Mixing Gravel And Dirt Since The Beginning

 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!

 Since the very beginnings of the blog I have mixed gravel and dirt cycling. Now days it is more on the gravel side. That wasn't the intention at the beginning of this blog. I was a mountain biker first,  but since this blog was partially spawned by my association with Trans Iowa, and since this blog became the de facto long-form informational source for the event, gravel has figured heavily as subject matter here.

A road intended for the Trans Iowa v2 event which no one ever got to ride! Image from April 1st, 2006.

 Although the "gravel" part was almost always Trans Iowa related, other gravel events started creeping in as well early on as subject matter here. The Dirty Kanza 200 was certainly here from the earliest days. Later on I would write about the Almanzo events, and Barry-Roubaix, along with the other "Paris-Roubaix" inspired gravel events which popped up early on in gravel's modern day history.

This image, sent to me by Steve Domahidy, then of Niner Bikes, appeared here on 4/08/06.

 However; early on this blog was often the source for news, (real news too) about 29"er developments. One example shown here is from my interview with Chris Sugai and Steve Domahidy, the original founders of Niner Bikes.

I not only scooped the interview for this blog, but Steve sent me pre-production prototype images of their new, upcoming full suspension R.I.P. 9 bikes. At this time I also was able to squeeze some info out of some of the bicycle shop's reps who visited where I worked at the time. Through this I was able to drop news about Fisher's 29"er developments, Cannondale's F-9 Lefty equipped hardtail, and Raleigh's geared XXIX hard tail, to name a few.

Those were different times! Blogs were still untamed, the entire culture of internet. online, instantaneous sharing of information was all new to brands who had relied on magazines, for the most part, to disseminate news and teasers for new products. Because of this, there were fewer rules. (No rules?) This made getting interviews, scoops on new products, and rumors easier than it was even a couple of years beyond 2006.

There was no stranglehold on information as there is today. Back then, the walls were breaking down. Info flowed more freely, and traditional media was at a loss to pivot quickly and become a part of this. They lost out, and for the most part, have yet to recover, if they ever do. Meanwhile, more financially powerful entities took hold and based on digital platforms, these new sites took over the roles that traditional print media held. Walls went back up, and bloggers like myself, once again, found themselves outside looking in, for the most part.

I was very fortunate in that I started writing about both 29"ers and gravel long before  those two things went mainstream. I gained a foothold, and somehow became well known in both circles, although I doubt many young mountain bikers would know anything about the early 29"er days now. Well.....you probably could say that about gravel stuff too!

Back to being unknown again! Woo Hoo!