We talked about this on the Paceline last week, but I want to bring it to you today for your input. The topic is mud season etiquette, and I bring it up for two reasons. The first one is, we seem to be getting warmer, wetter winters here in New England, or at the very least, we’re getting less snow and more rain.
There were a few weeks where we had a snowpack here in metro-Boston, but now it’s gone. If this trend holds, and meteorologists think it will, we’ll be into snowless winters sooner rather than later, and that means we need to tune up our thinking about when it’s ok to use trails and when it’s not.
The second reason I bring it up is that I was out on the mountain bike recently, and while the trails were mainly dry, there were some muddy spots, and it got me thinking about how much mud is too much. What might be a good and constructive way to think about this?
My buddy Bruce said, as we were riding, something to the effect of “what percentage of the trail can be wet, and you still feel comfortable riding?” We had just traversed a patch of mud at the time, and none of us likes to leave tire tracks anywhere if we can help it. So we stood there and talked about what might be acceptable. Is 5% ok, for example? Or is any mud at all an instant no-go?
And what’s at stake?
Well, when the trail is muddy, people skirt the edges and widen the trail, which kills plants, etc. The second is that walkers and hikers who see tire tracks on a muddy trail will seek to exclude cyclists from trail use. Again, as winter changes and more people want to use the trail extra-structure (brand new word I just made up), this is going to become fraught, and as far as I can tell, riders usually lose in these scenarios.
Here’s the thing. I’m sure no one listening thinks of themselves as a cavalier trail wrecker, but say you’ve organized some friends to ride and maybe it takes you some time to get to the trailhead, and you start to ride and find one patch of mud. Well, you’ll keep riding, because you’ve put effort into getting there and who turns around for one patch of mud? I get this. It’s natural. But I’ve been on a few rides where we should really NOT have been out, and it’s hard to get the whole group to buy into canceling a ride you’re already on. Inertia really takes over.
What we want, I think, is to avoid heading out into a mistake like this in the first place, which means checking in with whatever sources you think you can find for the area you’re thinking of riding. If we give any air to the culture of “ride everything all the time,” we’re going to lose in more ways than one.
The other thing that I think is worth mentioning, and we discussed this on our ride the other day, is that those of us who are out on the dirt all the time, really do owe a debt to the trails, which means signing up for trail maintenance days, where those happen, OR organizing one with your riding friends. Or even, do as your friend and mine Stevil Kinevil does and carry a litter bag with you when you ride. It’s the little things.
But that’s enough set up. What do you think? How do you judge whether the trail are too wet to ride or not? How do you convince other people? How can we, as a community, get better at taking care of what is, after all, a shared resource?
Hello all, logging in one last time to say goodbye. Your site has become all about mountain and gravel biking which holds no interest to me. Though I ride bikes every day, I’m not one of you. Good luck for the future, I mean that. But remember someday when the trails are too muddy, the roads might be closed too.
https://patch.com/illinois/chicago/amp/31629264/bicycles-still-not-intended-on-roads-illinois-supreme-court-finds
I had planned on commenting half an hour ago but ended up reading that Illinois case and sending it to the League of American Bicyclists for review.
The mud question is timely. I had stayed off the La Tierra Trails, which are right near my home, as we had a lot of snow and mud. But the dog park,which is about a mile from the trails, had dried out so I pulled out the old Stumpjumper and headed for the dirt, expecting it to be mainly dry. That said, there is more topography in the bike trail area and some snow still has not melted, hence mud.
I would say it was less than 5% muddy. Maybe 1 or 2 percent. But where it was muddy it was gooey and as you say, there was abundant evidence of “trail widening” at those locations. I don’t think enough to cause anyone to get their knickers in a knot. Heck, even the horse prints were going a little wide. But it does cause a little foliage destruction.
I’m ambivalent about staying off the trails if they are 1 or 2 percent muddy but that is personal judgement. The city signs say “ride trails, not mud” which I agree with but I don’t know if the intent is to avoid the trails until they are 100% dry. I think that would be asking a lot, but it is a judgement call and I’m glad you brought it up. We do need to respect Ma Nature if we expect Ma Nature to respect us. Climate change being one example of the alternative.
I’m conservative about it. I can always do a road or gravel ride. I’ve definitely missed some days that I could’ve ridden but it’s okay. My buddies are at times like minded and at times more aggressive about it. They’ve been right more times than wrong, so far
First, thanks for the link Alanm9. Quite the awkward situation. I would not stand a chance against any of those lawyers.
Mud: I’ll ride through mudholes because those just happen and could/should be improved(I’ll help). If the trail proves to be 25% muddy I will bail out. That said, I don’t live in an area that has the trail use pressures that Boston does.
The ATL metro gets more yearly rain fall than Seattle. There are certain times in the spring and early summer where it rains daily for weeks. During relentless deluge times, I’m either running, going to the gym or graveling (groveling?) on inter neighborhood paths and the greenway. That kind of weather and riding is of no concern to anyone.
It is when it has dumped rain for a few hours or less and then it’s reasonably nice out over the next day or less. My riding cohorts and I do a combo of things in these situations. First, we ride on the legit trails that drain very well and armored for this kind of thing. These are what I’d call more traditional or old school trails of the hand-cut variety. The treads are not groomed, with plenty of roots, rocks and excellent drainage points. These drain/dry faster than anything else and as a bonus are more interesting to ride compared to flow trail design. #trailsthatflownotflowtrails I happen to live near one of the best public park trail systems in the area for this.
The second thing we do is ride the janky pirate trails that criss cross the region. These are unsanctioned and constantly evolving, but a relative few really know about them. I’ve ridden these trails for years and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen anyone else out there (save some bums or during the annual enduro race/party). They often can be a mess, but they are very fun. A number of the same trail builders that maintain the city park trails build the pirate stuff and much of it is crazier than what you’ll find in the parks, yet it is still excellently well built stuff.