Gravel riding

[cheesemethod]

Have you ever taken your road bike down a gravel road? I'm wondering this because every now and then when I'm out exploring I come across a gravel road, but most of the time so far I've chickened out and turned around. Are there any reasonable roads around Auckland that you can practice on without some wannabe WRC farmer trying to assault you with his cage? Do you use a different riding style on gravel?

[Dean]

Go to West Coast Road,, you go through kaukoppa on you'e way to wellsford then halfway there is a turn off to the right called west coast road. Very twistie and currently has around 3k of gravel, I suggest go their and have a crack at it. I figure what scares me the most in riding I do so that I overcome it. Im actually going down their in an hours time.

[cheesemethod]

Is this the west coast road off SH16? If that's the same road we're talking that was all sealed when I went through last.

[Mom]

West Coast Road becomes Woodcocks Road closer to Warkworth and is usually sealed, it was all sealed last weekend, but there is always the chance that they have started some roadworks in there since then. Gravel riding is the same as road riding, just the surface is different. Most rural roads have distinct tracks in them from the cars that have been over them. They usually appear as 3 distinct lines in the gravel.

I usually chose the left hand track which leaves plenty of room for oncoming cars to travel on without you having to move through the heaped up looser gravel between the tracks. That stuff tends to make your rear tyre slide all over the show. You wont want to be in top gear going hard out either, change down a couple of gears so you have a bit of throttle to use if your rear wheel starts to slide a little bit. You want to be accelerating just a little and actually ride the road, not coast along.

Get out and find yourself some gravel to practise on, it is a great skill to have and means you can explore so much more. It also will give you confidence when you come upon roadworks. Roadworks are all over the place at the moment. I rode to Whangarei yesterday and there are large sections of the road in gravel. Some of it really nice smooth stuff with minimum loose crap on the top, others of it total nughtmare stuff, big hunks of gravel not well compacted at all. It blows my mind that here in NZ we allow the traffic to bed in the base metal of our highways :weird:

[Dean]

Is this the west coast road off SH16? If that's the same road we're talking that was all sealed when I went through last.

HuH, when was the last time you went through?

[Mom]

HuH, when was the last time you went through?

Sunday last weekend :yes:

[Dean]

Sunday last weekend :yes:

I went saturday last weekend, at around 7pm, they must of sealed the road pretty quick!

[Mom]

I went saturday last weekend, at around 7pm, they must of sealed the road pretty quick!

I dont think you and I are talking about the same bit of road actually. West Coast Road off SH16 is sealed the entire distance from SH16 to SH1. It starts as West Coast Raod, becomes Ahuroa Road, then Woodcocks Road, trust me on this, I have lived here a long time :yes:

[Dean]

I dont think you and I are talking about the same bit of road actually. West Coast Road off SH16 is sealed the entire distance from SH16 to SH1. It starts as West Coast Raod, becomes Ahuroa Road, then Woodcocks Road, trust me on this, I have lived here a long time :yes:

Oh sorry :Oops: Im not to good with roads and whatnot, Its definately a challenging road, helps me improve so I figure its a good place to promote. Lucky you live their.

[Crisis management]

There's a ton of good gravel inland from you in the Kaukopakopa, Puhoi, Waitoki area, from Browns Bay head to Dairy flat, up Blackbridge road onto Bald Hill road and Ararimu valley road. The surface will vary from hard packed to gravel, lots of variety and not particularly busy. Once you feel a bit braver head north from Waitoki thru Monowai road to Krippner and Puhoi.
Get hold of an AA map which wil show all the unsealed roads clearly, $3.50 from the AA.
Traffic...they are all public roads and frequently service working farms, expect cars, quads, 4x4's sheep, horses, cattle and tourists. Ride with care as the roads are generally tight and with lots of blind corners and the odd weird camber.
How to ride gravel...just carry on the way you usually ride for a start a lot of guys ride very quickly on gravel using a street style, I tend to ride more a dirt style, pushing the bike down into corners and sliding the rear around.

If you want to know more keep an eye on the adventure forum, I have to plan another local ride in the future.

PS. use the GN, it's quite capable and a lot of fun.
PSS. Moms right, West coast road is sealed, are you thinking of Komokoriki road, off west Coast rd Dean?

[Mom]

The road from Puhoi to Ahuroa is not a bad bit of dirt to ride on as long as the council has not just put the grader over it. Not very busy once you have passed the Cheese Factory and a good mix of corners and gradients.

[Crisis management]

The road from Puhoi to Ahuroa is not a bad bit of dirt to ride on as long as the council has not just put the grader over it. Not very busy once you have passed the Cheese Factory and a good mix of corners and gradients.

Talk about different priorities! I prefer it just after the grader, you get consistent drift and heaps of wheelspin, roosts and crap flying everywhere.....

I must grow up one day

[FJRider]

I must grow up one day

Nah ... maturity is overated ..... :rockon:

[bogan]

gravel road can be fun, my advice would be ride in a more upright position (easier to recover from any brief loss of traction), look for the cage wheel lines as they have a lot less gravel and a lot more traction, but you have to look well ahead to make sure you dont run out and hit a loose patch.

[Hiflyer]

Try my driveway, I'm pretty sure it's the only driveway in Greenlane/surrounding suburbs that has a gravel driveway........

[Henk]

The GN will do gravel fine. The road that was sugested earlier as west coast road is probably Coast road, probably a good one to start with and the ride to it is fun. Go up Old North, when you hit Peak Road turn left, Coast Road is on the right not long after you pass Kiwitahi Rd on the left. Comes out a little South of Kaukap.

[cheesemethod]

Cheers for the help folks. I've got 3 weeks of leave coming up so I'll put a few gravel missions in there I think.

[Hiflyer]

I've got 3 weeks of leave coming up. . . .

DAMN YOU!!! I want 3 weeks of leave :(

[gavinnz]

I did a lot of gravel road riding on road bikes in my early days... I got quite confident after a while.
A few points to consider that might keep you upright are...

1. Sit up. The less weight on the front wheel the less likley it is to "dig into" a pile of gravel and plow it causing a lowside crash.

2. Relax your body. Keep light hands on the bars, if you have a death grip the wheel will tend to dig in and you want it to float. Don't fight it, let it move about.

3. Ride with care and not to fast. The reason for this is that if you get into lose gravel the best reponse if to accelerate. This might seem crazy, but what it does is it lifts the weight off the front wheel allowing it to "float" over the lose gravel. If you are going to fast then you can't accelerate and get that effect.

4. Be super carefull on the brakes and forget what they say about mostly using the front brake (which is correct on sealed roads) get used to using both brakes but the rear the most. This will tend to keep you in line on gravel.

5. At times you will be forced to cross the "pile" of gravel the seperates the car tracks... slow down before hand then accelerate over the pile.

6. ADVANCED ONLY! On a straight bit of road where you have 100% visablity for oncoming traffic, ride IN the pile of gravel in between the car tracks. VERY slowly at first. Rembering to accelerate out of it if you get into trouble. The bike will move about under you. Relax and get used to it. As one day you WILL be forced to ride in it by some random situation and if you have practiced it in a controled way you will stand more chance of staying upright.

7. Not if, but WHEN you are riding along on a sealed road and all of a sudden lose gravel roadworks is in front of you and you ARE going to go through it... this is what to do. While still on the seal, slow down as much as you can safely then just before you hit the gravel accelerate into the gravel and try and ride it out. THE WORST thing you can do is to try stopping hard in the gravel.

Hope that might help someone stay upright.
Regards
Gavin