The Spirit of Gravel and The Mid South

With The Mid South shrinking rapidly in the rear view mirror, it’s time to reflect on what to date has been both my longest and arguably “biggest” gravel ride and event of my life.  To say that The Mid South is everything that gravel is supposed to be is possibly the understatement of the century, and to look back on what Bobby Wintle has done within the scope of a rapidly evolving and ever-changing event and industry climate for the bicycle is nothing short of amazing.  

I was first introduced to Bobby back in the summer of 2023.  One of our good friends decided for his birthday to meet in Stillwater to ride one of the past Mid South routes.  Naturally, knowing nothing about Bobby or District Bicycles and just enough about The Mid South, my wife and I booked an Airbnb and high-tailed it to Stillwater for a midsummer Mid South adventure.  Bobby welcomed our Gotta Love Gravel crew with open arms, even opening up District late into the evening to continue the party and likely never would have locked us out if it hadn’t gotten into the wee hours of the night.  That’s the kind of person he is and the kind of event and culture he’s created.

Stillwater comes alive in mid-March when The Mid South comes roaring down 7th Avenue.

I strolled through Stillwater during a brief summer/fall internship in Oklahoma City over 10 years ago.  I remember very little of the town as it was back then.  Mostly, I have a thing for visiting any college campus I can if it’s within reason to visit and is in a place not called College Station.  Stillwater, Oklahoma is still about as close as you can get to the traditional (dare I say) sleepy Midwest town.  Sure, Stillwater isn’t exactly in the traditional Midwest, but it has that sort of vibe.  The same kind of vibe you get in places where streets run north-south and east-west exclusively.  The type of place where storm chasers lick their chops to be able to track down “the big one” on one of those balmy early summer days.  And the type of place where you can say, “Yeah, just call Bobby over at District.  He can fix anything.”  Stillwater has its own midwestern charm without being truly in the Midwest, but the town comes alive when Oklahoma State is in session or in mid-March when The Mid South comes roaring down 7th Avenue in front of District Bicycles.  

It’s said ad nauseam, but The Mid South is an experience, and it’s truly where the Spirit of Gravel dwells and where it originates.  With Garmin and Lifetime shelling out seven figures to take over big events like Unbound, Leadville, SBT GRVL, etc. and other events like Gravel Locos fleecing participants for a greater share of ownership in a small town volunteer fire department, it’s a welcome breath of fresh air to hear Bobby say that he’s not for sale.  One can only imagine the amount of money these big companies have offered to purchase The Mid South only for him to turn around and say definitively, “I’m not for sale.”  

Gravel people talk about this concept of the Spirit of Gravel and what it means both as a racer and an event organizer.  The concept can be boiled down to community, and it’s hard to argue otherwise.  The small gravel circles that I find myself in are less of an organization and much more of a family.  Countless times I’ve ridden my bike in the hot Texas heat only to come back to a cold refreshment, hot meal, and friends to savor the day with.  When the sun goes down, often the party continues because family and community really know no bounds.  Where the Spirit of Gravel is lost is those events where the racers and professionals are prioritized over the atmosphere and the “paying public”.  You likely won't see the event organizer from Gravel Locos or SBT GRVL or Unbound give you a hug at the finish line like Bobby Wintle does.  Perhaps the greatest prize of The Mid South is having Bobby give you a hug and saying, “Great job!  I love you.”  Those latter three words are often lost in the other events, and when Bobby says it, he means it.  

And let’s not forget the fact that as long as there is a human moving on the race course, Bobby is at the finish line.  The 50K run and 100 mile bike ride are all day events, and Bobby will stay up into the wee hours of the night to make sure the DFL finisher is welcomed to the finish line just as the winner of the event is.  The fact that no one is prioritized over another in an event is something that far has been lost in these events.  There are no call ups, there are no preferred start positions, there is no preferential treatment.  I could have toed the line with this year’s winner Torbjørn Røed if I wanted to and been bookended by gravel legends Ted King or Payson McElveen.  I could have grabbed the wheel of former World Tour riders or chatted alongside Unbound, Mid South, and other major gravel event winners.  No one is above anyone else.  And when the finish line clock ticks to 8 hours, 10 hours, 12 hours, and beyond, those people who toed the line with legitimate hopes of winning the event are still at the finish line waiting, cheering, hoping, begging, willing the last finisher over that finish line no matter what time of night.  That is the Spirit of Gravel.  

The vendors come in full force to The Mid South.

If you expect to go to Hico, Emporia, Steamboat, or Leadville and get the same treatment, you’ll be disappointed and you’ll realize where the true motivation for those event organizers lies, and it’s not to encourage you on and it’s not to build community.  Fortunately for them, the community was already built and established at The Mid South, and that Spirit travels with those people to those other events.  I’m not here to say that other gravel events aren’t great events; by no means am I saying that.  What I’m saying is that Lifetime and Garmin are after a bottom line more than they’re after your inclusion in the gravel community.

The gravel community isn’t something that is built around a singular event at an isolated time of year.  It’s built by the people and it’s far from something that just happens by hosting an event.  It’s a thing that has evolved organically from people who have the same interests, beliefs, hopes, and dreams.  It’s created by people who want to genuinely spend time together doing a common activity.  Those who want to suffer together, eat together, drink together, spend quality time together.  That isn’t created on a route or in the starting chute or at a finish line.  It starts as a seed of common love and carries throughout our days and our lives.  It’s the kind of thing that you think about throughout your week, wondering what your fellow community members are doing, wondering who’s going to make the “call” to get together each weekend, hoping in earnest to see them again.  That’s the Spirit of Gravel.  

My intention with this post was to write about my experience at The Mid South and give others a perspective into what it’s like to ride one of the most revered and, weather-dependent, one of the most difficult races in the country.  The reality is that throwing a leg over your bike at The Mid South really isn't all that much different than doing so at your local road rally or group ride.  In the end, yes, the aid stations are well-stocked with plenty of friendly volunteers, the community both at the volunteer level as well as on the route itself is overwhelmingly supportive, but the end result is a bike ride like every other one you’ve ever done.  

What sets The Mid South apart from its competitors and every other event is the camaraderie, the support for one another, the absolute love you feel when you step foot on the Stillwater square and the red Oklahoma dirt, and yes the Spirit of Gravel.  It lives in Stillwater.