Where We Came From: The Lincoln Scene Reaction

 Thursady of last week saw N.Y. Roll and I recorded a "Guitar Ted Podcast" episode with Lincoln, Nebraskans Matt Wills and Matt Gersib. This is one of our "Where We Came from" series of podcasts we are hoping to do more of here in 2025. If you haven't heard this episode you can check it out HERE. 

This post will be a commentary on what we learned from Mat G and Matt W on the show. 

My biggest takeaway from the show was how people were central to the movement from mountain biking, road biking, and finally toward a more gravel centered community, although both road and MTB thrive to this day in the Lincoln area. 

However; it was interesting to note how both MG and MW talked about the disillusionment and rebellion to what was happening in Pro road, Pro MTB and even local events featuring both types of riding. Rules, regulations, and cheating by way of doping were all brought up as reasons the two gents were not all that enamored of being part of those events and riding styles. The stripped down, fun, and socially oriented rides were what appealed to them more. 

But competitiveness was a motivator, obviously, so the organized challenges/races like Trans Iowa and the Dirty Kanza 200 were outlets for this, along with a way to feed into the adventurous nature of their riding. Supplemented by MTB events locally, and the growing choices in gravel riding, the two gents found an outlet for this competitive side. 

The DK200 from the mid-2000's (Image courtesy of Corey Godfrey)

Secondly, my theory all along was that gravel cycling was mostly an outgrowth of 24Hr MTB, ultra-distance MTB, and with a dash of road/cyclo cross on the side. MW and MG came out of a mountain biking scene which found itself looking for more trails which led to gravel roads. 

While gravel roads were seemingly used only for training in the beginning, once someone suggested that a race could happen only using gravel, the seeds were planted. This tracks with my experiences and observations as well.

However; Matt Wills brought out a super important bit concerning where society was at the time in the mid-2000's and how the blog culture of the time played a huge role in how gravel cycling took root. In this I could not agree more. This has been my assertion all along. Blogs and how we were exploring the internet at that particular point in time was definitely a very important part of gravel cycling's success story. 

Emily Broderson (Plate #8) leading a group at Trans Iowa v1 in 2005

 Blogs like Jeff Kerkoves were very popular, and when Jeff announced Trans Iowa in November of 2004, it was his blog that made the connections across the nation which spurred on participation and innovation in cycling on gravel roads. The Lincoln scene took notice as well, sending Skip "Endurosnob" Cronin and Emily Broderson to the first modern day gravel event (Trans Iowa, April 2005). They and others took their experiences and evangelized others. In the podcast you will hear how Matt Wills and eventually Matt Gersib were influenced by this. Blogs were essential to the spread of the gravel word. 

Finally, it all circles back to the people. MW and MG shared great stories of very influential and important Lincolnites who were essential to the growth of gravel there and outwardly to all points in the years to come. Even up to the present day, you can find examples of people in Lincoln, Nebraska or the surrounding area who are bringing gravel riding to the attention of new folks to the scene.

I hope you will give the podcast a listen if you have not heard it already. The stories told there are ones you will not get anywhere else and these are the stories of gravel cycling's rise to prominence. It is a story which truly defines where we came from. 

This is the link to hear the show on Spotify.

Trans Iowa Stories: Endurance Promoting Part 2

Using County road signs to direct T.I. About as subversive as it gets from an RD's standpoint!

 "Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject by going back to earlier Sunday posts on this blog. Thanks and enjoy!

Last time we left off at the T.I.v4 checkpoint. This was the point in the event where it went from "typical T.I. RD activity" to "emergency management mode". It was one thing after another from this point on, with the exception of CP#2 which was a bit of an oasis of calm for David and myself.

There was the well told story of the landslide, the huge amount of miles, (for a re-route) we had to navigate on the fly, and the tracking of the few riders left in the event who were scattered across three counties at one point.

I guess the part I haven't talked about much was the point after CP#2, in the dark of night, when we came upon the biggest frost boils I have ever seen on any road since. This particular stretch of road had heaves so large and high that the road had been closed to traffic. We were walking around them to see if a cyclist could make their way. It turned out that it was possible, but these heaves were like ski moguls. Four feet high, maybe ten to twelve feet across in some instances, with smaller ones everywhere else. As if that wasn't enough.....

There was a fallen tree across the road at one point. It had just occurred probably within the previous 24 hours. The tree had leaves on its branches and was live yet. We almost gave up at this juncture, since the roadway was blocked. I decided to wade in and break off branches, to see if I could clear away enough room to allow a cyclist to pass without going into the deep ditch that was there. As I toiled away, David went on to check on things further up the road. Then it suddenly occurred to me......

I was alone, it was pitch black, and I had no means to get anywhere except by foot, and I wasn't exactly sure where I was, because I had no map, cues, or a cell phone with me. Hmm..... "I hope David comes back....", I remember thinking. And he was gone for what seemed like an hour. I had actually cleared away about four feet of the roadway so it was obviously passable to any rider approaching this. Keep in mind I was doing this with my bare hands. I had no tools, and the wood was green. That took some time and a ton of effort, and here David was no where to be found.

Of course, David eventually did come back, and we muddled our way to that now infamous washout North of Edgewood. There we decided to truncate T.I.v4. It was just far too crazy and things were getting weirder and more dangerous as we went. Besides, by this time we knew there were only five guys left.

Last man in: Corey "Cornbread" Godfrey speaking with Skip Cronin (L) after he finished T.I.v4

I guess my favorite part of T.I.v4 came toward the end. We had been sitting in Edgewood, Iowa for hours. By this time we had four finishers. Corey, "Cornbread" Godfrey, one of the RD's for Gravel Worlds to this day, was the last person on course. Charles Parsons had come in well over an hour earlier and David and I were pretty concerned about Cornbread. The Lincoln Crew folk had warned us that Corey was apt to getting lost, so he might be muddling along on some forlorn gravel road, off course, for all they knew. Now, they didn't seem all that concerned about it, as after the hoopla had died down upon their arrival, they all went back to their van and went to sleep, seemingly. David and I were left alone, pacing the cold, dark streets of Edgewood Iowa at three o'clock in the morning.

It was David who finally got to the breaking point. He turned, looked at me with a serious face, and said, "Let's go!". No explanation necessary. We were on a mission to find Cornbread. We backtracked the route, and about five miles or so away we came across him. A lone, bluish-white LED lamp was a dead giveaway for a cyclist on a gravel road in the middle of the night. Cornbread was aware of the situation up the road, about the truncated course, because he had been alerted to this development at CP#2. He refused a ride in, so we did the next best thing. We escorted him into town. This was when I got a "wild hair" and decided to do something fun.

Remembering the fanfare that Team Polska had given to every returning rider the year before, I decided to turn on the four-way flashers on the car, flick the brights on and off, and beep the horn as we rolled into the right hand corner onto the street we set the finish line up on in Edgewood. It was a risky maneuver, but I figured the Lincoln Crew would rally upon hearing the fanfare and be out to greet their long-lost brother. They did and they were. Mission accomplished!

That was quite an exhausting affair, running ahead of the riders, literally fighting through things to get the event as far down the road as we did. I remember being glad that we had decided not to push the event out on to paved roads on a Saturday evening, risking drunk drivers and possibly getting folks more lost. Our endurance was taxed, but I was so glad I had a co-director to share the load and the experiences with that weekend.

Next: We take a break from the serially told Trans Iowa Stories to take a look at things like the mythical "Triple Crown", how Trans Iowa influenced the early gravel scene, and how series in Minnesota and a new event in Nebraska called "Gravel Worlds" were signposts of big changes to come, and how that affected Trans Iowa.

Trans Iowa Stories: Endurance Promoting Part 2

Using County road signs to direct T.I. About as subversive as it gets from an RD's standpoint!

 "Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject by going back to earlier Sunday posts on this blog. Thanks and enjoy!

Last time we left off at the T.I.v4 checkpoint. This was the point in the event where it went from "typical T.I. RD activity" to "emergency management mode". It was one thing after another from this point on, with the exception of CP#2 which was a bit of an oasis of calm for David and myself.

There was the well told story of the landslide, the huge amount of miles, (for a re-route) we had to navigate on the fly, and the tracking of the few riders left in the event who were scattered across three counties at one point.

I guess the part I haven't talked about much was the point after CP#2, in the dark of night, when we came upon the biggest frost boils I have ever seen on any road since. This particular stretch of road had heaves so large and high that the road had been closed to traffic. We were walking around them to see if a cyclist could make their way. It turned out that it was possible, but these heaves were like ski moguls. Four feet high, maybe ten to twelve feet across in some instances, with smaller ones everywhere else. As if that wasn't enough.....

There was a fallen tree across the road at one point. It had just occurred probably within the previous 24 hours. The tree had leaves on its branches and was live yet. We almost gave up at this juncture, since the roadway was blocked. I decided to wade in and break off branches, to see if I could clear away enough room to allow a cyclist to pass without going into the deep ditch that was there. As I toiled away, David went on to check on things further up the road. Then it suddenly occurred to me......

I was alone, it was pitch black, and I had no means to get anywhere except by foot, and I wasn't exactly sure where I was, because I had no map, cues, or a cell phone with me. Hmm..... "I hope David comes back....", I remember thinking. And he was gone for what seemed like an hour. I had actually cleared away about four feet of the roadway so it was obviously passable to any rider approaching this. Keep in mind I was doing this with my bare hands. I had no tools, and the wood was green. That took some time and a ton of effort, and here David was no where to be found.

Of course, David eventually did come back, and we muddled our way to that now infamous washout North of Edgewood. There we decided to truncate T.I.v4. It was just far too crazy and things were getting weirder and more dangerous as we went. Besides, by this time we knew there were only five guys left.

Last man in: Corey "Cornbread" Godfrey speaking with Skip Cronin (L) after he finished T.I.v4

I guess my favorite part of T.I.v4 came toward the end. We had been sitting in Edgewood, Iowa for hours. By this time we had four finishers. Corey, "Cornbread" Godfrey, one of the RD's for Gravel Worlds to this day, was the last person on course. Charles Parsons had come in well over an hour earlier and David and I were pretty concerned about Cornbread. The Lincoln Crew folk had warned us that Corey was apt to getting lost, so he might be muddling along on some forlorn gravel road, off course, for all they knew. Now, they didn't seem all that concerned about it, as after the hoopla had died down upon their arrival, they all went back to their van and went to sleep, seemingly. David and I were left alone, pacing the cold, dark streets of Edgewood Iowa at three o'clock in the morning.

It was David who finally got to the breaking point. He turned, looked at me with a serious face, and said, "Let's go!". No explanation necessary. We were on a mission to find Cornbread. We backtracked the route, and about five miles or so away we came across him. A lone, bluish-white LED lamp was a dead giveaway for a cyclist on a gravel road in the middle of the night. Cornbread was aware of the situation up the road, about the truncated course, because he had been alerted to this development at CP#2. He refused a ride in, so we did the next best thing. We escorted him into town. This was when I got a "wild hair" and decided to do something fun.

Remembering the fanfare that Team Polska had given to every returning rider the year before, I decided to turn on the four-way flashers on the car, flick the brights on and off, and beep the horn as we rolled into the right hand corner onto the street we set the finish line up on in Edgewood. It was a risky maneuver, but I figured the Lincoln Crew would rally upon hearing the fanfare and be out to greet their long-lost brother. They did and they were. Mission accomplished!

That was quite an exhausting affair, running ahead of the riders, literally fighting through things to get the event as far down the road as we did. I remember being glad that we had decided not to push the event out on to paved roads on a Saturday evening, risking drunk drivers and possibly getting folks more lost. Our endurance was taxed, but I was so glad I had a co-director to share the load and the experiences with that weekend.

Next: We take a break from the serially told Trans Iowa Stories to take a look at things like the mythical "Triple Crown", how Trans Iowa influenced the early gravel scene, and how series in Minnesota and a new event in Nebraska called "Gravel Worlds" were signposts of big changes to come, and how that affected Trans Iowa.