This Bike Won the First Unbound Gravel 20 Years Ago. Things Have Changed a Lot Since Then.

When Dan Hughes and 33 other people lined up in a dingy hotel parking lot in May of 2006, nobody knew that 20 years later, the 200-mile ride they were about to do would become a global sporting event. At the time, they were just concerned with making it through the 200 miles of gravel one mile at a time, with flat tires the expectation and appropriate equipment a notion without an answer.

Yet, even though that original race is a far cry from what Unbound Gravel is now, it is still riding bikes when all is said and done. So, we took the 20th anniversary as a chance to ask Hughes to grab his original Kansas gravel grinding machine and head into the Flint Hills with us and give a rundown of what Unbound tech was when the whole circus started in a dingy hotel parking lot.

Gallery: Dan Hughes’ Inaugural Unbound Gravel Winning Bike