can’t be arsed with mud anymore, it is trashes bikes and you just spend to much time fixing things.

with the Road bike go out the door for a few hours, come home dump the bike then do something else.

Had an excellent short ride in the Dales this morning. Beautiful, proper sunny crisp morning. Bit of gloop about, but mostly in excellent fast nick.

There are a few trails I won’t be touching until they freeze solid, but there’s still plenty out there to do.

(wondering if can jam 2.5″ tyres in my bike frame)

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.

It’s Britain, it gets muddy!

Personally, I love it. I’m a slow useless bugger in the best of conditions so the main impact is less pain when I fall off and land in the squishy. Ride bike, wash bike, wash me, wash clothes, happy times. Repeat until “Spring”…

Embrace it. Get a cheap singlespeed, rigid and 29er if you can (or something like that fattie above), and just get stuck in. The mud’s not going away any time soon.

Also it really helps if your rides include a couple of decent pints by a lovely fire in a warm pub.

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 😀

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfMQdFGTKAs[/video]

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.

😆

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 – Member

I’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.

Fullscreen capture 15112012 202012 by SGMTB, 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!

P8153891 by Richard Munro, 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.

mud by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

the sorbet mud ride by rOcKeTdOgUk, 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.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylbic/2172287664/

iffoverload+1