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| As seen August 22nd, 2012 at a Salsa Demo |
The world found out something I was aware of for a while in the Summer of 2012. It was the fact that there was a bicycle specifically designed to race on gravel roads. Of course, I am speaking of the Salsa Cycles Warbird. The anniversary of my checking the bike out "officially" was this past week.
Trans Iowa was a proving ground for the model, as was the DK200 in Kansas. Both races were long, arduous, and tested man and machine to their limits. I was in the front seat to see the development of Salsa Cycles work in the gravel field going back to 2009 when I saw what became (briefly) the titanium La Cruz gravel/cyclo cross bike. That quickly gave way to another new prototype bike which saw duty in Trans Iowa v7 and v8. This bike I actually was able to get an up-close look at and ride briefly at T.I.v8. The bike became the Warbird and was shown at Quality Bicycles Summer "Saddledrive" show in 2012 to dealers and then to the public at several demo stops during that Summer. I saw and rode both the titanium model and the aluminum model in August up in the Twin Cities at a demo.
The bike, at least the titanium version, was a fine introduction, despite its ridiculously narrow tire clearances, even for 2012. However; while the focus was on that fancy grey-silver metal frame, there was another Warbird that kind of flew under the radar. That was the aluminum version of the bike. Costing far less than the fancy titanium bike, the aluminum bike was not very well received.
In my opinion, and in the opinion of many others at the time, Salsa Cycles made a mistake. While aluminum was a fine choice, it was not the popular one. Had Salsa Cycles decided upon a steel Warbird, I feel the sales would have been much more brisk out of the gate for the bike. The perception of that time was that a steel or a titanium bike was more well suited for gravel than a carbon or an aluminum alloy bike would be.
Of course, we will never know if that was correct, as Salsa never did do a steel framed Warbird, at least not one for sale, and when they moved to the Class 5 VRS rear end, steel was not strong enough to handle the stresses the design imparted on the frame, so it became a moot point at that juncture.
Gravel Worlds Memories:
Also, the Gravel Worlds event happened yesterday. This was a time-marker for me for several years and my memories of attending the event run deep and strong yet today. I have not been to a Gravel Worlds since 2021, but that doesn't mean I didn't miss going there, at least a little bit.
I have many friends and dearly loved people I miss because I cannot attend the event these days. These people, of course, are a big reason I feel left out here in Iowa. It would be a ton of fun to be around those folks again, at least for a little while.
But another part of me misses Gravel Worlds from the times that I did the event. The event is not the way it used to be anymore, so perhaps I would feel a bit let down if I did attend the event now. I cannot say 100% that this would be the case, but for certain, a part of the nostalgia for "how things used to be" is part of what I feel.
A few shots from my Gravel Worlds past...
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| That's me bombing a long downhill in 2015. Photographer unknown. |
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| Back in the day, you could be assured of riding large chunks of the event all alone. |
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| Tony McGrane (L) and myself. 2016 - The only time I ever finished the event. |
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| My last go-round with Gravel Worlds in 2021. Image by M. McColgan |
There are a lot more I could post, but I'll spare you the boredom of looking at wide expanses of Nebraskan rolling hills! Maybe I'll make it out there again someday, but some things will have to change here for me if I ever do get a chance to go back to Gravel Worlds.
5 comments:
That Warbird was the first bike I ever bought with my own money.
Yeah, I kind of miss Gravel Worlds but when they moved the date a week later to not compete with Steamboat, that kind of took me out since that's a big work (back to school) time for me. I had heard numbers were down, and out of curiosity looked at past couple years on Bike Reg - looks like numbers down about 25% this year compared to last, which seems like kind of a surprising large drop. I'm not "in the know" to know if it's largely saturation of events / gravel "shine" kind of wearing off for some, a couple years of crummy weather, separation from the PCL, or likely some combination of things...
Forever is a long time… Your presence was missed at Gravel Worlds this year, but it was an amazing event. I’m super thankful to be a part of what we’re building.
@MG - Thanks for that comment. I'm happy that you are getting to be a part of that event now. Love ya Brother!
GW had some growing pains this year, hopefully they can get them ironed out going forward. The Expo location was better than it has been but SAG stops were a big concern with the 75 and 150, not enough of them in many people's opinions. The heat played into that a bit but on the 75 course there was only the CP at mile 37 (roughly) as the only neutral support stop with free food/water. Valparaiso was the next chance at mile 50 but it was just the Tvurdy's gas station. Maybe a bit of long stretches considering the heat but maybe some folks are getting less self supported also. I did fine with what was out there with two bottles and a chase vest. I'm sure they will get things figured out for next year, new start/finish, somewhat new routes and some new faces... things happen.
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