I walk through a park everyday on the way to work. There’s a puddle in the corner of a field that hasn’t dried out once since 2nd July last year. Occasionally the puddle more closely resembles a lake.

Last year between March – June it was bone dry and dusty. Next weeks forecast does look promising though.

I’m not sure we’ve had 9 months of mud but we’re coming up to 6 months and it’s showing no signs of drying out.

In previous years we’ve generally had spell of drier weather during the winter which has allowed a temporary respite but not this year.

I’m losing the battle to stay motivated this year and can’t be bothered to ride if there’s any rain.

I walk through a park everyday on the way to work. There’s a puddle in the corner of a field that hasn’t dried out once since 2nd July last year. Occasionally the puddle more closely resembles a lake.

My local park is similar, pretty much only usable with boots or wellies on now. It hasn’t been this bad since the floods in 2003 odd. To ride the local trails you need a wetsuit, goggles and a snorkel.

I’ve been hitting the trail centres more than ever in the last 9 months. But even Gisburn is full of puddles, Cannock (from what I’ve heard) can destroy a drive-train in no time, and Penmachno is apparently a continuous puddle, so you can’t even get away with it at all the Trail Centres, even though some other ones I’ve not mentioned stand up to the water a lot better.

I think that Gisburn is probably one of the worst with some sections that completely flood after rain. Dalby tends to be less bad than Gisburn in the wet. We’ve just come back from Dumfries & Galloway and the 5 main trail centres there were all firm and dry with only occasional puddles. After a week of riding, the bikes still didn’t need a proper wash 🙂

FWIW, I’ve mostly ridden road this winter and the mountain bike has been a bit neglected. You still get wet and filthy, but not to the same extent and it’s not quite as soul destroying to clean up afterwards.

The up side to all this water is that the ground is very soft which makes it ideal for fresh digging,  rebuilding trails and improving lines.

Spending an afternoon in a rainy forest isn’t quite as good as riding in the dry,  but it is better than sitting inside and scowling out of the window.

It dried out here on Saturday. Slop again now.

We been talking about this at home and think its rained nearly everyday since christmas in one way or another (couldn’t find anywhere to get the data though). The multi user paths near me are the worst, the bike just gets covered in the 1.5mile stretch of path. With lighter mornings and nights the off road motor bikes are now about in the woods more oftern and making a right mess.

Parts of that loop have been a total slopfest since January, it was more just to show that better conditions haven’t been completely absent since last summer.

If it wasnt for Zwift, you could count the number of proper road  rides I’ve had outdoors on one hand since January, mainly thanks to Beast From The East and some rain… And an ongoing third bout of not so good health (flu since Sunday).

Nah. Nice Autumn sequed into a long, cold, snowy, frozen winter with some amazing trail conditions. Melt has been slow and steady and as a result the well-draining soils haven’t been overwhelmed.

Supposedly up to 20c here next week. Trails are in ace condition.

It was strange out last weekend, although milder the landscape was still showing no signs of spring,…still feels like winter here, count me in as feeling well tired of the slop now.

If you want to catch the dry conditions you have to ride more often, like three times a week or so.

Now it’s spring the vegetation is sucking water out of the ground and combined with a bit of windy weather recently I had a lovely dry(ish) ride up Rivington the other week.

It’s a little early for that. We were commenting last Thursday that only a few buds have appeared on the trees down here in Swansea. Leaves are likely to appear over the next fortnight or so. (It’s the trees that suck the ground dry, not the daffodils, although tbf the trees will be starting already even without leaves. 🙂 ) And I assume that you’re further north so spring is a week or two later than down here.

And as to the original point – this is something that’s come up in a few conversations lately. Without having any snow on the ground, and very little ground freezing, we’ve had over six months of wet slop. Massive standing puddles in local parks and the ground is so soft that even with riding 3 times a week all year I still feel unfit.

I quite enjoy muddy night rides, they make it feel like winter.

Muddy daytime rides I don’t usually bother with though.

Having said that, it has definitely dried out at times round here over the winter, it’s not all been bad.

Trail centres and Area 51, that’s pretty much all I’ve managed.  One almost dry ride in the FoD.  Hate riding on the road, but I hate Turbo’s more, so that’s all I’ve managed to try to keep fit.