If they must chip seal the road...

[yellow]

Ask your friendly road department to leave you a little strip to ride on:



I just got lucky. I think what happened was that they put the oil down on most of the road, put the chips down, and then came back through a swept (it's a scenic byway in Idaho and gets tourist traffic...must keep the tourists happy). For most of the way (through the chip seal section, which really wasn't that long) I had a strip of about 8 to 12 inches to ride on.

[csr1210]

How fortunate! I have one or two roads that would definitely improve! As is is, I wander around the lane to spots that look slightly smoother due to wear, but I think it is more of a mirage, and I never really find a smoother spot!

Christy

ETA: Pretty area!

[Tri Girl]

Yes, gorgeous scenery!!! What a lucky find to have that little path to ride on.

I loathe chip seal... but don't have much choice on the old country roads around here.
I think whoever thought of that should've have ridden a bike on it for 20 miles and when his "twigs and berries" were so shaken he surely would have changed his mind about the money savings being worth it. Ok, so I don't have 'twigs and berries" but I sure do shake loose my fillings and rattle my bones.

[Zen]

Miss Aurora is snickering at you We have no problem with chip sealed roads.

[sundial]

What a cute little strip of road. And it's all for you.

[Trekhawk]

Beautiful scenery!
Nice that you can ride it without your inners being shook out.
I wish we had a little less chip seal around here.

[denda]

Chip seal can really mess up a good road!

[Cataboo]

Miss Aurora is snickering at you We have no problem with chip sealed roads.

Miss Carbon & Miss Ti have no problems with vibrations on chipped sealed roads - however, they still go faster on smooth roads.

[KSH]

Isn't that where the line will be painted?

I have ridden that line a few times...balancing on it because it's the smoothest part of the road.

[zoom-zoom]

Yesterday I rode my fastest ride ever...at least 1mph faster than usual on hilly bits. 2-3mph faster on flats. Reason: no friggin' chip-seal! Asphalt is so nice. Where I live it's almost entirely chip-seal. Yesterday we did a group ride an hour away and their roads are GORGEOUS!

[Zen]

Miss Carbon & Miss Ti have no problems with vibrations on chipped sealed roads - however, they still go faster on smooth roads.

That's nice. If you're in a hurry to get somewhere.
But with a name like Zen that's not how I roll.

Especially if I was riding the road in the photograph on a day as beautiful as that.

[marni]

ah Texas home of the chip seal roads where I have watched DOT idiots chip seal over all the perfectly good asphalt roads around where I do all my distance riding. I was watching the Paris Roubaix race the other day and watching the riders bike over the cobblestones and thinking I knew how they felt.

Hate chip seal, and preroughed asphalt that appears for about 2 months before they actually oil it and lay down the gravel.

marni

[zoom-zoom]

Hate chip seal, and preroughed asphalt that appears for about 2 months before they actually oil it and lay down the gravel.

marni

I totally get this. I'm likely going to get a cyclocross bike in the next year...in large part because I actually want to do some CX races, but also in large part because I'd like a comfier ride on our roads AND the ability to go down unpaved roads, too.

[tab123]

I was watching the Paris Roubaix race the other day and watching the riders bike over the cobblestones and thinking I knew how they felt.

This is exactly what I thought on my rides this weekend. The roads in SW Michigan are in horrendous shape with huge ruts, many areas torn up from plowing in the winter, etc. I had to do a little cyclocross and go across someone's lawn at one point to avoid a really bad patch. (It was clear they did the same thing with their car so I did not feel bad.) I kept thinking "momentum is my friend; you can make it over this too." My teeth are still chattering.

Karen

[zoom-zoom]

After yesterday's ride I realized that I am a lot faster than I thought I was. On our roads I am generally in the 14-15mph range on a moderate-to-high effort ride (we have quite a few hills and get a lot of wind here, too). On a still day with hills and nice asphalt I was able to go at least 2mph faster and with less effort. This does give me added confidence going into my first duathlon in a couple of weekends, since it's down in the area with the asphalt roads. I figure I am working so much harder on the chip-seal that it's making me a stronger cyclist on race day. That's positive thinking, right?