Where is the gravel?

[blindwilly]

all this talk of gravel, gravel grinding and gravel bikes leaves me to wonder where all the gravel is. I'm sure the more rural you get the more gravel roads you will find but for those of us living in or near major metropolitan areas where are we finding these roads? I live in central Massachusetts and while there are a decent amount of dirt roads i can access from my house none of them are long enough or continuous enough to warrant a dedicated bike. even when i do encounter some dirt its usually more than manageable with 25c tires. Are folks putting their bikes on racks and driving to the country? I guess in short what i am saying is that the amount of gravel talk and gravel bikes i see online seem to be completely disproportionate to the amount of gravel roads i see in life. Is it regional? what am i missing?

[spoonrobot]

Are folks putting there cars on racks and driving to the country?

Pretty much, but it's regional. Much like MTB in that respect. I've talked to a few guys who bought the gravel bike and then found out that all those #roadslikethese are really just short sections of dirt maybe a few hundred yards long. Gotta drive to the good stuff if you live near Atlanta.

So gravel around here is mostly a trend. Lots guys on gravel bikes are on them because they're popular and work fine for regular road riding. Couple/few times a year they can gear up for a race or rally and the bike really shines but otherwise it's mostly just a fat-tire road bike. 10 years ago they'd have been on fixed gears instead.

Somewhere like Colorado or Iowa where there's gravel or dirt all over and it's a different story I suspect.

[-holiday76]

i live in the middle of a major metropolis (in between NYC and Philly) and i have n trouble finding gravel. Granted, I live 1/4 mile away from a 60 mile canal path of gravel, there are other resources. For example, there is a map that shows all the gravel roads in Pennsylvania out there.

Shouldnt you be close enough to the d2r2 routes?

Anyway, look hard enough and you'll find what you seek.

[Mzilliox]

part of the allure of gravel is exactly this, finding new routes. google earth is your friend

[jfranci3]

https://gravelmap.com/

[Mark McM]

Isn't this why many bikes are described as "all-road" bikes (because many rides are actually a mix of pavement and gravel/dirt)? It would seem oddly specific if a bike was built for gravel and only gravel.

[XXtwindad]

Why would the bike industry market something that you don't actually need? :)
There's actually quite a bit of "gravel" near where I live. It's just called "dirt." I think a disc brake bike with fatter tires and a larger cassette comes in quite handy there.

Having just read the inaugural issue of Cyclist Magazine's "gravel" publication, your subtext about marketing is pretty spot on. The whole issue seemed to be sponsored by Rapha and Grinduro. The few actual bikepackers I know don't wear Rapha. And they definitely don't eat prosciutto and locally produced cheeses on their camping trips.

[p nut]

If I drive out further from civilization, I can get all the dirt/gravel I want. But for typical rides, I am at 80% road and 20% dirt on the average. Good thing is, you can ride gravel bikes on asphalt just fine.

[kppolich]

all this talk of gravel, gravel grinding and gravel bikes leaves me to wonder where all the gravel is. I'm sure the more rural you get the more gravel roads you will find but for those of us living in or near major metropolitan areas where are we finding these roads? I live in central Massachusetts and while there are a decent amount of dirt roads i can access from my house none of them are long enough or continuous enough to warrant a dedicated bike. even when i do encounter some dirt its usually more than manageable with 25c tires. Are folks putting their bikes on racks and driving to the country? I guess in short what i am saying is that the amount of gravel talk and gravel bikes i see online seem to be completely disproportionate to the amount of gravel roads i see in life. Is it regional? what am i missing?

https://gravelmap.com/#@38,-97,11,hybrid

[berserk87]

Road cycling: I can leave from my front door and go for a good couple of hours, or more. To get into the boonies takes less than 5 minutes for me. Zero downtime other than loading bottles and putting on my kit.

Gravel cycling: I can leave from my front door and take an hour to get to the nearest gravel road. So to make it worthwhile, I would have to commit to a three or four hour ride, mixing about half pavement and half gravel.

Or I can pack up and drive 30 minutes and park someplace, and then ride on gravel. That adds more than an hour of non-riding time to my commitment, between packing my stuff, loading the car and driving.

This is one reason that I don't have a gravel road bike. I don't want to take the time messing around with driving to a ride anymore.

[prototoast]

I live in the SF Bay Area, and on some level, we're lucky here because there are a lot of open spaces around here, but there are also a lot of limitations. It's not like I can ride out my door and do a 60 mile loop on various levels of "gravel". Generally, my gravel riding falls into two buckets:

I live near Mt Diablo, which has a lot of fire roads that are bike legal. Unfortunately these are often incredibly steep, and rutted with ossified hoof prints from when the grazing cattle pass through during mud season. It's basically Paris Roubaix up a 25% grade.

If I want really good "gravel" stretches, usually these are relatively minor segments in a long ride down in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This might end up being an 80-ish mile ride total, of which there are a handful of dirt segments of between 2 and 10 miles. A good ride might be 25% dirt, but 10% is probably more common. Sometimes I take my road bike, sometimes I take my gravel bike. Each has tradeoffs, in particular between how quickly I get to the dirt stuff, and how quickly I want to traverse the dirt stuff.

When I used to live closer to the bay, there were a lot of gravel trails along the water where I could play around after work, but this was more like riding around a park than actually traversing a route.

So I have a gravel bike to open up new options, because there aren't enough roads to ride over here. I wish I had the luxury of New England roads, both paved and dirt, to string together more exciting rides--certainly you live close enough to D2R2 that you could borrow a lot of its routes and segments if you're looking for dirt. That dirt is generally going to be much friendlier than the stuff we have out here, and sure you can ride most of it on your road bike, but that doesn't mean that it might not be more fun with some bigger tires.

[happycampyer]

https://gravelmap.com/That’s the map I use. Bing maps also show unpaved roads/sections, but gravelmap is much better visually.


Isn't this why many bikes are described as "all-road" bikes (because many rides are actually a mix of pavement and gravel/dirt)? It would seem oddly specific if a bike was built for gravel and only gravel.Be careful what you ask for! Like the fractionalization of the mtb market (XC, downhill, etc.), pretty soon you’ll have dirt-road, gravel-road (fine gravel, coarse gravel), and potholed-road specific bikes!

[-holiday76]

In June of this year a few buddies of mine left my house and did a gravel tour for 4 days, ending in...guess where? NYC.

That's my story.

[DRZRM]

I moved to central PA a few years back, and there are hundreds of miles of dirt out my door. Getting full use of my gravel bike. Wish gravelmap was an app. I use the MTB Project and Trailforks apps all the time. Waiting on a custom ti gravel frame that will take much bigger 650B tires for days that include double-track and easy XC trails to compliment my Parlee Chebacco which shines on harder faster dirt roads.

[blindwilly]

just to be clear i don't mean to knock the idea of gravel riding or gravel bikes. just making an observation and looking for some insight into the who, what, when, where, why, and hows of gravel riding.

[mhespenheide]

I prefer the terminology of "road-plus" because I'm semantically picky.

But on to the more important question, I first picked up a cyclocross bike about 8 years ago because there were two spur roads up into the hills near where I was living that I could ride, connect with 15-20 minutes of rough dirt road, and turn the whole ride into a loop. So, for that ride, 90% pavement 10% dirt. I suspect that most people are riding things like that, with a minority or riders having good access to dirt and gravel close enough to their front door to ride most of the time.

When I lived in Seattle, I would take a "gravel" bike with me when I left the city for the weekend and ride some of the massive network of forest service roads in the foothills of the Cascades.

Now that I've moved north of Santa Barbara, it's similar: if I want to do a real gravel ride with a majority of time on dirt/gravel, I need to drive to the start. So I'm back to riding a road bike with 32's and enjoying short segments of dirt.

[enr1co]

it's mostly just a fat-tire road bike

"gravel' = yesteday's marketing schtick.
"adventure", "expedtion"= latest marketing schtick.

[chiasticon]

Is it regional?YES. take a look at Michigan versus Indiana and Western Ohio (give it a minute to load all the segments): https://gravelmap.com/#@42.62587713998604,-82.30189024272931,7,hybrid

I live in the Akron/Cleveland area and we don't have a ton of dirt/gravel (other than a 100+ mile limestone canal path). but if I go an hour East or Southwest, there's a whole lot of it. enough that there are gravel races in these regions. but I don't see much of these roads because I prefer just riding out of my front door.

still, I think an all-road bike is a great thing, given the infrastructure that's literally crumbling around us. and it encourages you to just have fun, explore new roads, ride places you would otherwise never consider (doesn't just have to to be a gravel/dirt road).

[jtbadge]

When I lived in Kansas, once you hit the edge of town, hundreds and hundreds of miles of gravel roads going every direction. Big chunky stuff with endless rolling hills.

[dsimon]

If you have to ask you obviously cant afford it......................:bike:

[FlashUNC]

Komoot is pretty great to linking routes together too.

[beeatnik]

When I lived in Kansas, once you hit the edge of town, hundreds and hundreds of miles of gravel roads going every direction. Big chunky stuff with endless rolling hills.

Spaces Ride always includes at least 100 yards of gravel. When that increases to 150, I'll get an Opens 6fiddy with tractor tires!

[Cornfed]

Gravel biking was born in the Midwest, where gravel roads often make up the majority of the public road system. My home state of Iowa, for example, has ~40K miles of paved roads and ~70K miles of gravel roads. When I showed up at college in Ames with my Schwinn High Sierra all my buddies thought I was crazy -- a mountain bike in the middle of the plains -- but then I started riding the farm roads (the B roads), and riding them year round, and by the next year every one of them had a mountain bike. Fun times.

[jtbadge]

Spaces Ride always includes at least 100 yards of gravel. When that increases to 150, I'll get an Opens 6fiddy with tractor tires!

How else are you going to #rideEverything ?

[Clean39T]

Sittin' in the kitchen, a house in Ojai
Bon Iver's singing on the radio
Smell of coffee, veg and tofu
Bike wheels on a gravel road

[tomato coupe]

I'm sure the more rural you get the more gravel roads you will find but for those of us living in or near major metropolitan areas where are we finding these roads?

Are folks putting their bikes on racks and driving to the country? I guess in short what i am saying is that the amount of gravel talk and gravel bikes i see online seem to be completely disproportionate to the amount of gravel roads i see in life. Is it regional? what am i missing?

Someone asked a similar question, just the other day ...

"I'm sure the more mountainous you get the more singletrack you will find but for those of us living in or near major metropolitan areas where are we finding these trails?

Are folks putting their mountain bikes on racks and driving to the mountains? I guess in short what i am saying is that the amount of singletrack talk and mountain bikes i see online seem to be completely disproportionate to the amount of singletrack i see in life. Is it regional? what am i missing?"

[blindwilly]

someone asked a similar question, just the other day ...

"i'm sure the more mountainous you get the more singletrack you will find but for those of us living in or near major metropolitan areas where are we finding these trails?

Are folks putting their mountain bikes on racks and driving to the mountains? I guess in short what i am saying is that the amount of singletrack talk and mountain bikes i see online seem to be completely disproportionate to the amount of singletrack i see in life. Is it regional? What am i missing?"

nice one

[EricChanning]

Loudoun Country, Virginia is worth the drive from DC to enjoy the gravel roads there. It has become a local destination for folks living in and around the DC area and while the roads could be experienced carefully on a road bike with 25mm/28mm tires, a proper gravel bike provides a much better experience.

The ability to escape car traffic and take in terrific scenery on 300+ gravel roads that climb, descend twist and turn has motivated folks to buy a gravel bike and be perfectly fine with the drive to get there.

For those who have become hooked, it hasn't replaced road cycling in the area but it has become a once or twice a month addition to overall experience of riding locally.

When we want longer, steeper climbs and tad more of a remote experience, we drive about an hour and a half west into West Virginia.

[OldCrank]

D2R2 just went by... never done it myself, but some parts sound pretty bumpy.
And climbing OH the climbing! Some parts of that may be suitable.

Anyhoo, I'm in North - Eastern Mass, and there's an 11-mile railtrail 6 miles away, in Danvers. It's been raked / rolled / smoothed lately, and that has actually made it kind of boringly easy. Still a nice low-key cruise.

Otherwise I gravitate to not-very-technical trails in state forests.

On 38mm MTBs. On my `cross bike.

[Clean39T]

Drive to play is looking more and more like my future regardless road, MTB, or grevil.

Good think I got a plug-in hybrid :|

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[CMiller]

Gravel's a bad name for bikes that are, on the whole, way better suited for the road riding everywhere I've lived than traditional road race bikes. Long live the trend! (By whatever name they pick next).

[GregL]

I make the point to exclude very smooth, multi-use trails from gravel/dirt road discussions. The Erie Canal trail here in CNY and the carriage roads in Acadia National Park are smoother than some of the paved roads I ride...

Gravel/dirt roads are definitely a regional thing. To me, gravel/dirt roads are either currently used by or were formerly used by cars. From my home in CNY, I have to ride an hour or more to get to dirt roads greater than a mile or two in length. It's another story altogether at the family camp on Great Sacandaga Lake. I only have to ride a mile or two from the camp before hitting roads with miles of gravel/dirt as well as some longer climbs. I built up my gravel bike with those roads in mind. The gravel bike rides just fine on pavement, but it really shines once the road surface becomes loose and lumpy.

Greg

[SeanScott]

Speaking of gravel, does anyone else avoid gravel when riging on a road to go ride gravel? I do and it cracks me up. I'm riding along and am like "oh no, gravel and dirt, must avoid!"

[Clean39T]

Speaking of gravel, does anyone else avoid gravel when riging on a road to go ride gravel? I do and it cracks me up. I'm riding along and am like "oh no, gravel and dirt, must avoid!"#cat3memes

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[weiwentg]

Loudoun Country, Virginia is worth the drive from DC to enjoy the gravel roads there. It has become a local destination for folks living in and around the DC area and while the roads could be experienced carefully on a road bike with 25mm/28mm tires, a proper gravel bike provides a much better experience.

The ability to escape car traffic and take in terrific scenery on 300+ gravel roads that climb, descend twist and turn has motivated folks to buy a gravel bike and be perfectly fine with the drive to get there.

...

To my knowledge, things are a bit like this for Minneapolis/St. Paul. A lot of the proper gravel requires a 30-90 minute drive from the city. I can ride to the Luce Line, but it's more a dirt road for the first stretch. I'd have to ride maybe 2-3 hours one way before it's impassable on my road bike with 25s/28s. There are some MTB trails in the cities proper that are fine for gravel bikes, e.g. the River Bottoms (https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/6126495/minnesota-river-bottoms-lyndale-ave-to-bloomington-ferry-rd).

So, back to the original question. If you are in a large city proper or in its first ring suburbs, then maybe you'll usually need to drive some distance to get real gravel. Exceptions exist. It depends on how big a city we're talking about.

Oh, and a lot of dirt roads are definitely passable on most modern road bikes. Heck, if anyone's heard of the Cone Azalia road race in southeast Michigan - I did that in 2003 on my aluminum Giant TCR with 23c tires. A lot of the dirt road training rides that the Ann Arbor Velo Club did (I assume still do) on CX bikes to prep for CX season are completely fine on many modern road bikes. And yep, I did one of them on my TCR, although I wound up washing out and going over the bars (low speed). So if you count dirt roads as gravel, then the travel time goes down. I'm excluding them from my answer.

[XXtwindad]

Gravel's a bad name for bikes that are, on the whole, way better suited for the road riding everywhere I've lived than traditional road race bikes. Long live the trend! (By whatever name they pick next).

Yes.

[alessandro]

Sittin' in the kitchen, a house in Ojai
Bon Iver's singing on the radio
Smell of coffee, veg and tofu
Bike wheels on a gravel road

:beer:for the Lucinda Williams takeoff:hello:

[benb]

Here in Massachusetts I've noticed Seven likes to call it "Mixed Terrain" instead of "Gravel".

Gravel bikes or "Mixed Terrain" bikes work great on easier MTB trails where a bike with 25c tires will have trouble. When you add those into the mix you can build "Mixed terrain rides" that string together trails, dirt roads, and paved roads into really great rides that road bikes would not be fun on.

It's definitely not the same thing here as the midwest/west or something where gravel is marketed as this thing where you can go out and ride your bike 100 miles on public gravel roads without seeing any pavement or forest.

[2metalhips]

Mountain bike is the accepted term for that style of riding though very few actually are ridden in the mountains. Gravel bike is also the accepted term. Get over it and ride, yeesh.

[Andy sti]

I can be on gravel within 3-5 miles of my house. I can also be on single track that soon. 63 mile MTB ride Saturday with 50+ miles of single track all from my house. I can be nordic skiing on 50km of trails after a 25 min drive and another 55km of trails just a further 10 min up the road. I can be downhill skiing after a 30 min drive.

Not bragging or anything...:banana:

[Mzilliox]

i reread the initial post. most people with gravel bikes dont need a gravel bike or even fat tires for what they are doing. theyd be fine with a bike that clears a good 28 or 30. they just have it anyway. like most people dont need an suv for their 4 person family, a wagon would be so much better for the job, but well, its available and loan rates are just so good right now and somehow fuel prices remain constant.

i have been spouting long and hard about 700cc 40mm tires. i find them awful. i find i can do 98 percent of what a 40 can do with 33s. some people cant, and thats ok, they get dedicated gravel bikes with the fattest tires one can ride without floating away.

would you say your little dirt roads would be better ridden with 33s? could you go faster or climb easier? i was able to ride some of the dirt around me on 25s and 28s, but most i couldnt. Its not that 25mm tires cant ride on dirt or gravel from a durability perspective, its traction i was missing. trust me, you cant ride up my roads on your 25s. you just cant.
33 knobbies or 35 file treads get me up those bits. 38 might go up even easier, but it turds on the pavement, and i dont ride slow on pavement. anything more hectic than what i can do on my 33-35s and id probably want a mtn bike.

now get off my lawn

[Seramount]

they're putting new chip-seal on my most commonly used in-town route, so I can find lots of loose, deep gravel pretty easily at the moment...

it blows hard.

[makoti]

Loudoun Country, Virginia is worth the drive from DC to enjoy the gravel roads there. It has become a local destination for folks living in and around the DC area and while the roads could be experienced carefully on a road bike with 25mm/28mm tires, a proper gravel bike provides a much better experience.

The ability to escape car traffic and take in terrific scenery on 300+ gravel roads that climb, descend twist and turn has motivated folks to buy a gravel bike and be perfectly fine with the drive to get there.

For those who have become hooked, it hasn't replaced road cycling in the area but it has become a once or twice a month addition to overall experience of riding locally.

When we want longer, steeper climbs and tad more of a remote experience, we drive about an hour and a half west into West Virginia.

I ride out there all the time (well, often). The paved roads are great, and I'd think there are a lot of gravel/dirt roads out there, but I look at the gravel site in this thread & it didn't look like that much to me. A lot of short segments & one 30 mile almost loop. Are there a lot of other connected roads? The idea of doing 15 miles of pavement to hop off on a 2 mile bit of dirt seems crazy, to me.

[theboucher]

It’s more of a state of mind.

[adhumston]

Being in central Nebeaska, gravel is virtually all i ride. I've used everything ftom 23c on a Trek Madone (when it was my only bike), to the 29x3.0 that are on my Salsa Deadwood.

While I certainly appreciate the advancenents the industry has provided the gravel riders, i often times find myself shaking my head as well. "I can't ride gravel with you, i dont have a gravel bike"...

Gravel riding may be the only thing i can say i was doing before it was considered cool!

[HTupolev]

i reread the initial post. most people with gravel bikes dont need a gravel bike or even fat tires for what they are doing. theyd be fine with a bike that clears a good 28 or 30. they just have it anyway. like most people dont need an suv for their 4 person family, a wagon would be so much better for the job, but well, its available and loan rates are just so good right now and somehow fuel prices remain constant.

i have been spouting long and hard about 700cc 40mm tires. i find them awful. i find i can do 98 percent of what a 40 can do with 33s. some people cant, and thats ok, they get dedicated gravel bikes with the fattest tires one can ride without floating away.

would you say your little dirt roads would be better ridden with 33s? could you go faster or climb easier? i was able to ride some of the dirt around me on 25s and 28s, but most i couldnt. Its not that 25mm tires cant ride on dirt or gravel from a durability perspective, its traction i was missing. trust me, you cant ride up my roads on your 25s. you just cant.
33 knobbies or 35 file treads get me up those bits. 38 might go up even easier, but it turds on the pavement, and i dont ride slow on pavement. anything more hectic than what i can do on my 33-35s and id probably want a mtn bike.

now get off my lawn
Nothing to do with lawns. Gravel varies. We've got hardpack that's smooth as glass, and we've also got roads made out of 2"+ rocks.

In the last month I've seen multiple friends' wheels get destroyed by impacts on our gravel roads. Last fall, one friend got four flats in as many miles when he tried to use supple 33mm cottons on our rough double-track roads. One of my friends tries to avoid skinny-tire-related issues by running ~35mm Marathon Plus Tours pumped stiff; it works, but their weight and rolling resistance is tremendous, and the ride quality poor.

On my 2.1" Rat Trap Pass ELs, I've never damaged a rim and I've never had to to stop on gravel to fix a flat. At a little over 400g they're not particularly heavy, and thanks to the width and suppleness, even at gravel riding pressures they're reasonably firm and fast on pavement. Certainly a lot faster than those 35mm Marathon Plus Tours!

As for wanting an MTB for anything that 33s can't handle, that makes little sense to me. Roads can be very rough without being particularly technical.

[MrCannonCam]

all this talk of gravel, gravel grinding and gravel bikes leaves me to wonder where all the gravel is. I'm sure the more rural you get the more gravel roads you will find but for those of us living in or near major metropolitan areas where are we finding these roads? I live in central Massachusetts and while there are a decent amount of dirt roads i can access from my house none of them are long enough or continuous enough to warrant a dedicated bike. even when i do encounter some dirt its usually more than manageable with 25c tires. Are folks putting their bikes on racks and driving to the country? I guess in short what i am saying is that the amount of gravel talk and gravel bikes i see online seem to be completely disproportionate to the amount of gravel roads i see in life. Is it regional? what am i missing?

I'm 45 min out of NYC and there's lots of gravel here. Even closer to the city there's lots of options. Between gravel roads and "rail trails" I can do 50-60 mile loops on 75% gravel/crushed stone. If I drive to my parents place in PA I could ride for hours exclusively on dirt and jeep tracks. My Slate is $$$ for the conditions here. I could get away with 33-35's on the dirt roads but the crushed stone stuff gets rowdy and my 650x42's are a life saver on that kind of stuff.

When I lived in Asheville NC I could ride all day on just gravel, Bent Creek was a haven for all kinds of gravel riding. Most of the riding I did there on my Slate I was super happy I owned a Slate. There were some big, rocky gravel downhills (like 40+mph gravel downhills) and the set up with the fork was great. Also made riding the beginner single track a blast. Here's a video I made last year of a ride in Bent Creek. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouELNiaF98Y

When I lived in Salt Lake City it was the same deal. Lots of gravel options, had to drive a little to get to a lot of it but was still pretty accessible (tons out of Park City a short drive away). Most of the stuff I rode there I could get away with just a proper cyclocross bike

[pbarry]

just to be clear i don't mean to knock the idea of gravel riding or gravel bikes. just making an observation and looking for some insight into the who, what, when, where, why, and hows of gravel riding.


Looks smooth enuf for a road bike, just pay attention to your lines through chunky/rock stuff. But, as others have said, and maybe you might not appreciate, is that you are close to the D2R2 routes! Yes, you might have to drive be a little for a start point if your fitness is mediocre, and it will be worth it, trust me.

[merlinmurph]

Legitimate question by the OP.

Locally, my gravel riding is almost all singletrack, i.e. stuff that would be kinda easy on an mtb, but is fun on a gravel bike. There are very few, if any, maintained dirt roads. For that reason, I use fatter 40mm tires that handle the roots and rocks that are on the trails. Plus, I'm old and like the cush. I hit the trails regularly when it gets colder.

Now, when we travel to NH and VT, the options open up and you can a good mixed terrain ride in with all the dirt roads. This summer we spent time in Franconia NH and Morrisville VT where there is a good amount of dirt. And a trip to western MA is always good.

[weisan]

https://gravelmap.com/

This is the most helpful thing that came out of this thread, thank you OP.

Looking at the map, it confirms some of the gravel routes that I already know but there's quite a few that I am not aware of, and planning on checking them out, maybe later when the weather turns cooler.

Right now, on average, I have to drive an hour or 1.5 hrs to get to nice gravel routes. It''s a bit of a hassle and time suck, but I don't mind, it's worth it.

some people like to camp overnight outside Walmart before Black Friday, others like to spend 6 hrs on the side of the road along the route waiting for the peloton to blow by in 10 seconds....I guess we all have different perspective on how best to use our time and to do what....:p

Did this route with my pals a while ago, it's absolutely gorgeous.

https://vimeo.com/334322591

[Rekalcitrant]

I used to have the same question as the OP. Even living in a relatively small city (Syracuse) riding on gravel means making a point of seeking it out. Mostly I can’t be bothered; I’d rather ride faster and smoother on roads that are really not very busy anyway. And I am someone who takes our local gravel races seriously, does BlackFly every year, etc. But then I spent a month in Santa Fe, NM. Totally different story. 38mm gravel tires opened up a world of new stuff to do, got me up into the hills and out into the desert, and it meant that when the road unexpectedly turned to dirt I didn’t need to turn around. Worst case scenario the big tires smoothed out a lot of crappy asphalt.

[pbarry]

Map shows a tiny fraction of what’s in my area. I figure it’s dependent on user interface?

[Vientomas]

A few dirt roads nearby...

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd492626.pdf

[Tandem Rider]

I can be on gravel within 3-5 miles of my house. I can also be on single track that soon. 63 mile MTB ride Saturday with 50+ miles of single track all from my house. I can be nordic skiing on 50km of trails after a 25 min drive and another 55km of trails just a further 10 min up the road. I can be downhill skiing after a 30 min drive.

Not bragging or anything...:banana:

Shhh....;)

[Likes2ridefar]

I can be on gravel within five minutes of where I live in downtown Scottsdale, az. and do a century ride from that point and almost never touch payment...it is mostly the smoothest dirt and gravel you could ask for.

I think I could probably ride across most of arizona just on dirt or gravel, leaving from Phoenix. there are thousands of miles of gravel from the aforementioned smooth to full suspension mtb would be nice type roads. The longest remote ride I did this year was a loop of 65 miles all on gravel. Took 6 hours and had a nice one hour plus climb mixed in near Sedona.

[mudman]

I live on the tour of the battenkill route, so I have plenty of dirt roads to enjoy. I’m still riding 23s though, seriously out of the loop on the wider tire trend of the last few years. Any one have any photos of gravel bikes, how are they different from cyclocross? Sorry for the ignorance.

[commonguy001]

I’m on the edge of the Gifford Pinchot national forest and have nearly unlimited route options on national forest roads as long as you don’t mind lots of climbing. My paved options from home have no shoulder and it’s actually easier to get to good unpaved routes than it is paved unless you want to drive.

[mhespenheide]

A few dirt roads nearby...

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd492626.pdf

For CdA? Yeah, I believe it. My in-laws in are Spokane, and I'm dying to get up there with the right bike during the right time of year.

[Clean39T]

I’m on the edge of the Gifford Pinchot national forest and have nearly unlimited route options on national forest roads as long as you don’t mind lots of climbing. My paved options from home have no shoulder and it’s actually easier to get to good unpaved routes than it is paved unless you want to drive.Whereabouts?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[commonguy001]

Whereabouts?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Just east of Battle Ground (considered BG but not in town), my way out of the valley takes me to the Silver Star area and cold creek trail heads. I’m new to the PNW so still figuring it all out but it’s coming.

[Mzilliox]

Nothing to do with lawns. Gravel varies. We've got hardpack that's smooth as glass, and we've also got roads made out of 2"+ rocks.

In the last month I've seen multiple friends' wheels get destroyed by impacts on our gravel roads. Last fall, one friend got four flats in as many miles when he tried to use supple 33mm cottons on our rough double-track roads. One of my friends tries to avoid skinny-tire-related issues by running ~35mm Marathon Plus Tours pumped stiff; it works, but their weight and rolling resistance is tremendous, and the ride quality poor.

On my 2.1" Rat Trap Pass ELs, I've never damaged a rim and I've never had to to stop on gravel to fix a flat. At a little over 400g they're not particularly heavy, and thanks to the width and suppleness, even at gravel riding pressures they're reasonably firm and fast on pavement. Certainly a lot faster than those 35mm Marathon Plus Tours!

As for wanting an MTB for anything that 33s can't handle, that makes little sense to me. Roads can be very rough without being particularly technical.

I am sure this is true, Im glad i dont need such fat tires on my roads. id like to try your roads some time, sounds weird riding on chunks, do you ever fall on em?. Surely situations like your roads are not common, and the OP was talking about how common these bikes are becoming overall.

[benb]

i reread the initial post. most people with gravel bikes dont need a gravel bike or even fat tires for what they are doing. theyd be fine with a bike that clears a good 28 or 30. they just have it anyway. like most people dont need an suv for their 4 person family, a wagon would be so much better for the job, but well, its available and loan rates are just so good right now and somehow fuel prices remain constant.

i have been spouting long and hard about 700cc 40mm tires. i find them awful. i find i can do 98 percent of what a 40 can do with 33s. some people cant, and thats ok, they get dedicated gravel bikes with the fattest tires one can ride without floating away.

would you say your little dirt roads would be better ridden with 33s? could you go faster or climb easier? i was able to ride some of the dirt around me on 25s and 28s, but most i couldnt. Its not that 25mm tires cant ride on dirt or gravel from a durability perspective, its traction i was missing. trust me, you cant ride up my roads on your 25s. you just cant.
33 knobbies or 35 file treads get me up those bits. 38 might go up even easier, but it turds on the pavement, and i dont ride slow on pavement. anything more hectic than what i can do on my 33-35s and id probably want a mtn bike.

now get off my lawn

Lots of truth here. I don't know where I think the sweet spot is. I need to try a really good 35.

I ran 38s for a couple years. They definitely feel slow on pavement, and I had some fast/racy 38s.

I have 32s on that bike now. It's way better on the road, it feels like it gives up very little vs a 25 or a 28 and it is a lot better than a 25 or a 28 on dirt/gravel.

But if the dirt gets loose or sandy the 32 really is vastly inferior to the 38. Hard to say. I have a couple trails I ride that would count as "gravel" in a lot of these discussions. The trail condition is variable depending on weather. If it's hard packed and dry the 32 is the better tire. If it gets loose the 32 gets real slow and requires technical skill in places to not crash. The 38 will be much better when it gets loose. But in the situation where the 38 is better, a mountain bike will be quite a bit better still.

A lot of our "mixed terrain" group rides here get really weird. There will be long sections of pavement followed by stuff where a F/S MTB is the right solution.

[Ed-B]

We have mixed surfaces here on the coast of Maine in the greater Portland area. There are some dirt roads 10 miles or so to the North and West that we can get to from our doorsteps. But there are a lot of multi use paths and trails nearby. And yes, we have some of those "sexy cottage roads" here, too. ;)

The industry has really latched onto gravel as a new market segment, and is clearly differentiating this from the most recent definition of traditional road riding, but the reality for many if not most people is that we should be riding all-road bikes. The bike companies seem to be going after this segment now, too.

I think you really need to think about where you're actually going to ride your bike and choose the one that best fits that terrain. I need something that can handle dirt but still be fast on pavement.

For me, in my region, a good, fast 650B converted racing or sport touring bike can fill that need pretty well. That's why I picked up on 650B conversions years ago. Many of the older steel rim brake bikes will fit a 38mm 650B tire, and I had a few of these bikes. They're like a gateway drug - ride them and you might get hooked and want to go for the straight dope; a full-on randonneur or a modern high tech gravel bike. Or maybe some other kind of high-end lightweight 650B endurance bike.

The newer disc brake frames that will fit 650B wheels and 42mm slicks like a Panaracer Pari-Moto or Gravelking are great. It's relatively easy to find factory 27.5/650B wheels that will drop right into these bikes. With these wheels and tires the bike will handle paths and dirt roads while still being fast on the pavement. These bikes open up all kinds of new routes through areas that would be difficult to ride on narrow tires.

[Mark McM]

https://gravelmap.com/

gravelmap.com shows very little gravel roads here in Boston Metro West area. I'm actually aware of quite a bit more gravel/dirt roads than are shown on the map. I suspect that lack mileage shown on the map for this area indicates either that this tool isn't widely used by riders around here, or that gravel road riding isn't as popular here as it is elsewhere (or maybe both).

[sparky33]

Gravel is a huge tent. I like the variety from buff to rough and choose the equipment accordingly.

Here in Massachusetts....
Gravel bikes or "Mixed Terrain" bikes work great on easier MTB trails where a bike with 25c tires will have trouble. When you add those into the mix you can build "Mixed terrain rides" that string together trails, dirt roads, and paved roads into really great rides that road bikes would not be fun on.
Absolutely, it's a hodge podge mostly in eastern MA.
Though driving a ways gets to long stretches of terrific dirt roads in VT/D2R2land.

It’s more of a state of mind.
Ride everything. Find adventure in your own neighborhood.

[Ed-B]

Absolutely, ride everything, it's not just gravel. "Just go out and ride bikes."

In 2015 when Cannondale announced the Slate, they had a video that captured what I find to be the spirit of mixed surface riding fun. It was all marketing, a little hokey, and there were a few mistakes on the specs and math of the wheels. But they had it.

In the following years the Slate range has gone more hardcore gravel, with knobby tires and 1x drivetrains only. I also think the Road Bike Action guys panned the bike because they foolishly tried to shred gravel turns on the slicks. And subsequent gravel victories at Kanza cemented the positioning of the Slate solely as a gravel bike. But those white prototype Slates were real mixed surface race bikes, and unfortunately I think they lost the plot.

But this video is still entertaining for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMg3Rtj_ouU&t=62s

[BikeNY]

It all depends on your priorities! I live about 45 minutes north of NYC in the 'burbs, and I have no problem finding dirt to ride. Over the years my 'road' riding(which used to be 100% pavement) has migrated to more and more dirt and gravel. I've initially made the change mostly to limit my exposure to vehicular traffic, as it's just gotten more and more dangerous around here. I actively seek out rail trails, dirt roads, back roads, anything with no or less car traffic is good with me. I now find riding these dirt and gravel roads so much more relaxing and fun and with much better scenery! My latest 'Allroad' bike sports 650b x 60 tires, and it's my favorite by far!

It does take a bit of work to find the gravel/dirt and put a loop together, but that's part of the fun!

[verticaldoug]

I have a dogma K in London. With 28s, I ride all over- cobbles, gravel and dirt paths. On dry days, I even hit some of the trails in Surrey around Peaslake/Holmsbury. The MTB guys give me a funny look, I tell them they are overbiked. (Mud is another matter though.)

In New England area, I've ridden a lot of stuff on my old Ottrot with conti 25s.
Gravelmap is the best for scoping out roads.

As long as the roads are not freshly graded , I am generally okay unless it is Vermont where the gravel seems to be a fine sand, clay mixture when wet liked to fill up the fork and act like a brake.

[EricChanning]

I ride out there all the time (well, often). The paved roads are great, and I'd think there are a lot of gravel/dirt roads out there, but I look at the gravel site in this thread & it didn't look like that much to me. A lot of short segments & one 30 mile almost loop. Are there a lot of other connected roads? The idea of doing 15 miles of pavement to hop off on a 2 mile bit of dirt seems crazy, to me.

There are a mix of short and long gravel segments in the Loudoun County area and the best approach is to create a loop that takes as many of the segments as possible. 30 to 50 mile loops are possible with long stretches of gravel. The best loops usually contain less than 20% paved surfaces throughout the ride however, the paved parts can be a nice break on occasion. The key is to focus on areas around Middleburg, Bluemont and Unison.

The routes may look a bit crazy from the top down with some zig zagging and figure 8 style routes.

Message me and I'll send you some links to loops via ridewithGPS. There's more than enough solid gravel riding within a 3 to 4 hour of ride to merit taking a gravel bike over a road bike.

[EricChanning]

So, back to the original question. If you are in a large city proper or in its first ring suburbs, then maybe you'll usually need to drive some distance to get real gravel. Exceptions exist. It depends on how big a city we're talking about.
.

I forgot to mention the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath that ends in Washington, DC. Anyone with a gravel bike who lives in the district has probably taken the towpath at least once or should. It's crazy accessible and provides plenty of river views. 5 miles from my house.

[blindwilly]

I like this gravelmap.com. I'm relatively new to my area and it looks like there is more options than i realized. just need to cross the border into NH. i look forward to testing my limited tire clearance. thanks for all the insight

[Gummee]

Loudoun Country, Virginia is worth the drive from DC to enjoy the gravel roads there. It has become a local destination for folks living in and around the DC area and while the roads could be experienced carefully on a road bike with 25mm/28mm tires, a proper gravel bike provides a much better experience.

The ability to escape car traffic and take in terrific scenery on 300+ gravel roads that climb, descend twist and turn has motivated folks to buy a gravel bike and be perfectly fine with the drive to get there.

For those who have become hooked, it hasn't replaced road cycling in the area but it has become a once or twice a month addition to overall experience of riding locally.

When we want longer, steeper climbs and tad more of a remote experience, we drive about an hour and a half west into West Virginia.Wanna hear some good news? I can ride to those roads from home. ...makes for a long ride, tho.

If I drive out to The Plains or Haymarket the rides get a bit shorter.

There are 5 stretches of gravel near the house that I connect in various ways when I want anything from a quick fix to a 2hr ride.

...course, I used to ride the same roads outside Haymarket on 19c Vittorias (with little success BTW) 'back when too.' Fatter tires help with the punctures!

M

Edited to add: VDOT has a gravel road map on it's site somewhere. I changed OSes on the laptop and lost a bunch of bookmarks. If I can find it again, I'll post up.

[Gummee]

gravelmap.com shows very little gravel roads here in Boston Metro West area. I'm actually aware of quite a bit more gravel/dirt roads than are shown on the map. I suspect that lack mileage shown on the map for this area indicates either that this tool isn't widely used by riders around here, or that gravel road riding isn't as popular here as it is elsewhere (or maybe both).

I KNOW there are more gravel roads near me that aren't listed on that map.

...and I'm not adding them!

M

[dem]

https://gravelmap.com/

Finally got around to looking at this.. at least in the SF bay area, a solid 1/3 of the routes on this site are illegal for bicycles.

Have a care if you're using this site, depending on local conditions.

[HTupolev]

sounds weird riding on chunks, do you ever fall on em?.
Not very often, but it can happen. Moving slowly is a risk factor.

Most of the double-track roads aren't that bad, and even the really nasty ones aren't as obnoxious as higher-traffic heavily-washboarded stuff.

Surely situations like your roads are not common
It's a regional thing. Depends on the type of gravel roads in someone's area. Just because there's little rough gravel in your location doesn't mean there aren't places surrounded by it.

And rough stuff isn't the only place where huge clearances are useful. For instance, some gravel riders need lots of room between things on their bike because their regional mud clogs things in short order.