Adventures in Gravel Biking |

Adventures in Gravel Biking

Some cyclists like to train on busy main roads where a continuous stream of passing cars, trucks and busses help increase their average speeds and get them closer to the coveted Starva KOM. Others prefer to amble along quiet country roads, lanes and bodhreens, looking in over ditches, taking in the scenery that surrounds them. I tend to fall somewhere in between both, but with a closer allegiance to the ambling ditch lookers.

When gravel bikes first came out a few years ago they were heavy, clunky, half mountain bike mutants that were best suited to pannier bearing, carrier toting, broken tarmac commuters. I preferred to take my chances searching for adventure off the beaten track on a road bike with slightly wider tyres.

Recently, however, gravel bikes have become exactly what they were dreamed up to be. A two wheeled adventure focused road bike that eats up tarmac at speeds very similar to a good race bike whilst also maintaining an appetite to devour any rubble strewn surface that will get you from A to B via Z if Z offers any type of opportunity for adventure.

Advantage number 1 :

South Tipperary and North County Waterford provide some the very best road surfaces in Ireland to test out a gravel bike on. ie: many of the roads have more in common with Beiruit than Berlin. The rougher roads are especially suited to cyclists, as cars get banged around so much that drivers avoid them. On a normal road bike with 25mm tyres you get bounced and jarred along. With 32mm tyres you feel as though someone from the council listened to your prayers and scattered some gravel towards the craters to smooth them out a little. However on a gravel bike with 38mm or 42mm tyres at 50psi you get to actually enjoy the roads once again when only the deepest of potholes are felt and noticed.

Advantage number 2 :

We have an abundance of great mountain biking in our area stretching from Ballymacarbry all the way around to Carrick on Suir. Within 5 km of home I can be inside a wood that will offer hours of mountain biking enjoyment. And 5km is enough of road riding when you are on a mountain bike. There are other trails a bit further away but they are too far to cycle on the MTB and there are too many good ones close by to go to the hassle of driving elsewhere. Then along comes the gravel bike and I find myself riding 30km to Portlaw to ride the trails down there and then ride a different road route home. Every minute of the spin was enjoyable. The gravel bike opens up many new horizons and possibilities.

Advantage number 3 :

When you find yourself aboard what must surely be a cross between Macgyvers Swiss Army knife and an Army Tank you feel invincible. You look at any peak, go to the top of where the tarmac can bring you and then keep on going. Your options begin to feel unlimited. The best thing about cycling when you first learn to ride a bike, and are given the leeway to go out alone, is the sense of freedom and adventure that you experience. Over time as you begin to ride the same roads again and again that sense of adventure begins to dissipate so you look for other challenges such as bad weather, darkness and harder climbs. A gravel bike brings you right back to the start again, instilling that teenage sense of adventure that you had many moons previously. You enjoy this all the more now that you are old enough to appreciate that it is finite.

Disadvantage :

You can get a bit carried away on a gravel bike. Agreeing to be home for a certain time might not be the best idea. Whilst most cyclists know within a few minutes exactly how long certain loops will take, you can find yourself spending a lot longer than anticipated when out exploring on a gravel bike.

There is also the consideration that it can be slightly less responsive than a conventional road bike, although I managed to get around on a 120km group spin averaging 31kph. In reality the only time that I would have noticed any form of sluggishness was when a few attacks were thrown in on a climb and the acceleration was a bit more subdued than on the Defy Advanced that I am also riding at the moment.

Overall conclusion :

If I could only have one bike, to train on, ride sportives, play on up in the mountains and to ride the greenway and blueway with the kids, then the Gravel bike would be it.

My bike of choice, which I consider to be one of the very best Gravel bikes currently on the market is the Giant Revolt Advanced Force 0. The carbon frame and wheels keep the weight down in the 7.5kg range and the SRAM Force axs 12 speed groupset is superb (a word not normally associated with SRAM group sets)

There is a full range of Giant Revolt Gravel bikes that you can check out here : http://www.giant-cork.ie/ie/bikes-revolt-2020

These are a few images of the places that the Giant revolt Gravel Bike has brought me to so far :

https://www.instagram.com/p/B49v-LyFb72/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5DQDnIF8Tk/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5DzlNAldAz/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5Iq9MZFixB/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5cxUW_FA9j/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5czClClGRv/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5c0BxpFjqc/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5c_VO_lQls/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5dOIO4lNdz/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5qhzXrFjMT/