:eek: That is f'n studly. I'm surprised. Drop bars warranted.


I still don't get it for cyclo-cross. All the crazy gnarly terrain and obstacles? Seems like an adult sized BMX bike would be a better machine.

CX is a different animal. It's stupid on purpose. :lol:

i scanned this book about cyclocross from 1973 and uploaded it to my flickr out of order.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/botani...57664597288244

That's pretty rad, thanks.

Rad.

The absurdity, I guess.

Beaucholic Idaho scenery, people taking their cycling more seriously than they ought, and then all of a sudden there is a guy on a pink single speed with matching kit pulling a wheelie next to a cliff.

Some might laugh at a cowboy in Manhattan for the same reason. I saw a NYC taxi driving through the Mojave Desert once. Everyone in my car laughed.

Same deal, sort of.

BTW, fish taco's tonight.

SSFG. Not taking life too seriously, one gear at a time.

Yum. What hot sauce?

That photo is too cool. Err, hot? Anyway, I really like it. :thumb:

I think the DK200 winner used aero bars since it was windy out there -- so i'm sure that helped with speed during a gravel race.

:foo:

A rough surface preventing riders from developing "any real speed to speak of" certainly isn't the case in the real world.

Matt Stephens won Dirty Kanza at 22+ MPH average over 200 miles and attributed his win to aero bars. I have done 5 mile gravel segments at over 19 MPH average. A BF contributor whom I follow on Strava finished a 56 mile gravel race at 18+ MPH and he was in 33rd place, many were much faster. Speeds are slower than pavement but aero can clearly be a benefit at speeds common to the stronger riders.

Remember that gravel rides typically have extended climbs at very steep grades. Bars with hoods out front are a lot less cramped for climbing than are straight mountain bars. Wide bars are good for technical sections but these are far less common than are long climbs up fire roads where hooded drop bars are an advantage.


-Tim-

I was introduced to it before it blew up and bikes were marketed specifically for it. We called it under-biking then because it's sketchy and fun to ride old road bikes fast on fire roads and mountain bike trails. Part of the fun was building uo your own bike by fitting wide tires and mixing parts to get a suitable gear range. But now you can just buy one off the shelf :rolleyes:

That's the idea I couldn't articulate as well.

I think it makes you a better bike handler in the long run and it makes a trail that might seem boring on a MTB a lot more interesting.

fire roads are pretty boring on a MTB.

This isn't though: (Noble Cyn, east SD county)

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/a...2/DSC01408.jpg

http://amicablenumbers.smugmug.com/p...56834641-L.jpg

https://ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb14304842/p4pb14304842.jpg

The lovely meadows at the top (6,000'), however, are doable on gravel/adventure bikes. They're very nice, I love riding up there! We make car-camping trips out here about once/month during the warmer months that make for great weekends of riding:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tSk_5qcUxvc/maxresdefault.jpg


https://cdn-files.apstatic.com/mtb/7...1496586783.jpg

I have a gravel bike. Currently has some wide slicks on it and gets ridden on the road. Has been on dirt/gravel rides including a race but it wasn't that much fun. On the road, with those wider slicks, it's a blast. Set a few PR's on Strava with that bike vs my carbon road bike.

doing 60+ miles of gravel on saturday morning. camping tomorrow night. stoked.
also, i'm a buddy of mat's and he is a national champion a couple times over.
he's in another league. insane.

You guys are killing me. I've got camping on the brain.

do it!!

New tool day :D

https://i.imgur.com/d4LNSPC.jpg?1

Gonna work on a French bike?

Stubborn bastards aren't they? I'm just building up the tools bag I need for work as I'm given some more tasks besides fire watch.

well, we had a dog wander into the campground last night around 2am. sniffed around the tent and then barked for almost an hour.
around 3:30 this rooster was so goddamn loud it was echoing through the land. needless to say i didn't get a good nights sleep.
my seatpost binder bolt broke around mile 11. someone else flatted a little bit later. decided to call it and just rode back the way we came. got in 30 cold, windy gravel miles. coulda been worse, i reckon.

:lol::roflmao2::lol::lol::roflmao2::lol::lol::roflmao2::lol::roflmao2:

is anyone else dealing with terrible "you won an iphone" pop ups on mobile? this is the only site where it happens...

^ No sir. And sorry the bike camping wasn't as rad as it could have been. Could have been worse. Could be at home looking at bike shiftiness on IG and be even more bummed.

Today I found the limits of tubeless and DNF'ed for the first time. Four hour round trip to flat is a bummer.