so that's why they invented pavement...
In the bright afternoon sunshine yesterday we headed out for a ride down the dirt railway line to Concord to visit the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. The bright sunshine was delightful, and so was the almost complete lack of snow on the path, but unfortunately those two things combined to make the surface more than a little muddy. It wasn't all a complete quagmire, but even where there wasn't three inches of squishy ooze much of the surface was distinctly tacky. Enough that we felt plenty of increase in rolling resistance, and the flat path took as much energy as if we were going uphill the whole way. So we certainly appreciated those few short stretches of pavement!
I could only take pictures on the drier spots
I do wish I had taken some pictures of the deep mud; it was really something. Folks out for a walk in shoes they cared about had to make their way through the trees on the side of the path, and cyclists on gravel bikes found themselves unable to make any headway at all. With our big tires we could plow through the mud pretty well—even Elijah only had to get off and push a couple times—but it was certainly a challenge!