Momokahn

I currently ride a 2011 Trek Cobia in South Central Kansas. I have traveled 1000's of miles of back roads. In this part of the state, the back roads are 100% sand roads with a very hard base. When dry, they are excellent roads to traverse with the exception of some areas becoming a washboard.

My question is I'm looking at doing more riding on the asphalt roads in the country where traffic is extremely low. For me to get to asphalt I would have to ride 1 mile on a sand road with a road bike. The depth of the sand is minimal and a non issue when dry. My worries are will road tires hold up riding a mile on sand roads to get to pavement for me to ride on. Thanks for anyone's experience dealing with sand roads and road bike tires. I'm not really interested in a gravel bike. I'm looking at strictly a road bike. Thanks again

Ghazmh

Road tires will stand up to riding on sand and perform fine on asphalt. You may run into problems when the sand is loose. They will carve into the loose sand and be very difficult to control.

scott967

I've done a lot of riding on 23 mm road tires, but more of the puncture resistant style. The problem is mainly speed, though if the sand is too deep it will pretty much stop you. My biggest problem off road is on descent. Difficult to control caliber or canti brakes on drop bar if you need max stopping power. It's hard on my wrists. It would probably be better if I had some interrupter / CX levers. But that's on singletrack, not roads.

scott s.
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shelbyfv

I ride 28mm GP5000s regularly on a stretch of hard packed dirt, small rocks. Road tires are not necessarily fragile, they can take a lot of abuse from potholes and chipseal.

jpescatore

I've had no problem with road tires on flat, straight, shallow stretches of sand on road bike tires with minimal tread on them, a la the Continental GP 5000s I use now (32mm). But, on rides with significant gritty/sandy curved or hilly stretches I really prefer tires with some tread on them - I use Schwalbe Marathons on the bike I do touring on, partly for better flat protection but also for that "coming down the hill to a curve with sand/grit washed/blown over it" scenario.

RH Clark

Just slow down until you can see how it feels and give it a try. How well it will work will depend on too many factors for anyone else to be able to tell you. I live in the country too and ride dirt roads on all kinds of bikes and tires. Conditions drastically change with weather.
I wouldn't worry about wearing out the tires if that's your main question. Just take it super slow and easy. You are only talking a short distance. The thing that would concern me most would be the sand and grit on my drivetrain. Clean everything as good as you can every trip.

Milton Keynes

If the bike feels uncontrollable on the sand, then I'd just dismount and walk the mile to the asphalt. I've ridden gravel on skinny road tires and it's not much fun.

Iride01 

Your only issue for using road bike tires will be if you can get enough width on your tire for the riding surface to support them. And that is largely controlled by what your bike frame will allow you to put on it.

From what you say what you have now works. As for durability, then it's just a matter of what road bike tire. But my GP 5000's do well on 1000 foot segments of paved roads that are strewn with so much crushed gravel that they may as well be gravel roads. (This is a portion I ride that goes past a large parking area that is gravel, just in case y'all are wondering).

If you sink deep into the sand and it's too hard to pedal then you need wider tires. If you can't get wide enough tires on your bike, then you need another route, or another bike as in a gravel bike with a road bike like geometry, or just walk it for that distance.

Sand covers up a lot of hazards though, broken glass and shards of metal can be hidden and cut any tire whether it is a road bike tire or not.

Pratt

If the sand is loose enough, you can run into control issues riding 50mm knobbies, The pedaling gets hard too.

Troul 

Riding a Trek 8.3DS on sandy or gravel surfaces was ok with 35 a series tire was ok to a point, & what made it better was locking out the fork. Anything under that required a firm grip, slower speeds, & was likely to dig in.
A road bicycle might not fit a 35 series. The largest I tried that would fit a road bicycle was a 32. It would be about the same as the trek, but I found it to be slightly harder due to the drop bar. Going to a 28 made it more of a challenge.
Speed is not going to be something you can maintain on sand or gravel. A washboard run road is going to be a similar experience from what I've encountered.

caloso

It really depends on how packed it is. If it's a layer of sand over hardpack, that's one thing. If it's soft sand like a beach, that's a totally different thing.

Momokahn

Thank you for everyone's comments. My only concern is will road bike tires get ate up prematurely due to 1 mile of sand. Traversing sand with my bike is a non-issue for me. When dry it is as hard as concrete with a fine layer of sugar sand in spots. Thanks to everyone and be safe out there.

ofajen

Shouldn’t be an issue. I ride 700x32 road tires on crushed stone, sand… all kinds of surfaces. My current Ultra Sport IIs have at least 3000 miles, and two-thirds has been off of pavement.

Otto