One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is, “What tires should I ride at the Hell of Hunterdon and Fools Classic?” It isn’t an easy question to answer. Why? A lot of it comes down to the capabilities of the rider, and what your bike can accommodate.
Questions only you can answer include: How much do I weigh? How experienced of a cyclist am I? How much experience do I have riding unpaved roads? Am I a nimble rider? How often do I get punctures? What is the largest tire that my frame and brakes will allow? These answers, along with independent research, will help guide you in your selection.
Generally speaking, the more experienced you are, and the less you weigh, the narrower tire you can use. People have been riding unpaved roads since the bicycle was invented; the Mountain Bike was invented in the 1970s and the Gravel Bike less than 10 years ago. What did people do prior to these? They rode their road bikes.
Every year in our events, people ride gravel and cyclocross bikes, even the occasional hybrid, fat, or mountain bike, but the vast majority ride road bikes. By riding a road bike, you are not necessarily picking the wrong tool for the job.
Over it’s 81+ miles, the Hell of Hunterdon has 19 sectors of unpaved roads, but most of the course is paved, and the unpaved roads are maintained public roadways. They are not jeep trails; they are typically dirt roads, with thin layers of gravel. The Fools Classic has considerably more unpaved sectors, but only a few sections are considered rough.
Since these roads are not deep gravel or horse trails, high quality road tires typically perform well. In the early days of the events, most people rode 23mm or 25mm tires. Why? That was what most road bikes of the time were designed to accommodate. When cyclocross exploded in popularity, many riders switched, taking advantage of the greater tire clearance offered by CX bikes, and used 28 – 32mm road tires.
Now that gravel and randonneuring bikes are more common, even wider tire options are available. This is not a bad thing, but it isn’t necessarily good either; striking the right balance is important. Having tires designed for gravel might help you on the unpaved sections, but will they hinder you on the paved surfaces? While wider tires don’t have higher rolling resistance than the same model tire in a narrower width, they weigh more; these rides feature a lot of climbing. If you go bigger than required for the conditions, the overkill can end up slowing you down.
We’ve ridden these courses on everything from 700c x 23 to 700c x 38 and even 650b x 47, and we’ve always had a good time. Our favorite is 700c x 28; to us this is the ideal balance of traction, comfort, and puncture resistance for these courses. They also work well on the pothole strewn paved roads we ride everyday.
When considering your tire options, contemplate what you are trying to accomplish by changing from what you normally use. Increase traction on the unpaved roads? Go wider, or with a tread that will bite into the dirt, but that won’t ride poorly on the paved roads. Increase comfort? Go wider, use a more supple tire, or use less air pressure. Increase puncture resistance? Go wider, go tougher, go tubeless.
While many choose the well-known “reinforced” tire route, these tires can feel sluggish, and are not known for their comfortable ride. Tubeless is an interesting option, the advantage being that pinch flats are impossible, and fresh sealant quickly seals most small punctures. Initially, for unpaved roads, we didn’t see the advantages in the early tubeless road tires.
That changed when Hutchinson debuted their Sector 28 tire, designed for the Professional Teams they sponsor, to use during the Spring Classics, including Paris-Roubaix. With it’s 28mm width, they were a real game changer, allowing riders to go wider and use much lower tire pressure; improving comfort, traction, and puncture resistance. Based upon their success, Hutchinson added a 32mm version to the line, the Sector 32.
We’ve mostly addressed 700c tires, since that is what the majority of road bicycles have used since the 1980s. Now that disc brake equipped bikes are widely available, wheel & tire options have expanded dramatically. Through elimination of traditional brake calipers (and the restrictions caused by their geometry and location), use of significantly wider tires is enabled as is the ability to select different diameter wheels to best suit particular conditions.
Enter the resurgence of the 650b tire. Until recently, it was an odd cyclo-touring and utility bike size, favored by the French, whose popularity began waning in the 1960s. Though technically sound, it almost went extinct. It has been reborn and repurposed, becoming a popular option not only for randonneuring, but for gravel and mountain bikes too. Some people even convert their road bikes from 700c to 650b
There’s an impolite thing often said about opinions, but having planned, ridden, and supported these events for more than a decade, we are confident in ours. With the myriad of tire, bike, and wheel size options available, the choice is yours. That said, we strongly believe that most people are best served by tires wider than 23mm.
Please don’t overthink it; no matter what you chose, it is only a bike ride. You won’t miss the breakaway, or finish off of the podium because you made the “wrong” choice. Equipment selection comes down to personal preference developed upon your experiences. This said, regardless of choice, punctures are possible; flat tires happen… Please make sure your equipment is in good working condition prior to the ride.
If you are waffling between your Gravel Bike and your Road Bike, use your Gravel Bike. Yes, this is hypocritical to much of what we stated above, but you bought the bike to ride on unpaved roads; how many events will you ride each year where you can use it as intended?