I decided to ride the cross rig up the west side of the mountain, take it down the opposite side and back home on Tramway. That was the hardest ride I have done this year. The first ten miles of the climb isn't bad as it is pave, but when it turns to gravel...the going gets tough. I was riding a bike with 50-34 gears up and 12-27 in the back. I really would have liked at least a 29 in the back. A few of the corners were pretty beat up and rutty and the 27 was a push to get through. I think one of the reasons it was so much harder up the gravel was just the roughness in general. It hasn't been grated yet, so there was a lot of washboard and without suspension the going was rough. Total mileage was 90 miles. I have to say I was toasted too.

Sounds interesting. Where is the route yo took up the west side? Is it on the DeLorme maps?

This past Friday I was thinking how much a crossbike would add to the routes I can do around my neck of the woods. Especially in winter when the dirt is packed and frozen. I'll have to add it to the list after the fixed gear bike and the stupid-light go-fast bike and the single speed mtn bike... man it never ends... :)

The road that goes from Bernalillo to placitas. To the west it is US 550, I am not sure what it is called to the east of I 25 though. It is paved then it just turns to dirt/gravel. You could probably ride it with any bike with a 25mm tire, but the cross tires helped a bunch with some of the rear wheel slipping on the corners. Plus I was able to run the 32mm tires at 50 psi without any problems. I stopped at the bike and board shop at the base on the other side and had him beef up the PSI to 70 for the rest of the paved miles.

Sounds interesting. Where is the route yo took up the west side? Is it on the DeLorme maps?

This past Friday I was thinking how much a crossbike would add to the routes I can do around my neck of the woods. Especially in winter when the dirt is packed and frozen. I'll have to add it to the list after the fixed gear bike and the stupid-light go-fast bike and the single speed mtn bike... man it never ends... :)

I ride my crosser all over the place around here (LA), in fact I'm riding the Caldera in the morning on my crosser. There are a lot of trails that are too techincal for me and I have to use the mtn bike, but if there is any question I always choose the cross bike. I'm actually saving up for a nice road bike, I'm not sure how much this cross bike is really slowing me down, but finding out will be fun! And expensive...

The road that goes from Bernalillo to placitas. To the west it is US 550, I am not sure what it is called to the east of I 25 though. It is paved then it just turns to dirt/gravel. You could probably ride it with any bike with a 25mm tire, but the cross tires helped a bunch with some of the rear wheel slipping on the corners. Plus I was able to run the 32mm tires at 50 psi without any problems. I stopped at the bike and board shop at the base on the other side and had him beef up the PSI to 70 for the rest of the paved miles.

Hey Spookyload - There's a roadracing team that does that ride on their roadbikes. I saw them comming off the dirt on to the crest road and couldn't beleive that they were not riding cross or mtb bikes.

Hey Spookyload - There's a roadracing team that does that ride on their roadbikes. I saw them comming off the dirt on to the crest road and couldn't beleive that they were not riding cross or mtb bikes.
Round the Mountain, as it's known, is a comon training ride. I do it once a month, a team mate does it at least twice a month, often more; always on road bikes. In the 90's, there was the Watermelon Classic Stage Race that ran a race over that road finishing at 4 Hills. So not only can you ride a road bike over the dirt, you can race over it as well.