Quote Originally Posted by beccaB View Post
I've ridden in some parts of West Michigan and have found the road quality to be quite good in some locations. Is it because of the lake effect snow that keeps the ground insulated from freezing and thawing and much as it does in the middle of the state? Particularly Van Buren county. Smooth roads all the way on a 30 mile ride! Yay!
Perhaps...though there are some notoriously bad roads in some areas. My county (Muskegon) is pretty good, though most of the quiet back roads are chip-sealed, so that texture may make me wish my ride were full-carbon. The biggest issue is roads that are covered with a foot or more of snow. Last year our county ran out of plowing $$, so there was about a month toward the end of Winter when they plowed maybe 1x/week...not good when we had the 4th snowiest Winter on record. There were days when we had a tough time getting out of our neighborhood.

This mild weather gives me hope that we're being rewarded for putting up with Mother Nature the last few Winters.