obrentharris 

Start here!
Then go on another gravel ride, and another. By then you'll have an idea whether you are headed in the right direction.
We can all tell you what we like but none of us can tell you what you like.
Brent

Mike_Kelly

What tipped the scales for me was the newest generation of performance road bikes with wide tires rather than gravel grinder bikes. Now I can extend and connect road rides with dirt/gravel sections making more loops. There are far more gravel roads in the USA than there are paved roads. Quiet, no cars zooming by 5ft away. Better scenery than urban sprawl. Turtles, ducks, eagles, deer, bears.

Learn to be self-sufficient, nobody to rescue you. The cost of freedom to ride.

Cpn_Dunsel

There are approx 2.6 million miles of paved roads in the US and about 1.5 million unpaved.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics. US Department of Transportation.

Noonievut

I thought of this on my ride yesterday...

Short answer is it all depends on where you live and ride.

I live an hour northwest of Toronto. If I were to ride south towards Toronto, or east towards busy suburbs, the paved roads are very busy. There are not many gravel roads so that doesn’t really matter.

When I ride North (incl NE and NW) or west, the paved roads have fewer cars the further you go. And the further I ride the more gravel roads there are. However, many of the paved roads are not very busy. It also matters when you’re riding. I’m usually up early and again, paved roads not very busy. This means I’m happy riding my road bike with 25mm or gravel bike for a mixed surface ride. The gravel on such a ride is usually just a nice change of pace, as I’ll start on paved roads, then hit mixed surface trails that run along a river, more paved, gravel, a rail trail, etc. That’s pretty fun. But only gravel over paved, doesn’t make sense where I ride.

wheelsmcgee

This. To give some perspective, I have around 100 miles of roads that I ride pretty regularly (not all at once!). This is in Kansas, in a rural area with no leash laws or anything like that. Each mile section varies, but I’d say it’s typical to have 3-5 houses per mile in the area.

In those miles, I have one house and that I no longer ride by, and one more that I’ll turn around on if the dog is out in the road waiting for me before I pass the house. Most of the rest of the dogs are frequently fenced in, or minimally agressive. A yell or squirt from the water bottle is usually enough to keep them at bay while I ride past. With the smaller ones, the best thing to do is just slow down because they’re not going to hurt you unless you catch them in your wheel.

I have gotten less worried about dogs over the years…it’s something to think about, but wouldn’t stop me from riding.

Kapusta

I like riding on roads with great views and few cars. Those tend to be gravel or crap pavement.

So gravel is a byproduct, not the goal.

sloar 

I prefer fast road bikes, but the roads in my area do not. I’ve been very limited to certain roads when they start chip sealing in the summer. ATB, All Terrain Bikes, makes my routes more enjoyable.

franswa

The sound of riding on gravel is like ASMR

katsup

How do the ATB's ride when they are vertical? I haven't tried that yet.

Greenhil

There may be more paved roads than gravel roads in the country, but in my state (Vermont) there are more dirt roads than paved - so more route options. All the arguments in support of gravel have already been enumerated here: safety, scenery, adventure, variety, a more relaxed “ethic” than road riding. For those of us riding in forested areas there’s also shade in the heat and usually a lot less wind on windy days. OK, and more bugs.

Caliper

Fair, but what about cycle-able roads? Take out the interstate highways, state highways and multi-lane highways with no shoulders?

I know in my vicinity, the options for pavement are limited to in town, state highway and a few small subdivisions. If you want a decent ride on safe roads it's on dirt or carefully planned.

Cpn_Dunsel

There are lots of unpaved roads that have substantial vehicle traffic. In many parts of the country gravel roads are the primary form of travel for all vehicles.

The notion that all off road gravel riding is free from cars and truck traffic and is therefore safe is just supercilious. Everything is location dependent. Either way, there are more paved roads than unpaved in the USA and in some places riding a bicycle on the Interstate is allowed and may be the safest passage.

If you got something that works for you then keep working it. Different (pedal) strokes for different folks.

There is no panacea.

franswa

No annoying situations where another cyclist thinks you're in a traffic light race just because you're both on bikes, waiting for the light to turn green

mstateglfr 

Geographically we are the 3rd largest country in the world and we have over 330million people. Obviously location dependent applies to most generalizations when talking about such a large landmass with so many people.

Reality is that every place I have ever spent significant time living in/riding/visiting in this country- unpaved roads contain less traffic than paved roads. And speeds are slower too.
Upper Midwest in multiple states? Yup, rings true.
Central California? Yup, rings true.
Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama? Yup, rings true.

Unpaved roads contain fewer vehicles and speeds are slower compared to paved roads.

Caliper

Agreed that there are certainly cars on gravel roads (why else is the road there?) But the traffic level is different. If a place is remote enough that there are only gravel roads, then the traffic level will be lower because of population density. In less remote places, there tend to be paved thoroughfares that draw the majority of motor vehicles and the traffic on dirt is mostly people going between their house and the closest paved area. The thing is, dirt and gravel roads don't hold up well to large volumes of vehicle traffic so they tend to get paved wherever there are higher traffic levels.


Again, to there being more miles of paved roads than gravel, many of the miles of pavement are not much use for cycling. Lots of miles of roads are in subdivisions which are now built without connecting roads to neighboring subdivisions (to reduce cut through traffic) so many of those roads are also of little use. In Metro Detroit, you'll have a 1 mile square city block with four miles of road on each side, but more than four miles of road connecting all the residences on the 4+ developments contained inside the block, often with stop signs scattered all throughout. Those miles of minor roads are of no use to a cyclist (or even a motorist) unless you are going to a house in that sub. Meanwhile, dirt roads are used in places where lower population density and larger lots mean the roads are laid out differently and there are far fewer dirt roads to nowhere.

I'd be curious to see how the balance of dirt vs pavement changes on roads that are >1mi long and roads that are >5mi long.

Cpn_Dunsel

You seem to have not included industrial and commercial traffic in your metric.


I am not going to kick any more footballs at your set of moving goal posts. Happy riding!

Caliper

No, I certainly have included industrial and commercial traffic nor have I shifted anything. Heavy traffic favors paved routes. Heavy trucks tear up dirt or gravel roads, which means higher maintenance expenses for whoever maintains the road which results in them getting paved. I'm sure you can point to a trucking depot and USPS distribution center on a dirt road, but let's be honest that this is the exception. In three different states, I've seen the same that traffic levels drop on dirt roads compared to the paved roads in the same area.

mant1s

Depends on what kind of gravel bike you choose. There is a range from "almost MTB" heavy rigs all the way to "wannabe aero road bike" style of gravels. Or you can go the CX way and pick for example Specialized Crux, which is great universal light bike where 42 mm tires can be fitted and geo is almost roadlike.
If you don't plan to get medal positions only at CX races, I wouldn't be too nervous about using gravel bike for CX racing They will be mostly heavier, but still capable of doing that kind of races.
I'm mostly MTB rider as well, but I just love the stiffness of the gravel bikes when you push the pedal and the bike just shoots forward, compared to MTBs. And still capable to ride flow trail type of terrain quite fast..

Whib

Went on my first gravel ride a couple days ago. I was on my hardtail MTB. Loved it! I promptly came home and signed up for a September gravel race, the Dirt Diggler 45.5 in Brevard, NC. I’m curious: will I be in the vast minority on my MTB?
I know I’ll be way slower than the normal gravelers, but I’m cool with that. Just looking for a fun event experience.

Noonievut

What did you enjoy about it vs the normal riding you would do on that bike (which I assume is single track)?

Whib

My normal riding is, indeed, single track. I like slow, technical trails and long distances.

I enjoyed the gravel because I was in the woods the whole time, riding beside a buddy (as opposed to single file), and was able to kick up to some fun speeds comfortably. Covered 20 miles in two hours, and it was enjoyable and very approachable. Also, it was very low impact on the joints.

Metieval

Chip seal is getting bigger. Bigger tires are just better.

It was easy to give up my road race bike in favor of a high end gravel bike.

1 high end gravel bike not only replaced a road bike, but it replaced a utility commute bike as well.
It is just a win/win bike for me.

Bonus being its pretty much all road + some single track riding. If I want to take the short cut, I do it. If I want the scenic route, I do it!
Options baby with minimal losses.

Russ Roth

My only question would be, what are they calling paved, where I grew up the roads were "paved" but really were just gravel and dirt with some oil laid down to tamp down the dust.

Very true. When you live in a hilly area that's all 55 and the locals don't worry about getting caught speeding at 75, the shoulders are shallow and no one put down lines on the last layer of gravel, it isn't a very safe area to ride despite how few the cars might be. Might be less cars to get you but they also don't consider your being there or even consider you a real user.

Possibly less of a minority then you think. Gravel rides/races do seem to be a little more ride what you got. Either way, go have fun, sounds like a good length for a fun time.

mattcalifornia

Care to share your best trails and fire roads? I'm on the west side

Noonievut

As a non mountain biker this was good perspective for me, thanks