I Took the Low Road

We poked around the low trails next to the Mississippi River yesterday and found them to be passable and lovely. It's been so wet this year and the river levels have been so high that a lot of the trails in Hidden Falls Park and Crosby Farm have been inundated with water and/or flood debris.

The guys on Fargo's had no problem with the sand and mud. The guys on the LHT's and Kabuki were just fine thanks to superior bike handling skills and their finely honed, cat-like reflexes, but for some of this stuff, fatter is in fact better.

We only had one point in Crosby Farms where we had to give up and turn around. This looked rideable but it turned out that the wet mud on the trail had the consistency of Phil Wood grease, so I abandoned ship and came back to the group, which was wisely watching to see how I fared before venturing into this mess.

The LHT actually did very well on this ride - the only squirmy moments were in patches of deeper, loose sand, which is tough on any bike, really.  It ate up gravel and crushed limestone with a spoon.

From here on out, I think things will only get better on these trails, so head on out and do a little exploring on your own. Wider tires are better, but I rode this on standard touring tires with no real difficulty.

Photo credits to Neutronforce.