Confession time. Part of my biking involves avoiding as many of the oil/chip roads as possible. It is getting quite difficult to do it around here these days and it is forcing me to ride on more highly traveled smooth asphalt state roads. During yesterday's ride I saw trucks overlaying one of the favorite parts of my ride: DeeMack road. Two other county roads that I commonly use were overlayed with the oil/chip combination. It takes at least 6 months for them to smooth out and in some cases they never do. In addition, as most riders will acknowledge, loose gravel is inevitable as a bi product of this type of resurfacing resulting in hazardous conditions. Riding on these roads jostles my giblets so I reroute whenever possible. Now for the confession. During today's ride, as I approached DeeMack road, I was certain the workers put rock chips on it. I was forming, in my mind, a letter to the Tazewell county road commissioner. I planned on using strong and profane language to show my displeasure. Approaching the road I did notice a change in the color indicating the road crew indeed worked on the road. As I rounded the corner, much to my delight and unbridled surprise.......ASPHALT!!! Beautifully laid with no imperfections. It was as smooth as glass and my giblets breathed a sigh of relief. I had to mentally apologize to the workers and road commissioner for assuming the worst. Now if they could do that to all the county roads we bikers would appreciate it. Obviously, that isn't going to happen but one can dream.