Not true, there is plenty soft dirt to dog your side knobbies into on the forest roads I ride.
Well, according to this thread, that might be a perfectly capable gravel tire.
I’d strongly considered running the 32mm gp5000 at barry roubaix next month. I’m too scared of getting bogged down in deep sand on a 1 mile stretch though. Other than that one mile, i think it would be ideal honestly. ~40psi, with foam inserts just in case of an occasional larger rock or pothole.
Also another thing to consider with gravel racing…these are not crits, mtb, or cyclocross courses. Cornering is not really a thing…you’re going 5 miles down the road and then hanging a left onto the next 5 mile stretch. We can debate the value of side knobs from a physocs/theoretical perspective…but in all honesty IMO it doesnt even come into play in a significant way.
My mindset anyway, is if you have enough traction to get up the steepest climb, and enough volume to roll over the loosest/deepest section of a course, the only thing that matters is best rolling resistance; barring flats that is.
I’m doing my first gravel race next month. Bwr San Diego. I’ve borrowed a bike. Just need to put a fresh set of tyres on it. I’ve spent 30 hours researching and asking questions. This thread is a reflection of what’s been suggested. I still can’t decide. And to make matters worse. The wafer course- in the last week- has gone from 19 miles of gravel (25%) to 40 miles of gravel(50%).
Loathe gravel.
“Also another thing to consider with gravel racing…these are not crits, mtb, or cyclocross courses. Cornering is not really a thing”
Abe, no offense, but are you trolling us, or have you never ridden a bike off road?
Lol. Yea the problem with gravel, as others mentioned, is it can be basically anything. Asphalt, grass, big rocks, deep gravel you sink into, or a gravel road so smooth you’d be happy with a road bike and 25mm tires.
BWR SD is not particularly technical and I’ve done it on slicks, but you might find that a file tread with side knobs will give you more margin for error.
Lol, yes, I have ridden a bike off road. To be fair though I’ve only done a handful of gravel races, so it’s possible I shppose in other areas they’re set up like crits with corners everywhere. I suspect that would be a rare exception though…
I agree that this is more of the same N=1 answer, that serves little purpose in the broad world that exists here.
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Sure, there are gravel routes and events that are pretty much straight shots for miles with a few 90* intersections to navigate the course. These may be taken at a pace that largely sidesteps real “cornering” considerations.
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In my area, I have more than a few “winding” roads that also correspond with real pitches that mean you are at rally speed ripping around corners with enough pace to provide a pucker & white knuckles.
- Add in the variation in “gravel” condition with our real “corners” and I am sticking with knobs in the middle and sides most of the time. There are times I have used minimal center tread with side knobs, and I don’t love them for my needs. But I know they are a great setup for some riders and areas.
Short and simple statements seem destined to fail in this discussion, IMO.
Not where I gravel!
Hahah fair enough. Our terrain is pretty boring here in the midwest, not a lot of features for roads to have to wind around.
One thing that hasn’t been discussed much in this thread is the puncture resistance that knobs potentially offer against sharp rocks encountered in mtb and gravel. Maybe much of the benefit of knobs is increasing the distance between the outermost layer of the tire and the inner casing.
Keegan did the every gravel event of the Lifetime series on Maxxis Refuse.
Yeah… it varies big time. By the sounds of it a lot of people would get absolutely rocked by many of the “Gravel” events happening in California! Always steep descents and corners. It’s really more what midwesterners would consider challenging singletrack, probably. Heck even the fire roads here are super gnarly.
It’s possible Keegan’s bike handling skills are excellent
Even though there are variations in “Road” & “MTB”, it’s arguable that “gravel” has a much wider range of what people consider as within each category.
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I’ve been on tarmac that was rougher than some MTB trails (top of Empire Pass in the Tour of Utah Ulitimate challenge) and MTB trails more buffed out than a paved BMX track, so there are exceptions.
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But when you talk about “gravel” I think there is far more chance we are not talking about the same thing. Stuff in my county is crappy really, with massive amounts river rock on top of bentonite clay as well as smooth stuff and a mix of loss gravel on top.
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Then I can drive maybe 45 minutes to another county and have stuff that borders on dirt pavement with some kitty liter on top.
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Then if I head to Sheridan WY I can hit hero gravel that is as fast as any pavement with minimal rock on top… where a prior Dead Swede winner took the top step riding a CX bike on 32mm Bontrager AW3 tubeless tires (that I loaned him
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Gravel is far from a singular surface and tire selection is beyond personal to a point of being almost impossible to generalize.
If you are asking if physics don’t apply to him, I would say they do.
Nah, if elevation doesn’t affect Keegan, Gravity and Friction aren’t allowed in his party either 
Agreed. Have been doing some scouting. I think the objective is not too flat. They’ve added a lot of single track though. It’s 90% flow. 10% technical. Assuming there isn’t a ton of traffic and dismounting. It’ll be about getting through the technical sections unscathed.