MTB Mud

So - do you think I should invest in some mud guards?


Had a really good ride today. Organised MTB trail ride in the lovely Berkshire countryside. Gorgeous! Alas it did hammer with rain last night so some of the tracks were just a little muddy (read quagmires) - but that adds to the fun really doesn't it. It was a great sunny day, although there was a bite in the air with a chilly 6 degrees.... colder then I first thought so it was lucky I had packed my rain mac as it was needed just as a layer!

Started off just before 10am pretty much headed straight off road into some woods. The wierd thing about this was that there were leafs galour covering the floor which was hiding the MUD. So that was a bit strange .. thinking you were riding on solid ground but not really. After a bit of up and down hill in the wood then had a bit of a confrontation with a couple of horses. All quite polite until another MTBiker came crashing down the muddy hill which made one of the horses rear up - could have been nasty but wasn't which was lucky really.

Finally we popped out onto a bit of road, then another bridle path for a short downhill section - which was interesting in so far as that you couldn't see what was coming due to the sun light flashing through the trees to the right!

Eventually after a bit more on the road we hit a really great stretch of path by the Thames. Really great stuff through some trees with the river to the left - a bit skitty under tyre but a fab bit of trail. Alas all this downward motion only means one thing really.... yes uphill all the way. UG! Talk about thigh and calf buster... and as for my granny ring - nah the chain simply wouldn't go into it. YIKES!

Finally (finally) and eventually we made it back to the start/finish... some 2 hours and 25k (yes only 25k) later! I'm just glad I opted for the short route and not the standard. The bowl of chilli and cup of tea were a fine welcome to the finish line!

Thought (briefly) about a swim this afternoon... .but frankly I'm a bit pooped, not just from the ride but also from the rather late dinner night (work do) on Thursday night. Nothing like a good mtb blast in the countryside to blast the cobwebs away from those kind of indulgences!