SoSmellyAir

Not nearly as scenic or off the beaten path as many of the photos posted here.

tempocyclist

Nice bit of gravel climbing... 🙂

Noonievut

Great point about smells! Very different in the fall than mid summer

RALEIGH_COMP 

tFUnK

Redwood Retreat>Mt Madonna
My first time riding this route. Long story short, we climbed this in the dark of the night, and this is us dropping back down the next day. Would love to do this again as part of a Summit Rd loop or under a full moon.

t2p

tFUnK sounds like an awesome ride !

t2p

neat video - overnight gravel ride


as a side note: I also initially transported my Slate in a cardboard bike box until I got an adapter to mount the lefty fork to the floor mount we use

Clipped_in

Provo Canyon, Northern Utah

Sierra_rider

From today's ride. Mostly around 8k' elevation, IDK how many more of these rides I'll get in this year.

Breadfan

New frame! Niner RTL frameset, Tiagra 2x10 with hydraulic brakes groupset, DT Swiss E1800 wheels, Panaracer 38mm tires, CF drop bars, CF seat post, RX seat. I had buit a bike earlier in the year with a less expensive Bikes Direct X3 gravel frame so, I just transferred everything over. On my first gravel ride I noticed that everything was a bit stiffer, I really felt it in the fork. Decreasing my front tire pressure to about 45psi helped a lot but I may go with 43mm or 44mm tires soon. The difference between the steel fork of the X3 frame and the Niner fork is pretty big. I’m new to this game and I didn’t expect it to be that much. Other than that, the bike handles very well and it is quick. I think when I go to a slightly bigger tire, the harshness won’t be as noticeable. I’m sure the fork weighing half of what the steel for weighed also plays a big part. The build went fairly well, the only problem I had was when I ran new brake lines, the back brake took many tries to get it to bleed properly. I ended up filling the cup with mineral oil at the shifter and pulling the oil with the syringe from the bleed port on the caliper. Only then did I see ginormous bubbles come through. All good. I also road tested the bike on a 72 mile weekend run for the MS bike ride, lots of fun and it was a breeze.

Eric F 

Congrats on the new bike.

For a little more comfort, you might also try reducing your tire pressure a little more. I'm current running 35mm Pirellis at 40psi (R) and 37psi (F), and they do great. I ran the same in the 36mm Challenges I had before. No issues, even riding hard on rough terrain (I'm 180lbs-ish. Adjust accordingly).

Eric F 

Short, quick, and dirty in my local hills last night...but easy. Starting to taper off my intensity and get my body freshened up for my next event on 10/28.

Breadfan

Looks like an awesome place to ride. I love where I ride (over here in Florida) and I deeply appreciate that I have 10,000 acres of WMA land to ride on but it's all flat and I find myself yearning for those hills you have out in Cali. They just look like the perfect size. i was out their visiting my daughter in LA and I was taken aback, it was so beautiful out there.

Breadfan

I think I'm at my limit, I have 70 pounds on you!

Eric F 

Sometimes I envy the flat. Where I am, you really can't do a flat ride, even on pavement. If I'm in the dirt, I'm going to end up with over 1000' of elevation gain per 10 miles.

Eric F 

In that case, your pressure is probably about right

Breadfan

Well, there is something to be said for that. it is nice to getting up to a certain speed and maintaining that speed as long as you can. Much easier if it is flat!

schnee

I moved from mountains to flat, and I miss the mountains. My fitness isn't anywhere near what it used to be, because it's less fun to hammer on a flat than it is to summit a peak and admire the view.

t2p

Breadfan

Nice bike and a beautiful places to ride! I'd miss that too.

Noonievut

I’ve been using my ‘gravel’ bike more as a drop bar MTB on the trails throughout my town. Today I hit up the gravel roads a little further out of town. Gotta say, not my thing. Love riding the trails (up, down, twisty, some technical sections; often in the attack / ready position, focused on the flow), but the gravel roads in my area are only marginally less busy than the paved roads. I prefer my road bike on ‘roads’, and long rides. I’m so happy I don’t live in an area with endless gravel roads, wouldn’t be a good fit for me.

unterhausen

There are some gravel roads around here that were busy the last time I was on them. Very wide. But they just spent hundreds of millions of $ on the big highway through the area, so I'm hoping the traffic is on that now.
It opened up some roads I wouldn't ride on before, so it's not all bad even if it didn't fix the other roads. Picture of the new gravel road they built as part of the highway project.

t2p

typically little traffic on the gravel roads we ride

last ride we saw a golf cart, atv, and a pickup truck (utility or DCNR - something like that)

Eric F 

A warm and sunny Saturday cruise.

Sierra_rider

A sunny, but cool day.