Originally Posted by pdlamb

Pavement may not be quite as variable as gravel (is that pea gravel, crushed gravel, 1" rocks, or a fire road that hasn't been repaired since that fire back in '53?). But it still isn't a single word descriptor.

My Fair City calls all of these paved:
- Fresh pavement in the last year
- Small potholes
- 9" wide potholes 6" deep (a killer on rims if you don't miss it!)
- Longitudinal cracks wide and deep enough to trap 25 mm wide bike tires
- Something allegedly paved that resembles the surface of the aforementioned fire road interrupted by patches of asphalt

Optimum tire width might vary from 20 mm wide (fresh pavement, 2 pounds of load on you back and you weigh 110 pounds when you get rained on) to a 60 mm wide 29er (that's still 700C!), the latter applying if you're riding the allegedly paved road and weight over 300 pounds.

TL/DR? It depends.