I'm planning a trip to Deadwood this summer to ride the Mickelson. I've traded out the knobbies on my mountain bike for 26X1.5 slicks. Will I have problems with the trail surface using these tires?

I gave ridden Mickelson trail trek for past 3 yrs on 26 x 1.9 "city" tires with no problems I would not be concerned about 1.5's

Great, thanks dale, I'm really looking forward to riding the Mickelson.

How about 1 1/4's?
R

Thought I would add my $0.02 since I just did 36 miles of the Mick last week on my Nishiki GT with kenda cross 1 3/8 which ride pretty skinny. This is the first thread that comes up on the trail concerning tires.

1. Loved the trail wished i could have had time to do it all, but went from Hill City to bridge C and back, I felt like I covered the highlights.
2. The tires were okay, but I spun some in loose sand going uphill and and and slid a bit going down. I spent a lot more time looking down than I would have if I had been on a mountain bike with larger tires.
3. There are some ransom washouts and loos sand but one spot in particular to lo0k out for when riding the skinny tires is right before the bridges. The bridges are bumpy and everyone slows down right before them them, so the path on both sides are pretty soft. Slow down early on the skinny tires.
4. My nishiki is the only bike I have with gearing for the hills, and I would ride the same set up again if I had the chance, the tires are not a deal breaker, just a small inconvenience.

I'm really looking forward to the ride, will get on Friday afternoon and hopefully again on Sunday morning. I guess my tires aren't really "skinny" so I think I should be OK. My Trek has the gearing for the hills, so I guess it's a go!
Thanks for the input!

you dont need a bike geared for hills the michelson trail is rr grade never more than 4% yes some many many many mile climbs but never steep

absolutely correct, I should have added for context that my other bikes are a 50 lb beach cruiser and 5 speed commuter. And I think the 5 speed would have been okay, just not as many options. I am not much of a long haul biker, just a commuter and never went close to the small chain ring on a 3 ring set.

Wish I would have talked to Colorado Dale before I went.

Bonus picture of tunnel,[IMG][/IMG]

That's good. I was looking at the map and it didn't seem that the incline was very steep. I think it's gonna be a kick-a** ride!

So how was the ride?

The ride was awesome. I did it in two parts. I started in Hill City and rode up to Crazy Horse, then back to Hill City.
On Sunday, I started in Deadwood and road 13 miles up the trail then back. I would have ridden farther, but I had a little too much night life in Deadwood Saturday night.

Colorado Dale is right though, the trail has different personalities depending on where you are. I really thought the ride out of Deadwood was the best. It was a pretty good climb till you get past Sugarloaf trailhead, then it levels out till Englewood and then climbs again. But the countryside is beautiful all the way.
As far as the surface goes, I never did have any problems with my 1.5" tires. There were a couple spots that had some deep pockets, but nothing to worry about...
It was just a great ride. Next year I'm going to try and do Deadwood to Hill City, overnight there and the ride back.
It's a great trail to ride!

Business trip to the black hills yesterday, rode the section from Custer to Hill City and back with only one muddy spot. The skinny knobbies did their job, and there was not any loose sand on this stretch like there was on the other side of Hill City. The climb out of Hill city was looonnng for this old commuter, but the fall weather was perfect for long climbs. Too many deer to count, and I did not see another person on a bike the whole time outside of town. It may just be me but I think some of the bridges are getting bumpier, I wish they were all like the bridge over the highway.

a few yrs ago they had a special fund raising campaign to fix the bridge over the highway at times there was even a "troll" in the bridge collecting tolls opps donations