gravel question...

[CNY rider]

Originally Posted by Hilltopperny

This starts less than a mile from my house.
This is down in the valley about a 6 mile ride from my house

I have plenty of other dirt/gravel roads that start about 4 miles north of my house as well. All of these roads and trails are barely used by cars/trucks and are pretty nice riding. All these routes incorporate some paved country roads as well that are low traffic.

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Much like Hilltopper....I can be on "gravel" by hanging a left out of my driveway and another left 1/10 mile after.
But I think of our roads as "dirt". They tend to be packed clay with some rocks. Quite different from some the pics above, which definitely look like "gravel" to me.

[commonguy001]

Originally Posted by HTupolev

Gravel - both where and what it is, depends extremely heavily on where you live.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, gravel riding is mostly NFS or DNR roads in the mountain foothills. Some of it is well-groomed hardpack, but much of it is rougher double-track, made from mostly-rocky aggregate that varies highly road to road.
The riding is not particularly technical, but the roughness encourages the use of fairly wide tires. Everyone I ride gravel with tends to use at least 40mm, unless their bike can't fit that big; my own gravel bike is a drop-bar conversion of an old 26er, and my tires currently measure 52mm. Since the aggregate is usually rocky and there's not a lot of mud, aggressive tread patterns aren't super important; my 52s are actually slicks, which helps them perform better and last longer when they're seeing a lot of pavement.
Since the gravel roads are in the mountains and built on the cheap, it's helpful to have very low gears. It's not uncommon for a road to average more than 12% for a kilometer at a time, and I know of one road with a two-mile stretch that averages 15%. As such, people usually gear their gravel bikes much lower than their paved road bikes. I'm usually happy on regional paved roads with a 34-28, but my gravel bike has a 24-32, and occasionally even that leaves me grinding uncomfortable cadences.

But, that's me and my gravel. If you don't have the Cascade mountains nearby, your gravel roads will look totally different. They may or may not even exist. What makes sense in a gravel bike may be very different, and whether a gravel bike makes sense may also be different.
Personally I don't ride gravel for the sake of gravel being gravel: rather, a gravel bike is useful for riding fun and beautiful low-traffic routes that happen to be unpaved.

I’m just copying this because it’s better than what I would have written. My G roads start just under four miles from my door but it’s a 1300 foot climb up a dead end road to get to them. I like the no traffic factor and that I can ride basically forever on them with minimal paved connectors and low gears are a must as mentioned. Pack some food and a water filter and you’ll be good for the day.

[joosttx]

plenty of gravel "roads" in Marin county. There is no need to drive and San Francisco is just over a bridge.

[unterhausen]

I have really nice gravel about a 5 mile ride away from my house. Unfortunately, I have to ride along Rte 322 to get there. Fortunately there is a really wide shoulder. Someone is threatening to put a bike path to Rothrock forest in the future. That would be great. When skateboarding was big, they decided that a skate park at Tussey mountain was where people should skateboard. It's nice, but it generally means a drive out there. They should have put a bike path in then.

There is another much closer way to get to gravel, but I'm not good enough at riding my gravel bike on rocky singletrack to make it be practical for me. Takes me about an hour to get to the gravel roads that way.

If I want to do any climbing on nicer roads, I have to ride across State College. It's not too bad, but that means a ride involving climbing is 50 miles. With gravel, I can climb two mountains on a 20 mile ride.

[sparky33]

yes, gravel riding is a thing that exists. it is fun.

[EricChanning]

In some areas, gravel roads are much safer to ride than busy roads with fast moving traffic. It might not be the case with you if you are in the boonies.

In DC, we have the C&O towpath leading right out of the city and it's one of the best ways to go for a winter evening/night ride without putting your life at risk.

We also have regions with plenty of gravel roads about an hour drive from inside our suburban beltway. Is it worth the drive. YES.

We often take to those roads in groups of about 20+ riders. It's great to ride with friends and not be dealing with constant car traffic. The scenery is spectacular. There's something very relaxing in the sound of gravel underneath your tires.

We still ride paved routes outside of our front door throughout the week during the spring and summer but on the weekends, we've become increasingly excited about gravel adventures for the different kind of experience it offers.

[oliver1850]

Here's a 102 mile route I mapped that starts on gravel at the city limits of Washington, IA and has less than two miles of pavement (according to IA DOT maps). It never goes outside of Washington county, but if it did it would probably be possible to greatly extend the route with no additional paved miles.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31618686

[Gummee]

Originally Posted by EricChanning

In some areas, gravel roads are much safer to ride than busy roads with fast moving traffic. It might not be the case with you if you are in the boonies.

In DC, we have the C&O towpath leading right out of the city and it's one of the best ways to go for a winter evening/night ride without putting your life at risk.

We also have regions with plenty of gravel roads about an hour drive from inside our suburban beltway. Is it worth the drive. YES.

We often take to those roads in groups of about 20+ riders. It's great to ride with friends and not be dealing with constant car traffic. The scenery is spectacular. There's something very relaxing in the sound of gravel underneath your tires.

We still ride paved routes outside of our front door throughout the week during the spring and summer but on the weekends, we've become increasingly excited about gravel adventures for the different kind of experience it offers.

Loudoun and Fauquier have a boatload of gravel roads. I can ride to them, but it makes for a long ride so I'll typically drive to The Plains and ride mostly gravel with a few tarmac connectors.

I have a buddy that rides from the rt 28 parking lot on the W&OD out past Leesburg and loops back. Lots of fun roads out there.

There are still a few gravel roads that are still thru roads here around Nokesville. They aren't spectacular, but they make for a fun little loop. Well.... figure 8 anyway.

Unfortunately the gravel roads around here are being paved. Lost one of my '4 gravel roads' loop roads recently.

AFA the 'why?' question... The answer to that question is the same as the one that led me to a BMW GS-Adv: Where's THAT road go?!

The difference? Gotta meter my efforts on the bicycle

M

[bikerambler]

Half mile from my home in southern New Hampshire, along the Rose Mountain Rumble route.

[EricChanning]

Originally Posted by Gummee

Loudoun and Fauquier have a boatload of gravel roads. I can ride to them, but it makes for a long ride so I'll typically drive to The Plains and ride mostly gravel with a few tarmac connectors.

I have a buddy that rides from the rt 28 parking lot on the W&OD out past Leesburg and loops back. Lots of fun roads out there.

There are still a few gravel roads that are still thru roads here around Nokesville. They aren't spectacular, but they make for a fun little loop. Well.... figure 8 anyway....


M

We start our rides in Middleburg, Purcelville, The Plains or Marshall. Both Loudoun and Fauquier offer some pretty sweet road and gravel riding.

When I first started road riding after years of riding MTB, part of the joy for me was not having to get in the car before and after a drive. The local group rides gave me what I wanted.

As I approached 50 and felt the pull back toward the adventure and community experiences, traveling to these areas with friends for a great ride became part of the experience.

Thinking back to the original question of this thread, the gravel craze is not about out of the door convenience. If you've done just about every rideworthy paved road in your neck of the woods and you long for something different, the gravel bike has you looking forward to experiencing roads that were mostly overlooked.

[PaMtbRider]

I don't have any gravel roads that I can ride on out of my house. 45 minutes away I can do a 100 mile ride with 85% of it on gravel. As others have said, to me it's not as much the road surface, but the scenery and lack of traffic.

[JStonebarger]

Gravel roads are everywhere here in Iowa, but pretty rare next door in Wisconsin (the result of the dairy trade, I'm told). That said, gravel riding is crazy popular in both states, as are destination gravel races.

[mhespenheide]

Just north of Santa Barbara, CA.

A couple short segments within riding distance, or one big climb on gravel/dirt that goes over the hills and descends utterly poor pavement down to the coast.

~45 minute drive south and east to a big network of forest service roads, or ~1:15 north to a collection of bad pavement and dirt NE of San Luis Obispo, or ~2.5 hours north to the southern tip of Big Sur and a world of gravel, dirt, and empty hills.

Some of those posted pictures from the Northeast are making me jealous, as nice as the riding is around here!

[Vientomas]

There are a few miles of dirt roads nearby. I'm on the edge of the National Forest. Loads of logging roads with moderate grades, very little traffic and nice scenery.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE...eprd492626.pdf

[fogrider]

Originally Posted by joosttx

plenty of gravel "roads" in Marin county. There is no need to drive and San Francisco is just over a bridge.

West Marin has some amazing hiking and biking trails, starting with the Headlands. The thing about "gravel bikes" is that you can ride it on the road to get to the trails...the point is that bigger tires can go on almost anything!