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What are these roads?


     Post #14: Early bird gets the worm.  Western New York is in a drought, and with tropical storm Elsa and Mid-West storms has pushed the moisture in to the area.  With that, it is raining at night and drizzles around mid day.  With this weather pattern I have been going out after day break to sneak a ride in.  

    Today is a rest day for me.  Tomorrow I am going to ride the Tour De Perry. As I mapped it out on Strava, it claims my estimated finish time is 3hrs 45mins.  On a full squish bike, 51 miles and 3,100ft of climbing, I think I will keep that as my goal.  If I had the CAAD13 out here, I would aim for 3hrs.  The 2.35 Vittoria Barzos I have mounted, roll okay on pavement at 30PSI.  I wished I would have known about the ride prior to seeing a sign on the road side and my departure from Iowa.  At this point it is what it is, and with my current health scenario I think it is best I ride slower and stay out of the lead and second packs.  

    I came across two gravel roads on my ride the other day.  As a kid, I use to ride a Omega 21 speed down Crossman road in Covington, NY.  Now that road is chip and sealed.  Being 20+ years removed from the area I have noticed a few roads with new houses that turned seasonal (Level B or MMR) roads into chip and sealed roads.  Being on a full squish bike I found these beauts and rode them.  Sad part and maybe not sad, the Strava Heat Maps show both Transit and Van Valkenburg roads are seldom if ever ridden.  I kind of understand not riding Van Valkenburg road as you need to be on Route 20A at some point.  Granted Rt 20A has a beautiful 3 foot apron on both sides, it is heavy with large truck traffic.  That may be a deal breaker for some.  Regardless, I would feel comfortable riding these roads on 28mm road tires.  It would be a bit bouncy at 80PSI, but it is also not Iowa gravel that is sharp and chunky at times.  I got a snapshot of the roads, so who knows it may be chunky when the maintainers pass thru.  It did remind me of late winter hard and fast Iowa gravel.  You know that gravel that spent all winter being pushed into the road surface and the dirt over takes it making the surface faster than tarmac.  

Cheers and Godspeed


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Location: Covington, NY 14525, USA

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