Gravel road riding

[Cugel]

Most of my cycling has been on the road, with the odd bit of rough stuff in my youth and even a short bout of MTBing. However, since moving to West Wales, which is stuffed with forestry and the logging roads to get at it all, I've had a fancy for what's now called gravel cycling. I suppose I could've used the cyclo-cross bike I've had for some time but those West Welsh hills! Bad enough on the tarmac roads but very tough indeed in the forests. I'm just an olescrote now, you know.

Well, that's my excuse for buying an e-bike for gravelling. I've been riding a few of the Fforest Brechfa tracks I know well from dog walking .... but a bike means I can explore far further afield, along the zillions of maze-like tracks running all over the place, for probably well over a hundred miles.

Some pics of the new ride in its natural habitat. What a fine place it is out here!

Come the autumn, the mudguards will go on and it'll also be the winter bike. I love those fat tyres on the road as much as on the gravel. They provide enormous amounts of braking confidence and therefore the confidence to go down the steeps even faster!

Cugel, once more a big kid.

[Nearholmer]

The “kid again” factor in what is now labelled gravel biking is huge. Here in middle England we have very little of that grey gravel they show in all the bike adverts, but we do have a variety of other surfaces on which to cycle, including water.

This stream behind my bike in this photo is actually a bridleway, a sort of several hundred metre long ford, and definitely has “kid again” appeal.

[cycle tramp]

I love those fat tyres on the road as much as on the gravel. They provide enormous amounts of braking confidence and therefore the confidence to go down the steeps even faster!

Cugel, once more a big kid.

You risk compensationalist, you! Nice photos, I've always considered Wales a stunning place to cycle. While you're out and about if you could find an off road route from Chepstow to the northern most easterly point of Wales, then we're one step closer to a complete off road Land's End to John O'Groats route

[jamm13dodger]

How are you finding the Fazua drive train? Love mine and a really good option for getting more exercise than my older bosch powered emtb.

[Cugel]

The “kid again” factor in what is now labelled gravel biking is huge. Here in middle England we have very little of that grey gravel they show in all the bike adverts, but we do have a variety of other surfaces on which to cycle, including water.

This stream behind my bike in this photo is actually a bridleway, a sort of several hundred metre long ford, and definitely has “kid again” appeal.

Is it possible, then, to have tyres so fat that you can cycle on the water? What tread is appropriate on such tyres? Is there a lot of splashing and very wet legs? (I hate a wet leg, all soggy on me quads).

In Fforest Brechfa there are well kept gravel tracks all over, some wending around the contours but also connected by steep ascents and descents. In addition there are a few bridleways, often choked up with growth, though. They also have two extensive MTB runs, a black and a red, which look rather too "technical" for me and me graveller ....... . If I come off now I'll snap when once I would have just bent.

Cugel

[Cugel]

I love those fat tyres on the road as much as on the gravel. They provide enormous amounts of braking confidence and therefore the confidence to go down the steeps even faster!

Cugel, once more a big kid.

You risk compensationalist, you! Nice photos, I've always considered Wales a stunning place to cycle. While you're out and about if you could find an off road route from Chepstow to the northern most easterly point of Wales, then we're one step closer to a complete off road Land's End to John O'Groats route

Rather than cycle in a straightish line from down there to way up that other place, I tend to go in circles. At the moment the circles are ever increasing as I explore our new Welsh domain, although the time must inevitably come when they begin to decrease as bits of me wear out, fail or rot. The motor also expands the circles, mind.

The circles have the great advantage of starting at our dining room table and ending there, at which times I stuff myself with that fine excuse of "I'm going / I've been on a hard bike ride".

Cugel, a bit dizzy.

[Cugel]

How are you finding the Fazua drive train? Love mine and a really good option for getting more exercise than my older bosch powered emtb.

The Fazua motor is addictive, no doubt. I've had to impose a rule: only one light on the display must be extinguished at the end of any ride with the motor in. This gets me about 150 - 180K per charge over several rides. I set the power profiles to demand lots from me to get not that much from the motor. 125 watts minimum from me for 75 motor watts in green; 200 watts minimum from me for 150 motor watts in blue. 75 watts from me for 200 watts from the motor in pink. The last one is a "get home when bonked" mode, which I've never had to use so far.

But when there's another Welsh hill that's not only steeeep but looong, the motor gets switched on. I'm still all sweaty-panty with enfeebled leg at the top but the top comes so much sooner!

I have the blanking tube thing too, that goes where the motor-battery module goes but has cake in it instead. This gets put in on the rides with no black arrows on the route-roads.

Cugel, eking out the go juice.

[Nearholmer]

Is it possible, then, to have tyres so fat that you can cycle on the water? What tread is appropriate on such tyres? Is there a lot of splashing and very wet legs? (I hate a wet leg, all soggy on me quads).

This may answer a number of your questions, although personally I just cycle along it using ordinary tyres and accept the sogginess as part of the fun.

[Jamesh]

Most of my cycling has been on the road, with the odd bit of rough stuff in my youth and even a short bout of MTBing. However, since moving to West Wales, which is stuffed with forestry and the logging roads to get at it all, I've had a fancy for what's now called gravel cycling. I suppose I could've used the cyclo-cross bike I've had for some time but those West Welsh hills! Bad enough on the tarmac roads but very tough indeed in the forests. I'm just an olescrote now, you know.

Well, that's my excuse for buying an e-bike for gravelling. I've been riding a few of the Fforest Brechfa tracks I know well from dog walking .... but a bike means I can explore far further afield, along the zillions of maze-like tracks running all over the place, for probably well over a hundred miles.

Some pics of the new ride in its natural habitat. What a fine place it is out here!
Brechfa gravel ride C (1 of 7).JPG

Brechfa gravel ride C (2 of 7).JPG

Brechfa gravel ride C (3 of 7).JPG

Brechfa gravel ride C (5 of 7).JPG

Brechfa gravel ride C (7 of 7).JPG

Come the autumn, the mudguards will go on and it'll also be the winter bike. I love those fat tyres on the road as much as on the gravel. They provide enormous amounts of braking confidence and therefore the confidence to go down the steeps even faster!

Cugel, once more a big kid.

Might be a bit far for you but I cycled around Llyn Brianne Dam & Reservoir but could only go half way due to being on a road bike but it looks like you can do a full circumnavigation on gravel bikes?

[Benz3ne]

Most of my cycling has been on the road, with the odd bit of rough stuff in my youth and even a short bout of MTBing. However, since moving to West Wales, which is stuffed with forestry and the logging roads to get at it all, I've had a fancy for what's now called gravel cycling. I suppose I could've used the cyclo-cross bike I've had for some time but those West Welsh hills! Bad enough on the tarmac roads but very tough indeed in the forests. I'm just an olescrote now, you know.

Well, that's my excuse for buying an e-bike for gravelling. I've been riding a few of the Fforest Brechfa tracks I know well from dog walking .... but a bike means I can explore far further afield, along the zillions of maze-like tracks running all over the place, for probably well over a hundred miles.

Some pics of the new ride in its natural habitat. What a fine place it is out here!
Brechfa gravel ride C (1 of 7).JPG

Brechfa gravel ride C (2 of 7).JPG

Brechfa gravel ride C (3 of 7).JPG

Brechfa gravel ride C (5 of 7).JPG

Brechfa gravel ride C (7 of 7).JPG

Come the autumn, the mudguards will go on and it'll also be the winter bike. I love those fat tyres on the road as much as on the gravel. They provide enormous amounts of braking confidence and therefore the confidence to go down the steeps even faster!

Cugel, once more a big kid.

Croeso i Cymru I, too, am in West Wales (Swansea, to be more precise) and it's certainly got a nice expanse of forestry, bridleways, etc.
My move to a gravel bike has proven to be worthwhile (read: fun) too.

[Bmblbzzz]

The “kid again” factor in what is now labelled gravel biking is huge. Here in middle England we have very little of that grey gravel they show in all the bike adverts, but we do have a variety of other surfaces on which to cycle, including water.

This stream behind my bike in this photo is actually a bridleway, a sort of several hundred metre long ford, and definitely has “kid again” appeal.

Between Compton Dando and Marksbury?

[Nearholmer]

No, that one is near Woburn in Beds.

Maybe we should collate a list of all combined stream-bridleways and organise a ride round them.

[Bmblbzzz]

I figure it would be a pretty long ride. Make it a race; first prize, a pair of waterproof socks!

[Cugel]

Is it possible, then, to have tyres so fat that you can cycle on the water? What tread is appropriate on such tyres? Is there a lot of splashing and very wet legs? (I hate a wet leg, all soggy on me quads).

This may answer a number of your questions, although personally I just cycle along it using ordinary tyres and accept the sogginess as part of the fun.

D20C1642-EA73-4FAA-9FBF-26F2A0CCDEE0.jpeg

I notice that the "wheels" on the floaty-bike are a proper glaring yellow, which will be a fair warning to various watercraft hooners that a cyclist is in their way. That'll make it much easier for them to zero-in on the pedaller so they can give him a close pass, perhaps inclusive of a capsizing-wave or even a perforation of a "wheel" so that they can have a good laugh as he tries to mend the puncture whilst treading water.

Cugel, considering a canoe instead.

[Cugel]

Might be a bit far for you but I cycled around Llyn Brianne Dam & Reservoir but could only go half way due to being on a road bike but it looks like you can do a full circumnavigation on gravel bikes?

I do have a "'round Lynn Brianne" ride plotted on OS Maps, which tells me that it's 98km and 1899M of climbing from my front door back to the same door later on, when I'll be a shadow of my former self. Such a ride is within my current capabilities although it's about 2X as far as my habitual rides, which are often of the same climb rate (around 1000M every 45-50K).

A cafe at Tregaron might be necessary. Or I could stuff that pannier with cake. The last third of the ride is mostly down the gradual downhill from Tregaron to Lampeter, although there is a steep 100M climb out of Lampeter on the final leg home at the end. All it needs is a following wind and perhaps the ladywife will go too. A riding partner increases the pleasure and decreases the fatigue, I find.

The route I've plotted is all on tarmac roads - although some of them feel like gravel roads once one gets into the Cambrians proper, as I know from various forays around Ffarmers in the Twrch valley. However, it is possible to make a shorter circuit of this route by taking a gravel road over the tops and down into Llanddewi Brefi, missing out the dog-leg to Tregaron that the road route takes.

Persuading the ladywife (my only riding partner just now) to go on such a ride is beyond me at the moment. In the four years since she's taken up cycling instead of running, I've got her up from 25km to 50km with all the hills. She regards longer rides as self-abuse, just yet ... but I'm working on her! A lack of sufficient cafes in this area is part of the problem, as a halfway stop and fuel makes a big difference to one's mental stamina when it comes to the longer rides.

Cugel