Instead we got rain. And the Maah Daah Hey is just flat out not ridable when wet. The dirt turns to extra-clingy peanut butter and gums up every moving part of your bike. Tires become 15 pound immovable mud-donuts and derailleurs get ripped from their hangers.

The trail is absolutely amazing, totally exceeding all of my expectations. 100 miles of relentless single-track winding through the badlands of North Dakota. Riding the entire trail in one day was nuts, so much harder than I anticipated. We covered about 105 miles with nearly 11K feet of ascending and 11K feet of descending trail.