While Der Panzer is slow on the road it is an absolute beast off-road.  The Bruce Gordon Rock’n’Road tires grab dirt and gravel and give me the confidence that I can corner anything and actually ride faster off-road than on-road.  The weight of the bike also somehow helps gain momentum and I find that when I’m rolling on gravel I ride faster.  This Sunday I investigated a fantastic route which I discovered on Bikemaps.net.  It was supposed to be a mountain bike trail going north so I figured “what could possibly go wrong”.  As soon as I started the route I knew that it was a good idea.  It started on gravel and turned into dirt and went back into gravel.  The whole time there was thick vegetation left and right and loads of swamps, lakes and small rivers.  It was also covered by massive trees so the scorching sun was not doing the normal damage it could have done.  After a while it turned into a gravel path between fields and horse training areas and when I realized that I was very hungry and that all energy has drained out of me, I found a nice smoked fish dealer, in a little place I ride to a lot, called Summt.

The amazing thing was really the trails.

There will be much more gravel in Der Panzer and my future.