On the plus side, it’s dry today, it likely to be dry until Sunday, Sunday’s only got a bit of light rain and by Wednesday it’s going to be 18c and Sunny!

We’ll all be moaning about blown out dusty trails by next week, maybe 😉

Last three years I’ve photos of these trails. Bone dry under warm skies. Today 7.5 degrees, raining, epic mud worse than mid winter and not a lot of grip

Spring trails by Alex Leigh[/url], on Flickr

Spring trails by Alex Leigh[/url], on Flickr

Spring Trails by Alex Leigh[/url], on Flickr

Good to get back out on the hardtail. Ankle after three months recovery seems to be okay with that. Rest of me a bit grumpy!

Yeah – it’s pretty shit out there….

P1050036 by Colin Cadden[/url], on Flickr

P1050025 by Colin Cadden[/url], on Flickr

Stay away in case you get a bit muddy

I have 3 bikes I can commute on. Part of my commute is through some muddy woods.

Bike 1. Fat bike. Only bike that can get up the slippery slope. Goes sideways through mud patches at speed.

Bike 2. Full sus 26 with Bonty Muds. Won’t get up the slope and goes slightly sideways.

Bike 3. Rigid 26 with cyclo cross tyres. Won’t get up the slope but cuts through mud like you won’t believe and no sliding.

I urge everyone to get some cross tyres. They are amazing. Crap on roots and rocks.

or cycling in short shorts and cycling vest until past when the sun goes down at half 9.

<whisper> sunny intervals and breezy forecast for the next week here 🙂 </whisper>

I’m pretty much over it now – I’m not a fan of riding in the wet at the best of times. The off piste at Cannock is pretty grim – it was starting to dry last week (rode Friday night and Sunday and it was nice) but this week will have turned it back to a grotfest.

The last properly dry ride I remember was 6th July last year when I was at BMCC and they warned us about it being super fast and dusty (they weren’t wrong). After that, wet and more bloody wet. There was brief respite during cold snap which dried Cannock up a treat….and then it snowed.

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.

Tried that too – unfortunately the stuff I’ve done hasn’t been given a chance to dry and its almost as bad as it was before I tried to repair it.

I hope next weeks weather forecast is right

You mean the optimistic “next week it will be warmer and drier than this week”? Always trotted out in spring because it requires no forecasting at all. 🙂 (See also “next week will be colder and wetter” in October/November.)

So, weather in the UK is predictable now is it?  Yeah don’t think so.

I’d say that predicting that it will get warmer and drier over the next few weeks in spring is as safe a bet as saying that you’ll take a quote out of context and start an argument about it. 😀

Dales looking awesome but too far away for me! Devon has had a couple of dry days but the ground is so wet as to be unrideable in places. Fed up with the impending deja-vu when the back wheel slips, I slow down and then the inevitable foot down – into the gloop to just over your shoe/sock. Never washed my shoes so much! Let alone the bike. Fingers crossed for some drying time…..

I’d say that predicting that it will get warmer and drier over the next few weeks in spring is as safe a bet as saying that you’ll take a quote out of context and start an argument about it.

Week on week the weather is pretty variable.  Next week is set to be warm, I bet the following week is cooler.  So bit daft mocking the weather forecasters on that basis.