SBT GRVL | A Steamboat Gravel Recap

Day 1: Travel to Steamboat | Wasted Away Again in an Airport Lounge

Hit Denver and drive was the name of the game. We were headed to the big rectangle they call Colorado to see some grav grav happen. Is gravel the mainstream cross? Does that mean Cross is obscure aka punk aka cool? These are the hard hitting issues we were looking to solve. We also went to a Rodeo so, maybe HANDUP will just be moving in a totally different direction. Cowboy Mountain Bike apparel. I’m calling it… that's the next thing. 

We made our way to Steamboat by way of Dallas. That meant we got to hit the airport lounge. One might say, we did a few too many alcohols. It’s hard to avoid when you are just a small tip away from endless cocktails. I did what I could to try an Old Fashion with every type of booze... God we weren't already at elevation.

Day 2: Friday Expo | Return of the Dirt Bag Prodigal Son

Steamboat was nice enough to install a river right next to the expo area. What they forgot to install was parking near the expo but, we’ll let parking for 4000 people and vendors slide. That’s what most would call “tough.” The noon setup allowed for a late breakfast at Apres Burger Bistro where we got a strange breakfast burger called “Huevos Rancheros." I was excited to talk a little crap about the food but, I simply can’t. Most everything we had in Steamboat was rock solid!

The booth setup went swimmingly and we were off to the races. Gloves and gear were slinging left and right as people of all types came up and either met us for the first time or picked up their 6th pair!

But, here’s the best part:

A friend we hadn’t seen in over 8 years stopped by the booth. Tim Woods, of what is now formerly Lone Wolf Cycling out of Philly, surprised us at the tent and it felt like a nostalgia bomb went off. Why you might ask?

HANDUP cut it’s teeth at an event called Dirt Fest back in the day. It was held in PA and put on by Dirt Rag Magazine. It was the last of the truly grungy, shit-show cycling events. It rained almost every year. Everyone camped in mud (and liked it) and the beer flowed like the river steamboat put in for us at the expo area. 

We used to bring corn hole boards to every event and instead of bags, we used sand-stuffed gloves with the wrist openings sewn shut. It was decided that the best setup would be one board at the Lone Wolf Tent and one at the HANDUP tent, an easy 45 yards across the venue. If someone caught a stray glove being launched from one tent to the other, well… That was just Dirt Fest.

To keep a LONG story short-ish, that was the first of many shenanigans that tethered the bond of brotherhood between us and the Lone Wolf Cycling boys. A year later they, very unfortunately, had to close up shop and while we are blessed to be approaching our tenth year of business. No events throughout that decade meant no running into each other, until this past weekend!

Friday night was spent with our friend and HANDUP athlete Ryan Standish! He’s famous for getting invited to the Short Track World Cup Race at Snowshoe and doing it in Jorts (our jorts, I might add). Dinner and drinks turned into our FIRST EVER Podcast with an athlete. You’ll be seeing more about that soon enough.

Checkout the man himself in Some custom Dales Jorts!

CHECK OUT SOME JORTS HERE! ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE WEARING THEM!

Saturday Expo | The Rodeo and Bluetooth Being the worst/best Invention of all time.

Having a dentist to actually dye your teeth Blue would have been a better time than dealing with our credit card reader on Saturday. The expo was from 9am-3pm and at 1pm the reader decided to take the day off. I mean that only half jokingly. It worked perfectly until 1pm, nothing changed, and boom…. Gone. 

With a “this things a piece of shit” here and a “WHY WON’T YOU WORK” there, the machine worked off and on until we gave up. Luckily Ryan had stopped by to sign posters we had made and rock paper scissor-ed customers for a free pair of his signature gloves! Check out that sick poster:

When the expo Rodeo ended, the real Rodeo began. Buckin’ bulls and broncos lit up the evening and was capped by my personal favorite, the Rope N’ Tie. If I was given a decade to practice, I couldn’t tie my shoes that fast. We left wondering if HANDUP should get into rough, HEAVY cotton denim. (We won’t but it all looked cool). Now the dream is to get a fringed HANDUP flag for the next Rodeo:

Sunday Race Day | Gels for the win (...if winning is 3 porta-potty stops)

100 miles of riding means 100 miles of figuring out what to eat. The tantalizing convenience of all the various gels, bars, hydration drinks and magical potions made for QUITE the concoction in one of our riders. After a bathroom break or three, our crew rolled in at a respectable 8 hours, given the bubble gut blues.

That being said, people crossed the line grinning ear to ear. Congrats to SBT GRVL for putting on a seemingly incredibly successful event that brought over 4000 people to the town! It was also REALLY nice to see our trusted Shorties out there.

If you don't have any Short Finger Gloves, you can pick up the SBT GRVL Tested HANDUP Shorties HERE.

After a burger stop at BackDoor Burgers (shout out to some of the best burgers in Steamboat) we hit the road for Grand Junction to catch our lovely, 4am flight. No joke, even the captain of the plane announced that he thought 5am flights should be banned by the FAA. We agree.

Wrap Up:

Steamboat is a nice town. The food was good and the parking was bad. Rodeos are just flat out cool and we can't be convinced otherwise. No question about it. And lastly, the Security guard/Shuttle Driver from the Double Tree in Grand Junction is one of the nicest people on the planet. 

Until the next one!