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11-06-2019, 06:07 AM #1776User
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- Ogden
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I guess I can see the appeal in some locals. Here, the seasons to ride dirt roads and trails would roughly coincide, and we probably have as many miles of trails as we do dirt roads. Yet, I have friends that load gravel bikes on their cars, and drive past perfectly good singletrack to go share dirt roads with trucks and side by sides while choking on dust.
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11-06-2019, 06:16 AM #1777yelgatgab
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- Oct 2002
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- Shadynasty's Jazz Club
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- 10,248
Yeah, that’s crazy talk. RSSDNAR season is November through February, and wouldn’t exist at all if we had skiing even a tiny bit as good as you have it.
Remind me. We'll send him a red cap and a Speedo.
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11-06-2019, 06:30 AM #1778Registered User
- Join Date
- Aug 2008
- Location
- Central VT
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- 4,806
Yeah, after doing Rooted last year, I'm not shocked it's turned into an over-hyped event. It sounds like King wants to make it a "brand" like Dirty Kanza. Whatever, it's his ride and he can flood it with douchey competitors. There are plenty of other low key gravel events I plan on riding where the $ goes to local trails and charities. RAS ride sounds like its up my alley, I'm most likely in for that next year, maybe Dirty Pizza too.
Agreed. I never thought I'd have anything to do with a drop bar bike until I moved somewhere with endless miles of empty dirt roads, 4x4 trails and random places to explore. When mountain bike trails are closed, gravel riding scratches the bike itch for me and its done wonders for my overall bike fitness. But if mountain bike trails are open, that's where I'll always be.
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11-06-2019, 06:54 AM #1779
1. Whatever I feel like doing with whatever bike
2. meh
3. huh
4. where
5. zombie
6. ???
7. no
8. whatever others think I should do or likewww.apriliaforum.com
"If the road You followed brought you to this,of what use was the road"?
"I have no idea what I am talking about but would be happy to share my biased opinions as fact on the matter. "
Ottime
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11-06-2019, 08:57 AM #1780
Pretty much nails it, but #5 isn't quite so simple. If traffic has become fucked to the point that you can pedal faster than everyone else is driving than it jumps to #3. Nothing puts a twisted smile on my face like riding past a long line of cars going nowhere fast.
Yeah, I can see that. I've always thought a HT 29er made more sense as the vehicle, but maybe if I rode a gravel bike I'd understand.Last edited by Dantheman; 11-06-2019 at 09:22 AM.
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11-06-2019, 09:04 AM #1781"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms, their energy. Your cares and tensions will drop away like the leaves of Autumn." --John Muir
"welcome to the hacienda, asshole." --s.p.c.
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11-06-2019, 09:14 AM #1782
I just don't get the road bike part of it. The fact that 'gravel' bikes keep creeping closer and closer to a hardtail 29er with a little bit of travel just shows that we already had this figured out. (edit: sniped by dan)
After driving around some places like eastern montana with empty, smooth dirt roads everywhere in the plains, I get it. I just don't think the bikes make sense. Dry, loose gravely roads and road bikes never will to me. It's still bumpy, drop bars aren't really that stable for sliding around, and skinny little tires are bouncy.
I guess that's more polite than doing number 1 or number 2 on it.Besides the comet that killed the dinosaurs nothing has destroyed a species faster than entitled white people.-ajp
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11-06-2019, 09:34 AM #1783Registered User
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- Aug 2008
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- Central VT
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- 4,806
"Gravel" bike is a vague term these days. For me its more relaxed road geo, 40cm tires, wide/flared drop bars and lower gearing (38t single ring x 40t cassette for me).
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11-06-2019, 09:58 AM #1784
I know people have been building up road bikes to ride on dirt roads forever. Hell that's the buffalo soldiers if you want to be honest.
"gravel" to me, more than anything is just the next "enduro," "all mountain," "downcountry," "telemarking"
Jargon from a desperate industry that thinks a new buzzword creates a new market. Can't say they're wrong in this case.Besides the comet that killed the dinosaurs nothing has destroyed a species faster than entitled white people.-ajp
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11-06-2019, 10:03 AM #1785Registered User
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- Aug 2008
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- Central VT
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- 4,806
No doubt the bike industry is taking full advantage of the "gravel" concept. They'll milk that cow 'til she's dry.
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11-06-2019, 10:40 AM #1786
Ha - it's all just bikes man. A bunch of the difference is where you ride, not what you ride. People have been riding cross bikes fast on dirt roads forever. Gravel bikes aren't that different man. And before cross bikes the euros just took some air out of the tubulars and rode their damn road bikes on dirt trails.
I once spent a year riding my cross bike everywhere and never rode my mtn bike. I had a little kid and I wasn't sleeping, and I left a custom Chris King wheel out in front of my house one afternoon and it walked. Rather than find a new wheel I just said fuck it and rode the cross bike with our MTB crew. 28c tires pumped up to 80-85 everywhere - trails like Monarch Crest, Sovereign, Fruita Loops, 18 Road, towns like Steamboat, Crested Butte, Moab, Nederland, etc. Was really freaking hard and really freaking fun. After I bit I could downhill suprisingly fast on it, and it was really fast uphill due to the high gearing forcing me to be strong. You just couldn't make a mistake or you'd blow yourself or the bike up.
But the point is, I was mountain biking. Just doing it on a different kinda bike - but still mtn biking. If ya like riding dirt roads then ride em - and I don't care if you ride em on a mtn bike, a hardtail, a YBB, a cross bike, a road bike or a gravel bike. It's still the same dirt road.
Just like these dudes in the photo kidwoo posted were doing in CB all those years ago.
Except for unicycles. That's something different. And stupid.
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11-06-2019, 11:03 AM #1787
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11-06-2019, 11:26 AM #1788
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11-06-2019, 11:30 AM #1789
Sounds like you need to take a dump
Besides the comet that killed the dinosaurs nothing has destroyed a species faster than entitled white people.-ajp
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11-06-2019, 12:02 PM #1790
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11-06-2019, 12:04 PM #1791Banned
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
- Posts
- 2,315
My favorite gravel bike of all time was the KTM 690. Dirt roads were like single track, and 3rd gear corner exits were instant boners. Road are for motors.
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11-06-2019, 12:18 PM #1792Quote Originally Posted by kidwoo View Post
order of fun
1. MTB
2. Dirtjumping
3. Road riding on traffic-free roads
4. Punching one's own nuts
5. Road riding in heavy traffic
6. Drinking muratic acid
7. Riding a road bike on dirt roads and calling it some bullshit with the word gravel
8. Talking to people who just bought an ebike
Pretty much nails it, but #5 isn't quite so simple. If traffic has become fucked to the point that you can pedal faster than everyone else is driving than it jumps to #3. Nothing puts a twisted smile on my face like riding past a long line of cars going nowhere fast.
I just like riding bikes. I think it's fun. The only thing for me is I trained for Leadville many years ago when the singletrack was way more limited, so I did a shit ton of forest roads to connect shorter stretches of singletrack, and that ruined me for "gravel". I ride some "gravel" now and I have an immediate flashback to hot, dusty, dehydrated, cattle-driven, fucking washboarded, fucking washboareded, fucking washboarded, 90 something degree shit. Can't shake it.Well maybe I'm the faggot America
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda
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11-06-2019, 12:59 PM #1793
Was just going to post the same thing. I bought a Honda CRF230 a few years ago to explore dirt roads. Can't really call many of these roads good gravel rides, we've got a lot of steep/rocky mountain fire roads in Socal that would be no fun on a gravel bike IMO. The dual sport is where it's at. So fun to ride and actually makes fire roads fun. Way better than burning a whole day on a pedal bike or putting wear and tear on the truck when I can explore the same in a couple hours on the moto.
This is also where the moto shines, since we can lane split in CA. My commute home in peak rush hour can easily take an hour to 1:15. On the moto lane-splitting, it might be 25-30mins and hugely satisfying to ride past all the stopped cars on the freeway. Or I can take scenic side streets through La Jolla which takes 40min regardless of traffic - there are no multi-light waits since I can just cruise up to the front of the line. #winning
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11-06-2019, 01:40 PM #1794Registered User
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- Jul 2016
- Posts
- 209
Pretty sure that is the lower Repack. That turn is still the same sketcky, outside banking, gravel slide with a nice 20-30 foot drop off. Every time I go down that i think how insane it was to ride that fast on a bike with coaster brakes and shitty tires down that steep fire road. Lots of respect for the early repack racers.
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11-06-2019, 01:42 PM #1795Registered User
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- Apr 2006
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- SF & the Ho
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- 9,299
Sure looks like and has the vibe of repack. That was my first thought when I saw the pic too. Definitely still sketch and easy to wreck yourself on it. Haven’t been on it for a while, but it used to get some ruts in it that even Indiana Jones wouldn’t have escaped
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11-06-2019, 02:47 PM #1796
Yup.
Starting at about 15:30 or so they climb up to do repack on different bikes, the guy on the gravel bike can flat out ride.
Well maybe I'm the faggot America
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda
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11-06-2019, 05:05 PM #1797Registered User
- Join Date
- Jul 2016
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- 209
Plug,
cool video of a classic ride up the RR grade, out Bolinas ridge to Bolinas-Fairfax road, up towards Pine mtn and finish off with the Repack back to Fairfax for a beer. It should be noted that the climb up towards the Repack could not have been easily done on gravel bike until about 4 months ago. They bladed it and made it a much easier/less technical rocky climb, still steep though. I cannot say I see a lot gravel bikes on the Repack most would be flying down the road past the meadow club on their way to a cold one. I do see a lot of emopeds out there, away from johnny law.
Every thanksgiving there used to be a keg of beer at that bridge after the thanksgiving Pine Mtn ride. MMWD frowned on that heavily in the last few years and now station a ranger by the bridge every year, all day. Bummer
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11-11-2019, 10:16 PM #1798
Finally, I'm riding enough to have a rant.
Can we get mountain bikers to quit parking themselves and piles of bikes in the middle of everything? After two weeks in the desert, and one back home, I'm tired of having bikes splashed all over the tiny parking lot with quasi parallel parking, carelessly dropped and ignored while I try to drive in/out. Also, don't hang out straddling your bike under nice drops on the trail while you chat, I will land on you from the sky.
Sent from my SM-G960U using TGR Forums mobile appGravity always wins...
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11-11-2019, 10:32 PM #1799
Finally, I'm riding enough to have a rant.
Can we get mountain bikers to quit parking themselves and piles of bikes in the middle of everything? After two weeks in the desert, and one back home, I'm tired of having bikes splashed all over the tiny parking lot with quasi parallel parking, carelessly dropped and ignored while I try to drive in/out. Also, don't hang out straddling your bike under nice drops on the trail while you chat, I will land on you from the sky.
Sent from my SM-G960U using TGR Forums mobile appGravity always wins...
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11-11-2019, 10:35 PM #1800
Anyone have anything they'd like to rant about?
Cool. When I lived in SF & Berkeley one of my standard rides was the Pine mtn loop. I only did repack once or twice because of how it dead ended. I did Bollinas Ridge a lot when I wanted to do a bigger loop, sometimes riding down whichever trail towards the ocean and back up another trail, then looping around out by the (now) sky walker ranch. No singletrack, but great steep riding.
The video seemed to show that guy climbing that nasty loose stuff I liked w/ his gravel bike, that’s why I commented the way I did.
Yeah, bummer about the ranger.Well maybe I'm the faggot America
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda
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