It is time to clear up some misconceptions about "gravel" in "Boston" As one of the original hype people for the "first" "gravel" ride in "Boston" I feel it is my duty to the cause to perhaps shine some light on the whole term Gravel. The terms Boston and Gravel both are widely misused in this area. This can be concerning or antagonizing for some. I mean imagine the poor bastard who just spent 8k on a "gravel" bike only to find out there isn't any proper gravel within a 2 hour drive from "Boston" Let's face it this rider who bought the 8k gravel bike lives in Newton or Lexington, but likes to say they live in Boston. Hey, guilty as charged. My cousins used to heckle me savagely for saying I was from Boston. They were born and raised in Rozzie. Hearing their weak ass cousin who has never spent time in Juvie say he is from Boston is enough to make a young punk flip a cop car and light it on fire. Even without the Sox winning the Pennant.
But I digress. Enough about my childhood. It was equal parts Shameless and The Adams Family. No need to bring that into this important discussion on the most important marketing trend in the cycling industry. So in this unique slice of the Commonwealth we have lots of things. What we don't have lots of is gravel. Gravel as as defined by Websters is "a loose aggregation of small water-worn or pounded stones." It is not a dirt road. It is not Singletrack. It is not a bombed out rooted path in some haunted, EPA waste site that is fenced off with barbed wire and has NOTRESPASSING signs everywhere. Luckily in this part of MASS they don't use guard dogs. Not sure why. Must be liability. But thankfully for us we haven't run into a pack of rabid Rotties that hadn't been fed in days. Not that I have ever trespassed on an EPA Superfund site. That I know of...
For the record, there has been ONE gravel ride in Boston. Firefly put this on a few years back and it was amazing. All the other gravel rides have been outside of the City. Even the most legendary of all gravel rides the Ronde de Rosey was staged in Brookline. So close, but so far away. Even Boston College isn't in Boston. Let that sink in. But back to gravel in this area. People LOVE gravel. So when we say gravel they get super hyped to bring their 8k wonder bike with its 30mm slicks out to play. They hit the first wet rooted New England Pave sector in Cutler and hate their life choices. And HATE us even more for luring them to this god forsaken park. I have had many a super cracked rider yelling at me at the Tavern that "this was the WORST Ronde ever" They have a nice cold beer and a burger and then realize maybe it wasn't that bad. And they always kept coming back? So maybe it wasn't all bad.
Part of the issue with gravel I think is people think they want adventure or to do "epic" shit. Ok, I get it. I mean my idea of fun, as Guthrie has pointed out many times, may be very different than most. My idea of fun may not be normal. I don't need epic. I need fun. But fun to me, may be epic to you. Another word that to me has been way overused and means many things to many different people. So yes. That may be the issue. Gravel to say someone out West means fireroads and lots of climbing. In the MidWest it is actually gravel. Weird. But here in this part of MA it is more mountain biking lite. Or really CX. We started the Ronde honestly to get ready for CX. It was a great way to improve our bike handling on a CX bike. To this day I really have never encountered anything on a Cross course I couldn't handle. One Ronde and you won't blink at a PRO line ever again. In those early days people rode tubulars or what ever their CX bike had on it at the time. This made for a lot of funny stories. And some epic hacks to get riders back to the Tavern.
With the evolution of the CX bike everything changed. Tubeless tires and disc brakes changed EVERYTHING. A CX bike has always been a gravel bike. Frankly, for how we ride and what we ride here a gravel bike isn't the best choice. A nice CX bike is. You want the same handling you want in a CX race on these types of trails. Tight turns, roots, hopping logs. On a good CX bike this all becomes a wooded playground. The advent of Garmins also took gravel to the next level. Before we would go in the woods and tie ribbons around trees or rattle can arrows on roads. It was imperfect to say the least. There was a beauty in that as well though. Now anyone can have an adventure. All you do is follow a breadcrumb on a box connected to your stem. I like the technology and how it opens up and helps you find new routes but I also like getting lost in the woods with friends and finding my way out.
But it has been funny watching this all unfold from the sidelines. To think someone could get mad because there wasn't enough gravel or that they brought the wrong bike to the ride blows my mind. What happened to wanting to do epic shit? We rode gravel on 25s a mere 10 years ago and thought it was rad. Now you have to have 650b by 50s to be happy I guess. I don't know. I just love riding a CX bike I guess. I feel at home on that bike. I love that gravel is the new new thing. It is my true love for sure. My days of racing are over. I may go do a race for sure but I am not a racer. I like riding with friends. Stopping to take weird photos. Creating bizarre challenges. Breaking shit. Some of the best gravel rides I have gone on were those that a friend carefully curated and then wanted to share with friends. Those are the rides you remember for the shenanigans and the camaraderie. My best friends were made on bikes. And those friendships have built on the bike and on rides. I can't image any other way to meet someone or to become fast friends with them. If you can drop into an offcamber trail with only a hairs breathe separating your bikes while still carrying on a conversion and no one panicking you have found a true friend. Those are the people I want to ride with.
So what is the future of gravel? I honestly don't know. The Mecca of all Gravel to me is D2R2. That ride is wonderful. But so are Raid Rockingham and Rasputitsa and the Mixed Tape. I think COVID also gave birth to the DIY Gravel ride. These self-guided rides kept popping up. I think it was a great way to introduce people to gravel and to "adventure" All I will say is if you really want adventure shit is going to get weird. You have to be able to deal with it. That is actually to me the appeal of an adventure. You can't have an adventure without adversity. Whether that adversity is a bike mechanical or you get lost or you run across some rabid raccoon. What ever it is you then get thrown out of your comfort zone and have to rely on yourself and your friends to figure it out.
The Ronde may be done. But gravel is going to live on. What ever you think gravel is it is. My definition of a gravel ride is any ride that I am on my CX bike smashing through the woods riding park to park searching for new trails to share with my friends and new cool things to see. This past Spring I have seen so much weird stuff. You have to slow down and appreciate it. Look out for turtles and snakes. Don't be afraid to do some "light" trespassing. Because the only way out is through. HUGE thanks to all my rad friends who have always been up for these crazy rides. Here is to a rad summer of Boston Gravel! Most of these great photos are by my good friend and 21st level Trail Wizard Michele Smith.
