I have a brand new shiny Soul that NEEDS riding. My local (Peaks) trails are utterly, disgustingly, filthy at the moment (even for the time of year) and I really can’t be arsed with turning my new toy into a grinding, shitty, horrible mess in the first 5 miles.

So where’s dry(ish) at the mo? Haven’t been to a trail centre for 5 or 6 years, but I guess its one of those I’ll be looking at. Llandegla (did my MIAS training there years ago and thought it was abysmal, but some mates rate it)? Cannock? How’s Sherwood Pines holding up these days?

Thanks!

Based on anything near here, you would be best to keep heading south.

Spain should be about far enough 😉

Trail centre, or somewhere like North Africa or Australia.  I hear Cape Town was ok but they’ve had some rain I think.

yup I’d go with anything south of the Equator.
I was at Cannock on saturday evening and it was a little damp and just a few small puddles. tbh I’ve only really been riding Cannock at the mo as the trails hold up really well in the winter when all the natural stuff is mud fest. I would imagine that degla would be the same, if you can be bothered with the horrendous drive over there.

CYB is always wet, it rides fine.

The North Shore of Vancouver is unusually dry at the moment, but that’s partly due to the fact that it’s -6°C…

From what I can tell from riding locally I would say the nearest dry place would have to be Namibia.

Was at CYB all last week.

Rained heavily on Sat and Tuesday. But no mud or standing water dispite the rain. Rode really well. Didnt even need to wash the bike.

Was dry as a bone by Thur. Cant believe how well CYB drains.

In contrast Llandegla was really muddy and wet.  Was a real sliog at times, especially the combined red/blue outward leg.

Just book a week in Spain with one of the various mountain bike package companies over there. Yesterday I’ve come back from a week with Switchbacks, Malaga. 6 days riding, a lot of descending (20,000m elevation of descending), no mud to be seen anywhere. Not had to clean the bike or lube the chain all week. Plus the riding over there is even better than what you get in England when its dry. Spain is definitely the solution to the mud problem of the UK Winter.

For normal Winter rides in the UK I tend to ride the least muddy routes (even if it means driving further), put three mud guards on, wear full length pants to protect my legs from the mud, wear waterproof hiking boots with flat pedals, use my secondary bike rather than my best bike, ride less often (once every week or two) and if I need to get out more I’ll consider going on a Walk instead of a Ride sometimes.