Wet Rides!!!

Get ready for the lecture.

The trails in my area are always in this condition during the summer months.

Evil Patrick said:

Get ready for the lecture.

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I'm not signing up for this "Trail Destruction 101" course...

Nice pics, its been a long time since I got the satisfaction of a mud covered bike and body to destroy my car's interior.

Im w/ the op here. Our trails rarely ever dry up. If we waited for them to dry we could ride maybe 3 days all summer before they got wet again. Im not into trail destruction but this is an issue we deal w/ all the time, at least in my area. Ride wet or stay home 90% of the time.

Great pictures rkj.

Trail destruction?!? Just post pictures if you want if it’s going to create some kind of war over trail preservation then delete the post! The first set of pictures are from a trail I’ve been riding for the past 20 years in all sort of weather and guess what it’s still there. The second few are from a ride sponsored by the group who preserves the trail so they didn’t have a problem with it.

I remember riding in Ohio was kinda of like that, seemed that there was never a 100% dry ride, the trails seemed to hold water at least in a couple of spots. I don't really miss Ohio mtnbiking.
Here in Colorado, you find the bodies of those who ride in conditions like these on a pike at the trailhead, to serve as a warning.

Nice pics and no flames yet!
Agree with those who recognize riding in mud is a necessity here in the Northeast. Trails here last right up until someone puts in a development, a logging operation moves in, a ice storm does its work, or RTVs find your sweets. Sometimes a State Park opens to RTVs. Deal. We have mostly well drained loamy soils here and RTVs are everywhere.

btadlock said:

I remember riding in Ohio was kinda of like that, seemed that there was never a 100% dry ride, the trails seemed to hold water at least in a couple of spots. I don't really miss Ohio mtnbiking.
Here in Colorado, you find the bodies of those who ride in conditions like these on a pike at the trailhead, to serve as a warning.

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Ohioan right here. There's about two weeks in August where I can come home and not wash water off my bike. So we have a different idea of a "dry" trail. But I try my best not to ride when I leave tire tracks.

However, in some of my best results and most fun races are in horrible conditions. The first race was 40 f with a rain/hail mix that was truly epic, and I smiled the entire time.

As a new england builder and maintainer of trails, I hate seeing this stuff, as a rider, I hate days off the rig.

My compromise is that I wait 24 hrs to ride after a big rain (emphasis on big) and when I do ride and the trails are still wet I go THROUGH the puddles and mud so as to not make the tread wide enough to run an Abrams tank through and have room to spin the turrent.

Getting in the park after a rain also lets me more clearly see places that need work to help get the water off the trail, so if I break it, I come back and fix it.

Now the knuckle heads riding wide around puddles and mud making the tread wide and dragging back break right after it rains, I have no patience for. Some don't know what they're doing, the ones that do though, I carry a hatchet and saw in my pack and keep a tarp, some good rope, and a shovel in the truck for them.

I think us folks in the Northwest have you guys up there in the Northeast beat in terms of rainfall...

agm2 said:

Those bikes seem clean.

Both were very fun races. I would never ride in these conditions on a normal ride.

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I may have to go and get some of other picks, but I think we here in the south have the market on the water, now.

btadlock said:

Here in Colorado, you find the bodies of those who ride in conditions like these on a pike at the trailhead, to serve as a warning.

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Except this year, of course, when it's rained everyday for the last 4 months. I have yet to have a dry and dusty ride this year! But you do pick your trails, and find ones that can be ridden a litle wet without damage.

I read the title and my mind went to the gutter. Opened it and was still pleased with the pics. No flaming here i think that wet muddy rides are all part of the sport, good work.