Mountain Biking - How long to wait after rain?

I have been riding a few months and love it. We have been having a lot of rain the last 2 weeks and everything is mud. How many days does it take with no rain to dry the trails up? I don't want to ruin any trails, but I really want to get out there!

Unfortunately there is no set time. Some of the trails around where I live can be ridden the next day, others take weeks.

It all depends. If it is sunny, a day or 2 if you want it dry. I usllay go the day after cuase I love to bike. And the trails are just a little bit slippery, not to much to worry about.

around here we use the rule "stay off the trails 24 hours for every inch of rain" but if the trails are a mess or it rains often,like you are experiencing, we usually will wait 48 hours for every inch. these are guidelines because as posted above, some dry quicker but we still usually stay off them anyway

ride in the rain mud or dirt. its all the same and fun.

ride in the rain mud or dirt. its all the same and fun.

Ughhh....... Gotta love it when people have this attitude. :rolleyes: If you are going to ride in the mud please do so on private property, properly built trails, or on fireroads. Don't make other's ride rutted trails because you wanted to have fun in the mud.

To be honest if we didn't ride in the rain/after rain...we wouldn't ride. West coast riding is wed and muddy but trails are built correctly to take the riding.

So in my situation I don't wait. I ride when I want to.

To be honest if we didn't ride in the rain/after rain...we wouldn't ride. West coast riding is wed and muddy but trails are built correctly to take the riding.

So in my situation I don't wait. I ride when I want to.

Yeah but your situation is different. The stuff you ride is so freaking steep that water can't stand on it anyway. ;)

Yeah but your situation is different. The stuff you ride is so freaking steep that water can't stand on it anyway. ;)

Oh we have our spots :D...anything flatter usually ends up with manmade crap on it :D

To be honest if we didn't ride in the rain/after rain...we wouldn't ride. West coast riding is wed and muddy but trails are built correctly to take the riding.

So in my situation I don't wait. I ride when I want to.

True. I actully might be up in Whistler on June 9th. Ganna meet the owner of that bike shop owner I know. And I bet it rains more down here in Abbotsford than in does there lol.

True. I actully might be up in Whistler on June 9th. Ganna meet the owner of that bike shop owner I know. And I bet it rains more down here in Abbotsford than in does there lol.

Depends on the year :)...but ya when we snow you rain :D...

Snowcovers right...they carry some nice bikes, but their mechs looked at me like I was ******** when I asked for a seatpost shim

lol. Yeah right. Hoping to go up there, and then we are going to try and get me a job. Cuase I get off school June 20. Maybe I can look at you like that when I work there lol!

Well, i recently i have a very nice experience while cycling in Penang, Malaysia-It was a 20km ride, we went 5km up to 2000ft above sea lvl, and after that we went downhill to a path where i think many MTB nvr use cause the grass is freakin tall and there are vines that has thorns, some guys got scartched by it and i managed of avoid it haha, there is this moment when the guy if front of me stopped cause the leader waited of see if everyone is there and i almost fall (pressed the front brake n my bike lifted). It was a long downhill where nobody used before. Anyway after all the twisted downhill we finally reach the bottom. After that its a 5km road cycling to Balik Pulau, we rested for awhile and continue cycling to the second path back, on the way back it was raining, woooooo, we reach the top and waited for a long time, little that we know is that the other riders were waiting at the bottom of the trail, we went downhill and the grave is wet, thank goodness I just changed my brake pads, haha. If was a fast downhill and slowing down is needed. Haiz cycling in the rain is ns but sucks when doing downhill.

A lot depends on the amount of expansive clays in the soil. Try keeping an open box of hard packed dirt in your yard. When it is dry you should be ok. Shady spots in depressions might stay icky for weeks.