Mud! Mud! and did I mention Mud!

The weather clears up here and Thom decides we should mountain bike. Now I had been thinking a nice tandem ride would be good. We've had like a week of rain, so I figured the trails would still be pretty wet. But Thom really wants to mountain bike. I have tomorrow off, so I can road ride by myself then. Off we go to one of the regional parks nearby.

Initially the trail is a little wet, but not too bad. But the second climb is so slippery and churned up by cows, I make it maybe halfway up. The downhill on the other side is like a slide! But I get down that okay and start up another hill, which again I'm only able to get about half way up. I walk my bike to the top of this one, where we get passed by some horses. This downhill is pretty dry, long and fun!

We're now in a valley and our plan is to cross it and climb up into the foothills of Mt. Diablo on the other side. Things are going okay until we get to a section, about two hundred yards long that is just sopping wet. We start through it and I can see the mud collecting by my front brakes. Eventually there is so much collected on the rear that it no longer turns. I stop, get all the mud off both tires so they turn freely and continue on.

The trail turns dry again and we're hopeful that it'll stay that way. But no such luck. I again have to clean my tires. We're both hoping that when we get across the valley and start climbing again that the trail will be drier.

Two and a half miles across the valley, we start the climb. It seems promising, the trail has a light coating of small gravel. But as soon as we start the climb in earnest the gravel disappears and the mud returns, but this stuff is stickier. I clean my tires again. Twenty yards or so later, we can see the remainder of the hill, it's still wicked muddy and my tires need cleaning again!

I mutiny and and we decide to turn around after a little friendly mudslinging.

The return trip was much the same. Ride some, clean your tires. I cleaned them off so many times I lost count. I think it was 5 or 6.

I was worried about what damage our riding would do to the trails, but seeing our tire tracks in the middle of the cow churned up mud, I decided it wasn't really a big deal.

It was kind of fun and an adventure. My pretty pink cashmere jersey needs a bath.

Veronica

Ah, that good old Bay Area clay. Hopefully it is good for your complexion. Its a good ride when you can laugh even when you're not rolling forward.

Have you tried Briones? It usually drains pretty fast, but you have to ignore the flying green goobers. Don't even think about the ingredients and don't ride too close behind anyone! Defintely don't take the cashmere!

We rode Rockville today for the 1st time in 6 years. We were pleased to find that it drains so fast. We'd only ridden in the summer when it is hot, dusty and yucky. May head back there tomorrow. There were even some wildflowers starting up. Wasn't the sun wonderful today? Yesterday's road ride at 41 degrees was on the edge for this wimp.

Yep, it was nice just to be outside. I started off with arm and leg warmers, cause it's been so cold lately. I ditched those after walking up that second hill.


I was tremendously amused to be wearing cashmere while riding in the mud. Did I mention that the sweater was a cardigan and has shell buttons? It's a lot softer than my other wool jerseys and just as comfortable to ride in when it's cool. My little camera's battery was dead, otherwise I'd have some pictures.

V.

When I first started trail racing, we had mud like that. Usually it resulted in the wimpy guys in command calling the race off. A couple times we pushed through and I was one of 3 to make it. Yay for fenders and disc brakes.

Now in the East coast racing, almost 50 percent of the races are in rain and mud, but the mud is different. This stuff just kinda oozes and never sticks. Its fun.

Tip of the day: Armor-All the tires(careful not to hit the brake surface) and the mud won't stick as bad.