Originally Posted by
u235
Getting off topic here but.. what do most people consider "road" riding. A traditional road that is paved with cars, a paved MUP, paved bicycle lane separate or integrated into a car lane, a paved trail through the woods. I do a lot of riding on pavement but most is not a road. An example is I do a century that is about 50 miles of gravel/dirt path (canal, not a gravel road) and about 50 miles of pavement, of that 50 miles of pavement only about 5 miles of it is actual road sharing with cars. My routine most common ride is about 40 miles. 15 road, 20 paved MUP, and 5 gravel/dirt trail. I guess in the end, it doesn't matter what people call it or even if people try to categorize it. I know the conditions of the route and select the best bike and tire I have for it.
Maybe in the end, if you are truly riding on a road and stay there, the conditions are pretty static and you know exactly what you need and other than relatively slight changes in type of pavement, one tire works for 99% of what you would come acrossg. Anything other than a traditional paved road and it widely depends.
At the risk of disagreeing with Shoota again, I think your question gets at the underlying issue. What “road” means to different people may vary. I believe someone in this thread indicated that his “gravel” roads were often better than his “paved” roads. Having built and maintianed a 1/2 mile driveway I can attest to the fact that “pavement” may or may not be a more solid surface to ride on than gravel. There are quite a few “paved” roads in: NC, SC & GA that are not nearly as good as maintained bike trails, walking trails, running trails...
The roads I ride in my neighborhood are paved but have gravel dumped on them regularly. I assume the gravel helps cars get traction on the often icy roads in winter. That gravel and the sand that it collects can get deep in areas. There are steep drops off the sides of these roads and lots of switchbacks and steep hills which means cars could easily slide off the road in winter months without the gravel. There are also many rock slides in MTN areas which do not help pavement....
The “gravel” forest roads and maintained gravel roads are a huge % of the roads in the area I now live in. The “paved” roads may or may not be safer or a “better” surface to ride on.