Gravel Was Young and Fat Bikes Were Hot!

 In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!

In 2013 we were experiencing huge growth in two areas: Fat bikes and gravel events. One could say that 2013 was the "heyday" of both things. On fat bikes because this was the zenith of their popularity. The almost rabid appetite for any news on fat bikes was amazing. On gravel events because there was a plethora of what I would say were the "adventure/experiential/grassroots/altruist" type of events which were being fueled by passion and an appetite for adventure and experiences.

I was enamored of fat bikes, like many were and I already had two in my stable. Keep in mind that a turnkey fat bike wasn't available three years prior to this. So, my owning an aluminum and a titanium framed fat bike in 2013 was saying something.

Saying "you were nuts!", most likely, and maybe that was correct. I had done two Triple D fat bike events by January of 2013 and was headed for one more in 2014. I managed to finish all three which are accomplishments I am proud of yet today. 

It is funny when I look back at things because, as it is with many things we do the first time, there was a lot of "pioneering" going on. I had a few posts on the blog here dealing with how to set up fat bike wheels tubeless. I even had one of the first tubeless wheel sets and tires for a fat bike, which I used for the 2015 Triple D. (Thanks Velocity USA!) 

Finishing up the 2013 Triple D. Michael Lemberger clapping.

Things were so new to me that I decided to just ride the Triple D like I did for all my training rides and commuting, with a messenger bag! Hey! It worked great. 

Fat bikes were changing about as fast as PC's in the 2000's with new stuff being rumored about and coming out all year. What is crazy is that by 2015 my four year old Mukluk was outdated already! 

Even my titanium Mukluk, a year newer than my original, was outdated and trying to keep up with all the carbon frames, tubeless options, and the front suspension craze, (remember that?) was just too much. I bought a 2014 Blackborow DS which, at that time, took the biggest tires and rims you could get, and decided I was done. Well, I did get the 2015 Ti Muk, but that was a special deal. More about that in an upcoming post. 

2013 Odin's Revenge

Gravel cycling arguably reached the pinnacle of its "early era" during this time. The range and quality of experiences on offer at gravel events was never more varied and exciting. Now days you expect chip timing, a finish line arch, yada, yada, yada. Go to another event? Same thing, different time and place. But nothing could have been further from the truth during those early days of gravel grinding. 

It was an adventure which involved all aspects of the event experience. Getting there, meeting people, seeing how things were (or were not) organized. Getting out into country you'd never have dreamed of seeing, and of course, having that along with weather, friends, and whatever circumstances popped up throughout a day on a bicycle were just outstanding. Many of these event experiences were the way they were because the events were new, or not very old. The "word" hadn't gotten out about them, and mainstream cycling media turned their noses up at gravel cycling then. They thought it was "not racing" so it wasn't worthy of any coverage. 

Of course, my "Gravel Grinder News" website and this blog did cover these things and traffic here was growing exponentially because of the way things were back then. People were hungry for this style of riding and competing. It was so obvious, but the pride that mainstream cycling media had and their dogged stance that only a UCI-type event was "legitimate racing", stymied what could have been a huge sea change in the way we see competitive events today. Of course, gravel cycling got so big that they eventually had to pay attention, and that is why you hear about Unbound, SBT GRVL, Gravel Worlds, and other US events on unpaved roads. 

More soon....