Quote Originally Posted by Deborajen View Post
What an awesome trip - I'm so jealous! I've been trying to convince my husband that we should ride the Katy, but he's convinced that since it's not an all blacktop trail, it wouldn't be any good. We rode a small stretch of the Mickelson Trail in South Dakota several years back and never got a chance to coast on the unpaved surface - and he's completely set on riding road bikes with the skinny road tires. So how was the ride? (Besides the hilly section!)
I've always been a skinny road tire girl myself, but got the Jamis Aurora elite so we could do these types of rides. It's different than riding on the road - no coasting as you pointed out - but no cars too. For me at this stage in my life no cars trumps about everything else.

Besides, it's beautiful, quiet and relaxing. On the road you can never relax because you always have to be aware of what is going on around you but on a trail with no traffic, in the middle of nothing, yet everything, complete escape happens.

Except for Mother's Day, I bet we didn't see 30 people on the entire trail the whole time we rode. 227 miles. I love that, but then I like solitude.

The surface was in great shape. Hard packed, only a few spots that the back wheel would dig in a bit and slide but never to the point that I fell. And they have had an unusual amount of rain. A tree fell one morning and later that morning they were already clearing it.

We met a guy on the trail that has ridden quite a few of the rails to trails and he said the Katy was his favorite.

I highly recommend you give it a try, especially since you're so close to it. If you can't convince your husband to go take a friend that rides. You won't regret it!

Susan