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48 mile gravel grinder today
Last Post 10/27/2013 03:28 PM by Joe Rockbottom. 12 Replies.
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Gonzo Cyclist
Posts:568
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| 10/20/2013 09:52 PM |
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The Rowe Rumble, 3300 feet of elevation gain for the day, the ride was in the mtns east of Santa Fe, in the Canoncito area. It was a blast, did it on the Nature Boy single speed cross, love that bike, pics to follow
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 10/21/2013 01:07 AM |
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I did a 2 mile gravel grinder at Cycle Oregon last month. With 23c tires, that was plenty, thanks.
Ben |
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pabiker
Posts:80
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| 10/21/2013 08:00 PM |
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Louden County, Virginia features some of the nicest gravel-grinding in the US. We accidentally did a 100+ miler on Columbus Day that had some 40ish+ miles of hard pack dirt roads: Jeb Stuart Road, Jubal Early Ferry boat across the Potomac, The Oatlands plantation - a real adventure.
http://www.strava.com/activities/89083099
If any of you get within a sniff of Northern VA, I'd be happy to give you a tour. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/21/2013 08:06 PM |
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Nice Gonzo; yes pics please.
I turned today into Sanity Day (which doubled as escape the fog that's been blanketing Vancouver day) and found steep mountain forest roads, rocks mud and snow and a beautifully sunny alpine at Elfin Lakes (Garibaldi Park). Sanity indeed with a good dose of insanity, no working shocks, road gearing in rear and road slicks made for a bit of a challenge, just the way we like it. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/22/2013 11:54 AM |
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A little teaser...more on FB
Back in the office today :-(
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Spud
Posts:525
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| 10/22/2013 02:40 PM |
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Yes, post some pics please.
This was my 50 mile pavement grinder on Sunday. At about 6500'
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Gonzo Cyclist
Posts:568
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| 10/24/2013 02:13 PM |
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whoa PA, 100+ miler? ouch, I was reading in the recent issue of Bike about VA, and W. VA, some of that terrain looked fantastic!! I was worked after this one, but if I did a bigger ride, I would bring the Ciocc Volpe carbon cross, still working on getting the pics, there are some on FB under Rowe Rumble. On this ride, the last 14 miles were on a pretty bad forest road, more like some rugged mtn biking trail, it was a hoot.
Nice stuff OC and Spud!! |
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pabiker
Posts:80
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| 10/25/2013 12:10 AM |
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OC what you have pictured there we would ride on our road bikes (25mm tires) that is unless it was wet.
Beautiful views. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 10/25/2013 12:40 AM |
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PA - trust me those 25 mm tires would have been shredded and your rims destroyed. What you see is the easiest relatively flat part of the trail. I have no pictures of the much tougher steeper forest part (too busy keeping it together climbing/descending). If there was any chance that trail could have been ridden with a road bike I would have brought mine. Zero chance.
Some more pics, all from the alpine part. The second pic gives you a bit of an idea about steepness of the forest part
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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SideBySide
Posts:444
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| 10/25/2013 06:58 PM |
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| Beautiful! |
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vtguy
Posts:298
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| 10/26/2013 08:40 AM |
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| Great pics, OC. You live in a lovely part of the world. |
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C2K_Rider
Posts:173
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| 10/27/2013 03:28 PM |
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48 miles?
The best cyling book I have read is "the Wonderful Ride." It is a journal of a guy who rode across the US in 1895 - no roads then. All gravel! Here is the review I put on Amazon.
In 1895 the bicycle was the focus of social high-society. It was the fastest vehicle on the road and was villified piano makers and bar owners alike due their loss of business due to the purchase of bicycles (which cost about a third of a years wages) by potential customers!
George T. Loher was a butcher in Oalland, California and an enthusiastic "wheelman," as cyclists were known then. He rode daily, raced did not drink.
The trip he undertook was not like the cyle tours done today; there were no paved roads, and very few services.
Mr. Loher was not the first to ride across the U.S. Thomas Stevens had already done it years before on a Penny-Farthing (high-wheeler) and had gone on to ride around the world. So this was not a new adventure for cyclists, but is was an adventure nonetheless.
George Loher rode a bicycle similar to the ones we ride today, except he did not have gears (in fact his was a direct-drive bike - no coasting) nor any brakes. On downhills he would simply hold his feet up to coast, or if the hill was very steep, tie a tree branch to his bike to slow himself down.
One new thing he used was pneumatic tire, some of the first made for bicycles (none had been used for any other purpose yet).
His route took him from Oakland through Northern California, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, over to Minnesota, down to Chicago and on to New York City.
Along the way he describes the America he saw in detail and tells us things we may never have known. He rode on train rights-of -way because there were no roads. He stayed with people all along the way who help, and hindered him (children would stick pins in his tires to hear the air come out!).
He had to wade creeks, walk miles with a broken bike and eat at inhospitable inns.
In North Dakota and Minnesota he wonders why anyone would travel to Germany or Norway since they could come here instead and visit areas where no one spoke english!
Through it all he keeps his sense of adventure and keeps on going.
Upon his arrival in New York he is treated like a hero and feted in the highest society.
Mr. Loher never published the story he wrote. He felt is was too ordinary. His grand-daughter found his manuscript in the late 1970's and published it for him, lucky for us! |
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