When riding in rural areas of the Midwest USA you will encounter what we term " chip sealed" roads. These are simple ways to make what would be a rock road a smoother more asphalt like road. What is it: Oil is sprayed on the road and then a layer of crushed or " chipped" rock is laid down on top of it. The rock is pressed down into the oil creating a smooth surface. However, there is always a however, the pressing feature is done by the traffic on road and not by using a rolling machine. This works OK, and certainly saves quite a bit of cost, but it also means that these roads are going to have a fair amount of loose rock on them for a month or so. It is much like riding on a trail whose surface is crushed limestone. The danger is when the loose rock migrates to the road edges. This can create ridges of loose rock on the road edges which can be quite loose, soft and as much as 6 inches deep. Bicycle tires and loose rock just do not get along. It can be very easy to have the wheel slip out in these areas of loose rock and result in a crash. So be cautious on these roads as we typically go for the edge of the road when traffic is coming up from behind us and that is a really bad time to wipe out! Typically after a month or so and a couple of really good rain events this threat goes away as these ridges get washed away into the ditches. All that said. Nothing beats riding in the countryside! Get out and ride!