IronM

I agree with so many here: I seek out either very rural farm roads, or forest roads up in the mountains. I have loads of fun pouring over county maps and 'Ride with GPS' to stitch together new and interesting rides. Occasionally I'll do 'adventure' rides with the guys that use gravel, single track, hike-a-bike, and stream crossings. My favorite roads are a quiet gravel, following a cascading mountain stream under a canopy of forest. Sometimes the road is not much more than two wheel ruts leading over a mountain gap & you're looking out for moonshiners. I come across old & unspoiled original settler farms and churches, and enjoy the glimpse into history. I get to meet a lot of dogs as leash-laws don't seem to apply out there. The joy of riding for hours without a red light, a strip mall, or giant subdivisions that spontaneously pop up in the middle of the night. Yeah, my meat-n-potato rides are still on the road, but gravel rides are like dessert. I love 'em

Greenhil

GeneO 

dirty

wipekitty

More options. I live on the Wisconsin/Minnesota border. Wisconsin paves all their roads (dairy industry), but Minnesota does not.

More challenging hills. Hills on highways and county roads tend to top out ~14%, but some of the gravel roads have sections at 18-20%. Combine that with little rocks rolling under the tires, and its a grind (perhaps comparable to FG climbing.)

A better workout overall. After a long road ride, I'm a bit stiff. After a long gravel ride, I'm wrecked (in a good way!)

Enough of a technical challenge to be fun, but not too much to scare me away (I have no MTB experience). I do like dirt, but all those roots and rocks (and critters) in the woods are a bit much.

Fun people, and a different mix. I've been on gravel rides with some folks who I normally don't ride with - both faster roadies who take it easy on the gravel and MTB riders.

phoenix

Wattsup

What you get from gravel that you don't get from road riding:

superpletch

gravel riding is more challenging, I think it takes more focus and attention.

I agree with everything here and it is astounding, refreshing on how civil this thread is.

one thing I haven't read but may have missed, when its 98 degrees most of my gravel rides are shaded and without blacktop cooking me.

dgodave

The option to ride from my house.

u235

Agree but there are times on the smooth road even in the sun the moving breeze is much better at cooling than powering along gravel in the shade.

medic75

This:

Yes, you could get here on a road bike. Yes, I did ride this type of terrain on a Peugeot road bike when I was a teenager. A gravel bike just makes it so much nicer. What do I get from a gravel bike? The ability to be more adventurous.

Hiro11

I agree with a lot of the above: no cars, more varied routes, more bike handling skills, more relaxed event vibe.

There are lots of unpaved farm roads 20+ miles from my home that are tailor-made for gravel bikes, In addition, in my area there's a dense, multi-branching network of rail trails, crushed limestone park trails, unpaved road side trails, canal side trails etc that the various park districts have slowly been connecting over the past couple of decades. The network is rarely crowded, it's essentially empty in any non-summer month. Gravel bikes are perfect for this type of riding and have become my go-to choice for solo rides: you can get a great workout and it's safe, fun and beautiful.

Hondo Gravel

Koyote

What do I get from gravel riding that I don't get from road riding? Dirtier.