“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” bellowed a hirsute man in black sunglasses, and long-sleeve red-and-white t-shirt with a giant logo for Happy Bottom Bum Butter, “But you’re gonna die. So live life like you’re gonna die. ‘Cos you’re gonna.”
This wasn’t what I was expecting to hear at the start of a pre-race briefing. But there in front of me, quoting William Shatner from the top of table at a Dorset pub at 7 am was Charlie Hobbs. Founder of Happy Bottom Bum Butter (a natural chamois cream favoured by many Olympians), it was Charlie introduced overnight gravel rides to British shores in 2016 with the Dorset Gravel Dash.
Unsurprisingly, this type of event had grown a small, but lively scene in the US. And now it was over here.
