About
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.
Initially, these two gravel aficionados had no idea the extent to which this whole gravel grinding thing would grow, nor did they give it any real thought. That wasn't what motivated them. They both simply felt their lives had been enriched through cycling. And Dirty Kanza 200 was their attempt to give back to the cycling community.
Since then, the popularity of gravel grinding has exploded and is now the fastest growing genre in the cycling industry. The popularity of DK200 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 our format and the way we have to manage certain aspects of the event, one thing has remained constant... Dirty Kanza 200 is a grass-roots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for our event participants.
Thank you for your interest in Dirty Kanza. We hope you will choose to join us in Emporia, Kansas the first weekend after Memorial Day. Should you have any questions about us or our events, we hope you will visit our "Contact Us" page. We look forward to hearing from you.
Mission
The mission of the Dirty Kanza 200 is to provide the ultra-endurance off-road cycling community with a high quality event at an exceptional value. The event will be structured in such a way to be extremely challenging, but at the same time possible to complete. We will strive to effectively utilize the ruggedness and remoteness of the Flint Hills region to properly challenge the self-sufficiency of event participants, while at the same time provide an appropriate level of support, to ensure an enjoyable, life-enriching cycling experience.
