Floating An Idea

 I've had an idea bouncing around in my head for at least the better part of the past year. I've not said anything about it to anyone. There are good reasons for this, but it has been bothering me not to throw this out there, and last week's post about Jeff Kerkove kind of pushed me over the edge to share this finally. 

What do you think about having an Iowa Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame? 

I know......many will think this is a bit self-serving and even bogus coming from me. I understand this. I'm definitely not thinking about myself when I think about this idea. No, rather I am thinking about people like Jeff Kerkove when I consider the idea. 

So, as an example, I would submit Jeff because (a) He set up several early gravel group rides in the Cedar Valley in the late 2000's. Way before anyone was doing "gravel specific" group rides outside of the road biking scene. Jeff was a co-founder of Trans Iowa, the event which kicked off the Modern Era in gravel cycling and influenced tons of other events and people. Jeff has been a behind the scenes supporter of gravel riding within the context of Ergon, the company he works for, so he has influence there as well.  

Anyway, there is an example. I can also think of people like Richard "Deke" Gosen, who was putting on mountain bike events on gravel roads in Northeastern Iowa in the 1980's. Definitely an influencer on Trans Iowa. So, he'd be a candidate. Early gravel based road bike group rides out of Iowa City in the 70's, 80's, and 90's which I have heard whispered tales of may be another source of some inclusion into an Iowa based gravel hall of fame. Certainly those early sanctioned gravel crits, now called the Iowa Gravel Classic, are events to be included. 

And who can forget the Colesburg 40. The training ride cooked up on Northeast Iowa gravel for folks to get ready for the Chequamegon 40 event. 

 Of course there would be Modern Era athletes, events, and things associated with gravel to think about here as well. What I mean is anything post 2005. And not just 'popular' things, but influential things and people. 

People like Steve Fuller, Mike Johnson, and Jeremy Fry who rode many early gravel events and volunteered at many as well. Their participation in events on both sides of the ledger are definitely "hall of fame" worthy when it comes to Iowa gravel. 

I'd think about things like bicycle shops which have played a big part in the spread of gravel riding in Iowa, none more important, in my opinion, than Bikes To You in Grinnell. 

 So, what do you think? Which Iowa folks and events/things would you include that I have not mentioned? 

Where Is It Going To Live? 

Ideally there would be a physical place for this idea to be housed and which people could visit. In my opinion, that place would be Grinnell, Iowa. It was home to Trans Iowa for nine years and is fairly centrally located in Iowa along I-80. 

That is but a pipe dream now. This would have to start out as a virtual hall of fame for the time being. I could host it, but I would rather someone else did, if I am honest. That is because it would seem a conflict of interest if I were to run the organization. That's what I think anyway. 

So, there it is. My idea for an Iowa based Gravel Cycling Hall of fame. I'll just finish up these thoughts by saying a few words about what the theme of this should and should not be, if it were to happen. 

First off, historical importance and overall influence should be of paramount importance when measuring up a candidate for this hall. Yeah, I get it, your Aunt Mary rode gravel in 1957 five miles to school one way for ten years. That doesn't mean your Aunt had any influence on the gravel riding/racing scene. So stuff of this nature, while maybe notable, is not 'hall of fame' material in a larger sense. 

Neither is anyone who is currently popular in the gravel scene who hasn't been around for at least a decade plus. You need to have roots in Iowa gravel to be thought of as a 'hall of famer'. And while it may seem odd to point this out, you would actually have to have major influence on gravel riding or racing to be included. It's weird, but the "other hall of fame" for gravel has people only tangentially related to gravel riding who are on the list to be inducted every year, and that is.....well unnecessary. That's being kind, by the way. 

To put it another way, inclusion would be very discriminating. The bar would have to be set high, or being in the 'Iowa Gravel Hall of Fame' would be meaningless. And I'm not interested in being "inclusive" when it comes to what matters in terms of historical influence. If I'm in the minority here, well then this is a dumb idea and I retract it. If it makes sense, then I'm behind any effort to do this. 

Again, let me know in the comments if this idea is worthless, maybe okay, or is a great idea, or anything in between. I'm not saying it will ever happen. I just wanted to let this out of my head for now.

I may regret that in the future......but what the heck!