Quote Originally Posted by Lisa S.H. View Post
Yes, we often ride VERY rough gravel back roads here in the country. By rough I mean hard packed dirt with sharp gravel and rocks that range between 1/2" up to 2"...it can get pretty hairy. We also ride over some cow fields in the tractor ruts sometimes. I'd really be risking frequent flats by going thinner, I think.
In my experience skinnier tires don't give you more flats if properly inflated and with a flat resistant compound like kevlar, TG, etc., but they do present handling problems on rought surfaces. When I toured in Chiapis on packed dirt I used ones similar to your panaracter pasela TGs and they were fine. I have used paselas with and without TG and the TG ones definitely flat less. But, I also find all tires flat more when underinflated so be careful about that too. I actually have two wheelsets, one I keep 32s on for touring and one with 23s for faster riding on smooth pavement. Where you live you may want to keep a wheelset with your original tires for those very rough roads, and use your new tires for packed dirt and pavement. But you'll just have to see how it goes.