The Bike Snob NYC Blogular Net Presence, a subsidiary of Tan Tenovo Industries, Inc., might be closed at this time in observance of Veterans Day. Nevertheless, as we honor those that have served our nation, allow us to additionally mirror on the army origins of the gravel bike:
On the finish of the nineteenth century, the all-black Twenty-Fifth Infantry had been coaching on bicycles, and so as to show the machine’s utility in battle an officer recruited a gaggle of volunteers for an epic journey and commissioned the primary bikepacking bike the world had ever seen:
The bicycle was a Spalding (or a “Spaldeen” as your great-uncle from Brooklyn may need known as it), and right here was that bike:
[From here.]
As you may see, the bicycle is almost indistinguishable from a modern-day Crust:
[From here.]
Thus outfitted, they set out on a journey that prefigured the invention of Instragram by effectively over 100 years:
How they achieved this with out artisanal tires from René Herse, whimsical “Celebration Tempo” patches from The Path Much less Pedaled for his or her hand-sewn baggage, battery-powered shifters, hydraulic disc brakes, or boutique elements machined in Northern California–to say nothing of incessant social media postings–is positively unthinkable at this time. However, they did it, and on one pace besides!
Not even thick mud may cease them:
Not like the Unbound Gravel riders who, over a century later, would pay plenty of cash to do the very same factor after which complain incessantly about it:
How far we’ve come.
