abandoned tyres, bricks and burnt out cars, I ride in the bestest, most salubrious locations don't I? This puddle has been covering the trail, pretty much edge to edge, continuously since last summer.
But then of course the schizophrenic weather threw us a curve ball, wind and rain and the trails turned to, well, not quite mush but certainly squishy. Thursdays ride home could best be described as skittish, the trail still had a solid base but with a slick fine mud coating, not enough mud to be draggy so speed could be picked up easily but then if you tried anything as daft as turning or braking the bike was all over the shop, again not enough mud for those fun slow sideways slides and drifty corners but just enough to rapidly spit your wheels sideways. Fun in a nihilistic "will I crash my brains out the next time the trail curves 20 degrees to the left?" way. By friday back to the more usual draggy mud and the trail in darcy leaver had been well churned up by horses and walkers. Another reminder how much faster and less effort is involved riding on dry trails. Nicely drying out trails that are fast and fun, add a bit of rain and 48hours later they're quagmires, boooooo.
A big freeze again meant this morning's drop dead gorgeous commute (no mist so not quite as nice as the other thursday) was fast but the churned up ground is jarring and testing in places, few dabs, gonna be a while before it's clip in on my front street clip out when I get to work. The grooves/mini-ruts created by bikes riding through the mud (maybe some of your own tracks) get solidified overnight then cause you trouble, TBH probably not an issue on a fat tyred MTB but CX bikes suffer. No night ride again last week due to some controversial football match but as my cold peaked tuesday anyway it was no great loss, then another busy weekend with family, will have to try to ride this weekend. Commuting is going well but fun rides are very scarce.
No comments:
Post a Comment