THE WHIMSY ISSUE SPECIAL FEATURE

Gratitude for the Gravel Grind

by CARTER NIEUWESTEEG

“The Fernie Gravel Grind is a weekend long gravel cycling experience located in the heart of the Canadian Rockies; home to some of the best gravel riding in Canada. Over the course of the weekend, riders will experience the history-rich Fernie, British Columbia, a genuine mountain town known for its iconic mountain biking, epic vistas, and welcoming hospitality.”

The Fernie Gravel Grind began as a suggestion by a family friend in the summer 2017. We were at a backyard dinner party with a bunch of cyclocross and mountain bikes laying not far from the picnic table. We were trying to interpret what this gravel biking thing was, how it would be unique and exciting to have an event in Fernie featuring the amazing and seemingly endless Forest Service Roads (FSRs) that surround us and that I, the guy who spends most of his training rides out on them, should be the one to do it. The ideas was stuck in the back my head for a few years and it wasn’t until I was finishing my degree in 2020 that I decided to pull the pin and actually create the Fernie Gravel Grind.

After five months of planning the 2020 FGG, Covid-19 hit and as we know, shut literally everything down. I couldn’t have picked a worse time to create a mass gathering event. I was already pretty nervous organising an event by myself for the first time ever, and when Covid arrived it turned it into a (very temporary) nightmare. Fortunately, the internet exists, so I decided rather than cancelling the FGG and have it fade into Covid nothingness, I would turn it into a virtual event featuring seven different gravel routes in the area, all ranging in distance and difficulty. Not only were some of the routes challenging for the seasoned explorer but they were also accommodating for new riders just looking to dip their toes into the newly emerged discipline that we all have come to love, gravel biking.

Looking back a year later, Covid might have been the best thing for the event as the initially planned in person FGG was limited to 50 but going virtual opened it up to so many more people. By the end of the summerlong virtual event over 160 people had registered and experienced at least one of, and in some cases all of the challenges, over $6,100 was raised for the Fernie Trails Alliance, and most importantly this cycling discipline found its way into Fernie’s deeply rooted bike culture.

Since the 2020 event, the FGG has exploded on every front. This year the event has grown from myself to a team of six people, and it’s now a weekend gravel festival rather than just a single day ride. The 2021 Fernie Gravel Grind includes a Friday Industry Night where riders can pick up their race package and walk through a vendor village learning what’s new in the gravel world.

Saturday’s Gravel Grind features two gravel route options with mass starts. Lastly, Sunday’s Social Group Rides with locals and some of BC’s best gravel athletes tours groups showing off first-hand exactly what Fernie has to offer both on the backroads and in town.

This year, I’m most excited about welcoming everyone to my hometown. For awhile it was really uncertain if 2021’s fate would be the same as the year before. So, being able to welcome everyone, inperson, to this year’s FGG is pretty exciting.

Steve Reed Photo

To learn more about the Fernie Gravel Grind, visit ferniegravelgrind.com.

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