You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Tbh I dint like muddy riding conditions.
What trail centres or areas can you recommend that are largely mud free?
🙂
Dartmoor and Exmoor
Marin was pretty good.
Stainburn gets good feedback for wet weather conditions, and it's built with that always in mind.
Swaledale, 'puddly' but not muddy.
Oh wait....
There's no mud on Penmachno.
Mud at Penmachno? Never heard of it.
Go ride there, it's perfect when raining too
Penmachno- cleanest trail centre there is.
Whinlatter
You will very rarely find mud at any centres in South Wales, water though!
Lap of Whites today, I’d been better off with a canoe.
Have you heard of Zwift?
How about Llangollen; is it largely mud free there?
I don’t mind a bit wet but I can’t stand slogging through the mud!
There's no mud on Penmachno.
This is true, the many rivers wash it all away.
However the entire thing is under several inches of water.
BPW - was piss wet through yesterday and there are bits of mud and the odd slippy root, but for the majority, it's grippy as hell
unklehomered you gone done ruined my ruse,yer varmint!
Also.....no trail centre in Llangollen.
Have you heard of Zwift?
I’d rather sandpaper my plums.
Don't like mud !
Jesus I've heard it all now 😆
While you are at it you might as well get the F.C.staff to go around with pumps and mops to get rid of the surface water ..
They should the amount they charge for parking
& my thoughts exactly PJ.
Mabie handles the wet pretty well, barely a puddle.
@ breadcrumb Mabie ? Where’s that?
I remember one phenomenally wet day at CYB a couple of Decembers back. One guy had his bike swept about 15 metres down a river. Approaching the trail centre we came across two raging torrents. One was a stream, the other was the trail. We initially took the wrong one.
No mud though. The rain had washed it all away.
Jekkyl..hold that thought when the funding for these centres dries up ..and it's going to.. the cutbacks are already happening . 😥
I was a Comrie today, it was holding up well, being 90% Rock...
I hear road biking is relatively low in mud. Tried that?
Bedgebury, a big travel bike it turns it into a bore, but it holds up well in the winter.
Coed y Brenin is fine in the pissing rain.
In real life.
a mate rode penmachno last week and said it was fine,
every peddle stroke and your foot came up out of the water again
I remember one phenomenally wet day at CYB a couple of Decembers back. One guy had his bike swept about 15 metres down a river. Approaching the trail centre we came across two raging torrents. One was a stream, the other was the trail. We initially took the wrong one.
No mud though. The rain had washed it all away.
I rode that trail, then, in that pissing rain I reckon.
Most fun I've ever had on a bike. Sideways rain and falling/fallen trees....not so much.
@ breadcrumb Mabie ? Where’s that?
Scottish borders, Dalbeattie is just a little further along but I've not ridden that in the rain to comment.
Whinlatter is fine in the rain but very puddly.
Most of them hold up OK in the rain as they use a crushed gravel base rather than soil. They just get very splashy and gritty.
Gisburn and Grizedale are both like that, they end up with some monster puddles in some of the big braking bumps but it's not really muddy.
Isn't geting muddy and wet half the fun of mountain biking?
Ask any kid.
[img] 
[/img]
?
Isn't geting muddy and wet half the fun of mountain biking?
It is at the moment, as we've just gone from dry July to soggy August to sodden September/October.
Another three or four months of it and the novelty will be wearing off though.
No mention of Llandegla in this thread, I was thinking of popping over there this week. I presume it's not horrendous after a rainy spell?
Llandegla should be ok. Can anyone tell me what state Innerlethern and Glentress are in?
Sorry for the slight hijack.
I hear road biking is relatively low in mud.
It wasn't on Saturday in the South Lakes, jeez! I might as well have been off-road given the state of some of the lanes, at times I wasn't sure there was even any tarmac there.
Got back to Devil's Bridge and overheard a cop saying they'd had loads of rain overnight and that there were lots of stranded cars due to flooding.
Can anyone tell me what state Innerlethern and Glentress are in?
Scotland, but it's not really a state.
IGMC
Cannock doesn't have mud, just wet and grinding paste.
Mabie is OK in the wet apart from the very end (like last 10 minutes) Dalbeatte is also 95% rocks so not muddy, and the rock is very grippy.
Penmach is amazing in the rain. The aqueduct system they've built collects the water really well. Its a shame the trail system appears to be exactly co-located with the channels. <never been so wet anywhere, ever, even in the tropical rain forests of Queensland and Hawaii>
Kielder works well. Has to really - they built the reservoir there for a reason.
Glentress was good last weekend, inners was a bit greasy for my (admittedly, summer xc) tyres but certainly ridable
Be quick if you fancy stainburn, as it's closing for a couple of months for forestrying, if it isn't already. Just the trail centre, not the stuff on the other side of the road.
Cannock doesn't have mud, just wet and grinding paste.
+1
Enjoy riding through wet sand interspersed with shiny pebbles? Come to Cannock
Enjoy riding through wet sand interspersed with shiny pebbles? Come to Cannock
Unless you go off piste, then you can find trails with sticky, claggy mud.
Official trails ride fine in the wet, but you may start going through components at an alarming rate...
I've always found Afan and Cwmcarn hold up pretty well. Very wet, but not muddy.
Not a trail centre, but the main combes on the Quantock are still great in the wet.
Isn't geting muddy and wet half the fun of mountain biking?
Ask any kid.
No, it's not. I don't like mud. I put up with it, but I don't actually like it. I'd rather get thrills by going fast than slithering about at 5mph.
Re trail centres - Cwmcarn is totally rideable in any weather. Well - Twrch at least. There is a string of about five puddles at the beginning though. Cafall is still perfectly rideable too. There are some muddy sections but not enough to be a problem.
For mud-free areas, I'd say look at somewhere like Moab.
FWIW I did four sodden rides on the trot this week around Cardiff, and whilst very wet and muddy it occurred to me that there is very little clag that affects riding. There are a few trails like that but they are easily avoided. It's a pretty good area for a wet ride.
I think Gisburn is relatively mud fee. It certainly isn't puddle free though !
It's much better since the resurfacing though. Whether it's is a good or bad thing depends on your outlook
Lee Quarry. It gets wet and windy but no actual mud.
Gisburn is pretty solid as well, although there is usually someone moaning on the FB page about puddles there are only a couple of patches of actual mud.
Unless you go off piste, then you can find trails with sticky, claggy mud.
Whatchu talking 'bout Willis, there's no off piste at cannock, especially not in the wet.
Cardinham seems to stay pretty mud free, it's all pine forest. But on the flip side it's slippery like ice, I can find more grip in muddy, rooty stuff than there after a light shower.
moaning on the FB page about puddles
........
Is this what you want?
and then we'll follow other outdoor sports that have gone indoors and we'll soon have a generation of mountain bikers who have never ridden outdoors just like we have people who:
Climb on climbing walls who think that they go rock climbing yet have never been to a crag.
Paddle at a white water centre who have never run a river.
Ski or board at a Snowdome but have never seen proper snow.
Ice climb at the Ice Factor and think they're winter climbing.
...each to their own I guess, but isn't getting wet and muddy part of the attraction?
After Saturday's ride around East Leeds, this post did make me chuckle:
[img] 
[/img]
On the other side of the argument, Sherwood Pines is only any good at this time of year[b] because[/b] of all the mud.
It's shit in the dry.
each to their own I guess, but isn't getting wet and muddy part of the attraction?
What's fun about getting wet and muddy? It's uncomfortable.
The attraction of MTBing for me is fast riding on swooping trails, technical challenges, excitement, physical and technical challenge of climbing, being out in the hills. I do it in spite of mud.
I do it in all weathers btw and I've ploughed plenty of mud, but it doesn't add to the experience for me!
Is this what you want?
Sounds perfect. I wouldn't have to give up mtbing in winter then.
but isn't getting wet and muddy part of the attraction?
Given a choice I prefer riding in nice conditions as opposed to hub deep through some mud and ending up pushing it after getting stuck for the nth time. Especially since the local trails get absolutely trashed in those conditions. There comes a level of muddiness where it stops being fun and just becomes an endurance exercise and I grew out of them years back.
Same as an indoor wall is a bonus when the heavens have opened or lee valley is handy when the heavens havent opened for a while.
Whilst I dont use the local snow centre myself all the people I know who do go on ski/snowboard holidays and use it so they dont waste half a week remembering from last year.
Is this what you want?
It is all a bit plastic isn't it?
Though I like the quote from Hans Ray(sic) on their site;
[i]I think there is a great potential for such facilities, especially in parts of the world like the UK where the winters seem rather long.[/i]
Yes they do..
Haldon holds up well in the wet, including some of the unmarked stuff.
Was riding Lustleigh Cleave yesterday (Eastern Dartmoor) in the rain after more rain and it was OK. Some of the steeper stuff was interesting but all rideable. That said, it's too easy to lost on the open moor when visibility is poor unless you really know your way around.
Yeah we were up on Dartmoor last week and stupidly went off across the open moorland. After pushing for a couple of miles uphill through bogs and ankle deep mud my brother turned round, looked back at Burrator lake and said "If you were stood here and someone suggested a nice little walk down to that lake you'd tell 'em to go f=== themselves wouldn't you?" Yep, I would of.
I think we're going back on Thursday..
[quote=lazlowoodbine ]Yeah we were up on Dartmoor last week and stupidly went off across the open moorland. After pushing for a couple of miles uphill through bogs and ankle deep mud my brother turned round, looked back at Burrator lake and said "If you were stood here and someone suggested a nice little walk down to that lake you'd tell 'em to go f=== themselves wouldn't you?" Yep, I would of.
especially considering the main trails round burrator/princetown are about the most weatherproof on the moors...
Yes, the irony was not lost on any of us.
We got back to the lovely, well made path and were passed by a bloke doing the last leg of a 70km ride, he looked pretty clean and dry.
What's fun about getting wet and muddy? It's uncomfortable.
This ^^.
I've done plenty of incredibly muddy XC and CX races, I've raced at Mountain Mayhem in the years of torrential downpours, Salisbury Plain Challenge at the height of the thaw...
And frankly now, the idea of spending 4hrs pedalling at 3mph through hub deep mud and then spending another week cleaning the bike, my kit, the inside of the car has long since lost what tiny appeal it held in the first place. Give me a nice clean-ish trail centre and I'll happily spend a day being a little hamster on the trailcentre treadmill.
How about Thetford? It's quite sandy, I imagine it'd drain quite well.
Thetford is only sandy in the summer, where it hasn’t been surfaced it gets quite muddy
Ah. I've only been once and 'twas in the dry season!
Chicksands drains very quickly and is generally fine to ride in bad weather.