Is anyone else REALLY fed up with plodding around muddy trails….

zerocool – Member

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.

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.

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..

Blimey 😯 Where’s that?^^^

Just had a real hoot slopping around warncliffe/greno.Hot bath Sorted.

Its all become a bit tiresome round here.

Had a great ride in the mud yesterday. Hit a patch at speed and only realised it was a foot and a half deep when I stopped dead and half went OTB 🙂

Took a few minutes to extract the bike but other than that it was great fun.

Went out on the mtb today for first time in ages as been using the road bike a lot. Conditions were really muddy, the clay was slippery as hell and I nearly came off countless times. There is more mud on my fork arch and front mech than on the trail now. I may have broken the washing machine and I now have to wash the bike probably using a firemans hose. I loved it!!

@ cinnamon_girl

The Trent flooded in Derbyshire some while ago, it was hard pedaling!

With the right tyre choice, it’s all fun!

Surrey Hills were pretty waterlogged today. 28 miles, covered in mud. Cracking fun.

geetee1972 – Member

Try sitting around for five weeks with three left to go nursing a broken arm.

I feel your pain bro. One gentle ride in 3 months was enough for me to realise I need at least another month off the bike.

Ah well. At least we don’t have mud splattered faces. 😥

Nah, like a bit of mud.

Nope alright here, but I’m only out twice a week off road.
And it’s a bit easier when it’s super wet as you seem to just cut through. Then a bit of trail planning combined with at least one mud tyre and crud catchers all round and jobs a good’un.

I don’t think anyone is saying they dislike riding in mud, or at least i wasn’t. I was meaning i’m pi$$ed off that every ride this year involved being covered in mud, and my trails are totally borked due to the amount of rain we’ve had, and by “my” trails i mean i’m the only one who knows about them/rides them as i’ve cut them myself over the past 20+ years. I stay in a very deserted area and pretty much have the galloway countryside to myself, some trails are still under 12″ of water which i’ve never seen before in 20+ years of riding them and others have been washed away, what is left is either a muddy shithole or impassable on the bike due to encroachment of briars and shrub growth not to mention countless fallen trees due to the ground being so waterlogged that their roots lifted out creating bombholes which further filled with water making the problem worse.

I enjoy mud riding, just not everyfeckintime i go out as it compounds the problem.

Gonna watch mojo trail diaries again……with my persimmon endura cuttle glasses on to give me that warm summer glow, then i might head out on the plug later.
🙂

gazc – Member
funny how a little mud separates the men from the boys (and weekend warriors/trail mincers)

More like the people who like riding in mud from the ones who don’t.

I prefer dry trails – who doesn’t – but living in the UK you’d never ride at all if you waited for perfect weather. I say just get stuck in.

(And work out in advance how to get from your front door to the shower without traipsing mud through your house.)

ashfanman – an outside hose takes car of that!

Great day at Swinley today, first time for my 9 year old, pretty quiet, trails are holding up nicely even though there’s lots of water around.

Well I’ve changed my mind. For today at least. Big all-day ride in the FoD/Yat. Most of the time my rear tyre (ardent)) was keen to have a conference with the front (Minion). I can only assume why that it kept trying to swap ends anyway.

It was proper sketchy all day. Speeds were low, but fun was high. I’d not want to do it every weekend, but there is something satisfying about a bunch of middle aged men turning up to the pub with the appearance of happy swamp monsters 🙂

(And work out in advance how to get from your front door to the shower without traipsing mud through your house.)

You need legwarmers or longs, just peel them off at the front door. Be kind to your calves.

I tend to do less mtb ing and more road in the winter, stick to fire roads if I am out on the mountain bike.

I get greatest enjoyment from riding FAST. I feel my skills are alert and being tested when I am on the edge ripping down a fast trail. I want enough speed to be able to clear obstacles cleanly and already be looking at the next one, planning how to tackle it.

The mud not only slows you down on the approach to jumps/drops, I also get very cold when soaked through in the temperatures we’ve been having (3-4 degrees), you don’t get to ride to the limits in the same way. I am finding it getting me very down. I only got reinspired around August time and have been riding my bike again for a couple of months after a 3 year break, so I’ve not had a hard-pack fast technical ride that’s left me beaming for a long time. It’s nothing to do with men and boys. It’s the added ‘admin’ time and slower trails ruining the simple beauty of fast riding that I glean greatest pleasure from.

I work outdoors and have been battling the rain all season. It has made many lawns unworkable and I have had to postpone things more often than I can comfortably cope with.

I’ve had enough and have been seriously starting to consider moving, properly. I think how lucky bikers in the south of Italy must be, not only with the climate and trails but lifestyle as well.

Surely there must be a cure for midwinter

…bontreger mudX tyres

What glasgowden’s first two para’s said.

Wish I could consider moving to Sunny trail heaven.

You need legwarmers or longs, just peel them off at the front door. Be kind to your calves.

I don’t find that my legs get too cold – so long as I’m covered up top then that’s usually fine. Also, I’m 6’5, so longs end up as 3/4s anyway!

I thought the SS Inbred sealed-everything blah would save me, but no. SO SLOW!

Sick of stripping out the clay, it’s only November.

Hurry up and freeze. This is Mingin’.

Stupid dead leaves & animals.

I’ve gone all urban……….. No, not in some dubious street stylee rapper fashion, but in using my moutain bike “off road” but in town. Amazing what you can find to ride, like steps, drops, walls etc to liven up an normally boring road ride, and enough to justify taking a 100mm HT rather than a pure road bike (Martyn Ashton i am not 😉

GARRGH!