I am a road cyclist, at heart. Even when I’m in a car, I’ll daydream about riding the same road I’m driving. I’ll imagine how the tarmac might feel as my wheels carry me across it, the wind, the smells in the air. I’ll imagine how my lungs are expanding and contracting, cleansing me a little with every exhale. In my mind’s legs, I’ll feel the pressure building as I imagine myself rising out of the saddle to power over a pitch. I know I would feel the pain of such a ride, but I can’t really imagine what it would feel like. I can never really imagine pain.
The paved road is where we are the closest we will ever be to achieving flight. To restrict ourselves to tarmac, however, is to restrict ourselves to those places in this world which are most travelled. The most beautiful places do not lie at the end of such roads; they are hidden away, where those with some element of imagination might venture to look for them. A two-lane dirt track, perhaps, or a forest road that winds off beyond the damp forest and on to places unknown.
On gravel and dirt, we find a completely different sensation from that on the road. Certainly, many of the elements are still there, but the terrain demands a different kind of harmony; we dart along from one side of the road to another, looking for the best bits where the holes are smaller and the gravel is held together more. The dust or mud kicked up by our tires hovers in the air about us and covers our lips, teeth, and tongue. Suddenly, we taste the road as much as feel it.
Being away from traffic and in the wilderness awakens something primal in our spirits. The smell of damp dirt, moss, and bark or the baking scent of dry pine needles flushes the city from your senses and immediately awakens a calmer Self. My soul is at peace when I return home from such a ride.
The road is where my heart lies, but gravel is where I find my soul.
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I'm driving 5 hours to glorious gravel tomorrow and won't be back for two weeks.
Catch you on the flip side...
@G'rilla
Gah. Pics or it didn't happen.
Oh and have fun.
I have yet to discover CX.....so many facets to cycling....too little time and cash. I have that slight obsessive compulsive element to my character....i am rather "single point focused". I cannot ride road in summer and mtb in winter, when i took up road, i gave up mtb.
to start CX would risk losing my love of the road and i am not prepared to go there...
i will stay with the roads most travelled, but peek with just a little envy at all the CX conversations that happen here over the winter.
Great evocative article.
By the by, here's a convenient spot to get news, reviews, and race calendars for most things gravel. http://gravelgrindernews.com/
I mentioned it in "The Rides", but the Dirty 40 is coming up in VT in a few weeks. Looks like a blast. and it's a 10$ race!
Can we talk about tires? What do people like in the 27-28 mm range?
Having grown up on mtbs, it's no surprise I developed a love for unpaved roads after a few years of 'road.' In my area, most of the best roads are unpaved. I love 35mm tires for them, like Clement USH, tubeless. But for exploring new terrain, especially solo, I am digging my Niner MCR with drop bars and 2.0 Schwalbe Furious Freds. It's a gravel grinder on roids. I can ride it fast enough everywhere to make it ideal Velo Tout Terrain (VTT). It was in fact inspired by a dented rim during last year's D2R2.
I'm hitting the Dirty 40 with a couple teammates; can't wait!
For 28s, my answer depends on surfaces. The Grand Bois and Challenge offerings are very fast, but can't handle pointy stuff. Vittoria's 27 is a bit more durable. Hutchy has a new tubeless 28, the Secteur 28, which I am most keen to try for races like Battenkill.
During the last year I've collected enough parts from upgrading my road bike to assemble a build kit. My VMH has decreed that I MUST build my gravel machine with a frame that is less than $1000 - which to my mind means steel. Anyone out there in V - Land have some ideas for a steel frame of this price point?
Great post Frank. Gravel, grit, rocks, sand, mud...I too have never been able to explain the lure of gravel and dirt, but it is real and it is strong. I've spent hours searching on google earth and other sites for the small strips of dirty goodness that hide in the suburban world that I live in. Luckily enough there are quite a few options that I can take on a regular basis. Some are simply gravel options next to the paved bike trails that make up some of my commute to the office. Others are in the local parks that lead to the great single track MTB trails that exist around here. It's always funny to hear some one joke about how I "must have taken a wrong turn" on my road or cross bike as a ride by them on the trails. I love riding my mountain bike, but there is something so sublime about skinny tires on dirt and gravel that you have to experience to understand.
I've been lucky enough to have another gravel loving rider start working at the office recently, and we're slowly converting a number of our lunch ride crew to follow us off the tarmac.
@gregorio
Any particular reason to stay away from Alu?