took on after meeting Taiki Sakamoto, a journalist from Japan who is an editor at "Bicycle Club" magazine. 

Sakamoto-San asked me to write in brief about the way gravel began here, what the early years were like, and what "gravel culture" was defined as here. He specifically wanted to understand if "gravel" was racing only, or was there more to it than that. He wanted to know if gravel had a non-competitive element. 

I have no idea if Sakamoto-San will use any of what I wrote, but I was honored that he asked me to write this. I thought I would share it with my readers here. So, following is the manuscript of my responses to Sakamoto-San. See what you think.... 

Riders during Trans Iowa v1 April 2005

Gravel's Beginnings: 

 This may be a fool's errand to try to pin down the beginnings of gravel riding as we know it in 2024. In fact, it probably is a foolish thing to try to ascertain. As long as there have been bicycles people were riding them on unpaved surfaces, racing these machines, and mostly having adventures. That is no different than what we witness today. So, let's just agree to say that at some point there was a turn to crushed rock road riding which spurred on a way of cycling that has overtaken the world.

This can be narrowed down to a time when a certain set of unique circumstances in history gelled together to create the "perfect recipe" for what became "Gravel". There is a lot to try to make sense of here, but throughout it all, let's keep in mind that the main thing is that riding bicycles with others - or alone - is a lot of fun.

Now, let us look at the early 2000's in the U.S.A. and what was going on, both culturally and within the realm of off-road cycling. The home computer was still a new thing in those days. People were connecting to sites that catered to special interests which mainstream media was incapable of covering at the time. Specialized information was shared in "chat rooms" online, and the form of social media/communication known as "blogging" was extremely popular at that time.

Within the cycling circles, a decline in participation in road cycling events was evident, mostly due to two factors - costs to produce such events and people's dissatisfaction with the product. Then too, we had an off-road component that was suffering similar issues. Mountain biking venues were hard to get to, being strung across the nation in far-flung locations in many cases. Costs to participate were rising, and many people had no real motivation to undertake what was perceived as an "extreme activity". Especially when it came to the 24hr MTB events, which arguably reached their peak of popularity in the mid-2000's. People were ready for something new.

That new thing ended up becoming "Gravel". After Trans Iowa was announced in November of 2004, my co-founder of the event, Jeff Kerkove, was inundated with requests about the event format and rules. People wanted to know what was going on, and because Jeff, who was at that time a very popular 24hr mountain biking athlete, had a highly trafficked blog, this became the conduit for this new information.

Many ultra-endurance athletes participated in the first T.I., including Steve "Doom" Fassibinder, seen here at the Algona Checkpoint.

A couple of the cyclists that caught wind of this new thing were named Jim Cummings and Joel Dyke. They decided that they wanted to ride on gravel in their home state of Kansas. Joel rode in the first two editions of Trans Iowa and that helped inform what they created. The event known then as the Dirty Kanza 200 became another gravel race which, as you may know now, eventually grew into what is known as Unbound Gravel today.

Between blogs, emails, and word of mouth, gravel cycling started to spread throughout the Mid-West of the United States, an area mostly looked at as being a desolate, unlovely part of the country by many. "Fly-over Country", it was called, because people deemed the West and East coasts of the USA as being more interesting and important. However, as people began to travel to the Mid-West to partake in this new, wild variety of cycling competition, the viewpoint of these participants began to change.

Early gravel events also helped shape what would become known as "the spirit of gravel", which really is a cultural ethos that began as a rejection of what was then deemed to be negative in traditionally formatted, sanctioned racing events. Rules were simple in gravel events, with some simply saying "Don't be a Dick", meaning that if we could all trust one another to follow fair play practices and get along well with each other, we didn't need any other rules.

All types of bicycles were used during the early years of gravel. This scene is from the 2015 Gravel Worlds

Of course, there were rules, but many were simple and with the format being new, promoters and organizers were welcoming one and all. Race fields made up of misfits and rebels, all manner of gender, political leanings, and all types of bicycles were allowed as long as we all got along and shared in the adventures. It wasn't uncommon for race winners to mingle with last place finishers, and even those who did not finish, and share an adult beverage while the telling of each other’s day on the bicycle went on long after the finish.

There was also an element amongst the early practitioners of Gravel which was experimental and pioneering. Keep in mind that while the roads were "Gravel" there was no equipment or clothing specific to Gravel. One had to experiment and discover what worked and what did not work. This also included nutrition and how to deal with the way gravel and dirt roads changed due to road maintenance and weather. 

Mountain, cross, and varying ways to tackle water carrying, etc, were all part of the early gravel scene. This was from the beginning of the 2010 Dirty Kanza 200.

 Just about everything was on the table to experiment with in the early days of gravel. Dual suspension mountain bikes, old 1970's road bikes with 27" X 1 1/4" tires, cyclo- cross bikes, and even traditional road bikes were seen at the early events on gravel. It did not take long, however, for the cyclo-cross bike to become the most popular choice amongst gravel riders. 

 But experimentation continued with issues pertaining to hydration, how to deal with wet, muddy roads, dust, lighting, and more. This "pioneering" phase of gravel brought riders closer together as information was freely exchanged at events and on the various cycling blogs and websites. It was a unique phase in gravel cycling history, and because of the way the knowledge was handled, "Gravel" started to gain a reputation for being inclusive and more down to earth in regard to how riders were treated at events and online. No one was trying to hide secrets, for the most part, and it seemed like the participants were treated more as family members than they were rivals of each other.

You could see this and feel it at the early events whenever we gathered for meetings or after the event was finished up. The term "gravel family" was coined and it seemed that every event was another chance for a "family reunion", which in this country is referring to how related family members often gather yearly from scattered locations to "reunite" and share a meal together. In that sense, the gravel family was a place to belong, and was unlike traditional road and mountain bike events where racers experienced a sort of 'caste system' in terms of groups and interaction with - or between - participants was not fostered by the event promoters. 

The "Moonshine Metric" started and ended in the event host's garage with a potluck dinner after the ride. This scene from 2012.

In fact, this was an important cultural phenomenon in early gravel events. The social gathering was an integral part of the racing experience. Trans Iowa had a pre-event meal where riders spent time getting to know one another. Some events like the Almanzo 100, an early grassroots gravel event in the state of Minnesota put on by Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame inductee, Chris Skogen, invited people to camp in Skogen's back yard the night before the event. Another event I participated in called the Moonshine Metric was held starting at the race director's home and riders were invited to a garage potluck dinner and party after the ride was over.

Gravel Grows Up: 

 Eventually things started to change. One of the most influential changes occurred in 2010 when Jim Cummings and Kristi Mohn decided to bring the Dirty Kanza 200 start and finish to downtown Emporia, Kansas. The event went from being an underground, out of the way event that started at a local motel on the Northwest side of town to a marquee event for not only gravel riders but for the city of Emporia itself.

This focus on the integration of local businesses and city with an elevation of the rider experience at the finish line became a prototype for many other gravel events. Finish line arches, chip timing, professional looking number plates, and announcers were implemented which elevated the appearance of the event and attracted even more people. A similar formula for gravel events has spread across the country and world now since that early move by the DK200.

The Dirty Kanza 200 set the bar for gravel events and challenged the genre to become more professional and polished.

 Another growing up of gravel came when in 2012 Salsa Cycles announced the Warbird model, a gravel racing bike which was the first "gravel specific", mass-marketed bicycle for this niche sport. Subsequently, tires and more gravel specific gear started becoming available. Wilderness Trail Bikes made the first commercially available gravel tubeless tire and HED Wheels started offering a gravel specific wheel early on as well. Suddenly every brand seemed to have a gravel bike and more tires and other gravel related gear started flying off shelves as gravel riding participation numbers skyrocketed in the late twenty-teens.

With larger fields taking part in events and with specific gear now becoming a reality for gravel, the genre started having a tug of war within itself. The days of discovery were passing, older ways of doing events were also going by the wayside, mostly because it was becoming increasingly impossible to have intimate, more familial feeling events with such large numbers of participants. That and the sheer number of gravel events went from a handful of mostly Mid-Western USA events to upwards of 600-700 events by the end of the twenty-teens spread across the continents of North America, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere.

A professional element in terms of the look and feel of events was also met with a professionalism in the event participants, to a small degree. Former World Tour pros started dabbling in gravel, finding a home for their competitive inclinations without the rigors of having to live through a long season of disciplined training and racing. But keep in mind that while the North American cycling media saw this as a positive and focal moment in gravel cycling, it was the continued increase in the average citizen's participation in gravel events, and now just recreational gravel riding, that was spurring on the movement to greater heights.

Professional cyclists started racing gravel events in the 2010's like Allison Tetrick, the winner of the 2018 Gravel Worlds Open Women's field

Current Gravel Culture: 

 The increase of smart-phone usage has been linked to the rise in numbers of distracted individuals driving cars and this has caused much death and injury to cyclists. Not to mention near-misses for people riding paved roadways. The panacea for many was gravel, A place where traffic was slow, lower in numbers of vehicles, and there was the distinct possibility that you might not even see a vehicle.

The capability of gravel bikes also factored in as riders discovered that these bikes - lighter and faster than mountain bikes - could go almost anywhere whereas the road racing derived bicycles were limited to smooth pavement. No longer were these gravel bikes limited to riders racing in the Mid-West, these bicycles were viable the world over, and people took to them in larger and larger numbers.

Subsequently the gravel bike helped to provide ways for groups to enjoy cycling outside of traditional events. Group rides became more commonplace. Impromptu adventures promoted on social media became more common, and communities of "gravel" riders sprang up in locations as far flung as the Philippines and New York City. 

Many group rides and low-key events happen on gravel now which are not related to racing.

Racing has taken on an even higher level of professionalism with the entrance of the Union Cycliste Internatinale and the Gravel World Series. Meanwhile, racing franchises/series like the Belgian Waffle Ride, the Life Time Grand Prix, and events like Unbound Gravel and SBT GRVL have continued to be covered extensively by cycling media and have raised the level of gravel to the casual observer who now has heard about "gravel racing", most likely.

This dichotomy of Gravel, where we have high-level racing which garners all the media's attention, and the grassroots, "DIY" type events and community driven groups now exists and continues to show no signs of reversing its growth anytime in the near future.

The Future of Gravel And Its Culture: 

 The two largest movers of bicycles in the cycling industry in 2024 are the categories of eBikes and gravel bikes. The number of gravel events seems to be increasing as well, so it stands to reason that we should have a continuation of the sort of "gravel culture" we have today. While cycling media will undoubtedly raise awareness of Professional level gravel racing and technology whenever it can, it is also important to remember that this represents a smaller portion of a much larger number of riders who enjoy riding bicycles on unpaved surfaces.

As an example, while it is easy to think that the recently completed 2024 Unbound event was all about Professional racers, keep in mind that there were only 151 "Elite" (pro and semi-Pro) riders in the field of close to 5,000 individuals who rode out of Emporia, Kansas on June 1st. Many of those folks were simply trying to find out if they could stretch their personal limits, finish something that they thought impossible for themselves to do, and perhaps there were several people just out for a great challenge and ride on the bicycle.

In fact, I had one person comment on my blog concerning the event who stated the following: "Great experience overall though, I think we're all going to head back next year. One of things that seemed to work well was it did cater to people like us, just out for fun but meanwhile there was a serious race going on for some. " So, it seems that while the attention is focused on the few Professional athletes, the fun and really, the main body of gravel riders is about having fun and adventure. This is what gave rise to gravel riding, this is what made gravel riding attractive and popular, and as long as that continues onward, gravel will continue to be one of the most popular forms of cycling world-wide. 

Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!