Originally Posted by
bikenh
Let me ask this question...
Is the GAP more loose crushed stone or packed dirt and stone?
Just a couple of weeks ago I was, unplanned on, on a dirt road, well packed and had no trouble riding on it at all. In a few spots I was a bit nervous thanks simply to no experience on that particular road and on riding in that kind of situation.
GAP and C&O are different trails, different material bases, different funding sources, etc. It is coincidence that they meet in one place. So, you should expect the trail surfaces of one to differ from the other. I thought that the C&O had a more firm base, the GAP I thought felt a bit slow and almost like I was riding on a sheet of rubber after several days of rain.
I rode both GAP and C&O in Spring of 2013. We were hauling camping gear. Of the three of us, one had 37mm tires, one had 47mm tires and I had 50mm tires. All three of us were happy with our tire selections.
