Little Langdale ford:
click pic for more

but also some sun:

Photo of perfectly good bridge 10m downstream not shown…

Photo of perfectly good bridge 10m downstream not shown…

Where is the fun in that though? Also, it doubles as a handy bike wash if near the end of your ride!

Photo of perfectly good bridge 10m downstream not shown…

no, as I was sensibly standing on it instead of trying to ride the torrent 🙂 Note that Fizzer has now swallowed the club meme hook, line and sinker!

Love Elterwater, walked there a fair bit, but never ridden 🙁

Dave

awaits the post 'my forks, bottom bracket and hubs seem to have seized up – why ? ' 😛

Oh. A complete strip down and re-lube required now.

Riding your bike in deep water was funny about 25 years ago.

SFB, why can I not access the boggies site using Firefox?

why can I not access the boggies site using Firefox?

it doesn't work with Javascript disabled ?

awaits the post 'my forks, bottom bracket and hubs seem to have seized up – why ?'

to which my answer would be "because they're not fit for purpose" :o)

Oh. A complete strip down and re-lube required now.

not in my experience, though it did trash my Rohoff.

Riding your bike in deep water was funny about 25 years ago.

for some of us who've not grown up yet it still is – fun to do, fun to watch :o) Mountain biking itself isn't sensible when there are roads going to most of the places one can get, but we still do it.

Mountain biking itself isn't sensible when there are roads going to most of the places one can get, but we still do it.

Here here! well said sfb.
I've not seen that ford in a rideable state ever.

Some fantastic colours there Mr Barnes:

I've not seen that ford in a rideable state ever.

depends on your definition – I've ridden it loads of times, stalled half way as often and fallen right in a few times :o)

Some fantastic colours there Mr Barnes:

thanks, but for some reason I often can't get them to come out right from that particular viewpoint, something to do with the amount of backlight perhaps. The original of that shot was gopping so I fiddled with the curves thing until it was slightly less nasty…

it doesn't work with Javascript disabled

Not working with IE either. Was working yesterday.

Those are very funny. 🙂

I actually couldn't do that, except possibly on the very hottest days. I freeze my bits off when I get wet. It'd be fun, but then I'd quickly go blue/grey and start shivering.

I fiddled with the curves thing until it was slightly less nasty…

You big cheat 😉

Not working with IE either. Was working yesterday.

what does the browser actually say ? No site or some kind of error on the page ?

You big cheat

I believe in fidelity to what I saw, not to some arbitrary camera rendering 🙂

Server not found

Firefox can't find the server at http://www.bogtrotters.org.

* Check the address for typing errors such as
ww.example.com instead of
http://www.example.com

* If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network
connection.

* If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure
that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.

I get the same sort of message using IE or Google Chrome. A search on Google will give me a cached page dated 22 Oct, but I was looking at it yesterday with no problems. Haven't knowingly changed any settings, and every other site is working fine, just boggies that' not co-operating.

just boggies that' not co-operating.

your IT dept/firewall has decided bogtrotters is unsuitable viewing 🙁

Funny that, I'm at home!!!

I did say firewall…
if you don't have one then eastern European spammers have decided to dedicate the bandwidth to other tasks 🙁

Todays throw away socity at work. Buy an expensive bike, ride it through rivers for a few months. Ignore all the impact of the oil and grease being washing away into the water. Throw bike away and buy the latest model, which will probably have 5mm extra suspension travel and therefore be that much better anyway.

Todays throw away socity at work

I have a 4 year old Merlin Malt III which I've been treating like this for 16 months with no apparent ill effects beyond reduced front hub bearing life. Given our climate a bike unable to resist getting wet would not be of merchantable quality IMO. I changed the £5.50 UN26 BB after 12 months when I realised the left crank arms were falling off due to poor forging – there was no perceptible wear on it. I've also had to replace the rear Hope Bulb hub bearings once

Ignore all the impact of the oil and grease being washing away into the water

given the volumes involved I think the fishes are safe…

Lunacy. Nice pics tho.

well, we were already about as wet as we could be :o) I was more worried about being washed away downstream – the current was vicious!

It's funny, on the website, someone called KB has commented the 1st pic up there: "Risking bike for the sake of a photie" – do people really think their bikes are so fragile a bit of water is going to harm them ?

Simon- you and I think alike. I love REALLY wet rides. And as for all you doubters, raisers of problems etc- just stay away, you do not need to partake in such harmless frivolity. And I really do think it is harmless too. Any oil that ends up in the watercourse will soon be fed upon by all manner of micro-organisms who will then in their turn be food further up the food chain.

Traildog- I assume that you regularly lube your bike to keep it in tip top condition. Have you ever considered where the previously applied lube might have gone to? It must have gone somewhere.

Ignore all the impact of the oil and grease being washing away into the water

Too true. That's just the start of it though. What about all the rubber molecules being smeared all over the rocks with gay abandon and those nasty big blobs of human sweat dropping all over the place destroying habitats.

so we shouldn't do this either?

I actually thought we ride our bikes for fun. How silly of me. I also thought I was doing the environment a favour by taking the bike to work instead of the car whilst really I'm giving off more emissions than a Ukrainian power station.

And yes the current was vicious so that's probaly irresponsible as well.

All those people who never get thier bikes wet please email me for your next ride, love to join you in Utah.

I hate getting wet and today I've got a vicious headcold so I especially hate the thoughtof being cold and wet today but I can't understand the attitude of some people on this thread: if water is such a risk what about mud?! It's wet AND dirty and sticky! I'm not sure how their bike wheels can touch the ground without compromising the integrity of their King of Pop style oxygen tents.

^^ Quality Picture ^^

I have no problem with getting me or my bike wet but if i ended up submerged as above then i would be looking to regrease things as there is a difference from an engineering point of view from thing just getting splashed/showered in water and being completly submereged. The bits that would worry me the most would be headset/fork and rear sus as the wheels should be able to take it (and HTII bb seize up any way).
But it does look like fun and as you say if you can't get any wetter…

depends on your definition

It's a simple formula Simon

if X+YxZ is = or > AxB-C then I just take the bridge 🙂
where
X=depth, Y=width, Z=rockyness quotient
A=% of how wet I already am, B=number of spectators, C=miles from car/home

I've got a vicious headcold so I especially hate the thoughtof being cold and wet today

you have my sympathy but of course you realise the things are unrelated ? I suspect warm stuffy conditions are far more conducive to colds than the outdoors.

With a bike that colour, that's got to be Lorne diving into the water?

As a sufferer of Raynaud's disease I avoid getting wet feet in the winter like the plague. Rather than suffer the numbness & pain I head for the nearest bridge. When it's really cold my fingers struggle to pull on the brakes properly.

However, I can see the fun of river crossings in summer, and have fallen in a few times.

With a bike that colour, that's got to be Lorne diving into the water?

yes indeedy 🙂

pennine demonstrates how to keep one's feet dry:
click pic for more
is October "summer" ??

I suspect warm stuffy conditions are far more conducive to colds than the outdoors.

You're undoubtedly right but the double dose of self-pity that accompanies colds can skew rationality 😉