Muddy riding right from the house means I’m washing muddy bikes in the back garden and then having to sweep up the stuff I’ve hosed off.
So I’m thinking of building a specific area with suitable slope, drain and stands so that I can stick the bike in and then hose it down without worrying about making too much mess in other parts of the garden.
Ideas / suggestions / things to avoid?

Driveway for me, it then slides down into a drainage area. Nothing special or complex really.

you worry about making a mess of your garden? with muds and leaves and stuff? errr ok.

you worry about making a mess of your garden? with muds and leaves and stuff? errr ok.

No, I worry about making Mrs J angry 😯 😳 🙂

No, I worry about making Mrs J angry

seems like to me you can solve two problems at the same time.

put a tarp down and hose it off after? or is that too sensible?

Just don’t wash the bike.

HTH. 😉

I either lean the bike against the spinny washing line thing and wash it on the grass or wash it where the channel drain runs through the paved area and hose the area down afterwards.
If you’re gonna paved an area just slope it down to a stone filled pit at the end so water soaks into that.
Or actually just gravel an area and let water soak straight through.

Just posting to follow thread.

Or actually just gravel an area and let water soak straight through.

But then you just end up with muddy gravel don’t you?

But then you just end up with muddy gravel don’t you?

In my case it’s behind the shed – hidden muddy gravel ftw

There was a wonderful thread a while ago where someone was going to build a special bit in their new patio, as they didn’t want their new patio to get muddy

I just hose it off the bike, and then hose the mud off the decking onto the grass/beds etc. Mother nature then takes over. It’s rare the bikes get cleaned though!

But then you just end up with muddy gravel don’t you?

How much mud are you bringing back on your bike?? Just spray a bit more water on it.

Outside the shed is a partially paved area with a ‘soak-away’ filled with large pebbles in the center. Concept adapted from the ‘French Drain’ idea.

soak-away was dug down about 750mm and it took a few bags of pebbles to fill, but avoids the muddy gravel & sludge situation.

Will probably need to be redone at some point but has lasted nearly 10 years so far and water still drains away really quickly.

I try and use stuff that’s less harmful to the environment to avoid contaminating the water table but still better that flushing straight into the public water/sewage system I reckon.

There was a wonderful thread a while ago where someone was going to build a special bit in their new patio, as they didn’t want their new patio to get muddy

Exactly my thinking, god his missus had him on a short leish.

Was on slabbed area and hose off into the borders, all that different soil from all over the country must do some good for my borders!.

Hose the worst off on the grass? Sod building an area to wash a bike, that’s time that could be spent riding or something more enjoyable.

last year I was a bit concerned about mudding up the 20 or so bags of gravel I’d just lugged round the house to the back garden to put down and make it a bit tidier. I fitted a hose at the front of the house, wahsed the bike down on the gravel driveway then took it round back.

Then 2 weeks later Mrs wookie decides to pot up plants on the new gravel, dropping most of the soil whilst she does.

Now I don’t bother being concerned, just factor in a rake and fresh gravel every now and then.

Hose down on the driveway for me as well.
Just remember to clean out the sump in the drain every now and again to stop it blocking up.
Simples.

I don’t wash my bike very often.

How much mud are you bringing back on your bike??

I once went a winter of night riding 2x a week with the bike in the car for most of it. After a few months of freezing mud on the frame, defrosting in the car, and repeat there was a good inch of soil in the back and grass growing!

Now I just have a bike rack on the back of the car and put it away dirty unless I’ve got a really nice ride planned and I want to check the bike over.

On the grate over the natural spring that drains through my yard?

(yeah, I know)