• Training
    • Injury Prevention
    • Training Tips
  • How To
    • Bike Fit
    • Gear
  • Nutrition
    • Nutrition Tips
    • Weight Loss
  • Repair
  • Reviews
  • Stories
    • Funny Stories
    • Jokes
    • Quotes
    • Videos
    • Funny Videos

I Love Bicycling

I Love Bicycling is a website that is geared towards cycling for beginners with road cycling tips, training articles, nutrition tips, weight loss, how to’s and bike repair articles.

How To Make Your Bike Gravel Ready

January 29, 2020 by Josh Friedman

Gravel riding is exploding in popularity. Is your bike gravel ready so it will not explode when you hit the first section of dirt on the ride? Taking a few steps to prepare your bike appropriately for the conditions you face will keep you pedaling and not waiting for the broom wagon or calling home for a ride.

Get Free Email Updates!

Signup now and receive an email once we publish new content.

We will never give away, trade or sell your email address. You can unsubscribe at any time.

gravel riding

Dirt Roads

Dirt roads come in a variety of forms, from smooth, packed dirt to roads covered in loose baseball-sized rocks. Your approach will differ for each that you encounter, although you should prepare for the worst road you will see on the ride. If you have an overbuilt bike on smoother roads, you are sacrificing speed, and if you have an underbuilt bike on harsh roads, you sacrifice durability and maybe even your ability to ride the bike. Get it right and you will optimize your ride.

For each of these types of rides, double check that your bottle cages can handle the bumps and vibrations. What may work on asphalt may not work on a gravel road. There are a couple of tricks to adapting your current cages. One is putting grip tape on the surfaces that contact the bottle. It may mar your bottles, but it is better than being two hours from home with no bottles. The other is to girth hitch a wide rubber band or two on the front edge of the bottle cage. It could provide that extra friction your cage needs to do its job with an item you have lying around the house. If you have a metal cage, you can also bend in slightly to hold the bottle more secure.

Your bike should be in pristine working order before an adventurous gravel ride. Make sure the chain is lubed, the derailleur hanger is straight, the cables and bearings are clean and the tires are free from ruptures in the casing. These are easy maintenance tasks that, if you skip, will make a great day a miserable day.

Smooth to Medium Dirt

Despite what many people think, you can ride a road bike on smooth dirt roads. There is not much you need to do different to prepare your bike. The same rules apply to riding on the road – take good lines and stay out of potholes. Once it gets a little wet or the surface gets a little loose, drop your tire pressure a bit for better grip, but only if you are comfortable with avoiding said potholes or other debris on the road. Lower pressure will increase your likelihood of pinch flats.

Medium Dirt to Rough

This is where you need to start adjusting your equipment. Ideally you switch to a cyclocross bike with thirty-two or thirty-three millimeter tires that have less aggressive tread, maybe a file tread, unless you foresee loose dirt and gravel, and you could use all arounders. Mud tires will have too much rolling resistance. To have less rolling resistance, pump your tires higher than you would if it was a regular cyclocross ride. It will also help resist pinch flats. You will ride at a bit higher speed on a road like this than a standard cyclocross ride with fewer hazards, although the hazards may be more dramatic – a loose rock or deep pothole.

The Roughest

The roughest roads require the most volume in your tires. If your cyclocross bike can handle it, get forty millimeter tires. Again, the tread does not need to be super aggressive, but file treads probably are not ideal here. If your cyclocross bike is not up to forty millimeter tires, riding a mountain bike with less aggressive tires is a fine choice. There have been plenty of winners of gnarly gravel races that have used mountain bikes. Another benefit of a mountain bike is suspension. While your legs and arms are the best suspension tools you have, a little help is nice. There are a few gravel or cyclocross bikes with light suspension to take the edge off; this is an ideal application for such a bike.

Additional Considerations

Tubeless tires excel in the aforementioned conditions. There is a far lower risk of pinch flatting, and if you do flat, you can repair the flat with a tube. And depending on the conditions you may come across and duration of your ride, you may want to carry a spare tire too. You definitely want to carry a multi-tool that can fit all of the bolts and screws on your bike, two tubes, a patch kit, a few dollar bills to boot a tire and a real pump (not just CO2). It sounds like a lot, but a reasonable seat pack should fit it all, except for the pump, which should go somewhere on your frame. You want patches and a real pump so you can handle more flats than your two spare tubes can repair.

Get Gravel Ready

You can be gravel ready with most of the equipment you already have. A few tweaks to your setup can make gravel riding a more enjoyable and successful experience. Go get dirty! And if you’re looking for other tips on gravel riding, check out another one of our gravel articles: “Everything You Need To Know When Riding Gravel.”

 

Learn More:

  • Making the Switch from Road to Cyclocross on the CheapMaking the Switch from Road to Cyclocross on the Cheap
  • What is Cyclocross?What is Cyclocross?
  • A Guide to the Best Cycling SunglassesA Guide to the Best Cycling Sunglasses
  • Women’s Cyclocross – What, Who, Where, & Why It’s AwesomeWomen’s Cyclocross – What, Who, Where, & Why It’s Awesome
  • Your First Cyclocross RaceYour First Cyclocross Race
  • 5 Winning Cyclocross Tips5 Winning Cyclocross Tips

Filed Under: Gear, How To, Training Tagged With: cyclocross, dirt roads, gravel riding, making your bike gravel ready

About Josh Friedman

Josh Friedman has been racing since 1997 and coaching other cyclists since 2008. Josh, head coach at ATP Race Consulting, is a USA Cycling Level 2 certified coach, with athletes near his home in Pittsburgh and across the US. His extensive cycling background, which has brought him to four continents, coupled with a master’s degree in experiential education allows Josh to go beyond coaching. He is a teacher of all things cycling. He is also a father who knows how critical it is to balance all of your life’s commitments in order to succeed. You can find him online at www.atpraceconsulting.info and on Twitter @ATPRacing.

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter

Latest Articles

Who Invented the Bicycle?

October 6, 2020 By Sarah Lauzé

What size bike do I need?

October 4, 2020 By Sarah Lauzé

The Number of Calories Burned Cycling

October 1, 2020 By Sarah Lauzé

The Benefits of Cycling for Your Mental Health

September 9, 2020 By Sarah Lauzé

Symptoms of Bad Bike Fit

September 8, 2020 By Sarah Lauzé

How to Choose the Best Cycling Jersey

September 2, 2020 By Sarah Lauzé

Useful Info

  • Contact
  • Finally, A Global Cycling Club That Is Focused On Community And Love Of Cycling!
  • Share Your Story!
  • Terms And Conditions Of Use
  • Welcome to I Love Bicycling
  • What Happened When I Stretched Every Day For a Month

Recent Posts

  • Who Invented the Bicycle?
  • What size bike do I need?
  • The Number of Calories Burned Cycling
  • The Benefits of Cycling for Your Mental Health
  • Symptoms of Bad Bike Fit

Search I Love Bicycling

Connect with Us

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • RSS
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2021 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in