What a difference a road surface makes

[Sbudge]

Changed my regular commute route today and it dramatically alters the proportion of the route within a particular local council. Allowing for differences in traffic conditions and light phasing etc it was still well over 10% faster. Only difference was that one council likes the pool table look for its roads while the other is clearly aiming for some post-modern comment on the city roads as a reflection of rural England ...complete with ploughed fields and patchwork landscapes!

 

[Drago]

I dunno if it's just me, but I find those surfaced dressed roads harder going than nice, smooth, good quality tarmac.

 

[vickster]

I dunno if it's just me, but I find those surfaced dressed roads harder going than nice, smooth, good quality tarmac.

Well I think that's what the OP is referring to, resurfaced and smooth rather than potholed and poorly
patched. Smooth good quality Tarmac is rather at a premium in the UK, well certainly in and around London and Surrey

 

[ColinJ]

A lot of the rough surface dressing round here is VERY draggy. Occasionally, there are strips of pristine smooth tarmac where the road has been repaired and I find I can ride a 1 or 2 tooth higher sprocket on those for the same level of effort. (That is at low to moderate speed where wind resistance isn't the main force acting against me.)

 

[slowmotion]

I went on a ride from Oxford to London a couple of weeks ago. Halfway through, I commented to a companion what a lovely couple of hundred yards of tarmac we had just ridden over. That it was even noteworthy says a fair bit about the shocking state of the roads hereabouts.