Originally Posted by
SoldSpartan
Right now its pretty muddied, should I worry how long I let my bicycle sit with the dirt on it?
It is not only the dirt, which contains grit that will wear the chain and gears/cogs, it is the water that will damage the steel in the chain.
So rinsing it off and drying after a ride is a good idea.
If it has physical chunks of mud stuck to the chain, you might want to be lubing it after the rinse as well.