September rides

[north woods gal]

Thanks, all.

You can comfortably ride a standard 700x25 road bike on a well maintained gravel road as in the first pic- have done it on this road - but the gravel needs to be firm and evenly spread to ride with confidence. Even then, you need to be constantly on the alert, because, as I said, conditions on gravel roads can change by the day. My 700x35 Salsa Warbird, though, just screams down that road, but, then, the Warbird is actually a gravel specific road bike designed for hard pack.

When things turn soft and loose, I've found that there is a direct relationship between tire width and performance in the soft stuff. On the second and third pic, my 2" 26er and 2.2" 29er were not good. Did a lot of walking. My 3" 29er plus was much better and the 4.8" fat bike, best of all. Also found that rear suspension helps. Gets better traction in the soft stuff than a hardtail MTB, but not enough to make up the difference with going wider on the tires.

Should also mention that the experience factor helps, here. Lots of technique involved riding these roads that you don't use on pavement. If you are a die-hard pavement rider, take your time. Practicing on a variety of these roads really helps.

Given that I have to ride some miles on pavement to get to these areas, my 3" 29er is my best compromise. Actually pleasant, though not super fast, on pavement. Probably the perfect bike for remote road riding (but too stiff and bumpy on tough single track, since no suspension). The fat bike is agonizingly slow and cumbersome on pavement.

3" Trek Stashe (That's bear spray in the bottle cage.)