One of the lowest spots in between Mendota and Hwy 494 is right at the beginning of the trail, and since this was rideable I knew I could make it to at least the 494 bridge. By the sounds of it, the low spot between 494 and 77 is going to take a while to recede enough to allow riding the entire trail.
For the most part the trail was just damp and rode nicely under the fat tires of my Poor Man's Pug. There was some mud, a few water crossings, and some sections of deep sand (of course), but that's what makes this trail so fun. And that's what makes the fat bike so fun to ride there.
I installed a Vredestein Black Panther 2.35" on the back recently; it has more bite than the Hookworm but still rolls fairly well. Even though it's narrower than the Hookworm I'm pleased with how the Black Panther worked in the mud and sand.
I also added a couple Surly decals and put a Surly head badge on the front. The decal kit is for the Pacer... it sounds kind of stupid, but I like the looks of the Pacer font better than the original 1x1 decals. I had removed all the decals and head badge years ago to give it an all black look. I like it even more with the new decals.
I wasn't out for a very long ride yesterday, so I got off the MN Valley Trail at 494. One of these days I'll see how far past 494 I can ride. I'm guessing the water will still be too deep at the low spot before 77, but I'd like to see it in person. On yesterday's ride there was one particularly nice, shallow water crossing where I stopped to take some photos and have a beer...
I brought two beers with me, one can of New Belgium Fat Tire (my ol' standby that's always in the fridge) and one can of Surly Hell. The Surly Hell is a local seasonal, and one of my favorites. Going for a nice ride on my Surly, then stopping to drink a cold Surly... tough to beat.
Stopping can be as much fun as riding...
5 comments:
YES! How much better are the pacer decals! I have a pacer and soon will have a troll, going to order me a new set...
i love watching this frameset always evolving in its build, what a great frame- a classic!
Haven't been down to the river bottoms yet this season -- good to know much is ride-able.
We haven't tried the Surly Hell yet -- hopefully there's still some available!
I concur with TOB and Coastkid.
Thanks all - I've really enjoyed building up (and riding) that bike.
TOB - when most people say "the river bottoms" they are referring to the MORC maintained trails between 77 and Bloomington Ferry on the north side of the river. The trail I mentioned in this post is further downstream and on the other side of the river. I'm sure the MORC website has info on the trail conditions of the River Bottoms trail if you're interested.
And I just picked up another 4 pack of Hell a couple days ago so it is still out there...
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