The Path To Discovering Gravel Grinding: Part 6

 This is Part 6 of a mini-series of posts telling the story of what it was like to attend events in the early days of the Modern Gravel Era. In today's post I am going to explore things which, in my opinion, made early gravel events unique and more than just a competition. 

Image by Ari Andonopoulos

Early gravel races and rides had something which up until the start of the Modern Gravel era in 2005 were mostly unheard of anywhere else. This would be a side of gravel which drew many into the scene and gave rise to the term, "Gravel Family". A term co opted by a certain big-time gravel event now. 

What am I speaking of, you might ask? Well, it would be the social functions surrounding many of the different gravel events in those early days of gravel grinding. 

This was always a part of the gravel scene right from the jump. At the first two Trans Iowa events there was a pre-race meeting, but it was held at a Pizza Ranch restaurant with a full spaghetti meal for all in attendance. This served as a social meeting, as the riders were all in one place and could meet each other. Given the low-key nature of these early events, the front-runners mixed in with the back-of-the-packers and everyone got along famously. It was as if Pro racer perks were against the rules. And in a way, this was kind of an unspoken rule in gravel. No one was above anyone else. Snobbery, in even the slightest form, was looked down upon. 

From the beginnings, in the mid-2000's, this facet of gravel events was evolved by different event promoters. Some copied the Trans Iowa format, while others invented their own ways, and it even infiltrated the actual events in some cases. 

The first Gravel Worlds held their sign-in at Oso's restaurant in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska.

Trans Iowa held a "meat-up" where riders had to grill their own meals. Image by Wally Kilburg (R.I.P.)

Eating together is a basic human activity and is conducive to having people engage in discourse with each other. This helped bond the riders and created reasons to go to other events which had similar social gatherings to reconnect. 

Odin's Revenge sandwiched their event with a beginning social at the Walker's Steakhouse...

...and ended at a KOA Kampground with food, beer, and socializing.

Events branched out to do some different things then and each event director tended to have a bit of a different spin on the social activities. It was a fun time to go see how things would be done, and if the event was successful, word of mouth would spread and the event was sure to get even more attention in following years. 

Night Nonsense, an event held entirely at night, had a truck with volunteers handing out slices of pizza about 3/4's of the way through the course. 

The Moonshine Metric started and ended in the RD's garage and there was a potluck afterward. 

Not every event did things this way, and some still do, but I think early on this facet of the gravel scene was a huge draw for riders tired of going to an event, racing, packing up, and driving home. Now you had reasons to go besides the bicycle racing/riding. You went to see those folks you met at another gravel event, and you had time to talk, and maybe even enjoy something like a meal, a cold one, or some other activity with those folks. 

The Fargo Adventure Rides often had meet-ups the evening prior with food and drink with a social gathering afterward, (Image by Jason Boucher)

Gravel clinics, like this one for Trans Iowa held in 2014, were another excuse to gather together outside of competitive riding.

I truly believe that without a social component to these pioneering gravel events we would not have seen the rise of gravel as a sport such as we have now in the last ten years. All this talk about how "gravel has grown up" and become "serious" now is not possible without the bedrock foundation the Pro level sport stands upon now. People are making a living off gravel because of the way events were done back then, not despite the way they were done. (And in many cases, still are being run.)

So, when you see the malarkey being posted online concerning how Pro racing has legitimized gravel, you should call "BS", because that isn't what happened. The early gravel scene made what they are doing now to the sport possible, and without it, no one would be making bank off gravel. Not that I am concerned about the money, because I honestly don't care. But when the story gets twisted, I don't like the results the twisting of the actual background stories causes. Or the out-right ignorance of the way gravel history unfolded. Which, honestly, is more the case than not, unfortunately. 

Too bad there isn't some organization out there to gather up this history, preserve it, and tell the real stories behind gravel cycling. Hmm.... anyway. 

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.