"Fire roads" are definitely not flat. Conditions are usually pretty good. Rocky and rutted in some places, no gravel. There might be jeep-track heading out from them. If you ever question what a Rivendell is built for, look no further.
BTW, here's a cool gravel-road race promo for the mid-west: http://vimeo.com/11700688 Nicely put together video (if not a touch silly). On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 9:12 AM, Pete Olson <apol...@centurytel.net> wrote: > Hi Jim. I’ve had a chance to ride my Rawland a little on trail and > mixed paved/gravel roads and the new, wide Noodle bar you guys added > works well. I am struck the gravel roads I ride in northwestern > Wisconsin are heterogeneous as far as origins, land ownership and > responsibility for maintenance. Some of the roads started as wagon > roads from the logging era (tote roads), logging railroads (a tip-off > is now having “grade” in its name), farm roads or forest roads put in > for multi-uses like logging, lake home, cabin and recreational access, > and fire control. Besides unpaved farm roads, I ride on roads in > county forests, state forests, a national forest, and privately owned > commercial forest land. I took a trip last summer to Keweenaw County > in U.P. Michigan and I think most of the forest land was in private > land holdings that go back to the time of mining exploration. The > biggest change I see with most of these roads over the last twenty > years has been general “improvement” in the development sense which > means widening, straightening, adding gravel and more grading. > Unfortunately it is getting harder to find narrow, twisty roads, that > tunnel through the trees. Near here, the Chippewa County Forest > trails probably come closest to western style fire trails; narrow, in > steep glacial moraine, not overly graded, and not plowed in the > winter. According to someone I know who lives in the Blue Hills of > western Rusk County, the motivation of the local township board for > road widening is fear of liability if a driver runs off a road and > hits a tree. Bill- I did some riding on the CAMBA system around > Hayward and Seeley last fall (Boedecker and Janet Rd and Phipps Fire > Lane) and Phipps Ln in particular looked wider and more built up than > it was in the 80’s and 90’s. -Pete > > On May 14, 3:32 am, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thill....@gmail.com> > wrote: > > I've been reading about these "fire trails" in Grant's writings for > > years. As far as I know, we don't have fire trails in Minnesota, but > > we have thousands of miles of rural gravel roads, and races/rides on > > these gravel roads have exploded in popularity. This weekend I, along > > with several hundred others, will be riding the Almanzo 100, which is > > a free-for-all gravel century. Technically it's a race, but I > > seriously doubt that I'm in contention of finishing much better than > > middle-of-the-pack. > > > > It's arguable that Rivendell has played a role (indirectly) in > > popularizing this kind of event with Grant's advocacy of tire > > clearance and riding "road bikes" on unpaved surfaces. I'll be riding > > my Atlantis-inspired Goodrich, and I expect to see lots of Rivendells. > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<rbw-owners-bunch%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > > For more options, visit this group athttp:// > groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<rbw-owners-bunch%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- Cheers, David Redlands, CA "Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There is something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym." ~Bill Nye, scientist guy -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
