I have relatively narrow tires (37), but I find it nearly impossible to ride on roads with long patches of deep sand. I imagine wider tires and lower pressure might help but I'm not sure how much. Would ride on a road like on the picture?
by tmierz
I have relatively narrow tires (37), but I find it nearly impossible to ride on roads with long patches of deep sand. I imagine wider tires and lower pressure might help but I'm not sure how much. Would ride on a road like on the picture?
by tmierz
36 Comments
I’d try with 50mm tires but I’m certain someone more skilled would able to do that with narrower tires.
Yes
This is where you push or widen your tires.
Yes but it is difficult. It requires a lot of power and a specific technique
Watch some cyclocross races like Koksijde, Oostmalle or Zonhoven, there you can see how the pros do it. (They run a lot of it)
CX riders can do it on 33s I’m sure you’ll be fine on 37s, just drop the pressure a bit
At very low pressure p
This is my specialty, but it’s difficult and inefficient. Can run it faster. If you want to ride it, gear down and be smooth as you can at max effort. Big and soft rubber helps, but then you’re slow somewhere else. Anyways, it’s s fun to see how far you get…
Already know the answer you seek….
Down shift and power through….or get a fat bike
Reduce tire pressure and use a much taller gear than you think you should. You can’t spin through sand, you have to mash.
For short stretches? Sure, but I think I’d want 45-50mm tires.
For miles at a time? No thanks.
One of my favorite New Hampshire rail trails was regraded from mulched wood over packed dirt to this kind of deep sand – I think they decided to make it more fun for ATVs. After a mile or two of trying to ride the shoulder and pushing the bike I gave up and found parallel pavement. It’s now my least favorite rail trail.
The hardest bit is unclipping quickly enough
It’s possible but it’s not worth it
Sugar Sand, I am in NE Florida, I can’t think of a time that I did not at least have a few sections of that joy during a ride. Low pressure and stubborness help.
In the deep sand, you are no longer pilot but merely the engine: follow the bike, steer with your weight and pedal like crazy. Pick the right gear before entering the pit
did this often on 40mm gravelling slicks while living in Berlin where all around the city is sandy woods.
go low gear and never stop pedalling. go slow and have a lot to steer while doing so. but you can never loose momentum. then it’s doable
1) go straight. trying to make turns doesn’t work in this (or is very very hard)
2) power. Go hard.
Get your weight back and off of your front wheel.
Yes, but it’s going to be difficult. 37 mm tires aren’t great for this. 45+ mm recommended. Ride swiftly through this without pause, the faster the better. Make sure to shift your weight to the back, to avoid the the front wheel digging in, which can lead to loss of control.
And of course a typical hack is to ride at the borders of the sand pit where the vegetation still holds stuff together.
Lean backwards, take the pressure of your front. Look where you want to go and let your front find its way. The moment you put pressure on your front is the moment you’ll start digging in.
Oh yes. I just did a 100km ride yesterday with 10km over this. Grizl 7.
Schalbe g-one overland 45mm
Sand even sucks on fat-tire
Looks like typical Baltic coast 🙂
Ride as far as you can and when you get tired of it just take the goat trails off to the side
Where I ride a lot after work there are paved and gravel utility roads and then MTB trails and horse riding trails criss crossing between them through the forest. The latter ones are like this. Every now and then when I try out a new combination of segments and let Strava route with the prever unpaved roads option it leads me on the horse trails. Cursing loudly every time but then am too stubborn to give up and turn around. Usually I shift to a lower gear that allows me to pedal smoothly while not kicking up too much sand onto the drive train then try to stay on the banks where the sand is not so deep. But hell do I hate those stretches
You in New Jersey? I just hit some trails like that on 38s, pretty close to the tuckahoe river area. It’s possible to ride but you have to be cool with your back wheel having a mind of its own. Just stay focused on guiding your front wheel through a consistent line and even though it feels like the back wheel is all over the place, it will follow.
Looks like the prairie of Poland
As already mentioned by others go lower pressure abd/or wider tires. For me the minimum tire width for stuff like that is 50mm but I’m a lazy ass mtb rider that prefers roots and rocks over sand😅
Looks like Long Island NY where we have a lot of sand fire roads
I ride gravel on the cape and have to spin short runs of sand regularly. Trick for me is high RPMs and 50mm tires, looks funny as you spin like a maniac at 3 mph though it, also you need to turn like a battleship, more arcing turns based on using the front tire like a rudder
Wrap it up, guys. Joke had been played out for days.
yes,, but you’d want proper wide tyres for that…if I had to ride on that, I think even my 50mm tyres would struggle at times…so I’d take my MTB with 2.8 inch tyres, which are ridiculous but needed on sandy terrain
Yeah its best to use clips pedals in these areas /s
Welcome to cyclocross
Not with that attitude
With wide tires and not too much pressure, sure! I did stretches like this on my MTB all the time. I haven’t encountered any with the gravelbike yet, but I don’t think it’d be an issue. Just take it easy, don’t expect 30kph.
Töõ Brûtæl, brœthër.