Same thing here. Lots of our formerly favorite roads are getting chip-seal this year.

Fatter tires and lower pressure will make your bike easier to handle on gravel. They won't save your paint and potentially your frame itself from being torn up. Nasty stuff. The fronts and undersides of our motorcycles are horribly pitted, pockmarked, scratched and scarred merely from our 1/2 mile gravel lane.