Smooooooooooth Playa?

[Savannah]

I think it was 2002 or 03 where I could ride my bike at night, with no hands, with my eyes closed....seriously, sitting up straight, arms crossed, EYES CLOSED....what a rush, haven't been able to do that for a lot of years, the playa used to be as smooth as a babys ass! (you know, like land speed records etc)

(trying to ignore above comment)

yes. the floating world...my virgin year. it has never been so hard and fast since i believe. i brought my road bike that year and rode it lots.
i would like that LOTS!

It was like that in 2003 as well (my virgin year)- I had a super lightweight bike and I could pedal it a few times and just coast for ages. It was a dream. Agree the playa hasn't been like that since, and neither has my bike (damn bike thieves in SF).

I remember that biking smoothness! It was lovely . . . especially at night in the middle of nowhere.

[Shambala]

The very hard smooth surface should do wonders in keeping the dust down. I remember the incredible 8 hour dust storm on Monday of 2008. That was the year I recall the surface being the worst, sandy mess. This allowed to top layers to be transformed into a complete whiteout. Most bikes never made it out to the deep playa because of the difficulty riding in the loose sand.
2011 is going to be a great year!

[thirt33n]

^^^
on top of all that the ring was huger than normal that year...bad combo

[teardropper]

It seems that no matter how 'smoooth' the playa is, in general, once you get through scraping 45 miles of Black Rock City roads and use heavy equipment to install art on the near playa, you've lost your virgin playa. It will be dusty. It will have ruts. I'm sure that if you start with a good surface, all will be better, but those variables mentioned will have their say...

[thirt33n]

It seems that no matter how 'smoooth' the playa is, in general, once you get through scraping 45 miles of Black Rock City roads and use heavy equipment to install art on the near playa, you've lost your virgin playa. It will be dusty. It will have ruts. I'm sure that if you start with a good surface, all will be better, but those variables mentioned will have their say...

hey. what some of us are saying is.....that was not the case in 2002. that shit was cement hard..almost no loose bits...i rode my road bike with 25mm tires.
so, it can and has happened...**arms crossed**

[Mojojita]

I think the best of all possible scenarios is to have a wet year like this has been and then have rain immediately prior to the event, or light rain during. It knocks the dust down on the scraped and driven parts.

[Ugly Dougly]

OK, I will speak to Tlaloc on your behalf.