You do gravel?

Why yes, I do do gravel..............

Yes! My touting bike is technically an 'expedition' model with room for the wider tires which make gravel rides a joy. I am fortunate enough to live in an area with plenty of gravel and mild singletrack,, including the iconic Highline Canal. That is a 71mi mostly contiguous canal through the middle of the Denver Metro area. It's flanked by a mostly gravel pathway and provides magnificent views of both urban and natural sights. Whether for a long ride or just a few miles, it's always a great choice. It's also the most popular of an array of local gravel options.

As much as I love riding pavement, gravel has a special place in my heart. As I have shared in other threads, I have suffered from the effects of PTSD for nearly all my life. Part of that is a level of social anxiety which ranges from 'high' to 'are you kidding?'. When the weather is good, local paved options get crowded quickly. That can be hard on my comfort level. I'd rather that wasn't true, but it is my reality. Gravel options fill more slowly and outright repel a higher percentage of both pedestrians and other cyclists. Between that and the added challenge of gravel mileage over pavement, I'm a fan.

Not much happening on this gravel forum. I changed my saddle again. Try as hard as I could to get used to my fancy Bi-saddle my butt just said no. I have gained twenty five pounds and thought that would help, it didn’t. The townships that maintain our gravel roads have a tough time. I don’t know if it is our weather or they just don’t know what they are doing. The latest problem is the gravel roads turning into washboards that will rattle your brains. I found the only part of the road that isn’t washboard is the extreme edge. I’m talking six inches from the ditch, sometimes three. Sometimes I find a gravel road that is like they are supposed to be. I get all excited but a few miles down the road it turns to crap.
I have to ride gravel because that’s what I have but the joy that other gravel riders experience escapes me.

Lately I have been riding my gravel bike on a lot of pavement. Well kinda pavement, the roads that are not gravel are mostly chip seal. A big improvement over gravel. I have signed up to do the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure in less than two weeks. I’m thinking of doing it on my gravel bike. It’s not a gravel ride but I really like my gravel bike. It’s either that or my Trek 520. I don’t ride my road bike on anything but the trainer anymore. It just beats me up too much. If we had smooth roads it would be a joy to ride but we don’t.

added a leg tach awhile back......after a generous gifting of a non used cylometer from a forum member...





I know....cadence

Our annual Pedal The Lakes September ride has some changes this year. They always offered a 30 ish mile ride, a 65 mile ride, and a century, on these western Pennsylvania hills. This year they are offering a 35 mile ride and a 65 mile ride. They dropped the century and said if you want to do the century, ride the 35 and then the 65. Both these rides have SAG support and rest stops. They added a 75 mile gravel ride with no SAG, they say you should arrange your own SAG if you are a new gravel rider. No rest stops on the gravel ride, they said the ride will take you through two small towns that have a convenience store that you can buy drinks and nutrition.

I think the gravel riders are getting the short end of the stick. They haven’t published the route yet and they won’t publish it until next week and only if you sign up and pay they will email you the route. They will attempt to mark the turns with arrows spray painted on the dirt/gravel but said those arrows won’t last long with four wheelers and other vehicles running over them. They said a GPS with turn by turn is required.

This ride will probably go right past my house and on all the roads I normally ride. They warned people that the difficulty of this ride would be similar to a 125 mile pavement ride. Why they have to make it so difficult is beyond me. We start with the road riders at the marina. When you leave the marina there is a gravel road crosses the paved road less than 100 yards away. If we go to the left it will involve a hill that is probably unridable. I have been down it on my bike one time and after I made the decision to try it I had regrets all the way down, but I made it. I personally can’t even imagine myself or anybody else making it UP that hill.

I so wanted to do an organized gravel ride but with them saying how difficult this ride is, no SAG, no rest stops, and I know most of the roads we will probably ride I think I will just have to do the road rides. They also said you will need to download the directions to your device because many areas won’t have signal.

The only thing I can think of as to why they are making it so hard is people have been asking for a gravel ride and they didn’t want to be bothered. They made it hard so they could say they offered a gravel ride and nobody signed up.