Anatomy of a Graveur

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Photo via F&O Forgotten Nobility

I am a road cyclist, at heart. Even when I’m in a car, I’ll daydream about riding the same road I’m driving. I’ll imagine how the tarmac might feel as my wheels carry me across it, the wind, the smells in the air. I’ll imagine how my lungs are expanding and contracting, cleansing me a little with every exhale. In my mind’s legs, I’ll feel the pressure building as I imagine myself rising out of the saddle to power over a pitch. I know I would feel the pain of such a ride, but I can’t really imagine what it would feel like. I can never really imagine pain.

The paved road is where we are the closest we will ever be to achieving flight. To restrict ourselves to tarmac, however, is to restrict ourselves to those places in this world which are most travelled. The most beautiful places do not lie at the end of such roads; they are hidden away, where those with some element of imagination might venture to look for them. A two-lane dirt track, perhaps, or a forest road that winds off beyond the damp forest and on to places unknown.

On gravel and dirt, we find a completely different sensation from that on the road. Certainly, many of the elements are still there, but the terrain demands a different kind of harmony; we dart along from one side of the road to another, looking for the best bits where the holes are smaller and the gravel is held together more. The dust or mud kicked up by our tires hovers in the air about us and covers our lips, teeth, and tongue. Suddenly, we taste the road as much as feel it.

Being away from traffic and in the wilderness awakens something primal in our spirits. The smell of damp dirt, moss, and bark or the baking scent of dry pine needles flushes the city from your senses and immediately awakens a calmer Self. My soul is at peace when I return home from such a ride.

The road is where my heart lies, but gravel is where I find my soul.

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124 Replies to “Anatomy of a Graveur”

  1. +1 I’m so happy to hear I’m not the only one who looks at unfamiliar roads (either in person, or via TV, movies etc) and thinks, “Man, that looks like a great place to ride.” Just got a CX bike and need to find some gravel roads here in WI. It’s not as easy as it might seem because the milk lobby is pretty powerful here in Dairyland and most back roads are paved.

  2. “In my mind’s legs”, ha – brilliant.

    You know, you write pretty well for one of them nerdy computer programmers…

  3. On last evening’s ride I ventured down an old logging trail I hadn’t ridden before. As these roads often do around here gravel turned to sand/boulders turned to grass turned to ferns and petered out. As I shouldered my bike to look for any possible way through I looked down and saw what can only be described as a bumper crop of blueberries. I sat down and gorged myself like a fat bear before turning back and enjoying the gravel ride home. Nice article Frank.

  4. Oh god. Yesterday, after the first real precipitation in many weeks, I rode 30k deep in the foothills of the Olympics, some of which hills are so steep they damn near overhang. Some logging roads and a lot of muddy, deeply-rutted dirt bike trails. More than once I could have used a fucking winch.

    Today my body hurts so much more than it did on Friday, the day after riding 160km and climbing 2100m on the road.

  5. I rode strictly dirt for 8 years before finding my way to the tarmac.

    The peace and solitude that can be found when outside the bounds of civilization has no equal.

  6. Well put Fronk!!  I had my first true taste of gravel this year and like you, I love the road, but there was something to gravel that I couldn’t put into words.  I love the sound of tyres on gravel, the feeling of remoteness…all good for the soul!!

  7. It’s purely thanks to this community that I sold my #2 and #3 bikes to finance a CX bike this year. The new #2. Reading Franks words on riding the gravel inspired me to venture where the MTB felt under utilised. I’ll still keep that for the true Scottish mountain trails and single track but the buzz of riding drop bars and skinny knobblies over gravel roads has pulled on my handling skills and enhanced my time with my bikes.

    The next Scottish V ride on 31 August is predominantly off road. There was hesitation over calling it a Cogal. This article confirms that it deserves the title. Thank you.

  8. In the Midwest, highway engineers knocked down the hills to make the paved roads  nice and flat and straight, but the gravel wiggles around the glacial valleys and goes up and down the hills.  The gravel is where it’s at in the Missouri River valleys

  9. Beautifully written Frank. I could do without you constantly inspiring n+1 bike lust in me though. My wife likes you less and less….

  10. I routinely look at paved roads, river towpaths and tracks while thinking what they might be like to ride.  Unfortunately, when it comes to a CX bike it would most definitely = s when thinking on Rule #12.

    Maybe @JohnB has got the right idea.

  11. It’s so true.  And thanks for not making this post about “us and them.”  Fat tires in the woods are great.  Skinny tires on smooth pavement in the hills are also great.  When you’re moving yourself on two wheels across our Earth, you’re earning your spot in our community.  Bravo for putting it so well.

  12. I’ll imagine how my lungs are expanding and contracting, cleansing me a little with every exhale. In my mind’s legs, I’ll feel the pressure building as I imagine myself rising out of the saddle to power over a pitch. I know I would feel the pain of such a ride, but I can’t really imagine what it would feel like. I can never really imagine pain.

    I don’t have enough miles in my legs to feel this way about cycling, but the experience of stepping on a mondo track, even after so many years off of one, is visceral.  There is a distinct smell, that brings a tinge of that adrenaline taste back to my mouth, and with it comes a palpable feeling of pain.  Imagined or not, the feeling of trying to lift the pace for the last 200m of an 800m or 1600m run rushes through my body.  For a brief moment I don’t need to imagine the pain, it is real.  

    After a year of cyclocross there are some things I certainly associate with racing, but it will take some more time to find those little things that key me in.  Those things become addicting, they are glimpses into enlightenment, but really they are just reminders of the suffering I love so much.

  13. Very nicely written. Here in SE MN we have good roads, but great gravel. Rode 2 hours this am, saw zero cars, made friends with a new dog. All was right with the world.

  14. A-merckx, Frank! I’ll admit I’ve not ridden too much dirt, but being away from it all on those dirt paths has been pretty amazing. =)

  15. Beautiful.  I’ve found that the nuance of gravel is even broader than that of tarmac: the subtle tugs and pulls of the fireroad on the wheels, the quality of the grip offered by the loose rocks and dirt, the rhythm of the ripples in the surface all affect the riding experience

    Riding gravel at speed requires a constant dialogue between rider and machine, a give and take that’s not as much in road cycling, where the bike’s job is to respond to inputs with precision and efficiency.  Nor is the dialogue present in mountain biking, where the machine is designed to beat the terrain into submission.  The original wheelmen rode only pitted gravel roads, so in a sense, gravel riding is the purest form of riding.

  16. I remember an EARLY morning, mist in the valley, when I rode my new Armadillo tires down the newly graded base of a full-on four lane divided highway extension.  I rode past all the rollers,  dump trucks, excavators, loaders, paving machines, etc, sitting idle, behemoths in the fog with nary a soul around save myself.  I’ll bet the workers were mystified as to the lonely 25mm wide line down their beautifully graded pea-gravel when they showed up on Monday morning.  Vive la Vie.

  17. I totally agree regarding the calmness that comes with leaving civilisation behind and venturing into the wild. Every time I go I wonder why I don’t do it more often. Everything you sense seems to be perfectly in place and you feel at one with a greater whole.. Looking forward to riding 80k of pristine single track on the Heaphy Track in the wilderness of the South Island NZ  in a few weeks

  18. @Mike_P

    I routinely look at paved roads, river towpaths and tracks while thinking what they might be like to ride. Unfortunately, when it comes to a CX bike it would most definitely = s when thinking on Rule #12.

    Maybe @JohnB has got the right idea.

    The VMH launched into the ‘what! another bike’ discussion but the intended sales stopped her in mid rant. I wish I had that power more often.

  19. There’s something magic about riding where the sounds of civilization do not reach.

    I’m lucky enough to be able to ride logging roads in northern Wisconsin from time-to-time. Usually know where I am, but sometimes just guessing. Always interesting. Came across a mother bear with three cubs a couple of years ago.

  20. @mcsqueak

    “In my mind’s legs”, ha – brilliant.

    You know, you write pretty well for one of them nerdy computer programmers…

    Hey, why are the eyes the exclusive domain of the mind? What about those ghost smells you have, or that impulse you fight when Brett is talking and you want to punch something? For those occasions, I submit “In my mind’s eye/nose/legs/fingers/punch Brett in the face.

  21. @Marko

    On last evening’s ride I ventured down an old logging trail I hadn’t ridden before. As these roads often do around here gravel turned to sand/boulders turned to grass turned to ferns and petered out. As I shouldered my bike to look for any possible way through I looked down and saw what can only be described as a bumper crop of blueberries. I sat down and gorged myself like a fat bear before turning back and enjoying the gravel ride home. Nice article Frank.

    I used to do a LOT of offroad riding in that part of the word. A LOT. We didn’t have CX rigs then, but I think Jermey is a genius for organizing the Heck of the North, focused on CX rigs, not MTBs. Mind youif there are more than a few places where you will be happy for a 2″ tire and not a 33mm with drop bars, but of you point yourself in the right places, it’s drop bar knobby tire heaven out there.

    seroiusly crossing the old fingers I can get out for Heck.

  22. @frank

    @mcsqueak

    “In my mind’s legs”, ha – brilliant.

    You know, you write pretty well for one of them nerdy computer programmers…

    Hey, why are the eyes the exclusive domain of the mind? What about those ghost smells you have, or that impulse you fight when Brett is talking and you want to punch something? For those occasions, I submit “In my mind’s eye/nose/legs/fingers/punch Brett in the face.

    That’s your mother’s Bene Gesserit training talking, Muad’Dib.

  23. @El Scorcho

    I rode strictly dirt for 8 years before finding my way to the tarmac.

    The peace and solitude that can be found when outside the bounds of civilization has no equal.

    Backcountry skiing does the same thing. Just get away and rely – even in the slightest way – on your wit, and you will earn two weeks’ vacation at a resort in about 4 hours in the wilderness.

  24. @JohnB

    It’s purely thanks to this community that I sold my #2 and #3 bikes to finance a CX bike this year. The new #2. Reading Franks words on riding the gravel inspired me to venture where the MTB felt under utilised. I’ll still keep that for the true Scottish mountain trails and single track but the buzz of riding drop bars and skinny knobblies over gravel roads has pulled on my handling skills and enhanced my time with my bikes.

    The next Scottish V ride on 31 August is predominantly off road. There was hesitation over calling it a Cogal. This article confirms that it deserves the title. Thank you.

    While I don’t endorse the means, I fully endorse the end and the spirit. If, for some reason, I had to ditch the bikes, I’d land on the #1 and Graveur.

  25. @MNgraveur

    Very nicely written. Here in SE MN we have good roads, but great gravel. Rode 2 hours this am, saw zero cars, made friends with a new dog. All was right with the world.

    You seriously need to hook up with Marko. I hear Vroomen did the Almanzo on Hushovd’s P-R R3. Should be your neck of the woods if I’m picking up what you’re laying down.

  26. @Moelstrom

    It’s so true. And thanks for not making this post about “us and them.” Fat tires in the woods are great. Skinny tires on smooth pavement in the hills are also great. When you’re moving yourself on two wheels across our Earth, you’re earning your spot in our community. Bravo for putting it so well.

    It’s not “us” or “them”. We are all part of the same mystery, trying to figure out why two wheels matter so much to us.

  27. I am looking forward to some gravel this fall. I need to get my wheels sorted, however, as I broke a spoke during a recent cogal.

  28. @PeakInTwoYears

    @frank

    @mcsqueak

    “In my mind’s legs”, ha – brilliant.

    You know, you write pretty well for one of them nerdy computer programmers…

    Hey, why are the eyes the exclusive domain of the mind? What about those ghost smells you have, or that impulse you fight when Brett is talking and you want to punch something? For those occasions, I submit “In my mind’s eye/nose/legs/fingers/punch Brett in the face.

    That’s your mother’s Bene Gesserit training talking, Muad’Dib.

    That’s funny.  The last time I had to ride down an enormous hill I nearly shit myself.  I’m not a good descender.  I kept thinking…”I must not fear.  Fear is the mind-killer.  Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration…”

  29. The road in the photo looks to be worthy of “road reverence”.  One can only imagin where it leads.  I can appreciate less traveled roads, but I still have many paved roads with little or no traffic to explore in my area.  Perhaps exploring the unpaved roads is a way to get through the winter months, when the paved roads are sometimes no better than gravel ones.

  30. @Sauterelle the worst is the having thoughts of crashing while dropping in a steep rock strewn wash on my MTB. I do it everytime and then always think to myself that that cant be good. luckily I havnt crashed on any sharp rocks yet

  31. @Sauterelle

    @PeakInTwoYears

    @frank

    @mcsqueak

    “In my mind’s legs”, ha – brilliant.

    You know, you write pretty well for one of them nerdy computer programmers…

    Hey, why are the eyes the exclusive domain of the mind? What about those ghost smells you have, or that impulse you fight when Brett is talking and you want to punch something? For those occasions, I submit “In my mind’s eye/nose/legs/fingers/punch Brett in the face.

    That’s your mother’s Bene Gesserit training talking, Muad’Dib.

    That’s funny. The last time I had to ride down an enormous hill I nearly shit myself. I’m not a good descender. I kept thinking…”I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration…”

    I knew someone here would quickly come along and get the reference. (No surprise that it was another Bill Nelson fan.)

  32. it’s starting to be cx season up here.  my favorite place outside of velominati, is opening doors at 6am and serving waffles and coffee, then kicking off with an insanely wonderful ride hidden in the suburban jungles of boston.  there were some gravel sections where i literally felt like i was on a zipline, and all i could smell was apples.  un.freaking.real.

    outside of gravel, another zen experience would be riding the tractor paths of iowa farm fields.  early morning or at sunset and you’ll never want to leave. ever.

  33. @frank

    @Moelstrom

    It’s so true. And thanks for not making this post about “us and them.” Fat tires in the woods are great. Skinny tires on smooth pavement in the hills are also great. When you’re moving yourself on two wheels across our Earth, you’re earning your spot in our community. Bravo for putting it so well.

    It’s not “us” or “them”. We are all part of the same mystery, trying to figure out why two wheels matter so much to us.

    Anything on two wheels… really ?

  34. I’m driving 5 hours to glorious gravel tomorrow and won’t be back for two weeks.

    Catch you on the flip side…

  35. I have yet to discover CX…..so many facets to cycling….too little time and cash.  I have that slight obsessive compulsive element to my character….i am rather “single point focused”.  I cannot ride road in summer and mtb in winter, when i took up road, i gave up mtb.

    to start CX would risk losing my love of the road and i am not prepared to go there…

    i will stay with the roads most travelled, but peek with just a little envy at all the CX conversations that happen here over the winter.

    Great evocative article.

  36. By the by, here’s a convenient spot to get news, reviews, and race calendars for most things gravel. http://gravelgrindernews.com/

  37. I mentioned it in “The Rides”, but the Dirty 40 is coming up in VT in a few weeks. Looks like a blast. and it’s a 10$ race!

  38. Having grown up on mtbs, it’s no surprise I developed a love for unpaved roads after a few years of ‘road.’ In my area, most of the best roads are unpaved. I love 35mm tires for them, like Clement USH, tubeless. But for exploring new terrain, especially solo, I am digging my Niner MCR with drop bars and 2.0 Schwalbe Furious Freds. It’s a gravel grinder on roids. I can ride it fast enough everywhere to make it ideal Velo Tout Terrain (VTT). It was in fact inspired by  a dented rim during last year’s D2R2.

    I’m hitting the Dirty 40 with a couple teammates; can’t wait!

    For 28s, my answer depends on surfaces. The Grand Bois and Challenge offerings are very fast, but can’t handle pointy stuff. Vittoria’s 27 is a bit more durable. Hutchy has a new tubeless 28, the Secteur 28, which I am most keen to try for races like Battenkill.

  39. During the last year I’ve collected enough parts from upgrading my road bike to assemble a build kit. My VMH has decreed that I MUST build my gravel machine with a frame that is less than $1000 – which to my mind means steel. Anyone out there in V – Land have some ideas for a steel frame of this price point?

  40. Great post Frank. Gravel, grit, rocks, sand, mud…I too have never been able to explain the lure of gravel and dirt, but it is real and it is strong. I’ve spent hours searching on google earth and other sites for the small strips of dirty goodness that hide in the suburban world that I live in. Luckily enough there are quite a few options that I can take on a regular basis. Some are simply gravel options next to the paved bike trails that make up some of my commute to the office. Others are in the local parks that lead to the great single track MTB trails that exist around here. It’s always funny to hear some one joke about how I “must have taken a wrong turn” on my road or cross bike as a ride by them on the trails. I love riding my mountain bike, but there is something so sublime about skinny tires on dirt and gravel that you have to experience to understand.

    I’ve been lucky enough to have another gravel loving rider start working at the office recently, and we’re slowly converting a number of our lunch ride crew to follow us off the tarmac.

  41. @gregorio

    During the last year I’ve collected enough parts from upgrading my road bike to assemble a build kit. My VMH has decreed that I MUST build my gravel machine with a frame that is less than $1000 – which to my mind means steel. Anyone out there in V – Land have some ideas for a steel frame of this price point?

    Any particular reason to stay away from Alu?

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