Mountain Biking - Do you ride when the trails are wet?

I'm torn... Get my ride-on or risk messing up the trails.

How much damage can a bike do to wet trails? Realistically. I feel like I'm an enviro friendly rider eg. (I don't skid out, I ride light, don't mess up what's there).

I'm needing assistance on how I should approach this. I do not like missing rides.

I ride in Pennsylvania (if that means anything).

Here is a good thread about your predicament

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=112864

No one likes missing rides.

Basically, if you are going to do any damage to the trails, I hold off riding until it is dry enough.

(I wish everyone thought this way, especially horseback riders)

What is dry enough?

Well that really depends on the trail. How it is made, what is the soil base, etc.. Around me I have trails that you can't ride on for 3-4 days after heavy rains. Some trails are okay to ride in the heavy rain(sandy with good drainage).

The trails I ride are on top of hills that surround a valley (runoff is good, tree cover is everywhere). I was out riding when a rain shower hit and had about a dozen drops hit me.

What is your definition of "dry enough"?

Oops, you made your definition of "dry enough". But I'm not sure of my area's dry enough.

I try to pick places where the trails drain well.Oh man,don't get me started on horses.A new trail was built near my house and they put up closed to horses signs.They let the trails season a bit then they open to horses. Well some horse riders poached it and just destroyed a lot of hard work.

i dont ride when the trails just got DRENCHED. but if it rained a little i can go a few hours later and it is fine.

if you have trails with dirt that gets really muddy, you dont want to ride in that. and you dont want to rip up the rythem stuff(ugh i have bmx racing in my head, you know the stuff you can just flow through) we have both kinds of stuff over here and when it is wet i only ride the trails that have lots of rocks and sand, they are usually dryer.

i think it is worth it to wait a day and have a nice trail waiting for you tommorow.

I'll ride Dirt Jumps when it is raining. If the trial is a very soft dirt trial, I wont ride it when It is raining cuase it just turns in mud. And I don't like mud that much.

I also live in PA, and find the valleys and hills dry really fast at the top; plan to take the higher rather than lower route.

Just out of curiosity, where do you live in PA?

I personally like dry rides over wet rides. I hate mud on anything. Plus our local club maintains the trail system, the more damage I/we create, the more work needed later on to fix problem areas.

With how little rain NJ had gotten this summer, the trails were still dry as hell after yesterday's rain storms.

ya i ride when its wet. but not all the time, it depends what trail i want to ride, some i wont because theres lots of skinnies ans bridges and thats sucks in the wet. there is however some that are better wet, at our local lift accessible hill there are 2 trails that suck in the dry but are some of my favorite in the wet.

I ride AFTER a nice amount of rain, not after a flood (10mm +), but if we got >5mm of rain, weather fines out the next few days, the trails are great to ride on.

I also live in PA, and find the valleys and hills dry really fast at the top; plan to take the higher rather than lower route.

Just out of curiosity, where do you live in PA?

I ride near Philly. Mostly at the Wissahickon. I'm gonna give it a try tomorrow. It was clear all day.

It's always wet in the Pacific Northwest. If we only rode when it was dry, we would never ride at all.
Mud and blood baby!

It's always wet in the Pacific Northwest. If we only rode when it was dry, we would never ride at all.
Mud and blood baby!

Ain't that the truth. I would be done as of last week. I wouldn't be able to ride..till...next may maybe.

I usually give local trails a day or two to drive before riding. Not only do you risk damaging most trails when they are wet, but mud is a real pain to clean out of your bike. Also, riding with mud in your brakes is dangerous, especially on a wet trail where you would want a lot of braking power.

I ride when wet in the Tenn., GA, and NC mountains. Some trails never completely dry and there are a lot of showers up there. I'm not alone either. Around home I don't. We have a layer of sand over hardpack and the wet sand stickes to everything including the drive-train. It's much worst than mud.

Al

Of course you ride on wet trails. It's fun and exciting!

I just ran a race that was on trails that were drenched and very, very muddy. The race was not cancelled. I did feel bad about riding on the trails (the riders created so many ruts). However, the club organizing the race is the same one that tends to the trails (they have exclusive rights to maintain trails on a military base). If they allowed the race to go on, I wasn't going to question it.

As someone posted earlier, with all the mud we had, I felt I had NO brakes and I could not shift out of one of my gears because of the muck buildup. Every time I tried, my chain would either spin or keep ghost-shifting.

Northeast USA riders...how are your trails? I'm going to take a look tomorrow rain or shine. This is depressing. I haven't been out since the 5th.

i just got non-stop rain for 1week+. i am letting the sun do its thing on them saturday, then riding sunday.

Horse Do Do On The Trails Sux....

Sorry for the rudeness, but sometimes the truth hurts, huh?

* This post has been rated G for "ALL" audiences, huh Mael?

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! You're drunk, arent' you? And you like horse poo, so don't play all affronted. You love green wheels...sicko.

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! You're drunk, arent' you? And you like horse poo, so don't play all affronted. You love green wheels...sicko.

I thought that they were road apples!?! Anyway-when I ride the "paths" aka limestone trails with my wife I end up hopping on the horse trail part anyway- it is a bit more wild than the limestone:D

Midwest/Northlands riding would be pretty much the same trails as with the east coast. Here I follow the rule of not to bike with in 24 hours post heavy rain. Light rain, the following day should be fine, not only horse back riders but even hikers/runners the rule should be DON'T MAKE NEW TRAILS!!!.
JD

With how little rain NJ had gotten this summer, the trails were still dry as hell after yesterday's rain storms.

Fated Words.

You love green wheels...sicko.
No, but my girlfriend likes her green Michelin Wildgrippers

like you said dyaskini,here in Va. we do the same thing. 24 hours for every inch of rain. it has kept trail work WAY down
as far as horse turds, they become new trail eventually but when they ride wet trails the damage they do is enormous. I did some general trail work last week(makes the water flow better since it finally rained) and went back this past Mon. to find most of it totally fragged from horses. they tear up the trails, which leaves low spots, water stands there, they come back through, make big divets,more water stands. eventually it makes it so you either have to make it soooo hard it might as well be paved or you find another trail. at least thats the way it is at Battlefield.
a little rant here. I am maintaining over 12 miles of trails by myself and get pissed at what the horses do every time it rains, as well as damage from bikes in switchbacks from going too fast down them(way widening at the bottom of the curve)
mud is cool but damage to the trails is not. what we did on some trails the last couple of years of monsoon season was if it was standing water,even just a skim, we walked around or if it was real soupy looking, same thing.mud is also NOT good for your bike

I am maintaining over 12 miles of trails by myself and get pissed at what the horses do every time it rains, as well as damage from bikes in switchbacks from going too fast down them(way widening at the bottom of the curve)
mud is cool but damage to the trails is not. what we did on some trails the last couple of years of monsoon season was if it was standing water,even just a skim, we walked around or if it was real soupy looking, same thing.mud is also NOT good for your bike
:beer:

if mountain bikes do damage to trails, why do you ride on trails. aren't trails there for a challenge. ride on paved trails if it's too difficult to navigate a "real" trail. what are you supposed to do, just look at the trails and use them for a conversation piece? That's like asking if you ride on trails when it snows. Why don't you ask if people ride on grass through city parks or across peoples lawns? :eek:

In the Pacific Northwest, trails are wet eight months out of the year, so of course I ride when they are wet. However, I always trying to make my impact on the trail as little as possible regardless of the weather.

With it raining the whole week, thought that the trails here would be in bad shape, to my suprise due to the very very dry summer here trail conditions were perfect for the most part.

[QUOTE=ChroMo2]if mountain bikes do damage to trails, why do you ride on trails. aren't trails there for a challenge. ride on paved trails if it's too difficult to navigate a "real" trail.
its not a too much challenge thing. its a "REAL" trails dont just fall from the sky, someone(s) put alot of effort into designing, building and maintaining them. by respecting the fact that wet trails are more susceptibleto major damage and avoiding certain areas is not being a woose, its being responsible. areas that stay wet most of the time have trails that are designed as such. on the east coast we are not used to 66-70" of rain like the Pacific NW so our trails are not designed intentionally as such. theyare not designed for 6" of rain all summer so they are not designed as such so we had to avoid certain things such as speeding through corners and expecting traction on dirt that is so dry its like sand.
if you ever do trail work and come out and see where someones carelessnes has destroyed your work or worse caused a loss of the use of the trails you would not make such a statement probably.
there is only so much land and we must make the most of it by taking care of it.
if you have a piece of private property ,by all means, tear it up, but please respect that a lot of work goes into "REAL" trails that are not onyour private property
if you ever have to skip a meal or more in order to get your bicycle, you will avoid mud also as it does NOT do a bike any good

if mountain bikes do damage to trails, why do you ride on trails. aren't trails there for a challenge. ride on paved trails if it's too difficult to navigate a "real" trail.
its not a too much challenge thing. its a "REAL" trails dont just fall from the sky, someone(s) put alot of effort into designing, building and maintaining them. by respecting the fact that wet trails are more susceptibleto major damage and avoiding certain areas is not being a woose, its being responsible. areas that stay wet most of the time have trails that are designed as such. on the east coast we are not used to 66-70" of rain like the Pacific NW so our trails are not designed intentionally as such. theyare not designed for 6" of rain all summer so they are not designed as such so we had to avoid certain things such as speeding through corners and expecting traction on dirt that is so dry its like sand.
if you ever do trail work and come out and see where someones carelessnes has destroyed your work or worse caused a loss of the use of the trails you would not make such a statement probably.
there is only so much land and we must make the most of it by taking care of it.
if you have a piece of private property ,by all means, tear it up, but please respect that a lot of work goes into "REAL" trails that are not onyour private property
if you ever have to skip a meal or more in order to get your bicycle, you will avoid mud also as it does NOT do a bike any good

Very well said. Also if built correctly, the trails tend to drain quickly.

When the trails are too wet, ride urban/trials....it's yet another advantage of riding several different styles other than being a well-rounded rider.

move to oklahoma. When the trails are wet, the only difference is that you get wet sand all over you instead of dry sand. I've never worried about damaging a trail.

What I dont get is, If the trails are man made and there to use for biking and hiking. Why can't we too some degree destroy them from wear and tear of bikes who are trying to use them to the fullest.

Riding on wet muddy trails just destroys them.

I did a 24hr race this weekend, after 1hr into the race a thunder storm passed by and dropped ~2" of water into the course, not to mention the danger of lightning. On certain sections felt like you were riding in a river with water up to the BB.

Felt real bad about the damage being done to the trail but I'm one of the guys that maintains it so we have our work cut out.

Riding the "easy" part of the course, it drained me every time I passed thru there.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/DiRt_DeViL/2005%2024Hrs%20of%20Florida/P1010015.jpg

Quick stop to change bottles
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/DiRt_DeViL/2005%2024Hrs%20of%20Florida/P1010017.jpg

How the bike looked after 1 night lap
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/DiRt_DeViL/2005%2024Hrs%20of%20Florida/PA150011.jpg

What I dont get is, If the trails are man made and there to use for biking and hiking. Why can't we too some degree destroy them from wear and tear of bikes who are trying to use them to the fullest.
you are correct. using the trails does do damage. minimal but yes , damage over time. riding wet trails that are not designed to be ridden wet, speeds up the process a whole lot
in a lot places erosion into waterways is a concern to the land managers. if trails get trashed then erosion happens and loss of the trails to bikes is the result.
I wish there were indestructable trails because its a H3LL of a lot easier to ride trails than build/repair/restore them and Id have more time for riding as well.
time spent working on trails= time not riding them

Well i absolutely hat the Pacific North West because the trails are always wet, i've gotten accustomed to riding when it's wet i don't like it though because it does soooo much damage to the trails but that's what a get for living in western washington.

how come it looks like so much fun when other people ride the trails when they're wet? The guy above was so exhillerated, he posted pictures of his muddy bike. I think it's cool! So is it o.k. to ride on trails that have snow on them? Why limit yourself? If a trail isn't difficult, there would be no point in riding trails. I ride trails where there are logs across the trails and when you come up to the log you see wear marks from chainrings, from hardcore mountain bikers who hop over the log and gouge the log with their bicycle components. Some people try blocking trails with tree stumps. Some people unblock the trails. Rain is only nature.