Who else got wet and muddy on Sunday? Had to put the mudguards back on for the first time in months.

It just rained and rained!

Still had a fantastic ride, going up and down through all the trails in the devils punchbowl and surrounding area, and saw quite a few mtbers out.

Saw a bunch of guys by the train station in Liphook, one guy in the actual punchbowl, and 3 tough looking guys with full face helmets at the end of their ride at the punchbowl cafe when we stopped for cake and hot chocolate.

First time with my tubeless set up in muddy/wet/very loose conditions, and it was great. Using Conti Mountain Kings UST 2.2 and I just cant understand why any other tyre sells.

Out riding again tonight, and its looking like its going to be another wet one.

I love riding..

yep I was out on Sunday in the Wyre and regretting not having a rear mudguard, it’s going back on for tonights ride!
You can sneer all you like, I like a dry(ish) bottom.

Hoping to have my shock back a.s.a.p for the bike with the conti’s on, to test your recommendation…

oh, has it been dry then?

still, it keeps the midges off..

Was out this morning, going through the bushes was like riding through a car wash.

“Using Conti Mountain Kings UST 2.2 and I just cant understand why any other tyre sells”

Because Contis drift very easily on soft corners. Many people, me included, prefer a tyre with continuous side knobs that dig and rail around. I tried 2.2 MKs tubed on an orange 5 and was scared witless with it rear-wheel drifting on every muddy corner, because I’m not used to it 😉

Horses of courses IMO

Most of the rain must have misssed North London, I had two cracking rides Saturday and Sunday with just the odd bit of drizzle on Sunday, which the tree canopy managed to soak up with very little actually hitting my bonce. Interesting you mentioned tyres, my new Racing Ralphs were really, really slippy for the first 30 miles or so, Sunday was much less slippy even though it had rained overnight. I never appreciatted how slippy new tyres can be. Something to do with the Silicon apparantly? I’m sure F1 don’t suffer from with their new tyres as much.

I tried 2.2 MKs tubed on an orange 5 and was scared witless with it rear-wheel drifting on every muddy corner, because I’m not used to it

I ran some MKs for a little while last year – scared the carp out of me letting go of the front end without any warning, sold them pretty quick.
For this summer I’m using Kenda Small Block 8 (I’m sure it was dry a couple of weeks ago) and although the front end was ‘interesting’ in the wetter parts of Delamere last night I still much prefer them to the MKs in less than ideal conditions.
On the un-muddy stuff the SB8 are wonderful IMO.

yep, wet in the peaks on sunday.
Muddy but just not quite enough to spoil the fun. Wasn’t that sticky deep mud you often get.
The puddles on the track top of hope cross were almost hub height

yeah i was round hope/edale/cavedale – awesome ride, first properly wet ride ive done in ages. cavedale was insanely slippy – but still good fun!

I got muddy digging the new red route at Gisburn forest…

We were prepared for a washout. A group from mtbwales had planned to come up to Nant so a loop was put together to take in all the best trails and descents only for the rain to put them all off from driving up. Sheep were spotted in 2s heading down the hard shoulder to Noah who was spotted at Port Talbot seervices.

We met (3 locals) at Nant in the pissing rain and within 30 minutes a break appeared, got he bikes out and decided to head off. Not a drop of rain for the next 4 hours until we were safely packed up and leaving the carpark for home. The sun even came out for a while!

Incidentally the Conti MK 2.2 Protections were absolutely fine all day.

Got lucky on Sunday, it only started to rain when we were unpacking the bikes at home. They needed a wash but it wasn’t as muddy as I was expecting. I choose a relatively all weather route in the Dales. Am not sure I want to do the local ‘up the hill at the back’ tonight towards Lothersdale though, I suspect that will be very muddy.

Hows Gisburn coming along 2hottie?

Muddy but just not quite enough to spoil the fun.

such a possibility exists ??

Domino

Gisburn is currently the tits lol

the tracks look sweet!! haven’t ridden them yet as there not open! I’ve been working on the volunteer sections which are tight and twisty.. lovely as for the contractor stuff which is being built it thats coming along nicely. see the vid below of someone having a little look at one of the sections which isn’t open yet.

Could do with more people to help dig tho…

again the tracks aren’t finished yet so I would suggest waiting a few weeks till they open.

simonfbarnes – Member

Muddy but just not quite enough to spoil the fun.

such a possibility exists ??

Oh yes. We were talking about that on Sunday actually, and came up with the best riding conditions, that you can get all year round (although not all during the same season..)

1. Dry, dusty, hot.

2. Damp, muddy, warm.

3. Cold, dry, clear (snow?).

We were trying to think of a situation when rain can make it more enjoyable, but that proved too difficult for us. Perhaps really hot with light rain? Although with rain you get clouds, and with clouds you dont often get hot..

My problem was that it was so sunny, so hot, and so dry that I was running low on water even though i was carrying 3 litres, and the suncream was running into my eyes with the sweat 8)

I tried 2.2 MKs tubed on an orange 5 and was scared witless with it rear-wheel drifting on every muddy corner, because I’m not used to it

I ran some MKs for a little while last year – scared the carp out of me letting go of the front end without any warning, sold them pretty quick.

My io came with 2.2 tubed MKs. Nice and fast rolling in the dry but I found them particularly poor for muddy forest trails. Lost both wheels on countless occasions over the Wyre a while ago and the mud wasn’t even that bad. Replaced them with ADvantages which seem a much more capable all rounder and handled a much wetter ride in the same place with no nasty suprises.

“Conti MK 2.2 Protections were absolutely fine all day”

You were at an armoured, well-drained, non-slippery trail centre and it’s even sponsored by Continental – of course they were fine 😀

camped over at cwmcarn

hail and thunder on saturday, very cold at night
booked in cwmdown for sunday
rain all morning, mist and mud and water on the track, fortunately its quite well surfaced
by late afternoon it was the wind, on the bridge jump/drop at the bottom the wind took me over a metre sideways from where i planned to land
that was one of those heart pounding sphincter puckering moments

was my last run of the day

We got just as wet from the rain on sunday as if we had jumped in a river but it was still fun.

my new Racing Ralphs were really, really slippy for the first 30 miles or so, Sunday was much less slippy even though it had rained overnight. I never appreciatted how slippy new tyres can be

I think it is something to do with the relase agent from the molding process. My specalized ones were really bad when new but are a great all round tyre now.