Twenty Years Of Gravel Grinding

  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!

 Checking out some of this blog's archives has reminded me of a few things. One of those being that - although I originally was known for being a 29"er nutcase - my tenure in gravel cycling started almost simultaneously along with this blog and was featured often here. 

Obviously, to anyone who has been paying attention here, that has to do with Trans Iowa. The ultra-distance gravel event which got its start about twenty years ago this week! Back in November of 2004 Jeff Kerkove and I decided to put on a cross-state bicycle race on gravel roads. Thus my fascination with gravel cycling began, and even though I and a lot of other folks had been riding bicycles on gravel roads previously, this marked a beginning. 

That beginning was the movement for having competition and fellowship while riding bicycles on crushed rock roads. It was, in no uncertain terms, the beginning of the modern era in what we now have abbreviated to "Gravel". 

The first header for Trans Iowa posted in 2004.

The idea Jeff and I had immediately sparked a movement. We were pelted with questions via Jeff's blog comments section, email, and personally via face-to-face communications and by phone calls. Keep in mind that what we know today as "social media" did not exist in late 2004/early 2005. 

For an idea of what this movement was like from my perspective, here is a snippet of a blog post I put up late in 2006 here:

"When you lead a sheltered existence like I have, only being aware of the local scene, you think you and yer buddies are the only ones insane enough to actually ride gravel roads. I mean, like really.......who else does this crap? Well, I get involved in Trans Iowa, and I find out that alot of folks like it. They like it so much, they actually copy the idea, and have their own events."

 I went on then to mention that I had heard of the DK200, (which I participated in during 2006) and rumors concerning a Nebraska gravel grinder, (not the GLGA or Gravel Worlds, by the way), and a gravel ultra-distance thing which was starting in Canada.

Trans Iowa v1 image courtesy of Joe Partridge

"Now I'm finding out about all kinds of gravel rides. Rides in Nebraska, rides in Colorado, rides in North East Iowa, training rides, fun rides, and all sorts of gravel grinding goofiness. I guess you could say we all have rocks in our heads. Whatever it is, I like it. I like gravel rides and somehow knowing that a bunch of other folks partake also is kinda.......well, I don't know........ I guess I have some like minded brothers and sisters out there, and I find that to be a good thing."

So, yeah....this blog got going partly on the momentum of gravel cycling, but mostly on the then new trend for twenty nine inch wheels. Gravel cycling has always been here though, and it still is 20 years on down the road. 

Part of this blog's influence is in gravel. My writings run deep within that influence to ride gravel roads. Out of this blog grew a gravel cycling specific site, a podcast, influences on bicycle design, tire design, and events, of course. Who can tell how many people were turned on to gravel cycling via this blog? In light of all of that, I think pointing out that Trans Iowa was the line of demarcation from whence this 'gravel" thing got started is a fair thing to do. 

And celebrating that fact after twenty years is a worthwhile thing to do, even if I am the only one doing it. You see, no other entity will bother with writing this history up, or even bother to recognize its existence. If I don't remind you, who will? Maybe you could say the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame, if you were to run across that entity.

That may seem a bit off-putting to some, but I am not going to allow the story to go untold, or be modified for someone else's gain elsewhere. Yes, I am proud of what I have accomplished and was a part of in the beginnings of gravel cycling in the modern era. 

Guilty as charged.