Spring is Dirt Road Season.

Posted on May 6, 2011

I love these roads and this is the best time of year to ride them.

Dirt roads are as common in Montana as paved roads and if you want to get out of town for a ride you will no doubt do a mile or two on the dirt just to make a loop. Some riders seem to do everything they can to avoid the dirt but for whatever reason I’m not one of those riders. In fact I find myself seeking them out and trying best I can to come up with entire rides that have as much dirt as possible.

There is something different, and in my view, special about dirt roads. They are almost always very rural and that seems to change everything. There is of course very little traffic and interestingly to me every driver, in every car, will wave ‘hello’ to you as they pass. They will slow as they pass you so as to not envelope you in a cloud of dust and since there are no other cars out there they almost always use the far side of the road to give you as much space as they can. What is equally interesting to me is that I’ll bet these same drivers would not wave, would not give me lots or room and would not slow down as they passed me if I were riding on the pavement closer to town. It’s as if we are sharing this more raw, exposed and dangerous place and that we need to look out for one another while out there so we give each other a knowing wave and a smile. I love these roads and they way they make us feel and behave.

This is the best time of year to ride the dirt. They have been frozen solid and covered with snow for the past 6 months and this for some reason seems to smooth them out — seems odd I know. We get a good bit of rain in the spring and this also helps keep things dust free and smooth but once spring lets go to summer we get into our dry season and the roads dry out and get dusty and potholed. This isn’t really an issue on a bike as one can just avoid the potholes but they are near impossible to miss in a car so the county brings out the road graders and ‘fixes’ them. This involves grinding the top few inches of with a big blade and pushing the grindings into the potholes. This makes it better for the cars as things smooth out but it turns a bike ride into work. The surface is loose and dusty and one can see a car on the road a mile ahead from the plume of dust it brings up. This means that as a car passes it matters little how slowly they go as the dust cloud is big and thick. Dirt road season is over at this point and we will have to wait for the shorter, cooler and wetter days of fall give us a short dirt road season before the snow flies.

Yesterday was the warmest day of spring so far — about 65Â° – and I couldn’t resist clocking out an hour early to get out of ride. It was windy and cloudy but warm and it seemed like a perfect day to make a dirt road loop and wave to the ranchers. I did about a 25 mile loop with about 70% of it being on dirt — my own little spring classics ride. I brought the camera along and snapped a few shots so that the folks who have never ridden in a truly rural area could get an idea of what it looks like. The roads are very straight and very long and seem to only make turns around the corners of farmer’s fields. There is a lot of wildlife to see and if you stop pedaling and coast up to them they will let you get very close. Yesterday I saw white tail deer, mule deer, a perched golden eagle, kestrels, burrowing ground squirrels, as well as domesticated cows, horses and goats. On a good day one will also see an elk heard or a fox slinking across a meadow. A few years back I saw a fisher and I was frozen in my tracks watching it. It’s the only one I’ve ever seen and I’ll bet I’ll never see another………… and it would never have seen it from a paved road.

As much as I want summer to get here NOW I’m not upset to see that the forecast shows some cool and damp weather this coming week as it means that dirt road season will hold on just that much longer. If you want to join me throw some 25-28 mm tires on your road bike and come out for a dirt road tour. The season won’t last much longer so load up the car soon.

Thanks again for looking,

Dave