I will be riding the 225 mile Katy trail ride next week. Right now my bike has Schwalbe Marathon 700x32 tires. I like them because they are relatively fast and they work with my fenders. However, it has been raining here a lot. I'm thinking of putting on some Kenda 700 x 40c tires because they are wider and should handle a soft surface better. The Katy is crushed limestone, I believe. I don't know how soft the surface would get if it were to rain.
Anyone have any experience with wet crushed limestone trails?
My bike is a Raleigh hybrid.
Thanks in advance.

Its been raining a lot here, and I rode about 50 miles on relatively flat crushed limestone this weekend. I was on 28's and I did not have any traction problems.

Check the Katy website forums. I have seen comments that people have ridden their road bikes with smaller tires with no problems and that the trail sheds water well. Which direction are you going? Be sure to let us know how the trip was.

I hate to give such an ambiguous response... but it really depends (as is always the case on a bike). As it has been mentioned, some rides you can ride the entire course on 23 road tires (although I don't recommend this). But then there are other times when the worst can happen with the "ideal tires" -- e.g., last week I shredded a new top-of-the-line cross tire forty-five miles into the ride.

Good luck.

Not sure how much the surfact of KATY has changed over the years, but back when I lived in St.L. (10 years ago) I had best results with 26 x 1-3/8" tires on my 3-Speed, and 700 x 38 tires on my touring bike.

One ride was just after a big flood, part of the trail under an inch or two of water in places, and the 26 x 1-3/8" tires worked very well for that ride (St. Charles to Treolar and back).

Rick / OCRR

I erred on the side of caution and put a 40 on the back and a 38 on the front.