Thanks for the summary, Cliftongk1. During yesterday's ride, I was wishing that I had switched to 28c tires on my bike (I'm running 25c's) because of the chipseal. Your comments make me think, though, that bigger tires might not have helped that much (don't you have 35's on your Crosscheck?). Now I'm wondering whether changing to 28c's would be that helpful or not...I may just let my current tires wear out.

BTW, that hill toward the end was demoralizing -- I thought we were done climbing. When I went up the hill, one guy was walking; there was a photographer at the top getting pictures of us all suffering.