Originally Posted by
chas58
Ironically, I find our "rich man gravel" to often be in better shaped than our paved roads. I was enjoying some super smooth gravel near Stoney Creek, when my ride quality was rudely interrupted by a segment of that rough patched asphalt that seems so popular around here.
That's true enough! Even the bad sections of dirt there is usually a smooth line... I don't bike much asphalt in MI outside of some of the paved trails and roads in Island Lake though. The paved roads near me have 4" of shoulder and 55mph speed limits. It's what led to me finding gravel.
Mostly, I was poking fun at the comment above about "rich man gravel" vs "serious gravel"... Who said there was no snobbery in gravel biking?
Originally Posted by
gus6464
Is paceline on gravel even possible? You're just asking to crash and eat dirt. I've been on a couple gravel group rides and unless we are in a super flat section with just dirt no one is bunched up. Even on gravel rides that have 50% road people don't get dropped. Most of the super strong gravel riders here have the mentality of "if you want to drop people, go ride on road only with skinny tires". Gravel crowd is more chill.
Absolutely a paceline is possible! It all gets back to what is "gravel"? Here, a lot of gravel riding is road riding, just without pavement. We don't have fire roads and such, it's either dirt roads which are generally well packed or a MTB trail. If your gravel is closer to singletrack then I agree a paceline would be a good route to the ER!
Don't forget, roadies run no drop rides also, and you'll get dropped in a gravel race if you can't keep up. It all depends on the intent of the ride.