Sheila, those Ardents look very similar to the Dirt Wizards. Lots of thick lugs on them. To be honest, I prefer something much milder for a tread design out on the road and even for most hard pack dirt riding. You don't need heavy lugs for that. The good old Surly Knards really are a very smooth rolling tire, but be sure to spend the money and get the lightest version with the 120 tpi. Have them on the new ECR and they really ride very much like an ordinary road tire. Huge difference compared to the cheaper version of the Knards and way, way better than the Dirt Wizard.
As long as you don't venture into the thick, soft stuff, you replay don't need aggressive treads for trail work and, even then, I still prefer wider spaced lugs as on the Trek Chucka's. In mud, close spaced lugs fill up with mud, too quick, and then they're useless. It's a lesson I've learned from fat bike tires designed for snow use. These tires use widely spaced lugs for the sake of shedding the snow, rather than collecting it. The Trek Chucka's have a similar design. Great design.
Looks like 8-9 inches snow headed our way, tonight. Eeek! Better get out for a road ride, now, while I can.