Race Update: Trail Report

I'll continue to post these about every week, so check back:

I tried to incorporate the various different surfaces planed for the bike section in last nights 4 hour ride. So, here’s the trail report:

1. Heritage trail was in excellent condition for all three categories: soft enough that traditional skiers will not slide out, but firm enough for skate skiers to get some good speed. For the mountain bikers, it was firm enough for me to maintain double digit speed (~12 mph) with 2.3 tires at 15 PSI. The trail has a couple of thick base layers on it, so, even with heavy traffic I believe the trail will stay in this primo shape for the next couple of weeks, beyond that, check back for more trail reports. In addition, for the runners it provided good firm stability allowing me to put a good kick down without having worry about digging in.

2. The Snowmobile/ATV trails (most likely only to be used for the bike part) were a different story. While I was able to ride 50% of the time with 2.3” tires, 4” tires would have allowed me to ride about 95% of the time. The ATV trails that were in better shape were those exposed to the sun, the trails tucked down in the valley and back in the woods were still soft foot+ deep & rutted corn like snow.

3. The gravel roads were… well, like concrete roads, top gear fast. A couple of fast corners had me wishing for studded tires, but with a little breaking before hand were still easily maneuvered.