thejoe

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).

C Law

Here is a good thread about your predicament

https://www.bikeforums.net/mountain-biking/112864-trail-use-after-rain.html

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).

thejoe

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"?

thejoe

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

mtnbiker66

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.

zx108

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.

WannaGetGood

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.

drumbum

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?

4SEVEN3

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.

Dannihilator

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

snoopz666

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.

blue_neon

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.

thejoe

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

mikejo

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!

Maelstrom 

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

Krazy Koz

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.

Al.canoe

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

ChroMo2

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

santiago

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.

thejoe

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.

zx108

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

Killer B

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?

thejoe

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.

Callaway

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

dyaskini

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