Enjoy riding through wet sand interspersed with shiny pebbles? Come to Cannock

Unless you go off piste, then you can find trails with sticky, claggy mud.

Official trails ride fine in the wet, but you may start going through components at an alarming rate…

I’ve always found Afan and Cwmcarn hold up pretty well. Very wet, but not muddy.

Not a trail centre, but the main combes on the Quantock are still great in the wet.

Isn’t geting muddy and wet half the fun of mountain biking?
Ask any kid.

No, it’s not. I don’t like mud. I put up with it, but I don’t actually like it. I’d rather get thrills by going fast than slithering about at 5mph.

Re trail centres – Cwmcarn is totally rideable in any weather. Well – Twrch at least. There is a string of about five puddles at the beginning though. Cafall is still perfectly rideable too. There are some muddy sections but not enough to be a problem.

For mud-free areas, I’d say look at somewhere like Moab.

FWIW I did four sodden rides on the trot this week around Cardiff, and whilst very wet and muddy it occurred to me that there is very little clag that affects riding. There are a few trails like that but they are easily avoided. It’s a pretty good area for a wet ride.

I think Gisburn is relatively mud fee. It certainly isn’t puddle free though !

It’s much better since the resurfacing though. Whether it’s is a good or bad thing depends on your outlook

Lee Quarry. It gets wet and windy but no actual mud.

Gisburn is pretty solid as well, although there is usually someone moaning on the FB page about puddles there are only a couple of patches of actual mud.

Unless you go off piste, then you can find trails with sticky, claggy mud.

Whatchu talking ’bout Willis, there’s no off piste at cannock, especially not in the wet.

Cardinham seems to stay pretty mud free, it’s all pine forest. But on the flip side it’s slippery like ice, I can find more grip in muddy, rooty stuff than there after a light shower.

moaning on the FB page about puddles

……..

Is this what you want?

http://dirtfactory.org/

and then we’ll follow other outdoor sports that have gone indoors and we’ll soon have a generation of mountain bikers who have never ridden outdoors just like we have people who:

Climb on climbing walls who think that they go rock climbing yet have never been to a crag.

Paddle at a white water centre who have never run a river.

Ski or board at a Snowdome but have never seen proper snow.

Ice climb at the Ice Factor and think they’re winter climbing.

…each to their own I guess, but isn’t getting wet and muddy part of the attraction?

After Saturday’s ride around East Leeds, this post did make me chuckle:

On the other side of the argument, Sherwood Pines is only any good at this time of year because of all the mud.

It’s shit in the dry.

each to their own I guess, but isn’t getting wet and muddy part of the attraction?

What’s fun about getting wet and muddy? It’s uncomfortable.

The attraction of MTBing for me is fast riding on swooping trails, technical challenges, excitement, physical and technical challenge of climbing, being out in the hills. I do it in spite of mud.

I do it in all weathers btw and I’ve ploughed plenty of mud, but it doesn’t add to the experience for me!

Is this what you want?

http://dirtfactory.org/

Sounds perfect. I wouldn’t have to give up mtbing in winter then.

but isn’t getting wet and muddy part of the attraction?

Given a choice I prefer riding in nice conditions as opposed to hub deep through some mud and ending up pushing it after getting stuck for the nth time. Especially since the local trails get absolutely trashed in those conditions. There comes a level of muddiness where it stops being fun and just becomes an endurance exercise and I grew out of them years back.
Same as an indoor wall is a bonus when the heavens have opened or lee valley is handy when the heavens havent opened for a while.
Whilst I dont use the local snow centre myself all the people I know who do go on ski/snowboard holidays and use it so they dont waste half a week remembering from last year.

Is this what you want?

http://dirtfactory.org/

It is all a bit plastic isn’t it?

Though I like the quote from Hans Ray(sic) on their site;

I think there is a great potential for such facilities, especially in parts of the world like the UK where the winters seem rather long.

Yes they do..

Haldon holds up well in the wet, including some of the unmarked stuff.

Was riding Lustleigh Cleave yesterday (Eastern Dartmoor) in the rain after more rain and it was OK. Some of the steeper stuff was interesting but all rideable. That said, it’s too easy to lost on the open moor when visibility is poor unless you really know your way around.

Yeah we were up on Dartmoor last week and stupidly went off across the open moorland. After pushing for a couple of miles uphill through bogs and ankle deep mud my brother turned round, looked back at Burrator lake and said “If you were stood here and someone suggested a nice little walk down to that lake you’d tell ’em to go f=== themselves wouldn’t you?” Yep, I would of.

I think we’re going back on Thursday..

especially considering the main trails round burrator/princetown are about the most weatherproof on the moors…

Yes, the irony was not lost on any of us.

We got back to the lovely, well made path and were passed by a bloke doing the last leg of a 70km ride, he looked pretty clean and dry.

What’s fun about getting wet and muddy? It’s uncomfortable.

This ^^.

I’ve done plenty of incredibly muddy XC and CX races, I’ve raced at Mountain Mayhem in the years of torrential downpours, Salisbury Plain Challenge at the height of the thaw…

And frankly now, the idea of spending 4hrs pedalling at 3mph through hub deep mud and then spending another week cleaning the bike, my kit, the inside of the car has long since lost what tiny appeal it held in the first place. Give me a nice clean-ish trail centre and I’ll happily spend a day being a little hamster on the trailcentre treadmill.

How about Thetford? It’s quite sandy, I imagine it’d drain quite well.

Thetford is only sandy in the summer, where it hasn’t been surfaced it gets quite muddy

Ah. I’ve only been once and ’twas in the dry season!

Chicksands drains very quickly and is generally fine to ride in bad weather.