csrpenfab

I called an audible and took a PTO day Monday to get some gravel in. The 14,000 acre Chino Hills State Park is about a 30 minute road ride away from my home. The entry from the Chino Hills side has a nice lung busting steep 3/4 mi. climb up into the park, but once you're there, it's a whole new world compared to the suburbia you just left behind. I got 20 miles of dirt in on the new Niner, and couldn't be happier with how this bike handles the gravel (errr dusty dirt). I managed to pass up a full squish mountain biker in a steep two-track climb, and that was good motivation!

redlude97

There was some gravel involved...

mstateglfr 

Took the afternoon off and rode 40mi to a state park and back. It's a relatively flat area that I rode- fields after fields of corn and beans, but the halfway point makes the ride worth it!

You resch the park and begin a steep twisty descent down into the Des Moines River valley where you cross thru a creek 4 or 5 times. There are sandstone ledges alongside the creek.
And the climb out is maxed out at 18% grade.





I passed a schoolhouse that closed 50 years ago and is apparently now a place for sheep to graze.


And this single turbine is a great landmark as it can be seen for about 10mi around. Oddly, it's the only one- rare.

TimothyH

I drove up to the Hiawassee River in Tennessee today to explore some new roads.

This is a 390 foot long cable suspended footbridge over the river.






Lots of climbing up shelf roads...









A six mile climb to the top of Buc Bald with a 360° panoramic view.




-Tim-

billyymc

So much great stuff posted here. This wasn't my first ride on the new bike, but it was my first mostly gravel ride (> 50% gravel and dirt).

The pics of the "road" covered in weeds, and then blocked by a big pile of dirt and branches - that was called "Valley View Road" haha

Metieval

man, that tire is screwed

billyymc

Haha. I see what you did there 🙂

But the tire seems fine - I pulled the screw and it spewed a bit of sealant. Gave it a quick spin and it sealed pretty well but I put a plug in for good measure and rode another 35 miles on it. I think it will hold for the life of the tire

Metieval

so it is "unscrewed" ,

...awesome!

billyymc

Thought I'd add some pics from yesterday's ride in here. This was my second attempt at this ride - the first one was last Friday and ended after 1) my buddy and I getting run over simultaneously by two deer at mile 3, and 2) the plug I put in the rear tire last week (see post a few above) coming loose on a steep gravel descent and me losing too much sealant (and going through three CO2 cartridges to get the tire sealed again, and embarrassingly not bringing a pump). Still got a nice 40 miles in (15 of it after the tire problem).

Anyway - yesterday my ride was pretty great in so many ways. 111 miles, 11,000 feet of climbing. About half the distance was gravel, and over half the climbing was gravel. Besides those I was almost exclusively on country roads (some recently chip-sealed). It was scenic, challenging, painful, and in the end quite satisfying. Some of the gravel descents were quite possibly the hardest aspect of the ride. There were a couple that got quite steep on loose 1-3" gravel...as steep as -18% in places. And there were a couple that were just long and rugged with rocks too large to be called gravel - I stopped to let air from my tires on one of them.

Pics don't really do it justice.

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/39689491






Yes this was the "road" - had a half mile of this to negotiate. Had to walk around one or two.

LeFreakyBone

How are you liking that Rockitship? I was considering building one up myself when I was in the market for a bike. Coming from a BMX background I've always been a fan of Fairdale, and even have a Fairdale tattoo from when they were doing them for free from at their release party a few years back in Austin .

billyymc

I totally love this bike. It rides like a dream on both pavement and gravel, and the quality seems great.

CodyDog

Happy Feet

TimothyH

^^ Where ya headed?

HTupolev

Happy Feet

Me?

If so, Gabriola Island, part of the Gulf Islands off the west coast. They are an extension of what you Americans call the San Juan's. I did a fun little s24o there on pavement, gravel and single track.

LeFreakyBone

Went for an early morning ride on some power line trails with a friend. Due to time constraints, it was a shorter ride than we would have liked — 8 miles — but it had some pretty decent elevation gain at just over 1,200 ft.

BluFalconActual

Burning off pizza and stress in Joshua Tree

djkashuba 

Sonoma Coast by djk762, on Flickr

mstateglfr 

I set a route up in northeast iowa to ride in the driftless region(where ice hadn't scraped the land flat long ago) while on my way back from a bikeforums group road ride yesterday in WI.

This took me on pavement, gravel, doubletrack, level b(minimum maintenance) and level c(even less maintenance) roads.
And I rode past the Field of Dreams, so that was a cool stopoff.

CyclingFever

Play ball!

djkashuba 

Islands in The Sky by djk762, on Flickr

Wilmingtech

TimothyH

I took a gravel vacation this week.

Among the highlights were seeing two bears, one not ten minutes into the first day's ride.






















-Tim-

tangerineowl

^
Did you have the tent in the rear bag?

I'm slowly getting a few things to do some bikepacking.