Transitioning from hybrid to road/cyclocross

[north woods gal]

Those old rail bed trails are called rails-to-trails and are great to ride, because they're relatively straight and the grades on the hills are very gradual. Great way to get off the pavement and get started on gravel riding. Go for it.

[Crankin]

I have seen the Katy trail and you would definitely need a hybrid with wider tires or a mountain bike. Maybe a gravel bike, but what I saw was very sandy. It looked flat, but the section I saw was in an extremely hilly area, in fact the Tour of Missouri pros had just ridden through here, the day before. That made me think not all of the trail is flat!

[MollyJ]

To my disappointment I have been on the Katy Trail twice but it's always been for short walks. And I think what I remember is some sand, though you could probably choose a route or path. I remember thinking some of it was more gravelly than I typically chose to do on my hybrid. Did you ride on it Crankin? The scoop on it is that it has periodic Bed and Breakfasts and wineries on the route.

NW, the Katy Trail would take a little planning being in the next state ovder but it might be a nice summer weekend project.

[MollyJ]

Muirenn, looks like a beautiful bike...I went to the manufacturer's page. So do you have knobby mountain bike tires on it or something else. Sometimes answering the question, "What kind of cycling do I picture myself doing?" is the hardest. In the end, you will do what your bike will let you do.

[north woods gal]

Wider spaced knobs are better for mud and wet sand or, for that matter, even snow. That is correct. With closely spaced knobs, the tires quickly clog up with mud and wet sand and lose their "bite". MTB tires tend to be very specialized in tread design and need to be chosen, carefully, for the types of trails you ride. The wrong kind of tread for your trail can greatly reduce performance and actually be dangerous. For instance, those big tall aggressive knobs may be just the thing for riding dirt, because the tire sinks into the dirt and the knobs can do their thing and bite. Not a good choice for riding on rock, though, or even hardpack, because then you're riding on top of the knobs and you actually lose tire surface area in contact with the trail and that can greatly reduce traction.

To make things even more complicated, it's also very much a matter of the tire compound used in the tire. Those old heavy duty nylon MTB tires we used to use were almost impossible to wear out, but they had so little give to them that they were harsh to ride and were notorious for lacking traction at times. Believe me, it's not just tread design, but also the compounds used. My riding on icy hard pack snow really shows the importance of this. Even with the same basic tread design on my different fat bikes, some tires offer much better traction than others on the slick stuff, the difference being that some tire compounds are stickier than others.

My trails are all dirt, now that I no longer allow myself to climb boulders. What works best for me are XC MTB race tires as long as the trail is dry. Plenty of traction, but, more importantly for my single speeds, great rolling speed. They don't call them XC race tires for nothing. Huge difference between riding these and an aggressive dirt tire. When things go wet and mushy, I just switch to one of the fat bikes and wait till the trail dries before riding the other bikes. These same XC race tires also do a great job on pavement and are ideal for gravel.

My 700c road bike single speed is my Nature Boy and it rides on 700x38 Gravel Kings. I lose some rolling speed, but not too much. Great tire, though, for wet pavement. Lots of traction, there.

[Crankin]

Molly, I did not ride on the Katy Trail; we were visiting my brother in law, who lives near there. We went to some of the wineries, which were a long the trail.
It looked nice, but I think I'd want wide tires.

[north woods gal]

I like Surly bikes, too. They're all steel bikes made extra tough, so always a good value. Chose carefully, though, according to your intended use. If you plan to ride mostly pavement and gravel for day rides, I'd stay with their lighter built models. I had an ECR and traded it off. Great bike, but not a good match for my riding. I'm a single day, out and back rider, on our paved and gravel roads. The ECR is a heavy built bike, designed to carry a full load of camping gear and a week's worth of supplies to remote places. Without a load, it's very stiff riding bike and way, way heavier than I need, and so a real tank to pedal. I'm not a weight weenie, but the bike was as heavy as some of my fat bikes. Make no mistake, a heavy bike and, especially, bigger heavier tires, are more work to pedal. I've pedaled a heavy fat bike on 30 miles on pavement, mostly to see what it was like. No problem for the bike, but I've done 60 mile trips on a road bike that didn't fatigue me as much.

Loved the idea of a bike that can carry me into the wilderness and back with everything but the kitchen sink and I still love the idea, but, hey, I'm just riding around the local roads, never more than 20 miles or so from home, carrying nothing more than the basics. My road riding is 90% pavement and the rest gravel, most of which can be handled with a drop bar 700x35 gravel bike. My current single speeds that I use for road rides all weigh 23 pounds and the widest tire is a standard 2.25" MTB tire, setup tubeless. Riding those really makes it hard to drag out a fat bike or even an ECR weighing a full 10 pounds more. Again, I'm not a fanatic on weight, but if you plan to ride out there on pavement or gravel and put in a lot of miles, think about how much bike you want to pedal. It's important.

[MollyJ]

Crankin, re: the Katy Trail. I felt the same way versus my hybrid which has wider tires but not at all textured. There is a little texture at the edges of the tire, but the center portion is really smooth.

[MollyJ]

Muirenn, went to the Maxxis page for tires. Lots of information--overwhelming! But the graphic on surfaces versus tires was somewhat clarifying.

[north woods gal]

Plus one on the Thompson seat posts. Have them on most of my bikes. Worth every penny.

[MollyJ]

Muirenn, I thought this was "art photography" until I opened it up. But what you're saying is the raised areas aren't as deep as some.