Gravel / Gravé / Gnarmac / Groad / ATB

I can’t ride Saturday anyone have a previous route or current one to share?

https://strava.app.link/h4XVpZHavHb

Haven't looked that closely at it, no idea if it's a good-un

Every year I say I will, but something always come up (legit things). 2024: I'm on-call that day. =(

Edit: Be happy they're not going through Whitehall Plain - it's still a sh!tfest.

It's a good one, definitely a lot of tarmac, some classic offroad sections, some bits will be proper muddy, but most should be rideable. I am planning to ride it, although it will likely be more like "Strade Marroni" than bianche given the amount of rain forecasted for Friday and Saturday

Whitehall Plain

Nobody should, like, ever.

Top insight. Annoyingly I don’t have a Goldilocks setup. Slick 38 will be bad for the mud and knobbly 48 will be draggy on the tarmac. What would you ride? (Don’t say terreno wet or something).

Me and @cjr are riding it, setting off about 8:30 from his. You game?

I'd ride the faster tyres and walk around the mud. Tyres don't matter to giofox, he plans to stop for a bath in the mud anyway.

I love (or hate) that gravel riding is really all about the tyre choice that would best suit the overall course, but becomes a compromise for some sections where you either slide around or go slow(er).

Contrarily to Hippy, I'd go for the knobbly, but at a slightly higher pressure than if it was a purely offroad ride. Rather go slower/harder on road or sit on someone wheel than walk muddy sections.

Let's chat offline, I might start a bit earleir and there was some interest from 6AM too..

All riding is a compromise on tyre choice.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45712513

Had a better look at the route and highlighted offroad segments.
Segments 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 12 will be muddy for sure. I would highly recommend knobbly tyres.

Segment 1 is such a shitshow currently that I wouldn't mind skipping it in favour of Woodford New Road (LBR/ENR)

Your tyres are backwards, knobbly 38 for SFAB and slick 48 for tarmac.

such a shitshow currently that I wouldn't mind skipping it

You've changed.

I've ridden that a lot already this winter, the novelty has worn off

the novelty has worn off

Much like your paint job. :)

Your tyres are backwards

Yep. Have had zero issues with mine and I don' treat metal bits with kindness.

Just MTB things

Speaking of dodgy paint...

I appear to have some form of lacquer peel on my forks. Anybody had experience with big-S paint warranty?

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Not sure how you're going to go with "my paint looks funny" on a gravel bike...

I've pulled the clearcoat off my Shiv when removing race numbers (and those 0.02W probably deffo cost me my 300mi 12hr)

This paint isn't for gravel - it looked cool, but is 100% not durable. Considering I'm about 4hrs in on the bike, it looks like dog shit. Scratches I can accept as self inflicted (I don't know how the couple below happened). The peel on the front I cannot accept.

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I won’t bother mentioning how good the Arkose paint job is.

Did someone mention paint…

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It's okay, I'll just get my Sl7 out its box to dry my tears.

(that is bloody lovely)

On a serious note is that finish a RTP one? Or proper finish? I was a bit unsure.