Seattle Forrest

Dirt is suddenly resplendent. Athlinks, the tech platform of Life Time, which owns and operates health clubs and participatory events like the Leadville, Colorado, race series, Dirty Kanza, and Chicago Half Marathon, reports that off-road events—gravel and mountain-bike rides, trail and mud runs—dominate the wish lists of their members. Meanwhile, says company spokesperson Kimo Seymour, its data on timed races shows “modest to significant declines in events on pavement over the last three to four years, specifically road running, road cycling, and triathlon.” Also surging right now, he adds, is youth mountain biking.

https://www.outsideonline.com/240108...roads-for-dirt

tagaproject6

More bikes = awesome

Seattle Forrest

I had never encountered the word resplendent until a couple months ago at a WTA work party. You can't can that terrible thorny plant "devil's club" anymore, that's offensive, it's "resplendent maple bush" now.

ksryder

The Outside article seems to be using it as a synonym for "rising in popularity" which I guess I can see but seems odd. I don't believe I've seen that particular usage of it. It means "shining."

I'm not familiar with devil's club so I googled it and I don't see anything particularly resplendent about it, other than maybe the little red berries it produces. This sounds like someone in administration who is uptight getting their panties in a wad over the word "devil."

Lemond1985

The only thing I can imagine, is that the author of this piece got a gold star in the 4th grade for using the word "resplendent" in a book report, and has been cramming the word into every possible sentence, ever since.

Seattle Forrest

The title of the article was

but I didn't think that was very resplendent.

burnthesheep

I don't think the title gets it right. You can make any challenge as hard as you want to, but gravel is much more participatory than road riding is. It's not only about "being safer".

Hang on for a second......

On gravel, you've got essentially foot-race style participatory "racing" by the vast majority of participants. It's much lower pressure than knowing your day could be ruined and over in a matter of minutes by getting "dropped".

You can make it a fun day to chat with others and do your ride and get a finisher medal. You can go for a PR or PB. You can go for a win. You can have a beer and maybe food truck afterwards. People recognize each others efforts all across the spectrum with both kind words, and maybe a finisher medal.

Some people are really opposed to finisher medals, but it doesn't hurt my feelings to see someone relish in doing something they didn't think they could do. I can't judge that.

Why wouldn't people prefer that to the often stodgy and high pressure world of "being roadie" or racing road.

How many road races do participants stop to cool off in a creek or the professional leaders stop to pose for pictures on a couch in the middle of the road?

It's fun, it's inclusive, it's inherently safer to train for, lower pressure. All wins.

MTB/gravel still has the perception, fair or not, as the "cool guys and gals" of cycling and the roadies as well, you know.......

HTupolev

I don't know about resplendent, but there is a short bit of single-track in the Sultan Basin area that's carpeted.

Lemond1985

OK sorry, my bad. I guess I was not very intellectually-resplendent earlier today, hadn't had my coffee yet. Oh dear, now where did I put that artificial sweetener?

Kapusta

Yeah, I do think the title of the article gets it wrong, or at least is making an unfounded assumption.

The author is confusing correlation and causation.

While I do think that riding MTB is ultimately less risky (for severe, life-changing/ending injuries) than pavement riding, I have serious doubts that people are choosing mtb or gravel racing over road racing due to safety concerns.

Seattle Forrest

This obviously applies here, as "gravel" has become "a thing" in the road world. You can debate where it fits exactly (drop bar bikes being ridden on a specific type of road = road cycling, in my book) but a lot of people are riding less pavement and more dirt.

What I found really interesting is that the same thing is happening with runners, migrating from the road to the trail. I'm not much of a runner, I've seen friends doing it though. Trail running is actually fun, road running always seemed tedious to me.

TimothyH

I certainly didn't start riding gravel because I was scared of roads and was trail running before I could drive.

Outside was a good print publication decades ago but the internet version is a rag anyway. The phrase, "quit my road habit" is very condescending.


-Tim-

eja_ bottecchia

Road Bike Action magazine should be honest and change their name to Gravel Bike Action.

Over the last few years they have developed a fetish-like obsession for gravel bikes. Their focus on Dirty Kanza is reaching epic proportions.

Now, I have absolutely nothing against gravel bikes and/or gravel riding. The more people riding bikes, the better it is for everyone.

It is just that gravel is not my thing and I’d rather if RBA focused on its title sake, that’s all.

BTW, I see more and more gravel bikes being ridden out on the roads. Is this the equivalent of guys riding off-road vehicles out on suburban streets?

mstateglfr 

I hear a couple times a month that someone in my area wants to try gravel riding because they dont like the idea of paved road riding alongside all the distracted drivers.

Whether that's perception, reality, or a mix of both- I'm not sure.

We have a huge network of paved trails and a huge number of recreational riders seems to stick to the trails for either all of their riding or almost all of it. There isn't much incentive to ride roads, unless you want hill climbing too, and it seems many dont want that since hills around here lead away from the communal bars along the trails.

Gravel certainly means lower traffic and new sights(of more corn and beans).

Mtb around me would be more popular if the trails were maintained more and not located in land next to creeks and rivers that floods/flood stays damp.

mstateglfr 

I'm sure it could be that for some.
For others, it's just a more comfortable bike due to geometry and tires.

eja_ bottecchia

Possibly.

BTW, I agree wholeheartedly with the basic premise of the article. People are, if not scared at least cautious, about riding on the road and sharing space with these vehicular behemoths.The goal should not be “coexistence” but segregation. We need to look at other countries and adopt our own variant of what is working for them.

As I get closer to retirement I plan to do more riding and road riding is still my preference. I just don’t want to be squashed to death by some pimple-faced teenager texting while driving.

billyymc

I just finished building up a dedicated gravel bike after breaking a rear wheel on my road bike while riding on a seasonal use road that was gravel/dirt/exposed shale.

My motivation for riding more and more gravel was really just exploration, and the desire to ride new routes and places. Over the past several years I would frequently do rides where I'd just see a road and turn onto it, then another, then another. On weekends in particular these rides led out into the countryside (intentionally away from the routes I commute), and inevitably would include some gravel. Then more gravel, and then instead of just randomly hitting gravel I was seeking it out, putting together routes that intentionally went further afield.

Incorporating more dirt and gravel roads usually means new sights, less distance but probably more hills, and certainly fewer cars. But not feeling safe in traffic wasn't my motivation for riding more gravel - it was really just "hey, that "road" looks fun."

BTW, here's the new bike, and the broken wheel that finally made me decide to build a dedicated gravel bike. My road bike is a triple so going to a 1x11 I was a bit concerned I'd hate it. So far I have one good ride on it and while I notice the big gearing jumps, for the most part they don't bother me. Where you really feel it is riding pretty hard on flat pavement. On the dirt, or on hillier terrain, not so much.

ETA: after this picture (and after my initial ride) I moved the seat a bit higher, and repositioned the shift/brake levers because they were too low on the bar.

seypat

It's the Coal Roller effect. People trying to get their macho on. Probably seeing an increase in Camo cycling gear as well. I grew up walking, riding, driving, etc. down dusty dirt/gravel roads. I did my time in that environment.

ksryder

I bet the dirt around Chernobyl is resplendent.

Clipped_in

Quite simply the wrong wheel for the job... It was resplendently lacking in spoke count and design.

billyymc

Possibly, but the the Zondas are marketed (or were when I bought these) as a cyclocross wheel. As such I figure it should be capable of gravel riding. I think if I'd been on wider tires at lower pressure this may not have been an issue. Of course it's possible this was from a relatively large rock that kicked up into my wheel on a descent - not really sure. I didn't see it until I got home...the spoke was still attached but barely.

Clipped_in

Glad you made it home ok.

Seattle Forrest

I ride a gravel bike on and off pavement. I love in a city surrounded by paved roads, and I only have room for one bike. I take it out of town on weekends, and a lot of the best routes involve dirt roads. You wouldn't think it's a gravel bike to look at it.

Seattle Forrest

I don't know if wearing kit and getting your macho on are compatible?

Kapusta

IMO, riding gravel and dirt roads IS “road biking”. I think what happened is that “road biking” had became synonymous with “paved bike racing”, which (IMO) has lead to a lot of people being sold bikes that are uncomfortable and ill-suited for the surface conditions of many of the roads where they live.

I don’t see the move toward more “Gravel” riding as a move away from road riding, It is simply expanding the types of roads you ride on. It’s about choosing the bike that works well on your roads (paved or dirt), rather than choosing the roads to suit your bike. I cannot count the number of gorgeous, nearly car-free routes in my area that most roadies don't even consider because they are either dirt, or really crappy pavement that suck on 25mm tires.

I find the most sensible and versatile road bikes out there right now are some of the Gravel and All-Road offerings. Traditional "road" bikes are the niche tool, IMO.

So it makes sense to me that road biking publications would start covering dirt and gravel road riding as interest in it is expanding.

IMO, the proliferation of Gravel and All Road bikes and gravel/dirt road riding is the best think to happen to road bikes (and road riding) in decades.