After ride cleaning
 

Just got back from my second ride with my new homegrown. The bike was caked with about an inch of mud, so i just pressure hosed it down. Will this damage the bike at all? and if so is there any other way of cleaning the bike?

No.

degrease and relube the chain... dont wet any bearings... dont high pressure spray the fork... something like that

Hose.

i believe you can pressure hose it down as long as you don't hit bearings.

I usually hit my bearings with a little WD-40 after I wash it even if I don't get them wet.

Wait until it dries, then just break off the big chunks. Keep WD-40 away from the bearings, as it has strong solvent properties and tends to dissolve grease very quickly.

I used to hose off my bike especially after riding through water and mud but no more, not after having to replace the bottom bracket etc.

What I do now and it seems to work even better than hosing is I let the mud dry, I take a large soft brush and swipe off the dry dirt and mud, use a soft cloth to polish the tubes. Use a cassette brush for the cassette and chain and then use Lemon Pledge to polish the frame and pro-link to lube the chain. Doesn't take much more time than hosing and drying and the bike stays lubed and clean. No problems.