[Closed] Post ride clean up. Anyone else utterly sick of it now?

It's like this every winter isn't it? You clean your lights?

You could just mtfu and put wet shoes back on.

It was like this a fair bit of summer tbh

Yeah. We need winter to arrive. That's when I just park the bike in the garage, shake the snow and ice off and go into the house all clean and dry.

it's what road bikes are for.... I don't mind the mud, but the chalky slip-fest interspersed with razor sharp flint of the south downs is the main reason I'm avoiding getting on the MTB today....

Don't mind the clean up, it's the shitty, sodden trails I've had enough of.

It's like this every winter isn't it? You clean your lights?
You could just mtfu and put wet shoes back on.

Yes, maybe I moaned last year (and every year) as well I can't remember 🙂

Cleaned my lights tonight as they were that caked in mud, never done that before.

Don't mind the clean up, it's the shitty, sodden trails I've had enough of.

Yep that too.

I'm delighting in the entire ecosystem my bike is cultivating - I haven't cleaned it since October (and yes, it has gears and suspension)! Whenever I look at it I'm reminded of the hours I've saved by putting it away muddy. 😉

I'm fed up of getting soaked by massive puddles and having o empty my pack and put it through the wash all the time.

Bring me snow.

It's going to get cold next week, it seems. Get up early enough you can have a frosty ride on the moors.

Mmmmm crunchy snow.

My New Years resolution is to be more of a fair weather rider... So for now it's eat, drink and be merry until the sun shines again! 😛

I'm the best part of 2 stone overweight already, another 1/2 a stone or so ain't gonna kill me by spring! 😉

Spray bike spray me chuck bike in shed chuck gear in washer chuck me in shower

Or on road, put bike away stick clothes in wash and stick me in shower

Both pretty quick one obviously more so. Only thing I've been making sure is that I wear full length leg covering in mud now as it's just easier to clean

mboy - Member

My New Years resolution is to be more of a fair weather rider... So for now it's eat, drink and be merry until the sun shines again!

I'm the best part of 2 stone overweight already, another 1/2 a stone or so ain't gonna kill me by spring!

Im kind of applying similar logic. It tends to work best when applied at about 7am looking out the window at the rain. 😀

the mud is all puffed up with air and days of heavy rain, havin to walk up dank trails where in the summer I could ride purely because I can't get any traction. sloppy slimey greasy smuck up your frame and come flying off once along tarmac mud.

Got a new bike and hardly ridden it. 🙁 Combination of lurgy and little motivation to get out in the foul gloom. I fancy a trip to a trail centre too though. Not done that for ages.

Lube chain, blow dust of the fork and shock seals. Job done. Just got to avoid getting eaten by the local fauna.

Spent years slogging through the mud and snow or worse skating on ice but not any more.

MTB rides are rare these days and definetly a summer activity, road is fair weather maybe a little light rain but nothing worse, run, the gym or zwift when conditions are poor.

I haven't touched a bike since September (apart from one race)

I've been running instead and have been loving the fact that there is no time faffing. Looking forward to next week when hopefully frost arrives and can get out on the bike too

Single speed rigid with mudguards, as many as you can find spare frame space.

Clean in April.

empty my pack and put it through the wash all the time.

Bike wise, hose down as usual when I get home, gt85 on chain and mechs and bolts, fork juice on fork and post, put in garage - takes all of 10 mins max - lube chain in morning once all dry, muddy kit goes straight from duffbag (I drive to trails) into washing machine, 30 min quick wash, hang up, sorted for next day. Defroster boots get hosed, left to drip for half an hour, popped onto hot water cylinder, dry next day.

I haven't ridden the mtb for 2 months now. I've even got a dedicated mud bike and just can't face it. Walked around my some of my local trails the other day, sections are literally under water....turbo in the kitchen it is.

im conscious about cleaning my drivetrain after riding this time of year but usually end up washing the whole bike, unless i know its going back out the next day or so. as for me theres an inch of skin between the top of my socks and the bottom of my knee pads, and my face that gets muddy, the rest is a quick hose off and hung up to dry or shoved in the washer. shoes on the radiator.

but yeah it is all a bit of a faff... long for the days you can just shove it back in the shed and go about your day without even needing a shower...

ive been deliberating over a new pack lately too, but having emptied it out and put through the wash its like new and the itch has gone away! thats an evoc too - im gonna wash it again and take it skiing!

Don't mind the clean up, it's the shitty, sodden trails I've had enough of.

Cold crisp dry days where are they 😕

Managed to utilise a torrential downpour to clean the bike last week. Granted, being out on the bike at the time, soaked to the bone and with the temperature about 3 degrees above freezing, I did almost get hypothermia but at least I have a clean bike.

Seeing all the videos online of the pros messing about in the mud/woods/mud etc makes me laugh; it would be very easy to spend hours getting caked in mud and doing belly slides to finish the day if you were able to just throw your kit in the bin afterwards. The joys of being sponsored, eh.

Love the actual riding at the moment. If the conditions are just about right (like last night for me), then its brilliant! Yeah, the clean up is a chore, hosing the bike down at 10pm in the rain starts to grate after a couple of months. Still its the same every year, but it makes you appreciate the dusty short dry season we have 🙂

Sorry it's my fault, I gave my bikes a good clean up ready for the new year and the weather has been shite ever since. Sticking to road til it freezes over! That said I may give Woburn a go tomorrow as it's better with a bit of juice in the ground.

We were spoilt rotten with that Indian summer up to late October. There's always a price to pay.

🙁

Two options: mtfu or don't mtb in the british winter.
I choose option 2 these days.

wrong thread, thought you were on about bodily fluids.....

Plenty of practice this winter got the clean up operation down to a fine art, pretty slick now!

[i]clothes [/i]- not an issue as they get washed anyway as full of sweat but I've got multiple sets of everything anyway in case I forget.
[i]shoes [/i]- have 3 identical pairs on rotation (used for commuting too)
[i]bike [/i]- If using the SS I don't wash it, just poke/shake the mud off the whirly bits and re-lube, geared bike pretty much the same but with a tiny bit more poking as there are more cogs.
[i]camelbak [/i]- not an issue as don't use one
[i]lights [/i]- seriously? just wipe them off if at all.

I did the 3rd muddiest race of my life on Sunday too, still only took 15mins to clean the bike fully, which is something I don't normally bother doing.

The grit and grime seems to get in everywhere.
My gripe is having to try and clear the bike during a ride. The mud sometimes builds up around the forks and CS and then cakes the drivetrain. Every pedal stroke I'm cringing and trying to not calculate the cost. I get horrifically muddy trying to clear it to get the wheels turning, never mind getting cold and using precious water to do so.

Post ride clear up is easy. Quick rinse with a hose and put away then lube chain before the next ride. I've got two sets of everything so just swap every ride for dry kit.

After building my super cheap but super awsome Inbred-Alfine-Fat-Front-rigid bike from second hand bits that people didn't want I actually look forward to riding in filth now.

Having a bike dedicated to the task in hand is great. Posh bikes can stay all nice and clean and the mud plugger lives in its own special corner of filth at the opposite end of the garage. Feels exactly the same to ride when covered in crap as when its clean - so no point touching it.

Wet? Mud? Huh? It's 40c and the only wetness is the sweat that pours off simply getting a bike out the shed. I'd love some rain and mud right now.

[IMG] [/IMG]

I too also as well am bored of the rain and mud, to the point that I haven't bothered to go out for a ride in a week or so- everywhere's just bloody sodden 🙁 On the bright side, yoga is keeping me sane and I'm slowly building my HT back up into a lean, mean SS winter machine 😀 Bring on the snow and crisp mornings!

Yeah, it's a bit shit, and my bikes have to be cleaned as they live indoors and I rent, but the alternative is not going out at all, and frankly that's not an alternative at all!

bike takes about 20mins, and clothes go in the laundry anyway.

I don't even bother wiping the dust off anymore.

Currently doing gym work and awaiting a new road bike.

Saving the MTB for when the trails surface.

I have to admit as much as I'm the worst kind of winter-hater with an unhealthy dose of SAD mixed it, I'm not minding this winter too much so far, yes, very very wet - even though I've been sticking to the centres since BST ended I'm wearing the 'drowned rat' look every ride it's not been too bad.

I've focused on the positives, yes I've got a huge sack of soaking knackered kit to deal with, but Bosch doesn't seem to give a monkey's if it's soaking wet, full of dust or anything in between - Regina Blitz makes short work of drying my shoes - well, my Teva's anyway, might need an extra day or two for 5:10s and because it's so wet at the moment, however shitty the bike is when I've finished noting dries on so if I show it a hosepipe or jetwash thing in the centre it's 'clean enough' in seconds.

What it's not is cold, I've not seen anything below 5c yet this year and 12c seems to be the norm - in JANUARY!

MY only hope at this stage is that this very wet weather doesn't last into spring and summer - I really don't want another summer when it starts raining in May and doesn't stop again till October.

It was the late-evening cleaning sessions, the filthy damp clothes and getting undressed in the freezing garage that finally killed my enthusiasm after 21 years as the world's most obsessed mountain biker.

woodster - Member

I'm fed up of getting soaked by massive puddles and having o empty my pack and put it through the wash all the time.

Rain cover is good to prevent your bag getting caked in mud. Yes it gets muddy but easy to hang up in the garage & shake the mud off once dry - or hose down - or put in wash with clothes.

I'm alright with it at the moment, just happy to be out and about on the mountain bike!

kiwijohn - Member
I don't even bother wiping the dust off anymore.

Occasional spray with the retic...

Surprised at how many people don't bother going out, I'm out every chance I get regardless especially now I've bought a fat bike I bloody love it!
I just hose the bike off and kit lube chain then back in the garage!

Drying my shoes is the only annoying bit for me

kiwijohn - Member
I don't even bother wiping the dust off anymore.

I was checking the Super rugby fixtures last night - February 26th, I think it starts? Every time I watch a NZ Super game it seems to be taking place in a torrential deluge, so if you are living in NZ as your name suggests, that gives you five weeks or so of dust. 😛

Rain cover is good to prevent your bag getting caked in mud.

Might invest in one of these yeah. Probably carrying an extra pound or two of mud on my rucksack ATM.

🙂

I clean the moving bits, and the lights. Each weekend it gets a proper inspections a strip down of anything that needs it. The rest of the bike is caked in mud, it's kind of like a protection barrier, trying to get a bike immaculate in the dark is never going to happen. If it's not a moving part, it can be muddy until I start riding in the light again!

I've ridden three times in the last 9 weeks. It's just appalling. Part of this is the terrible state of my local trails, the other is that since moving into our new place 2 years ago, more priority work has prevented my setting up the garage so that everything is ready and streamlined to minimise the faff.

Just a question - how may of those who love to ride in shit weather spend a lot of their time working in it too? I'm guessing a minority.

Soft handed office boy here - don't mind bad weather riding, but I did have a moan about the office only being 20c the other day.

Plenty of time between now and ardrock to get out and go training .... its manky as hell here in northumberland atm so no rush

The sad part is for me that I never really bothered cleaning my old bike apart from very basic chain maintenance. Now I've got a fancy new bike I know I'm going to want to clean it properly which puts me off going out!

Got a van full off wet kit and bike after last night's ride in the torrential rain. Not going to deal with the bike until Sunday when it's going to be cleaned and have new brake pads fitted, then put away until it's dryer.

I might never ride it again...

My kit will be dealt with tonight. Slight blessing is that it was soooo wet last night the mud didn't stick.

I do always find that cleaning bike/kit etc straight after the ride seems easier/less effort than coming back to it the following day. The only time I don't clean the bike (assuming it's not dry mud, in which case it gets left and brushed off, I don't wash a dry bike !) is when it's chucking down when I get home. I drive to trails and usually get back from a night ride around 1045/11 pm - the neighbours reckon I'm nuts bringing hose pipe round from back of house and washing bike down when the're going to bed 🙂

[img] [/img]

Wanted: As many dirty mucky post ride cleans as possible.

Swap for: Hernia (groin), kidney stones, bladder + urethra infections (i.e. no cycling since early April last year 😥 )

Been out as much as I can over the holidays. I failed a climb on the Llangollen mountain that I've done in almost all conditions last week - it was simply too muddy to get up and I had to admit defeat which deeply hurt my pride. The way down wasn't any better, front wheel slides everywhere. The mountain only needs a few hours to dry out to be rideable but it didn't get that. Two days prior the same trails were still muddy but brilliant fun. I picked the wrong moment to go out!

Actually thinking of heading to Llandegla for a couple of laps instead this weekend. At least it'll be rideable. Llandegla is brilliant in the winter too.

I also have to admit that my no hose near my bike rule has been utterly broken since mud fest started. It and me are so covered when I get home I just have to hose us both down. Single pivot will hopefully prove it's worth this winter.

Get out there and remember summer bodies are built in the winter.

Winter riding is a chore but I try to stay positive and look forward to light nights and grippy trails.

Fortunately I have had a vile chest infection that has lingered for a fortnight so I have forgotten how fed up with bike cleaning I had become. Am now desperate to be able to breathe properly so I can actually ride even if it is raining. What really spoiled me was doing the Trans Cambrian in early October when not only did we not see our waterproofs but were actually stripping off jerseys and riding in base layers. Seems a distant memory now.

Whilst I agree with some of the groans on here - and I'm in the same boat - I think you got to have your tactics about you - the bad weather won't last forever.

I clean my bike and GF's after most rides, it's very trying but it's about keeping on top of it.

I have set up a mountain-bike trainer which is okay for spin a week. We occasionally try to get on the back-lanes for mtb rides on the road which can still be mucky but less so. I also try and choose my days and times where possible - it's easier to ride following/before a day of heavy rain.

We still commit to a big Sunday ride but try to do an easy path concentrating on miles rather than the interesting tracks.

With equipment I don't take a pack - just put stuff in pockets. I Have two pairs of winter shoes so one set can be drying. Also have multiple coats and gloves so you're not relying on things be dry.

This has got me through 23 Winters. Or you can pack up.

I failed a climb on the Llangollen mountain that I've done in almost all conditions last week - it was simply too muddy to get up and I had to admit defeat which deeply hurt my pride.

Yes, it's the climbing in the slop that's doing my head in, don't mind the descending so much - wanted more practice at that anyway.

on the plus side I'm still riding in a short sleeve jersey and bib shorts, not tights, base layers and balclavas!

Euro - Member

Wanted: As many dirty mucky post ride cleans as possible.

Swap for: Hernia (groin), kidney stones, bladder + urethra infections (i.e. no cycling since early April last year )

+1

Wanted: As many dirty mucky post ride cleans as possible.

Swap for: [b]New Baby Girl[/b]
(i.e. no cycling since early [b]October[/b] last year )

God knows how tragically unfit I currently am!!

PS - not serious about swapping for the Bubba. She can stay....

On the wet boots/shoes front: I've just invested in this; great piece of kit

http:/www.coopersofstortford.co.uk/mobile/product.asp?pf_id=st09930i

http://imgur.com/IdJkWDj

My gear was shittier than my bike after Saturday's Borrowdale Bash.
PITA when hosing clothing takes longer to sort than the thing you rode.
Mind you I did forget my spoddy mudguards so my own fault.

Oooh I'm excited frost forecast for the weekend, I know it'll still mean bike and kit need cleaning but hourly trails might be mostly solid if I can get out early on Sunday !

It`s real wet!, but just the usual sand to wash off here in East Lothian 🙂
The mud is a sandy loam here so even though saturated ground away from the coast it washes off without bike cleaner and just the usual blast with the garden hose, still using Squirt Dry Lube ok here 😮

My commuter bike is more of a mess with country roads caked in clag dragged out fields!
[url= https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1553/24216889601_fb5c5ba45e_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1553/24216889601_fb5c5ba45e_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/CTXTzk ]10th Jan; Sunday Cycle 004[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/coastkid71/ ]Bruce[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1564/24003663630_77af970fa0_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1564/24003663630_77af970fa0_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/Cz83Vu ]10th Jan; Sunday Cycle 042[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/coastkid71/ ]Bruce[/url], on Flickr

[img][url= https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1501/24191022192_4759e2743d_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1501/24191022192_4759e2743d_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/CRFj6w ]10th Jan; Sunday Cycle 060[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/coastkid71/ ]Bruce[/url], on Flickr[/img]

I like the Durapipe bike stand.

Dibbs - Member
I like the Durapipe bike stand.

Golf Course Irrigation pipe, all that blue bendy water pipe these days so this stuff obsolete and was to be binned 🙂

Here is how i made it;
http://coastkid.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/diy-fatbike-pvc-pipe-washstand.html

Having a shed and direct access to the garden has made my life so much easier. Got plastered yesterday so a quick hose of bike and myself then hang stuff up in shed. Job done.
I have horrible memories of chaining my bike to a lamp post and up and down steps with buckets of water when I lived in a flat.

Spray with fenwicks or Muc off, quick going over with a brush. Rinse off with mobi washer. Takes 10 minutes. Dry with a towel, leave for 15 minutes then lube chain.
Do that after every ride. Do a full clean once a month wheels off etc and use a bucket of soapy water and break out some autoglym wax

Road or run til Easter.

You should see how much mess you can get into with a muddy ride on a Fatbike with inadequate guards...................even at the end of a tow path ride I had to sit outside the pub and the staff took turns to come out and see the mud monster...........

No cleaning this weekend other than chipping the ice off

About fricken time too 😀

My shoes are currently drying from the weekend still. Wet kit is now dry but hasn't been cleaned yet. Bike hasn't been cleaned, is in the garage.

That was a big weekend away though

My local rides are even muddier, muckier, and happen more regularly. I often brush off the mud from my outer wear and stick it back on, baselayer gets a wash though. My rides are usually only a couple of hours long max if its local

My local rides are on a rigid SS, so no maintenance or clean up needed. I picked off enough dried mud to fill 2 chinese takeaway containers the other night, didn't seem to affect anything though. Front and rear mudguards help with keeping my clothes OK though, can't see the point in riding around without them

Degla was fine on Sunday, christened my new Capra (a month after it arriving).
Just a few puddles here and there. Top of the first climb was colder than a penguin's ballbag but some kind chap lent me a pair of Winter gloves, some good people out there.
Bike got a quick rinse, blow dry with compressor, WD40 on the chain and forgotten about.

Local trails are currently bogs. I was still going to head out but the heavy rain from the moment I got home put an end to that

Road or run til Easter.

You think it'll be any dryer then?! 😐

Yes.

Velodrome tomorrow evening 😀