Riding in mud - any tips?

[hebe]

Thank you for all the replies!

Bridleways aren't singletrack, if that's what you are wondering.

IMBA teaches not to ride in mud on singletrack, but as has been stated, that appears to be a non issue for bridle ways.

Yes, I think they are muddy by default. Is singletrack built just for bikes?

Hebe, can I come visit? It sounds like fun!

(Well, I'd need a new bike first. Hmmm...)

You'd be very welcome! It is gorgeous riding, this part of the country is absolutely stuffed with history and pre-history (Stonehenge, Avebury, earthworks, ley lines...).

the rule is you should never ride into water that you can't see the bottom of because you never know what is there. I would think that that would be twice as true for mud puddles.

That makes sense. I knew someone who sped his car into a deep puddle post storm, and took out a whole load of undercarriage to debris under the surface. One corner of the bridleway is puddled completely, but there is an 18inch mud verge that I took instead.

Also keep your cadence up, and check your brake pads aferwards. Any grit in them will grind away your sidewalls which will scream in pain.

That makes sense, thank you.

I'm going to post some pics of typical riding around here, at the risk of hijacking my own thread. This first one is of a local bridleway that goes into the centre of town. It now has a development of new houses adacent, but is still gorgeous.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/miketoons/4117691431/

And these two are from a nice set of photos that I found when searching (speedbird747.com). The first one shows a typical muddy Wiltshire track. This one looks like it's open to motorised traffic too so is probably a byway rather than bridleway. Imagine this but wider and more yellow and you have my Wednesday trip. Except for mine the hill at the end went up rather than down.



This is what it can look like: