Gravel

Last Sunday while most of the team was at the state championship road race, I ventured off with a long-time riding buddy for a 90 mile ride west of Richland Center  The route included 20 miles of gravel and 8,000+ ft of climbing, including some incredibly steep pitches.  Typically, I don't drive anywhere to go for a road ride, especially anything longer than 30 minutes.  But I'm glad I made the drive out for this ride. 

Cross bikes were the equipment choice of the day.  I went for 25c Bontrager AW3 tires.  While I had no problem with them for most of the ride, the steep, gravel descents had me wishing for something a bit wider with some knobs.  Had to do some moto-style cornering a couple of times, but made it through without any incidents. 

The riding, as well as the scenery was incredible.  It was hard to believe that I was still in Wisconsin.  It was also the first 5+ hour ride that I've done this season.  I'm not sure what took me so long to get around to spending a long day in the saddle this year, but it was well worth the wait.