View Poll Results: What kind of gravel do you ride MOST?
Multi-use or bike paths
2
3.28%
"All road" mix of paved road and civilized dirt / gravel
23
37.70%
Maintained, "civilized" dirt and gravel roads perhaps with stream crossings mixed in.
16
26.23%
Mix of "civilized" and rough near-MTB type trails and roads
14
22.95%
Rocky, rough near-MTB type trails and roads
2
3.28%
Broken, deteriorated, and/or really rough pavement
1
1.64%
Other
3
4.92%
Voters: 61. You may not vote on this poll
What is "gravel" to you?
04-15-19, 09:18 PM
#26
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04-16-19, 11:07 AM
#27
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To the OP: I think that's a great point. "Gravel" is a catch phrase.
I think of "gravel riding" as a combination of the following:
1. hard packed gravel roads (most people seem to agree)
2. Smooth single track dirt surfaces
3. My personal favorite, farm tractor paths or abandoned grassy trails.
I say combination because its quite difficult in most places to walk out the door onto a gravel road and/or stay on it for the entirety of the ride.
I think of "gravel riding" as a combination of the following:
1. hard packed gravel roads (most people seem to agree)
2. Smooth single track dirt surfaces
3. My personal favorite, farm tractor paths or abandoned grassy trails.
I say combination because its quite difficult in most places to walk out the door onto a gravel road and/or stay on it for the entirety of the ride.
04-16-19, 05:18 PM
#28
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To the OP: I think that's a great point. "Gravel" is a catch phrase.
I think of "gravel riding" as a combination of the following:
1. hard packed gravel roads (most people seem to agree)
2. Smooth single track dirt surfaces
3. My personal favorite, farm tractor paths or abandoned grassy trails.
I say combination because its quite difficult in most places to walk out the door onto a gravel road and/or stay on it for the entirety of the ride.
I think of "gravel riding" as a combination of the following:
1. hard packed gravel roads (most people seem to agree)
2. Smooth single track dirt surfaces
3. My personal favorite, farm tractor paths or abandoned grassy trails.
I say combination because its quite difficult in most places to walk out the door onto a gravel road and/or stay on it for the entirety of the ride.
Last edited by Noonievut; 04-17-19 at 04:34 AM.
04-16-19, 09:32 PM
#29
Senior Member
I'm definitely in the "civilized" dirt / Midwestern roads camp. If I'm perfectly honest, I would be riding a normal road bike except that the only paved roads around me are 50+mph, two lanes and no shoulder (well, not paved anyways). I don't enjoy being buzzed by every car on the road and holding them all up at the same time so I ride almost exclusively dirt roads where there is less traffic. To me a gravel bike really is a road bike though, just not for paved roads. Maybe more like the bikes they rode in the early Tour de France.
The idea of long rock gardens and such just doesn't seem very interesting to me. I'm not much of a mountain biker and even less when it comes to techy stuff. Being stuck riding at single digit speeds outside of a steep climb is just frustrating. I want to get out and cover distance at speed. My favorite rides are ones that would cover more than a tiny dot when viewed on a map of the state.
The idea of long rock gardens and such just doesn't seem very interesting to me. I'm not much of a mountain biker and even less when it comes to techy stuff. Being stuck riding at single digit speeds outside of a steep climb is just frustrating. I want to get out and cover distance at speed. My favorite rides are ones that would cover more than a tiny dot when viewed on a map of the state.
04-16-19, 11:22 PM
#30
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I'm definitely in the "civilized" dirt / Midwestern roads camp. If I'm perfectly honest, I would be riding a normal road bike except that the only paved roads around me are 50+mph, two lanes and no shoulder (well, not paved anyways). I don't enjoy being buzzed by every car on the road and holding them all up at the same time so I ride almost exclusively dirt roads where there is less traffic. To me a gravel bike really is a road bike though, just not for paved roads. Maybe more like the bikes they rode in the early Tour de France.
The idea of long rock gardens and such just doesn't seem very interesting to me. I'm not much of a mountain biker and even less when it comes to techy stuff. Being stuck riding at single digit speeds outside of a steep climb is just frustrating. I want to get out and cover distance at speed. My favorite rides are ones that would cover more than a tiny dot when viewed on a map of the state.
The idea of long rock gardens and such just doesn't seem very interesting to me. I'm not much of a mountain biker and even less when it comes to techy stuff. Being stuck riding at single digit speeds outside of a steep climb is just frustrating. I want to get out and cover distance at speed. My favorite rides are ones that would cover more than a tiny dot when viewed on a map of the state.
Yup, in my younger days I loved trying to clear obstacles with my mountain bike and in the TX hill country there are many. Though I still love riding my MTB and my FAT bike today I just don’t want a triip to the orthopedic surgeon
I have had many. I love gravel grinding a mixture or road and gravel that covers distance is cool. Gravel grinding roads can be found anywhere with many miles to explore.
04-17-19, 06:09 AM
#31
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I'm not sure what gravel even is.
This past Saturday I rode silky smooth pavement, well groomed pea over hardpack, fresh chunk on 15% grades, slag from a marble quarry (that was cool), mud pits, a running stream bed (upstream), bulldozer tracks, through an apple orchard, doubletrack and something that used to be a trail through the woods but eroded into a gully and filled with leaves.
I will say that grassy doubletrack is the most fun.
-Tim-
This past Saturday I rode silky smooth pavement, well groomed pea over hardpack, fresh chunk on 15% grades, slag from a marble quarry (that was cool), mud pits, a running stream bed (upstream), bulldozer tracks, through an apple orchard, doubletrack and something that used to be a trail through the woods but eroded into a gully and filled with leaves.
I will say that grassy doubletrack is the most fun.
-Tim-
04-17-19, 09:48 AM
#32
Senior Member
04-17-19, 01:45 PM
#33
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Until very recently, I did not know this was a thing.
Basically, It appears as though this is what I did on my Schwinn Collegiate Sport back in the 1980's. If there was a trail hard enough to hold up my bike on it's 35mm tires, I would ride it. It was great. It also looks a lot like what I did on my mountain bike on the Fire Trails in the Oakland hills.
Kind of a road bike that does more. It may not excel at any one type of riding, but it looks like the "Gravel Bike" is "pretty good" at a lot of riding types.
This topic certainly deserves more study... and has me looking around for an old road bike in need of some work.
Basically, It appears as though this is what I did on my Schwinn Collegiate Sport back in the 1980's. If there was a trail hard enough to hold up my bike on it's 35mm tires, I would ride it. It was great. It also looks a lot like what I did on my mountain bike on the Fire Trails in the Oakland hills.
Kind of a road bike that does more. It may not excel at any one type of riding, but it looks like the "Gravel Bike" is "pretty good" at a lot of riding types.
This topic certainly deserves more study... and has me looking around for an old road bike in need of some work.
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