2nd hand banger bike,good mud tyres ,happy days.
Bike Forum
Anyone else hate mud so much they don't want to ride?
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Posted 5 months ago #
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I ride all year round in west Yorkshire. No doubt it's been said already but here goes.
Neoguard & decent Tyres (I like swampthings). Plus some cheapo tights so you can peel them off and leave the mud behind.
And for the first time ever, due to being a new parent/less time, I stopped my obsession with always washing my bike! And I leave the FS in the cellar for winter and service it ready for spring
Posted 5 months ago # -
I don't mind the mud too much when I'm out but as others have said the cleaning is quite frankly tedious and miserable.
Saturday morning- was pissing down, cold and windy. I could have spent 20mins sorting my bike and kit out, 4 hours riding through muddy, wet cold tracks and then another god knows how long cleaning all the sh*t off my bike with frozen fingers in the car-park at the back of my flat.
Sod that, put on my shorts and top and went for a run and was back in my flat sat down with a coffee and the paper within an hour and a half.
Posted 5 months ago # -
dirty bike by TandemJeremy, on FlickrPosted 5 months ago # -
Ben, haven't you signed up for Hit the North?
You'll LOVE that, no mud at all, no siree, guaranteed
Posted 5 months ago # -
When I rode in N Wales I'd ride MTB through the winter no problem. Always some rocky trails around and the mud although thick wasn't that sticky.
Now my local riding is on chalk downland and the chalky mud is incredibly sticky. It doesn't need to be thick to stop you as it builds and builds on the wheels until there's no clearance for them to turn. Now in winter, unless it freezes, I leave the MTB in the garage and road ride. Not getting back clarty is a bonus too.
Posted 5 months ago # -
MTFU
Posted 5 months ago # -
@buzz lightyear, to answer your question, that is the typical cotswold winter bridleway, the alternative is tarmac.
@1kcove and TJ i see no mud just dirty water and a few sticks. Water isn;t a problem to ride through, mud is what causes the bike to stop moving, the bike to go from 25lb to 50lb, to make the bike a pain to shoulder let alone ride or push.
Posted 5 months ago # -
I'd love to get out and get dirty! I'm longing to ride thru Rempstone Forest and then to climb the long grinding hill from Corfe Castle towards Nine Barrow Down, saying "Good morning" to the red socks that dont answer back or look at you as if you had just farted. Shooting off down by Kingswood copse to the main road, bowling along then teararseing down by the side of the golf coarse towards Studland before the boring ride back to the ferry. At this moment in time I dont give a shit whether its shitty, cold or bloody raining I'd love to get out and get dirty.
I recently had a heart attack so I cant.....thank yourselves f*cking lucky you have the choice.
Roll on 2012 when I can start riding again and boy will I get dirty.
P.S and I wont bleat about it, never have done. Its all part of mountain biking. Sorry if this sound like a tart ranting or a tosser feeling sorry for themselves.
Posted 5 months ago # -
1kcove......where did you get that bike stand from? I've been looking high and low (obviously not high enough or low enough)for one without success. Cheers.
k
Posted 5 months ago # -
Riding west Yorkshire yesterday miss timed a jump, landed in a flop in biggest muddy puddle total right hand side immersion. Lay there for a moment feeling the cold gloopy mush soak in. Felt great! Got home to find note door from wife saying do not bring dirt into house as she had just cleaned floor! She was shopping , I texted her the words "naive darling, get real!" top day... Cleaned bike, cleaned me, loads of dirt in kitchen, Bonza!
Posted 5 months ago # -
Hey Ben you big jesse I take it you'll be riding on Wednesday for some more winter chuckles
?The key is in picking the right trails. There's a hell of a lot of local variation round here in Leeds - even withing a few 100m of eachother the trails are different beasts. E.g. some bits of the MVT hold up OK all year, some turn to crap as soon as it drizzle .
But generally heading west is best - Airedale is your friend. Also take in other non-trail features like those steps in town know you adore...It's a shame but most of the best woodsy singletrack is out at this time of year though.
Neil
Posted 5 months ago # -
I'm amazed there are so many people who hate mud/won't ride in it.
I'd prefer fast dry trails but some of the best rides I've had have been in the wet and mud.
The hardest part is getting out of the door, once I'm riding it's all good. I try and make sure I wash the bike and my boots as soon as I get back - when I do it's a doddle, when I don't, it's a pain. The knowledge that my bike is sat in the garage covered in mud is not nice, knowing it's clean and waiting for the next ride is far better.
I wear leggings to catch most of the mud, let it dry outside when I get back, rub off most of it and then throw all my kit in the machine.
It's not really much more effort than most rides and while the riding can be a lot harder, you gain much more strength, endurance and bike handling skills than in the dry. Come the dry days you can tell the difference after a month or 2 of mud.
For me it's one of the joys of living in the UK, we get such a mixture of weather and if I wanted a hobby where I didn't get wet,cold, or muddy I'd take up knitting
Posted 5 months ago # -
I quite like riding in filth, not as much as I used to though.
The days where cleaning the bike takes longer than the ride duration are my least favourite.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Had a belting ride in Calverley/Esholt yesterday, got some brilliant slides happening.
good thing about the current conditions is the mud isnt claggy.
We were wet and muddy but no build up on the bikes, so a brilliant laugh all day.Embrace the winter, its going to be like this for the next six months, and it makes you a better rider anyway.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Skillz innit.
If I only rode on dry dusty trails I'd have only been out twice this year.
As above - embrace the filth.
My local forest is horrendous when it's wet, which is most of the time; after twenty five years of hacking the trails up through the winter months I can report that the trails are still there... and when the forestry decide to chop down the lot the damage we have done will be gone
Posted 5 months ago # -
Embrace the filth or don't ride.
For me at least the latter is not an option
Posted 5 months ago # -
My local trails are the South Downs which is largely slick chalk or claggy clay, both a nightmare during the winter months (except when frozen...fantastic fun!).
However, in any geographical area there are always trails which stand up to rain better than others. We tend to head for the woods during the winter. Although it's muddy and the autumn leaves make the singletrack difficult to follow, it's also sheltered from the wind/rain, and it makes the mud fun to ride in by adding that extra challenge of the trees / logs / roots etc (better than wet chalk any day!).
It also teaches you to relax, control pedal power more effectively, and definately makes you a much better rider come the spring.
No riding during the winter months just isn't an option for me.
Posted 5 months ago #
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