[Closed] Do people like riding muddy trails?

Whatever you do don't ride them with + tyres

Rode Inners on Tuesday night, beyond muddy and a serious laugh

I hate it. Well, that's overstating it a bit. Mud around here is so thick and sticky it provides zero traction yet clogs any bike irrespective of clearance. You are almost glad when you get to the slippy root sections. And throughout it all you know you are helping to trash the place for the summer.

I prefer powder dust myself!

Don't mind a bit of mud on some nice mellow XC trails, but didn't much enjoy Ho Chi Minh when i minced down it in the mud.
In fact i disliked it so much i fitted a rock razor and decided if it was too muddy for the razor it was too muddy to ride.

Im inclined to try to give sriously muddy routes a rest exactly because you're storing up trouble for later when it is drier, but that does need to be balanced with the thought that if we never road in mud in the UK there would be an awful lot of the year when there was no riding...

Weirdly I love riding off road. But I really don't like riding in any sort of moisture. Can't wait for the summer, but a prolonged period of dry and cold would do at a push.

I'm not a fan, tbh it's probably because of my love affair with trail centres - when I do get 'out there' and the ground starts to move about under my wheels it wrecks the fantasy that I'm actually good at riding.

Love the odd day of sliding about, so much fun at slow speeds and crashing tends to be with a soft landing 😀

Muddy trail sharpen up the skills massively, makes you appreciate the dry trails in the summer even more. I do tend to avoid any really wet trails during the winter though and hide at trail centres, keeps the natural stuff in good nick for the spring. Depends on the trail though as some don't suffer from a bit of mud-plugging where others cut up in no time at all.

^^^^ This^^^

I am so fed up of mud. Can't wait for summer again. It's been pretty wet this winter again thanks to mild temperatures. It just makes everything stop working and such hard work. Thinking of building a winter single speed to get myself over it!

I think the key is to pick your rides. I tend to only do local stuff during the winter that I know doesn't get too bad, I leave the really boggy stuff i till spring. If I do travel further, I tend to stick to trail centres.

Also make sure your bike is suitable. Fit tyres that are good in the mud, put mud guards on and preferably ride a hardtail or a cheaper bike that you don't mind getting wrecked quite as much.

Sorry off topic, glentress, as you climb the fire road towards spooky wood as you enter the forest last bit of climb to the left there's a trail, what is it? Up or down where does it lead to? Always wondered!

Back to topic, Cannock mud destroys a bike 🙁

LMT, down, it runs from the mast and can be linked to ho chi minh and then into zoom or bust for a really good long downhill section.

Angry sheep at Inners, a muddy bugger of a track, but I could ride it every day. Brilliant.

@LMT Cannock doesn't have mud, it's polishing compound.

I remember one ride at Cannock went through a cassette, chain, both jockey wheels, 2 sets of brake pads, it was the most expensive day out biking ever! It was raining, muddy, sandy, great ride but soul/wallet destroying!

Glentress, so instead of turning right half way up the hill towards spooky wood, keep going and the trail will reveal? It's not on the trail map but looks official rather than cheeky?? Heading that way in the summer! Hopefully twice if I can convince the oh!

Instead of turning right, keep going up. Eventually fire road will turn left and go up even more. You'll eventually stop going up at the mast. Turn around and face back where you came from and the entrance to carls lane is on your right. Its a tad confusing first time as there are a number of turnings off it, but if i remember rightly, you want to keep right.

Clay/chalk clag really not that keen but it's not the end of the world.

Loamy, squelchy, or sloppy runs off the bike mud then yes happy to slither about in that all day long (or a couple of hours at least).

Have any of you ridden the white stick at gt.. up past spooky wood but before mast, to the left of the fire road

Back when I was riding a lot, I used to like it when the trails I'd ridden all year would change and offer a new challenge.

Nowadays (post baby), I'm fortunate to get out for a short ride every few weeks and the mud is just an annoyance TBH.

When I was younger, yes. But now it really hurts when I fall.

Sloppy sliding mess is fun. Though it can get tedious after a while. Still, I'd rather be able to ride in slop than be like Americans and have a policy that no one can ride a trail if it's wet. I'd only be riding for a couple of weeks in a year!

Depends on the type of mud!

The clay/clag is horrendous, my wheels literally stopped going round on this ride in the Chilterns...

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Yes I love riding in the mud (tweed valley based).

Back when I used to race XC the wet races were my favourite, I think mainly as others didn't enjoy them! 😆

I spend loads of time riding muddy trails, I'd rather they were dry but you dont get the choice unless you live in a dryer country (the lucky sods). I jet wash the bike after every ride. It's really shit having to do it when I've done 30 or 40 miles and have had enough by the end though.

I got 3x mud guards and its not as bad as it was before, I used to find it intolerable previously as without them, getting covered in mud was not what I call fun in any way.

I wish I could ride a singlespeed rigid but to me I think it would hurt a lot especially the lack of suspension

I hate mud, wet and cold riding... picked the right sport to be into eh! Love a good snow ride but bring on summer!

Cannock off piste this time of year is a 'mare - so we just stick to the boring marked trails. Bring on summer.

depends - I think riding muddy "natural" trails is just wrong in some circumstances - it wrecks the paths. One path local to me became known to MTBers - in a couple of years it went from a ribbon of singletrack to a 3m wide bog - mainly damage from bikes.

I do like a muddy ride tho as I am much better at controlling a bike at slow speed with little grip than I am at high speed with good grip

Hard work, bike takes forever to clean, you drag crap all over the house but it's worth it. I pop to trail centres sometimes as they tend to beat the weather better than my local natural trails but love the mud. Doesn't bother me.

I guess I used to hate it in the days of V-brakes where you would have to stop to clear the build up of mud so the wheels would turn again ! But nowadays I quite enjoy the challenges that the slippy stuff adds though it's always nice when you don't have to spend half an hour washing the bike off.....

Last 2 rides have been lovely frosty mud free rides 🙂 When it melts it will be a 'mare though.

Love it, bring on the filth! I guess the conditions I like least are when its not quite wet enough so the mud gets too sticky or when it's been dry for ages and it rains, so the dirt goes super grippy but the wet roots are like teflon - crashtastic...

Don't bother cleaning the bike unless I really have to (like when you can't see the chain for mud or I have some unavoidable maintenance to do).

Depends on the trail tbh, some are great when they're wet, others not, it's mostly about trying to pick them at the right time (where you've got a choice). One of yesterday's descents was just miserable, ice-slick and looked like a terrible dose of the runs... But others were good.

I ride the mendips all year so you get used to muddy rides pretty quickly, used to love them and believe they make you a better rider... that was until I fell off last two rides out and now have a sore wrist which will keep me off the bike for a while 😳

Was a bit muddy out today like...

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I love riding in muddy slop if there's gradient (downwards) but flat stuff, like today as pictured above can get a bit tedious.

I really enjoy riding through all the seasons I just adapt myself(the progressively harder conditions make you stronger if you keep at it regularly ) and bike accordingly(one that works in mud and one I'm not too prissy about jet washing).I have just as much fun riding and get the same buzz from it when it's cold wet and muddy as I do when its dry and hot.
I live in the land of mud - Kent.So far winter has been a blast here as it's been relatively dry for ages,unlike the last 3 or 4 winters here.

S Cotswolds just awful at the moment and has been for a while. Have persevered with it all winter (including all the cleaning, oiling and greasing) until last Wednesday. Did 55km slop fest, took 45mins longer than normal, rear derailleur stopped working (so much mud on jockey wheels, despite pee-ing on it Trump style), then chain kept coming off the front single ring as there was so much mud/grass mix you couldn't see the teeth (narrow-wide no difference). The same mud-grass mix kept clogging the arch between front fork and tyre (narrowest I own - 2.1 storm control) stopping the wheel - So I had to get off and push-stop-remove handfuls of it continuously and even at the start of the final "fun" downhill (behind the Weighbridge pub outside Nailsworth for any fellow Stroudies). Got home and found the drive side crank arm to be loose and the lock nut threaded (Race Face) and the 6m old bottom bracket (push fit shimano junk) is solid on this side too.
Going to stick road action for a bit (well at least until I calm down, fix the crank, free the BB and can no longer resist the siren call of the mtb). Got an email from a mate in Arizona, he said it's nice out there for riding right now, told him to F-off

Variety is the spice of life, so mostly, yes I do like riding in the mud. However, 'transitional' trails that are just flat head down and pedal bits (to get from good bit to good bit) are grim in the slop. Anything with a bit of gradient is fun, or involving or both. Up and down.

Riding in mud also appeals to the 'otherness' in me. Thinking about all the people still in their dressing gowns watching Saturday Kitchen as I ride past in the rain/mist/sleet covered in mud makes me feel somehow superior!

The U.K. is a great place to ride for different climatic and trail conditions.

Decent set of guards like mudhuggers make the difference between a miserable short ride & an all day adventure on my local very muddy trails

This is everything that's kin awesome about a bit of mud! 😀
(Soundtrack is a little sweary)

Used to hate it but just bought a cross bike and now its great! Very weird....

Nah sod that ^ I just wouldn't bother. It's the mess on the clothes/shoes that does my nut in. Don't mind the sliding or the bike cleaning but gritty filthy clothes is a pain in the arse.

[i]Angry sheep at Inners, a muddy bugger of a track, but I could ride it every day. Brilliant. [/I]

Yep, that was on our Tuesday night run - went back for a second run 🙂

b-r I've just checked that trail out-looks great fun,I was last there around 7 years ago,I'm guessing things have changed a bit. 😀

Yep phenominal flow on Angry sheep, covered in slop a few weeks back but so addictive.

br sampled the R****Revenge on saturday, what can i say, the valley just keeps on giving, ta for that.

Been really lucky so far this winter as the trails on my local hill in this part of Aberdeenshire have been fairly dry-ish apart from a few days a couple of weeks ago when we had snow and sleet. All last week they were frozen so again no mud to speak of. Just hope I haven't jinxed them now

Was looking forward to riding Angry Sheep on Tuesday until a branch ripped two spokes out my back wheel.

When I lived in Bristol before the trails were surfaced i would go to a Welsh trail centre or the Quantocks mist weekends as the local trails were so muddy.
Now live in the flat east Thetford is my local trails and they drain pretty well so ride all year round, in fact they are often to dry and sandy in the summer. Today was frozen and very fast

I like it, although if it was always muddy might get narked off.

Been riding some curently muddy woods near me a lot recently and I've noticed I feel like I'm riding the descents much faster than normal, although strava says otherwise. I wonder if all the micro slides and recoveries give the impression of going fast even when your not? Either way its good fun!

Also I prefer wet mud to wet rock

I love it, mostly, but it can get tedious around this time of year.

Love it sometimes, when it's loose and sloppy rather than claggy and thick.

But my road bike has been getting a lot more use than usual lately, I must be honest.

Yes, we do like 🙂

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Cheers!
I.

Do I like riding muddy trails? No, not really, but if I didn't ride them I'd ride even less than I do now.

Sometimes it can be fun, especially downhill, but there's nothing worse than being defeated on a climb because it is too muddy for any traction.

Tends to be a lot of bridleways where I am which can be tricky in the mud and worse when they freeze over! It's all just riding though and fun whatever. Narrower tyres help, good mud clearance kept me going when mates have ground to a stop. I won't ride Stanmer or other popular trails in the winter because sheer numbers are ruining them. Hopefully more people offended by weather conditions will stick to turbo trainers, Zwift or whatever's hot.

don't mind riding them, however the bike washing gets tedious. Had to do mine and the 2 boys bikes Saturday after a muddy few hrs at Pollock, and then mine again yesterday after a morning at Mugdock.

The kids do help with theirs, but not to my level of fastidiousness 🙂

I'm not a big fan of muddy conditions, although apparently I can ride them half reasonably (or so I'm told...)
What I really don't like are steep downhill sections among trees that just become a "death slide". It's the proximity of the trees that spooks me, trees and I don't have a great history.

On balance, give me rocky, even wet rocks, over mud any day.

If I'm in the mood and haven't ridden for a while, I'm much more accepting of it!

This winter as Cannock local has been way better than last year where the trails were rubbish by November. Even after Christmas the off piste stuff wasn't too bad, It's struggling a bit now - I want the proper dry cold to return and dry it all up again. This damp, dank, moist cold is rubbish.

I can'r wait for the drier trails - not even dust because Cannock stuff is better slightly damp.

Local trails are at the Winchester end of the south downs way and can be very claggy which is not much fun. I ride with a few guys on a weekly night ride and we ride whatever the weather sometime if it's claggy we avoid the worst but most of the time we just embrace it and let the back wheel slide a bit which for 4 of the 6 of us is fun!

Isn't one of the trails from the mast Plan B??big long step rooty bugger of a trail,Its a belter,Kinda like Hush hush and brown trout combined in one trail.
C@nt of a climb back up to the mast

I had completely fallen out with mud last year so took up running instead. Fast forward to this winter and since buying my Dune I'm riding more than summer (floaters not Juggernauts).

Done 20 miles at Wharncliffe today, it was ace 🙂

Admittedly, this is a pretty dry winter in Yorkshire if you choose wisely.

I love the mud. Love the challenge of working out how to keep moving and picking the right lines and trails.
I used to live in Bristol and loved Ashton Court and Leigh Woods in the winter when it was several inches deep - pretty much had the trails to yourself as most stayed away. I went back for the Octoberfest and the surfaced trails - don't think I ever want to ride there again it was so unnatural and lacking in real dirt and mud. I find trail centres surfaces extremely slippery when damp and with no mud to slow the speeds I find it all a bit too sketchy. Loving the Southern edge of the Quantocks right now, away from some of the main Bridleways which were just about passable in Autumn let alone now. I ride a hard tail in the winter, narrower, spicier tyres and don't over wash it after each ride. Ceramic bearings in the BB are essential.