I Love Fall...I Love Gravel

Fall is a gift from the great maker.  There's still a little warmth in the air, but it also brings the chill that makes one want to frolic in Mother Nature's goodness.  It's the time of the year when tubular tires rip through grass and hooligans swear in cyclist's faces.  It's also the time where we have just a few, but the best mountain bike races of the year left...but most importantly it brings the sounds of crushing rock underneath you tires.  That sound of gravel grumbling in your tympanic membranes.

Don't get me wrong, I love being the heckler at a cross race and I love the flowy singletrack, but what is it about gravel.  As I went out on a solo expedition this morning those catechisms danced in my gray matter. Gravel is simple...you and your bike.  It's primative.  Your journey solely relies on your legs, lungs, brain, and steel steed.  It's a reconnaissance.  Some days you know where you're going, other days you do not.  There are rides where a map is a neccessity, and others it's all by memory.  I've heard some people say the road that is less traveled is less traveled for a reason...I say take that road.  That road could lead to new discoveries and challenge your inner fortitude.  That road could develop a new sense of grit that you need.  You could bonk. You could break down...you could even get lost, better yet, lost in your own thoughts.  That's what makes it an adventure.  

Revel this fall. Become invisible with your surroundings.  More importantly...Have freakin' fun! 

Comments

[Robert Lewis Jenkins III]

I know that road :)

Best month out of the whole year fer sho.

[turbo]

I like the post. Gravel has been calling my name.

[Barry]

It's what I miss the most of MO. Those long gravel rides when I wasn't sure what
my route would be at the beginning of the ride.