At 09:56 AM 9/17/06 -0700, Jay Sexton wrote:
> No, we do not have any L'Eroica roads here. We have a lot of
> poorly maintained roads, unfortunately, but nothing to replicate
> "the real deal".
I never thought I'd see the day when folks riding beautiful vintage bike shod with tubulars would be going out of their way to find gravel roads! Just the other day I extended one of my rides only to find I had to navigate a couple of miles of gravel I'd forgotten about. I almost turned back, but heroically decided to brave the elements and take a chance on walking home if I punctured twice. Fortunately, my tires survived. Another problem with gravel is the corrosive calcium chloride that's used to stop the dust in populated areas. Where I live, many back roads are still gravel. I used to envy folks in "tobacco country" to the south of me, where all back roads are paved due the lucrative tax base from tobacco farmers. Of course now they're in dire straits.
John Betmanis
Woodstock, ON
Canada