Thank you for giving us your time to watch. I love the headspace that a long climb creates. It's one of my favorite parts of riding. Great comment!

I see you're KZfaq handle name suggests you live in Iowa. Have you ever been to Ragbrai?

Cycling should be fun! I'm so grateful you appreciate the content we produce. It's very motivating.

They really are! I even love just staring at mine. They are a bike that looks ready for adventure. What kind of bike do you have and where do you ride? P.s. love your profile pic🤟

Couldn't agree more. I've learned that the days I don't feel like riding are actually the most rewarding day to go. Great comment!

What part of Indiana?

@@ThatMountainMoment born in Clinton County Flat farmland land as far as you can see Now I live by Bloomington IN withdeep woods and plenty of hills ( indiana mountains) We have monroe lake just down the road If you ever come though the Midwest stop by and I'll give you a tour

@steveredhawk8624 Bloomington is beautiful. Love that area or Indiana. Nikki is a native Hoosier from Miami County area. Peru to be exact. We lived in Danville together for 11 years. Great town. Bloomington has quite the awesome cycling culture now from what I read.

What a beautifully worded comment. Thank you so much. Did you ride anywhere this week?

Yeh did some gravel for fun, road for fitness and mountain bike for the trails, thanks a bunch for asking

@WilliamMcCannMurphy that's a great week. Mixing it up like that is my favorite way to go. We were mountain bikers before gravel and bikepacking and still ride trails. Let me ask you a question; would mtb videos also be interesting to watch on our channel or do you feel there's enough of that on you tube. We just have some really good riding around here worth sharing and I want to offer more. We also do a lot of beach cruiser adventures. Thanks for sharing your ride!

@@ThatMountainMomentthere’s loads of MTB on you tube, its 1 bike to rule them all and that’s a gravel bike, it’s so versatile. I ride more gravel now as the bike can take me to most places off-road, bike packing and on road. I love gravel bikes due to the comfort and adaptability. For me it’s not about performance it’s about the whole outdoor vibe experience. With your channel, do what’s right for you, your subscribers will respond to what flys. Go with your instinct & easy vibe, this will direct you to the content you enjoy creating. Have a great day.

@WilliamMcCannMurphy yeah I just don't feel the pull to add mtb to the channel at the moment. It's not about the performance for us either obviously. Definately about the overall vibe and just enjoying the surroundings and the company of others though I also value a solo ride too. Just a different headspace to experience. Thanks again.

Your terrain sounds very similar to ours. Every mile is at least 100ft of elevation gain no matter where you ride. The countryside of new england have a similar look to England which makes sense from a history standpoint. We really want to ride that part of the world where you're from. Looks incredible!

Livs are great bikes. Nikki has owned two liv mtbs over the years and are the best bikes she's had. Something about the fit of the their bikes that she loves. You are very fortunate to have that out your door. From what I see on KZfaq where you are and where we are, the riding is similar. Makes sense since we are where English settlers in history first called home when they sailed over seas here. You'd love Vermont riding. We want to ride in UK someday. The old roads look so neat!

Thanks for sharing your day!

@@ThatMountainMoment i did a tidy 80km, several reservoirs, moorland, forests, hills, all the things! Finished off at a festival back in the city. Perfect day! I hope yours was too! Definitely some great riding here in the UK! I love livs for their fit too, I’m very short so my liv xs is perfect!

Nothing better than an "All The Things Ride" and yours sounds awesome! Nikki calls them "All The Feels Rides" and you're so right, it's a perfect way to spend a day.

We switched over to gravel and bikepacking from mtb as well years back but We just got back into trail riding again. No bike park this time though. Just simple singletrack woods riding. Roll on!

Welcome to the land of swimming holes! There's just so many to choose and that's definately the agenda of anybody here on these hot weeks. Just chillin and dippin'. Sorry about your hiking plans but it's smart to take the zero this time and come back and hike safe. Very good choice! Too many people push that and end up needing rescued. See you in the river!

Thank you!

Thank you so much, that's a huge compliment. Very motivating to continue making content. Thank you for watching and commenting.

Some things that can really increase the stability of a gravel drop bar bike, or any bike for that matter are wider handlebars combined with a shorter stem and a higher volume tire. The higher volume allows you to drop the tire pressure significantly lower and this helps the bike be more supple over the bumps and calms the bike down so it's not pinging off of every little bump. I think a lot of people still think higher psi is faster which has now been disproved because the bouncing affect that higher psi creates is wasting forward movement to up and down oscillations. Try running your psi around 30 with a good accurate gauge. Bike pump gauges are wildly inaccurate and can be off by as much as 10psi which is a huge difference. A couple psi can be noticed. As far as for you the rider. Just go at a pace that feels right to you. Maybe find a hill and walk halfway up and defend down from that point and slowly work your way up incrimentally until you feel comfortable. Try to put most of your body weight in your feet and minimize the pressure on your hands. While learning this puts your center of gravity much lower than if you were sitting which transfers your center of gravity yo the seat. Much higher and less stable. As you progress then sitting or sort of hover between feet and seat as the bumps "tell you too." I come from a mountain bike background and I would suggest looking up the "attack position" it's very useful on our whacky back roads and transfers nicely to gravel riding. Try to use both brakes evenly and smoothly unless you are on loose, wet, or slippy terrain where the back brake will be more your friend. In the end riding time and route choice can make up for quite a lot. Rail trails also nice safe way to gain confidence. I hope that helps a little bit. Feel free to ask more questions. Thanks for guving us your time to watch.

Definately make the trip here! We lived in a converted schoolie at one point and I can suggest many boondocking campspots to park your van. I travelled the country for 12 years in professional motorsports and was drawn back here to call home. There's something special about northern new england that I've not found anywhere else. NH, Maine, Vermont, Western Mass all are gorgeous and intimate. The beauty of each state, though connected, is very different. So glad you decided to click on our channel. Thank you

Yeah you guys have some spectacular Mtb trails out there. I bet the forest roafd are pretty sweet on gravel bikes too. I do love the ability to jump from town to town here for gravel. Makes the route options almost endless. I do love Utah though. The wilderness beauty there is some of the best in the country.

Dude! Best day ever right? Bikes keep youth in our hearts. I always feel like a kid bombing around my neighborhood and exploring with my childlike squirrel brain ha ha. Love it man. Thanks for sharing

Ha ha the food really is delish!

The Presi Trail is an awesome trail this time of year. Especially this year! What a spring!

Thank you for the kind words.

Let's roll!

I've never ridden there. What type of terrain is it. We've been considering making mtb episodes as well but there's just so many mtb channels now that I'm not sure if we'd just get lost in the crowd. There's tons of really high quality trails around here worth showcasing. Welcome to the channel btw. Thanks for saying hello.

@@ThatMountainMoment it’s actually a great place for beginners. It’s small but has a great mix. There is a nice 4.5 mile loop on fire roads/ gravel trails. I’ll ride my gravel bike and my wife will ride her mountain bike. But you can also find some nice downhill trail riding. It’s close to downtown Haverhill so a coffee after a ride is pretty easy.

Free the toes!

Thank you! Did you ride this week?

@@ThatMountainMoment ran a Fathers day 5 mile race Sunday, pulled a calf muscle attempting to run 4 miles Tuesday, Now time for bike riding (non impact😉👍🏻).

Ouch, calf injuries are a tender injury. We're both trail runners as well and definately enjoy switching between running and cycling to keep the aches and injuries mitigated. The bike is so much nicer to the body but the running seems to help overall endurance and durability. Heal up quick!

@@ThatMountainMoment thanks so much !! Continue enjoying your adventures

Every outdoor experience must end at a swimming hole(okay maybe not skiing😂). There's just no better reward than that breif moment you dive in after a day of human powered adventuring. Thanks for sharing. When's the last time you visited NH?

@@ThatMountainMoment It’s probably been 25+ years since I was last in NH, and that was only southern NH, and 35+ years since I’ve enjoyed a swimming hole. Life changes.

@jimmccorison dang, well I think it's time you treat yourself to a cool dip and maybe a visit to NH.

Oh man I bet that was awesome. We can't wait to get up that way and ride. I love Canada. You guys really live the outdoor life quite well up there.

Love the Northern Rail Trail! and our salsa journeymans. Great do it all bike for a decent price. Great ride!

Was it on the rail trail?

@@ThatMountainMoment well from Manchester to Newport Beach. Mostly on the rec trail but some street once you hit the Stratham area to the coast

That's a nice trail. Only been on some of it but want to see the rest. Great ride, thanks for sharing!

Both very beautiful just different. I love the ocean. My father was a lobster fisherman for 36 years so my connection to the Atlantic runs deep. We might come ride down there this winter to escape the cold for a bit. I'll keep that ride in mind. Thank you for sharing that. What town do you live in?

@@ThatMountainMoment I live in Biscayne park, which is 7 miles north of downtown Miami and 3 miles west of the ocean. You will like the warmth in the winter.

We still enjoy winter, may be not for as long as we used to, so wouldn't mind shortening it by visiting down there. My co-worker is from jacksonville and said we need to see st. Augustine as well. Thoughts on that?

@@ThatMountainMoment Saint Augustine is awesome , and not too far from Jacksonville. you could even bike there down A1A along the beach most the way. we are 300 ish miles south. think MIAMI VICE, south beach is under an hour away on the bike.

@@ThatMountainMoment just looked at KOMOOT for the distance from J VILLE to SAINT AUGUSTINE and it's about 35 miles.

We just rode right from lincoln out our door and took rt 175 to upper mad river rd. Through campton village then to mad river coffee. Here's the route👇 ridewithgps.com/routes/47224224

You can also do a big loop incorporating Tripoli Rd. But I wouldn't wish that washboard hell on anyone. 😂

You have both the heat and humidity down there. You're brave ha ha. What model of bikes do you own?

@@ThatMountainMoment i have several bikes i ride.i have a poseidon redwood monster gravel bike i just got and did a few up grades on. not even 2 months old ,and i went out and bought another gravel bike. i also ride steel frame bikes and a fuji jari gravel bike. but the one i am impressed with the most is a 250 dollar wal mart bike. .yes you read that right. bike 250 dollars. it's a g-1 gravel bike, and it comes set up for touring right out of the box. it has braze ons all over the place 3 on each fork , it comes with a long wheel base and double wall rims with 36 spokes in each, it is a bike packing / touring bike. internal routing / kenda tires/ 2x drive train. and a 6061 aluminum frame. 30lbs. I emeadiatly went out and looked at one and it fit perfectly. I knew the potential this bike had. its been all over the internet.its the most talked about gravel bike out there. go you tube it. once you see the bike and 250 dollars, you wont believe it. i am making a bus bike out of it. i am gonna make a super touring bike out of it. here's my up grades. a new gel saddle/a new adjustable stem/ a rear rack for touring. new extra bar end tape/ a seat post suspenion/ a front axiom rack for panniers/ anew 34 cassett in the back for extra climbing gear.. I have some really nice steel touring bikes, but i like this one too. I'll match this bike up against any touring bike out there. everybody talks about surly long haul trucker. this bike is as good or better than that one. and its 250 dollars. this bike rides like a 2000 dollar gravel bike.

I'll go dig it out of my pack. We tend to buy local made bug spray most of the time. Bond Cliff Bug Protection is a good one. Shepps is another good local one. The one we have been using in these videos we bought at a small general store in Bernard,VT near Silver Lake State Park. It's been working really well, the company is Crystal Garden Herbs and it smells incredible and isn't oil based which just feels gross when gravel dust is sticking to it. It's a nice light spray and actually makes us feel refreshed when we spray it on. crystalgardenherbs.com

@@ThatMountainMoment Wonderful! Thank you. I’ll try those. I had been using a natural mixture I made myself from lemongrass oil and some other ingredients, but it didn’t seem to work very well against the deer flies. I guess I mixed it just right so they thought I was an extra snack. Makes me wonder if the deodorant I use actually attracts them or something like that. 😂

@Inmate533 yeah, come to think of it, I don't wear deodorant when I ride but Nikki does and the bigs never seem to choose me. Ssshhh, don't tell her though🤫

I can hear you!

Oops! Well, I'm still not going to wear deodorant.

Yes, we use them for just about everything, this ride was just a chill ride but 99% of the time they are on gravel like in our other videos. Next video I'm working on is back to beautiful gravel in a very unknown part of Vermont. Stay tuned and Thanks for commenting.

I like your term gravel adjacent too ha ha

I'm not really sure Bill. Maybe because we rode them mostly on pavement in this particular video or because they aren't gravel super carbon race bikes but that's what's so great about the versatility of a gravel bike. I love gravel roads but if the scenery is pretty witht coffee shops and swimming holes, the riding surface is arbitrary to the overall experience.

Except gravel😉 or In our case it's the best at a one bike quiver killer because it's all we can afford. As long as I can enjoy some scenery and the company I'm with, it's all good. They definately drag on the road compared to road bike though. We don't ride road with them much unless it's just out our door to get coffee or swimming hole hoping. What kind of bike do you ride.

I’m 100% road now but I used to ride cyclocross as well. I’m to old to go off road now 🐐🤣

@Tarmaccyclocross oh man cyclocross is my favorite cycling race format to watch! I'm betting your endurance is that of a much younger athlete with the aerobic capacity you built in cyclocross. Our roads around here are mostly beat to hell so a gravel bike with skinny tire feels a little safer to many though the speed and efficiency of a roadie is damn fun. A lot of our gravel is in better shape than pavement. Dang Frost heaves!

@@ThatMountainMoment I’m 70 now and do about 200 to 300 miles a week. I don’t feel too different while I’m out but it takes me longer to recover 🥴stay safe 👍🚵🏻‍♀️

Coming from a bike shop background I agree with what you just wrote. It's unfortunately consumer driven. Everybody wants to say they have the latest and greatest parts on their bikes so the market shifted towards constantly making bikes with parts that out shine their competitors instead of bikes that last. When I sold a bike at the shop I encouraged people to buy the lower spec bike with less finicky and fragile parts. Our bikes are 6 years old at this point, seen thousands of abusive miles on rugged terrain with loaded gear and have budget level parts that have never failed. 2x, sora level parts(I put a mtb deraileur on them for durability in rough terrain) same tires with tubes(never had a flat), skewer axles, cable brakes. They are all parts that any bike shop will have if ever we need to "field fix" them on a longer trip. I get that racers and watt chasers want the lightest fastest thing out there, that makes sense, but those bikes are like a supercar, very good at what they do but require a lot of tuning to stay at that level of performance. A cyclocross bike is different in geometry\weight for sure(ours weigh 27lbs from the factory) from a bikepacking or gravel touring bike which tend to have more upright geometry, longer chain stays, and beefier construction, etc. So there are differences that help on longer journeys. I do feel that the industry needs a major shift towards bikes that last and people can afford. Ours were under 1k and they've been great, versatile bikes from salsa which still offer this bike at a decent price, for us that's still a lot if money to spend in general on anything. Are they race fast? No, but who cares when you're riding in sandals 😉. I remain hopeful because the industry has lost so many companies recently due to sitting on covid overstock and having to increase pricing to pay for bikes that didn't sell, Ang massive conglomerates buying companies like Kona and running them into the ground(glad they are now back in private hands)and they know a change needs to happen. There are still some good deals out there to be found. The silent competitiveness that strata created also drives average Joe's\Jane's to think they are always racing someone so again, lighter, faster parts and bikes. I'm a very competitive person at heart coming from a racing background and playing sports my entire life so I stay away from strava because I know it will take the fun out of riding for me. That's why our channel's vibe shows the more fun, adventurous, and scenic, inclusive side of bikes. Racing is a very small percentage of riders and accounts for very few sales percentages when you actually see what most shops are selling as bread and butter daily sales. There's a lot more to unpack on this subject for sure but I think change is coming for the better we just have to be patient. Don't let it taint or overcomplicate the enjoyment of such a simple movement like pedalling a Bicycle. The joy still needs to be there or we've lost the point completely.

@@ThatMountainMoment It is a machine without a motor, but some believe the bike will make them faster riding recreationally. Once you have been properly fit and adjusted for your body and riding intent, the bikes job for 5% of the speed is done. 95% engine after that.

Couldn't agree more. Gotta build aerobic capacity. I've ridden with friends on super bikes and the bike is a crutch for fitness only to a point and I have never had a problem riding at the same pace. The climby terrain we have here is a huge equalizer and the combo of strength and aerobic capacity is a must. Same for trail running here. You better bring your climbing legs in these mountains ha ha. Our videos are more chill vibe but we shoot 12+ hours of aerobic training and weight training in every week through gravel, mtb, trail running, etc. because without endurance the riding and life would be more struggle than enjoyment. Movement in general just feels awesome for the soul.

The equipment is the last little hair splitting advantage once fitness is dialed.

I rode to work and back. Best parts of the day. New to channel. Love the chill vibe. Great stuff.

You bet it is!