Had quite frankly the worst ride since restarting mountain biking again. Kept having to stop to sort a sticky piston on my front brake. My other knee has now started killing after having my left one fixed, no energy what so ever and just did not enjoy it at all. The only thing I enjoyed was the road sections.

I’m bored of the mud ruining my brakes and chain, I find the constant cleaning boring. It was a lovely day yesterday and today but just wasn’t exciting at all.

Anyone else get like this. Is it worth me stopping for a few weeks or have I totally lost the biking bug?

If you aren’t enjoying it, leave it for a bit.

Rest your leg, fix your bike and then try again on a sunny day – voila!

No pain, no gain.

If you enjoyed the road bits perhaps its time to get a road bike if you haven’t already got one. Mix things up a bit, come back to the mtb when your ready.

Buy a fatbike and ride coastal stuff!, mud and gloop free-just a spray with a hose after wards. sandy trails and beaches are low maintenance offroad cycling despite the salt air and water with a bike prepped with copper grease and silicone spray, cable BB7 brakes and dry lube on a nickle chain 🙂

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpf0BCmDRzg&list=UUSv198UD3Wy-dBsg3K40IvQ[/video]

Unfortunately the nearest coastline is Southport/Blackpool a good 25/30 miles away. Just wanted to go for a ride and found today’s ride hardwork and muddy. Considered a road bike last year but couldn’t afford one. Since having last years rides ruined by first a fractured leg, then knee surgery twice and it finally feeling good end of January this year I was looking forward to getting out. At first I wastrying trails iI couldn’t last year and after the past rides the last couple of weeks I’ve not enjoyed them.

The mud today was a slog and I don’t know what I’ve done to my other knee but it went pop under knee cap and is killing me.

Your level of fitness is way off I suppose after so much off the saddle. Do you do other exercise and generally physically fit? Maybe you’re expecting too much too soon. Stop moaning & get out more. :o)

My Maximum Milage was 20 mile rides 2/3 times a from September to December. I didn’t ride from Feb till July, fractured my leg and had my knee washed out and the meniscus smoothed. I then fell in September and twisted my knee badly and spent a month off work. Mid october i was riding again, 5 miles, then 10, then 20 till i went in for Partial Menisectomy and Microfracture to the Articular Cartilage. Started riding again Late February two weeks after seeing the consultant.

Started off short flat 2 miles,5miles twice weekly then 10, 15 miles mountain biking 2/3 times a week. Left (repaired knee) feels ace.

However i think a fortnight ago my other knee made a massive popping noise under the patella and i had pain ever since. Stopped ride instantly and went home as it didn’t feel right. Was half way through my ride when the pop happened. Pain eased to a dull ache since i rested. And then i decided go out Tuesday 5 miles and Wednesday 10.1 mile and my knee is killing.

Brakes kept binding, so had to keep stopping to try and clean the muck out of the pistons midride. A nice grinding paste all over my chain.

Just not a happy ride what so ever. I look forward to my rides on my days off/after work but today the pain and mechanicals made me want to get home andd flog the bike.

Only other exercise i do is walking the dog.

Road bike!

If you are not enjoying it, then give it a rest for a while.

Maybe do some short road rides on your MTB to keep your fitness up. I often do a five mile loop from my house, just for fitness.
I don’t normally like road riding because of too many cars.

Also if the mud is getting to you, wait for dryer conditions so you enjoy it more. My friend has recently started riding MTB and he hates muddy conditions, “not enjoyable” he says.

I ride in all conditions, but it’s not a crime to get fed up with/not like something.

Buy my 2006 Specialized Roubaix – it’s on Ebay now. Perfect apart from a paintwork problem.

I know that feeling. It depends on what you want to get out of riding. Tech-terrain loving, FS-owning thrill-seekers will get more fecked off with the slow, muddy conditions than SS XC riders. I had a real low spot with MTB motivation after moving house and finding a lack of fun DH runs, a lot more mud and slog, ended up getting a road bike. Spend a long time mainly on that loved it. Then went back to MTB with a different bike that suits the riding here better and more fitness – result is having as much fun as ever.
So if you like just being out on a bike, there may be good options that also help knee recovery. Same bike, different rides, take it easy and explore a bit?
If you’re looking for thrills it’s trickier but road bikes at 45-50mph can provide it, it may just not seem that appealing until you give it a go. Get something with discs, bigger tyres and wear baggies, no need to ‘go-pro’. CX bikes let you explore a bit more, store up some trail links for when you get back into the MTB full-time?

Been doing a lot of exploring but a lot of stuff is still very muddy. I think I’m just bored with the crap trail conditions. Always wanted to give road cycling a try but can’t justify spending £500 on a road bike at the moment.

Well go mountain biking where there is no mud and good trails then.

Ask on here for mud free trails.

You dont have to do things the hard way.

Go see the doc about your painfull knee though, it doesn’t sound nice.

Fitness/Injury issues aside (sounds like that and your bike need fixing firstly to me):

If you’re in Bolton I’m about half an hour away in the car and the trails my way (Milnrow/Littleborough/Calderdale) are wet but not muddy, I was last out at the weekend and I reckon they are mostly almost as fast as they would be in prime condition.

Change of scenery/trails/exploring somewhwere you don’t know as well might do the trick.

Well had a urgent MRI scan (private health insurance) I have a massive tear in my meniscus and also patella tendonitis. So that explains the knee pain!

The moors suprisingly up Darwen are in excellent condition, however I stayed low and tried woodland stuff last night and it was hub deep in mud for most of it. Looks like I’m gonna be having a few months off the bike now to fix my meniscus so hopefully when I get back on it should dry out.

Definitely considering a road/cx bike to mix things up a bit post surgery.