I haven't ridden the island in a few months. Honestly, I haven't been the biggest fan of the island so I have been avoiding it. However, after today's ride, my opinion of the island has changed considerably. The island is the only place to ride without messing up the trails right now, and that's probably how it's going to be for the next few months. With all the leaves off the trees and the plant life dormant, the trails are much easier to follow and you can link a lot of the trails together and get some good loops going. In the summer time, I couldn't get any flow going.
I got a little overconfident and made an attempt to ride the beach on the west side of the island. I managed to ride the sandy portion effortlessly but when I reached the silt my back tire dug in and I got stuck. I had to jump off the bike into ankle deep mud and pull the Mukluk out and back up to the sand. This was one of the many giggle moments of the ride.
Much of the difficulty in riding the island comes from the terrain. There are random bricks, large roots, railroad ties and tracks, rocks, and bridges. The Mukluk makes riding this terrain way more fun! It just plows over everything!
Some quick tech: Yesterday, I managed to install my new SKS Grand DAD and Grand MOM fenders to keep the mud and water off me as much as possible. They are working splendidly and installation was a breeze! I also picked up some SRAM X9 trigger shifters to replace the stock SRAM X7 grip shifters. I just can't use the grips shifters effectively. The triggers are way easier to operate and it's fast!
