Dirt Road riding mega-thread!
#76
Lover of Old Chrome Moly
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How about something like "Gravel and Trail" which differentiates the sport from any of the paved road riding and from cyclocross with its relatively short, fixed course and artificial obstacles. I think it's going to be a bit harder to draw a line in the gray area between MTB and Gravel Grinding because there are many trails which are suitable for either. Personally, I think of MTB as being off road or on unpaved trails which almost demand some form of suspension and/or wide knobby tires. If the trail is smooth enough and with a surface solid enough for a rigid bike with less than 40mm tires but you chose a MTB, I would call it gravel grinding on a mountain bike rather than MTBing. IMHO.
Gravel Grinding is a melting pot of other cycling styles, so there will always be some crossover to its parent sports, but I think it is important to recognize that it is here to stay and will continue to grow and evolve.
Gravel Grinding is a melting pot of other cycling styles, so there will always be some crossover to its parent sports, but I think it is important to recognize that it is here to stay and will continue to grow and evolve.
#77
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As many have pointed out, it was a mistake for the moderators to move this thread about dirt road riding to the cyclocross forum. The type of riding discussed here, like for example jsigone's interesting event above, has very little in common with the sport of cyclocross. Ok you can use a cyclocross type bike to do it, but a) that doesn't make it cyclocross, and b) you can use a "road" bike to do it as well. No, maybe not a twitchy race bike with room for tires no greater than 25mm, but those are not the only type of road bikes available.
I'll be riding a Gran Fondo next month that is mostly on dirt or gravel roads. Should I post about it on this forum? No, of course not. It's 80 miles of continuous riding on various roads. It won't remotely resemble a cyclocross course which is a ~2 mile mainly off-road circuit across grass, single track and mud, with obstacles you have to hurdle and run up. I'm not even going to use a cyclocross bike to ride it. I'll post about it on Road Cycling forum.
If someone wants to argue it, ok I'll argue with them. The road forum should be able to include non-paved surface roads as well. Hello Paris-Roubaix? Decades of the Tour de France? The road forum is quite large and active, so I guess making a sub forum or another forum to discuss non-paved road riding / gravel grinding would be fine, but I don't see the value in combining it with cyclocross which is a separate and total different type of riding. Keep the cyclocross forum for discussion of actual cyclocross which has it's specific needs and nuances, and put long distance / endurance riding on unimproved roads (gravel grinding) either in the road forum or in it's own forum.
For a separate forum, I like Myosmith's idea. Capturing the essence of the concept in a short title might be difficult, but maybe Gravel Grinding has the most momentum behind it as a name. I realize this has it's genesis in the rural gravel roads of the mid-west, but there are gravel roads everywhere and the concept would apply to say the logging roads we have out there. Maybe your particular dirt roads don't have much actual gravel on them, but you get the picture. "Distance cycling over various unimproved road surfaces" just doesn't have much of a ring to it ;-)
Last edited by Niloc; 02-17-14 at 02:03 AM.
#78
Ghost Ryding 24/7
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Very true on many points, I wouldn't argue any of those points.
But the OP's original question was about tires.
Don't you think he'd get better advice here regarding tires for dirt/gravel riding?
(Sure his title is a bit misleading, probably more of a joke.)
All they ever talk about in the 41 is Conti GP 4KS,Veloflex Corsa, & Schwalbe Ultremos ZX...
(*joke)
But the OP's original question was about tires.
Don't you think he'd get better advice here regarding tires for dirt/gravel riding?
(Sure his title is a bit misleading, probably more of a joke.)
All they ever talk about in the 41 is Conti GP 4KS,Veloflex Corsa, & Schwalbe Ultremos ZX...
(*joke)
#79
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Wow you people have a lot of really rigid rules.
I call all of it, riding my bike. Whatever bike I happen to be riding.
BTW - it is spelt. Coquihalla.
I call all of it, riding my bike. Whatever bike I happen to be riding.
BTW - it is spelt. Coquihalla.
#80
Ghost Ryding 24/7
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[QUOTE=wapiti;16504932
BTW - it is spelt. Coquihalla.[/QUOTE]
I noticed the spelling was wrong afterwards, autocorrect is a b!+ch.
I think splet is some sort of flour, spelled is what should have been used...
*joke
BTW - it is spelt. Coquihalla.[/QUOTE]
I noticed the spelling was wrong afterwards, autocorrect is a b!+ch.
I think splet is some sort of flour, spelled is what should have been used...
*joke
#81
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#82
Ghost Ryding 24/7
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Location: Canada/604
Posts: 2,185
Bikes: Giant Defy with Dura Ace group, & Ksyrium SL's,Specialized Allez Shimano mixed/mashed,2011 Opus Sentiero,2008 Kona Jake the Snake,Custom built track/fixed,Stumpy Hartail,Kuwahara/ET bike.
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