Real West Gravel Grinder - March 16, 2025 - Pendleton OR

I Ride For Her

The finishing line of the Dirty Kanza, a 200-mile bicycle race through the Flint Hills of Kansas, is a place where personal discoveries are made and raw emotions reveal themselves.

There are a handful of gravel grinders that are shaping the future of the Gravel Grinder genre. The Dirty Kanza 200, a 200-mile gravel road race through the Flint Hills east central Kansas. It is hard, but not impossible even while you’re struggling to turn the pedals over into 20mph headwinds and stay hydrated despite blistering temperatures and oppressive humidity, you can still enjoy the rolling hills and prairie skies.

The popularity of Dirty Kanza 200 has grown too, from 34 participants in 2006, to an anticipated 1,500 riders in 2015. And while that growth has brought with it a few changes to the format, one thing has remained constant… Dirty Kanza 200 is a grass-roots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling,

Dirty Kanza Promotions was founded in 2006 by Jim Cummins, with the assistance of fellow cycling enthusiast Joel Dyke. At that time, gravel grinding was just beginning to catch the interest of the endurance cycling community. However, Jim had grown up in the Flint Hills of east central Kansas and had been riding gravel for decades. Inspired by some of the early gravel grinder events… and convinced the Flint Hills had the best gravel to be found anywhere in the world, Jim and Joel decided to create Dirty Kanza 200.