Gravel Grinding

Chris likes to explore uncharted territory on his road bike, that is, gravel and dirt roads that present themselves during road rides. I will sometimes humor him if the gravel road is very short, but because road bikes with their ultra-skinny tires are not made for gripping unstable surfaces I prefer to remain on paved roads when riding my skinny-tire bike. Last winter I considered buying a 'gravel' bike, which takes a much fatter tire than my current bike (but is not so cumbersome as a full on mountain bike) and so would let me explore unpaved roads without too much trepidation. I didn't purchase one last summer but started thinking about it again this winter. So when we returned from Tucson I figured I just ought to go buy myself a 'gravel grinder' before I came up with more excuses not to. After all, we're not getting any younger, are we!?

Here she is:

Chris had been thinking about buying a gravel-specific bike for some time and he decided to take the plunge also. So now we both have 'fat tire' bikes for exploring gravel.

ready to grind some gravel

Our maiden voyage was a 30-35 mile loop out of Hood River, of which about 20 miles was gravel. A new route for me, fun to explore new terrain. It would have been impossible for me to ride this route on my road bike.

yes, this is a paved road; gotta get to the gravel section !
Mt. Hood in the background (by the clouds)

gravel gravel; that's more like it

gravel roads = few cars

the hills were hard

pretty flowers

Chris goofing for the camera

Ice cream shop at the end of the route; how perfect is that?