I’ve heard whisperings of never trusting Komoot routes but I had a pretty unfortunate solo ride where this route landed me in the roughest terrain.
Does this count as gravel? I think I would have found it tough on a hardtail.
I’m new to gravel, such that I’m riding on a Giant TCR road bike with 25mm tyres.. but don’t think the outcome would have been any different on MTB.
Hard pack dirt / rocky underneath from the tyre tracks of military vehicles (Part of military shooting ground north of Oxford) so also not advisable route wise.. super rutty and impossible to hold a line.
This went on for near 10km.
Is this what I can expect from UK gravel? It later became nice open clay / shingle paths. Or should this be reported to Komoot?
Cheers,
A roadie trying to have more fun
by TheRentrepreneur
27 Comments
🤣
I’m gonna invent a new category and call it “vegetation”
In the hectic and exciting world 🗺️ of cartography, we call this doing a “Mister Livingston I Presume?”
https://www.onthisday.com/articles/dr-livingstone-i-presume
🤣🥰🙌🏻✌🏻😍
It’s a category of gravel ride known as an Adventure. They’re made even better when you have to hike your bike, lost, and looking for another epic section of gravel. Well done
Gravel is anything you don’t want to ride a road bike
Grassel!
Also, cyclocross haha
In the UK it probably would as we don’t have much out and out gravel
But in fairness if you’re not on tarmac, most stuff is considered gravel now. Or think the places you’d have previously ridden a mountain bike for the past 40-50 years
We call sections like this salad
Sounds like an opportunity for the manufacturers to create another class of bikes!
Lols!! You need a grass bike for that!
Gravel (/ˈɡrævəl/) is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentary and erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. What you have here is not gravel.
Looks pretty standard for uk and think yourself lucky no stinging nettles
All Road
Komoot is hilarious 😆
[Vegetation, you say?](https://www.reddit.com/r/gravelcycling/s/dXGb4UbJ34)
Leafy green gravel
Grassel
I think the outcome would have been very different on A MTB or a more ‘gravel’ oriented set up or even a more experienced rider.
It’s not Ideal but also not that uncommon for UK ‘gravel’ riding.
Maybe find some canal toe paths or disused railways to get experience before upgrading your bike.
Grassel! 😂 Jokes aside I’d safely call this cyclo-cross terrain which is nice to do every now and then
I’ve taken my gravel bike over stuff like this for similar reasons but I have 45mm tyres and suspension but plenty of the fun gravel type roads in my area don’t ever see maintenance beyond pouring new rocks into potholes every decade or so.
Still not a super fun experience but doable, same on a hardtail for the most part. These things get annoying when the old car tracks dig deep enough to risk pedal strikes on either side too, makes you appreciate shorter cranks if you have them.
Komoot navigation on gravel is really bad especially in areas that don’t see a lot of bikes. I’ve had one of these happen about every ride I’ve planned with the goal of covering new areas (linked my Strava to Statshunters and going tile hunting to explore more). From 3 routes on the same vanishing tractor trail that didn’t exist only to find that the other end of where they should have gone was 50m higher up and covered in thick vegetation (took a ~1km detour to get up there after 45 minutes of hiking into the woods) to an overgrown underpass with running water on either side leading through a golf course or an illegal flow trail as the only direct connection between two routes that would otherwise be at least a 5km detour down and back up a mountain.
This is grass
Looks like a standard byway to me, wait until the winter and rain comes lol
This is par for the course round here (north of Berlin), I fully expect this on a “gravel” tour and enjoy riding it with my 55-584 tyres.
Haha honestly I consider myself lucky if I plan a route that doesn’t end up being like half this shit
I think all terrain, except asphalt is allowed for gravel 😉
There is a road like that near here, it’s steep and out of the way so very few people ride it. It’s gated, so nobody can drive on it. I have seen it in early spring when there is no vegetation. Can confirm there is gravel under all the weeds.
In the UK that would count as a decent bridleway and I would be all over it! No brambles or nettles is such a bonus.
Looks amazing but I’m running the OG 3” front tire on my Salsa Fargo which I call my gravel bike.
I wishhhhh I could showcase the ruttiness of this as it’s the entrance to the military shooting ground, looks like nice smooth ish grass but On the road I would average 28-30kph and through here I was under 10kph an hour for ~10km here but I take this on board and I think the conclusion is that I should buy a gravel bike!