Actually, Bill, having done a number of contemporary gravel events, I get the impression that nostalgia has almost nothing to do with it. People are riding gravel because it's there and offers a sense of adventure. Iowa might be stuck with 67K+ miles of gravel roads (I don't know whether that includes B- and C-level roads) but I guess if life gives you lemons, you can always make lemonade.
<http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140327/LIFE08/303280026/Adventure-Iowa-Bike-racers-on-gravel-face-rocky-road-and-love-it> Minnesota and Iowa's driftless gravel roads are arguably as scenic as the ones in Wisconsin. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/mababo/sets/72157634670335618/> A fat bike might be overkill, but it can be done: <http://www.flickr.com/photos/mababo/8767024753/in/set-72157633573776284> Cheers, Michael On Mar 26, 2014, at 4:21 PM, William Hauda <[email protected]> wrote: > > It's quite apparent from Wheel Fever, State Historical Society > materials and LAB archives that bicyclists paved the roads (paving was done > first with wood, i.e., Watertown Plank Road leading west out of Milwaukee. > With the rise of the Wisconsin dairy industry and the need to get perishable > milk reliably to cheese factories and consumer markets, the farmers came to > appreciate the gift of paving, and we now have all those wonderful paved town > and county roads that Robbie refers to. Even Iowa, which touts its RAGBRAI > tradition, is still stuck in the mud with lots of gravel. (Although there > recently has fairly recently emerged a "bike gravel" movement, sort of a > reminiscence, I guess, with their own events. And my Pugsley is seriously > thinking about that.) > > At 03:52 PM 3/26/2014, Michael Lemberger wrote: >> On Mar 26, 2014, at 12:58 PM, Robbie wrote: >> >> > Even the little farm roads with almost no traffic are paved. That's what >> > makes road biking so amazing here. >> >> It's arguably the lack of traffic, more than it is the pavement. Gravel can >> be most excellent, and is exactly what we'd be doing in the absence of our >> pavement. >> >> <http://gravelgrindernews.com/?post_type=tribe_events> >> >> Michael Lemberger >> Madison >> _______________________________________________ >> Bikies mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
