did you have to get your race guard sawn in half and a widening strip added tim?
Sorry to be repeating what I said on previous threads of this ilk, but I do not understand people who get into mountain biking, in this country, and then moan about mud.
Because in the summer when dry it is fine, and if you go back a few years ago we actually had warm sunny dry summers. After 20 years of Cotswold winter dust i have nothing to prove, i would rather spend more time riding than cleaning which means road bike when the tracks are filthy. as fo driving to trail centres, why spend hours driving when you cn spend more time riding by using a road bike. I am in the position of being able to ride an MTB from the door so very rarely have i ever used the car to get anywhere.
See, I find all that "winter kills your bike" thing applies more to the roads than the mud, due to the salt...
Like the Elbonians, learn to love the mud.
Forget all this fair weather winter riding. In Britain the climate is not much different winter or summer anyway so mud is to be expected any time of the year 😛 . Only difference is where it's cold enough to snow. Then it's real fun 😀
And don't be afraid to get the big rig muddy. It's not going to fall apart because of it. Although it might if you're obsessed with your bikes looking sparklingly clean 😉
Fed up with muddy trails? That's because they have crap drainage.
Get out do some trail maintenance you lazy Fu*ks!
I enjoy the whole riding in mud thing (it is England after all...) over the winter, but it's spending hours washing my bike afterwards and trying not to get mud everywhere that I begrudge!
People get all excited with snow. I would rather ride mud than snow.
When it gets really bad I love it. Whack on my cx tyres and find the worst mud patch there is and see if I can clear it.
To paraphrase our local nazis...Mud Honour.
personally I can ride hard,well drained trails in the winter,unfortunately they're called roads.....
uk weather just sucks for biking...going back to the med as soon as i can..
Riding muddy trails at night after a couple of pints is a hoot 🙂
All the modern biking films show t-shirted riders making dust-roosts and doing desert cliff drops. We're aspiring to conditions that are rare to impossible here. Watch Danny at Champery last year and see what mud riding's all about 😀
Yeah, tbh if I had a chairlift and Danny Hart's skill and testicles, I'd probably like riding in the mud more too 
I'm always a bit of a trailcentrist but this year more than usual... Final straw was going out to do my "wet weather local loop", which is usually pretty weatherproof, and discovering that part of it is now permanently a bloomin stream.
Just in from Glentress- yes I got a little wet but the trails are riding lovely.
[quote=Northwind ]part of it is now permanently a bloomin stream.
😆
I'm guessing you mean the wee bit in Green Cleugh opposite the waterfall?
I prefer Woburn when its been a bit wet. It's sandy so actually rides better after a day or two of rain. Went today and it was perfect, tacky and awesome 🙂
I used to hate getting muddy (I'd always ride around the thick mud and puddles!), having not done any mountain biking since last July (and only having a couple of months for limited road riding in between) I have to say I rather miss it now! Just want to get back on the trails... [/whinge]
Jcl for for the win. More digging required
5 words...
Rigid singlespeed and mud tyres. 🙂
Was at Woburn today too, it rides really well i'm the wet apart from the massive swamps over the main road. I like riding in the mud but do prefer dry trails
druidh - MemberI'm guessing you mean the wee bit in Green Cleugh opposite the waterfall?
Aye. It's quite good fun, mind.
Oh aye and Maidens' is on my "weatherproof route" as well. Though I suppose it's still true, those 2 sections will be completely unaffected by weather.
[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8482/8189247374_b01a315250_o.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/58162507@N07/8189247374/ ]Fullscreen capture 15112012 202012[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/58162507@N07/ ]SGMTB[/url], on Flickr
Rigid SS is what you all need it loves mud!
Just happen to have one for sale £420 posted its lurvely just I need a ss with Suspension and putting boingy forks on this would be a crime!
Comes with mud tyres are you man enough!
[url= http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6065/6046490737_080ff40be6.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/nzrich/6046490737/ ]P8153891[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/nzrich/ ]Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nzrich/sets/72157627441537490/
Try sitting around for five weeks with three left to go nursing a broken arm.
yes got that pissed of with getting coverd in mud,sold me bike lights etc,going to buy a sspeed urban fixie or sthing to play round the streets 😀
I booked 4 days riding with Lavatrax in Dec 🙂 As Stoner says ^^^ a bit, Malverns are as muddy as I've seen them. And have been for ages. Might try the Yat this weekend, just for a different kind of mud. I've not ridden my road bike for a year. It's not that bad. Yet.
+1 for cx bike tho. That's surprisingly amusing in the mud.
Stuck in the middle of London. Would love to go on a muddy ride.
oddly, the malverns were a teensy bit better tonight, but only because they'd got so bad by the end of the weekend last.
v jealous Alex. Have a good outing.
My computer said my front wheel had done 17 miles last Saturday, I reckon the back one did 25.
funny how a little mud separates the men from the boys (and weekend warriors/trail mincers)
never seen the issue with it, always ridden in all conditions and tbh i prefer wet/winter rides as it really tests your skills much more than in the dry. saying that nothing sucks more than riding to a jump trail/bmx track and finding the bombholes full of water 🙁
Well my average speeds have dropped significantly recently due in no part to the MudFest that is now the lower South Downs, to the point that a 4 hr ride equates to dead legs and an afternoon on the sofa.
And the washing machines getting killed to death...
Just back from Delamere. Loads of off piste, slop slip and slide - keep it short and sharp and a proper muddy ride is ace. Pint in the pub to follow and it's all gravy.
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6620567223_d5b15f3fe3_o.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocketdog/6620567223/ ]mud[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/rocketdog/ ]rOcKeTdOgUk[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6796183875_c4497622be_o.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocketdog/6796183875/ ]the sorbet mud ride[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/rocketdog/ ]rOcKeTdOgUk[/url], on Flickr
I've just got some mud tyres and love it, bike and me are filthy after every ride, no chance of shying away from it, it's a vpp too so hardly the most resilient of frames, no mud guards either although Santa mighty be bringing me one. They're mountain bikes, are supposed to be muddy, used, worn out and maintained.
I agree that riding in the slop makes you a better rider too, every muddy ride is a chance to see how your bike control really is, getting loose down a step decent or trying to ride over off camber roots is hilarious fun.
Never tire of riding in the wet and muddy winter. It makes you faster and better at handling. And besides, that's what mud tyres are for, they may roll slower but when it gets really bad I'll be hitting up the XC loops on a pair of 2.2 Wet Screams.
A severe case of MTFU needed
have to disagree, i do not enjoy getting covered in mud, it does not improve my skill much if at all and just makes the ride slooowwww, landings sketchy and destroys really nice trails.
zerocool - MemberNever tire of riding in the wet and muddy winter. It makes you faster and better at handling. And besides, that's what mud tyres are for, they may roll slower but when it gets really bad I'll be hitting up the XC loops on a pair of 2.2 Wet Screams.
Surely if riding in the mud makes you faster and better, you should be using slicks rather than ruining it for yourself by using spikes? 😉
I'd never in a million years use wetscreams on my local trails though... Guess it depends on your ground conditions but regular tyres do enough damage, full spikes rip the arse out of everything they touch. Maxxis recommend them only for professionally maintained race tracks, for that reason
Mud has never really bothered me in the past but this year my trails have never dried out, not in the slightest at-all. I usually expect a good few months of dusty trail riding but this year they've been under water for most of the time, at the moment the vast majority of my local trails are simply impassable due to pools of water and deep mud that's not going to be helped by myself ploughing through it so i've not been riding them, i inspected a few trails recently when out with the dog and as i've not been riding them the shrubs and briars have taken over completely and made them impassable - I either get a petrol strimmer and shrub cutter out over the winter and spend many weekends clearing them out and taking a chainsaw to the countless fallen trees or i guess i'll be looking for other trails to ride.
I'm sick n' fed up with the rain and mud, sick n' fed up of washing my bike followed by my riding kit every ride then trying to dry it out for the next ride, sick n' fed up of not being able to ride in a t-shirt, but i still love riding and when i'm out i tend not to notice it but when i get home it takes a good couple of hours to sort everything out afterwards compared to throwing a dusty bike back into the bedroom and hanging my kit up to wear the next day.
I want summer back........
I feel i should add (admit?) that i am so fed up of mud that i've bought a Charge Plug fixie for playing about on, did 12 miles on it late on tuesday night, up hills, down hills, attempted a few skids but failed miserably, forgot to keep pedalling upon cresting a long lung busting hill and just about got punted over the bars but i was clipped in so thankfully managed to rescue it and i admit it was great fun to ride and oh so quiet - i could hear animals rustling in the hedgerows and i stalked a badger for ages by the moonlight, didn't see one car on the roads but then again thats nae surprise as i stay in deepest darkest Galloway.
All i need now is to squeeze into some skinny jeans, skinny rib jumper, pork pie hat at a jaunty angle, grow some random facial hair, wear sneakers, appear disinterested at all times, drink pabst blue ribbon watery pish, and sneer at those with freewheels, i've already got a crumpler man bag so i'm near-enough there on the messenger front, I also downloaded "To live and ride in LA" from itunes and i'm going to attempt a wheelie at some point this weekend so expect my next update to come from the orthopaedic ward of my local hospital.
Dunno what you losers are on about, I'm still rocking the Larson TT on the back.
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
To counter the earlier Fat Bike I give you the Skinny Bike. 29er wheels cyclo cross tyres, cheapie 8 speed and tons of mud room.
Slices through gloop and none of that sideways sliding down the camber.
I'm reading most of the comments in utter amazement!
You don't like mud? Your bike gets dirty? Poor you!
Listen lads, mountain bikes are for off road riding and off road; there's MUD. It'll always be like that until some council builds on it.
If you don't like cleaning your bike and clothes as much then buy proper mudguards!
I feel the DaRkSiDe growing...
Glad to hear it's not just me. I haven't been out on an MTB in anger since dusk til dawn over a month ago. I've always been an all weather all year rider, but just can't be arsed with it at the moment. I'm enjoying the road riding though. I think a change of trails is probably in order.
It's the water you all need to worry about..
[img] 
[/img]
Blimey 😯 Where's that?^^^
Just had a real hoot slopping around warncliffe/greno.Hot bath Sorted.
