We’ve mentioned the idea of riding dirt roads in this area. We said we’d get back to you with more info soon. Well, soon has arrived.
How does this sound to you? A loop of roughly 41 miles, with 15 miles of unpaved road in it. The unpaved sections are very low traffic, and mostly hardpack with very little gravel. All are easily negotiable on road bikes. (I’ve scouted a couple of these sections on a tourist, in the rain. No great difficulties presented themselves.)
Are you interested? Does this sound like fun? If so, behold!
Presenting the Road Dragon Dirt Road Route 1
TA-DA!
Obvious questions arise. Like:
- So where is this route?
- How do I find my way around it?
- What are the conditions like?
- How hard is it to navigate this thing? Road paint?
- Are you planning to lead rides on this thing?
- What kind of equipment would I need to ride this?
Answers:
Where: The ride is a loop, and its start/finish point is in front of Bicycles Unlimited, Peachtree City, GA. The route is located in the southern portion of Fayette County. I’m including a PDF of the cuesheet below, and I’ll post that on the South Side Cycling Club website. I’ll attach the PDF to tomorrow’s edition of the Tuesday Tome.
Conditions: The paved sections are paved, mostly pretty good. The unpaved sections are mostly “hardpack.” There are a few bits with some gravel, but it’s not deep or large. The unpaved sections are entirely rideable on a road bike, with one caution. (NOTE: I’d recommend not using 700 X 23 racing tires. Racing tires are very supple and thin. This is begging for a pinch flat.)
Navigation: If one is familiar with the southern part of Fayette County, this thing is a snap. I do recommend using the cue sheet. Paint doesn’t make much sense. It’s not possible to put paint on dirt. (IMHO there’s already too much road paint down in that end of the county.) It’s quite possible to shorten this loop. The thing doubles back on itself several times. (Remember the purpose of this exercise was to link an appreciable amount of unpaved sections together.) One happy result is that it is possible to either double up on sections, or to cut the ride short in any number of ways.
Group Rides: Yes! I do plan to lead some group rides on this route. Stay tuned.
Best Equipment: Of course this could be ridden on a mountain bike, but really, that’s overkill. The dirt sections are not so demanding as to require a full-on off road bicycle, and it would be somewhat tedious using such a bike on the 25 miles of pavement in this route. Any rod bike could handle this trip. I would recommend at least 700 X 25 tires, of a high durability nature. Better still would be 700 X 30 or larger, on a road bike that could handle such. Tourist or cyclocross bikes would be just about ideal.
You are invited to go have some fun with this. Please do let me know what you find and what you think of it.
Looks like a good route - may have to try it this weekend.
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