#21
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nifty multitool
On Thursday, 9 July 2020 21:10:13 UTC-4, Mark J. wrote:
On 7/9/2020 5:08 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote: On 7/9/2020 4:54 PM, Mark J. wrote: On 7/9/2020 11:42 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote: On 7/9/2020 8:43 AM, Lou Holtman wrote: On Thursday, July 9, 2020 at 6:19:10 AM UTC+2, Rolf Mantel wrote: Am 08.07.2020 um 23:33 schrieb : On Wednesday, July 8, 2020 at 12:50:25 AM UTC-7, Lou Holtman wrote: On Wednesday, July 8, 2020 at 12:31:00 AM UTC+2, wrote: Having ridden a great deal of gravel in my time I can't figure out why the GRX cranks would be set-up for cyclocross rather than gravel. I'm not sure what you mean but my Ultegra crankset on my crossbike have 46/36T chainrings and the GRX crankset on my gravel bike 48/31T chainrings. I think both cranks are suitable for both kind of riding. It is all about the cassette. I have a lower gear with the GRX crankset combined with a 14-28 cassette than I have with my Ultegra cross crankset with a 11-32 cassette and the 14-28 cassette has smaller jumps betweem the gears. I think the GRX crankset makes a very nice gear set up. 99% of gravel rides are on flat or nearly so ground. That means that a gravel bike should be setup to ride at a reasonable speed on the normal road - or a compact 50-34. The 48-31 of the GRX cranks is altogether wrong for a gravel bike though pretty good for an 11-speed cyclocross bike. Really?Â* For me, 70% or more of gravel rides are in hilly forest area. If I need to climb 600 ft, it takes half an hour either on the 4 mile road that cars use, on the 2 mile forest road or on the 1 mile walking trail. In the flat, there's little motivation to take the gravel road at 20 km/h when I can take a good road nearby at 30 km/h. The appeal for a flat gravel road for me is that it is more quiet and most of the time a nicer scenery. On a flat gravel road I can still manage 25 km/hr. That must depend heavily on the nature of the gravel. What used to be my favorite way out into the remote country roads in a neighboring township used to involve a bit of gravel that was ridable with my 28mm or 32mm tires. It's now difficult even with tires over 40mm. Here's the story: A few decades ago, the quarry company working there offered to buy a half mile section of road to access the limestone beneath. The township officers said "OK, if you construct a road around it and maintain it for access." They did that. After perhaps 15 years, the quarry was sold to an Italian company. Then a pipeline company plowed through with a new pipeline to carry fracked natural gas. They tore up the road terribly, and the road became just mud in some places, and super-coarse gravel in others. The township tried to get the Italian company to repair the road. The company ignored the requests. And the township said "Oh well. We'll just close thr road." I'd love to have someone follow the money on those transactions. Yup, I'm learning there is gravel and then there is gravel.Â* Thing is, I'll see both extremes in one season on the same roads around here. Sometimes things have packed down and you can really blast along without bad vibration.Â* Other times it's a slog after which I feel as if I had been beaten with a stick. All of which makes me wonder about the lyrical portrayals of gravel rides by Jan Heine and others. Historically, I've been willing to ride on rougher surfaces than my club mates. A couple guys in particular used to complain - sort of good-naturedly - about roads I chose when I led rides. But it does vary a lot. I remember one tour where I rode the gravel but my companions walked it for a long way, even though I was carrying a lot of their luggage for them. And I remember another where I had to give up climbing a steep gravel hill despite my super-low gear, because I didn't have enough traction to proceed. Maybe I should see if the county maintenance schedule is publicly available. Every six months or so, our newspaper publishes a list of roads soon to be paved. I've thought that I really should save those lists to put together smooth rides. But so far I've failed. I don't want to give the wrong impression. I'm really enjoying the gravel rides I'm taking: * Lots of new roads that are right in my vicinity. After living here for 30+ years, I know most of the pavement within 40 miles. The local gravel roads are surprisingly "a whole new world" often within a half mile of roads I would know in my sleep. * Very quiet roads. I've never been "traffic-shy", I've always been out on the roadways, but it IS nice to ride for 10 or 20 minutes at a time without seeing a motor vehicle - or even another human. It's very peaceful out there. [And there are just NO worries about whether my social distancing is adequate out there.] * It's a different challenge. For most of us, after decades riding on the road, it's still fun, but there's not much novelty there. Riding on gravel is teaching me new things about handling, or reminding me things I've forgotten. Different handling, different power curve, different cornering, climbing, descending. A new challenge is refreshing. Equipment and maintenance are different too. (So much DUST!) * There is a kind of love-hate relationship with the bouncing and skittering, see "new things about handling," and I DO sometimes feel "beaten up" by a ride, but, at the very least, it feels so much better when I stop. Honestly, I'm not a paid shill for gravel bike retailers! Oh, and I've seen similar local repaving schedules, but I haven't heard of - or looked for - schedules for re-graveling or grading, or whatever they do to the gravel roads. I'm not even sure the variation I'm seeing is a result of maintenance or weather, but it's hard to believe gravel spontaneously gets looser. Mark J. Riding on dirt/gravel roads outside of my city can be very relaxing due to the low traffic volume. Also, a lot of those roads have a fair bit of shade cast by trees. that makes riding on them a lot cooler than riding on an open paved road bereft of any shade. I enjoy those dirt/gravel roads so much that I've converted a number of rigid MTBs to drop bars to ride them. Cheers |
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