The story of the Dirty Boar all began on the weekend of April 16-17, 2016. During that weekend, Jens, Hans, and Tom set off for the UK’s Kielder Forest to get in on the action at the Dirty Reiver, the UK’s first and largest gravel-grinding event.

The Dirty Reiver was quite a demanding ride with ever-changing weather. But, the beautiful scenery, the awesome event organization, and the great folks we met along the way made us forget all the tough parts in no time! Update: In 2018, we made a return trip to the Dirty Reiver for another dose of fun. You can check out the details of our adventure on RideWithGPS!

As we were heading back home after the event, sipping a few cold beers, we got the crazy idea to host a gravel endurance ride right in our home country, Belgium. We wasted no time in picking the Hautes Fagnes area as our ride location, as it had everything needed to create a challenging yet fulfilling gravel adventure.

Fast forward to 2022, after successfully organizing the fifth edition, we welcomed Simon, Fré, and Karel as our fellow Vettige Swa’s. With three extra pairs of hands (and hearts), we’re ready to take our events to even greater heights!

You might be wondering about the origin of the name “De Vettige Swa’s.” Well, that story traces back to that weekend in 2016. During our trip, we were heavily into “The Clement Peerens Explosition” undoubtedly the greatest rock band in Belgium. The drummer of this band was famously known as “Vettige Swa” because he also owned a fries shop. Do we need to explain any further?