Mud season

some parks have signs
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So many rake and ride trails. I love to watch YouTube videos from from PNW and the UK. Both places where where it rains pretty much year round.
 
scott62 said:
So many rake and ride trails. I love to watch YouTube videos from from PNW and the UK. Both places where where it rains pretty much year round.
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Yeah... I watch those too... kinda jealous of the dirt (loam...) they have there. I've only really experienced trails a little bit like that in NH on some of the newer trails at Fort Rock. Grip for days... I doubt they will be the same the next time I can ride up there.

The trails we have in the mid-Atlantic area usually have more clay content in the soil, which tends to hold moisture in a different way and thus more prone to rutting and then staying rutted. But is it very "area dependent." In the Wissahickon valley, for example, the soil consists of what we have affectionately called "the Wissahickon Schist" and while particles of it sticks to everything, it drains pretty well and the trails there are usually good to go a few hours after a rain. At least all of the original trails are... the newer "IMBA sustainable" trails... not so much as they seem to be designed to hold water... 🙄 ...but some are better than others and they seem to get more water resistant as they age andget ridden in.
 
Ian F said:
Yeah... I watch those too... kinda jealous of the dirt (loam...) they have there. I've only really experienced trails a little bit like that in NH on some of the newer trails at Fort Rock. Grip for days... I doubt they will be the same the next time I can ride up there.

The trails we have in the mid-Atlantic area usually have more clay content in the soil, which tends to hold moisture in a different way and thus more prone to rutting and then staying rutted. But is it very "area dependent." In the Wissahickon valley, for example, the soil consists of what we have affectionately called "the Wissahickon Schist" and while particles of it sticks to everything, it drains pretty well and the trails there are usually good to go a few hours after a rain. At least all of the original trails are... the newer "IMBA sustainable" trails... not so much as they seem to be designed to hold water... 🙄 ...but some are better than others and they seem to get more water resistant as they age andget ridden in.
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Except all reports I'm hearing about Wiss is that many trails are unrideable and Forbidden Drive is very wet. @1speed can confirm.
 
JDurk said:
Except all reports I'm hearing about Wiss is that many trails are unrideable and Forbidden Drive is very wet. @1speed can confirm.
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Forbidden Drive can be unrideable under the best of conditions... Regarding the singletrack, it may depend... I just know we used to ride a few days after a lot of rain and things being fine. But I don't ride there as often as I used to, so I don't know how various changes to the trails have affected their previous wet weather resilience.
 
V-Dub said:
ride in deep mud is not fun, right. why do people do it? walked around Jungle this morning and the ground is soft and mud everywhere
and there's many rutted tracks, I don't get it.
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Simple, people want to ride. A crappy day on a mountain bike beats a great day on a gravel bike. I totally get where you are coming from but mud season just shows us where the trail needs more work. Rake and ride trails suck in mud season because top soil turns to mud in the wet. If the trail was taken down to the mineral layers and cut for proper drainage it is less prone to mud. Please stop posting pics of black top soil with ruts, it’s shows trail building laziness.
 
scott62 said:
Simple, people want to ride. A crappy day on a mountain bike beats a great day on a gravel bike. I totally get where you are coming from but mud season just shows us where the trail needs more work. Rake and ride trails suck in mud season because top soil turns to mud in the wet. If the trail was taken down to the mineral layers and cut for proper drainage it is less prone to mud. Please stop posting pics of black top soil with ruts, it’s shows trail building laziness.
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Almost daily, you earn your nickname.
 
scott62 said:
Simple, people want to ride. A crappy day on a mountain bike beats a great day on a gravel bike. I totally get where you are coming from but mud season just shows us where the trail needs more work. Rake and ride trails suck in mud season because top soil turns to mud in the wet. If the trail was taken down to the mineral layers and cut for proper drainage it is less prone to mud. Please stop posting pics of black top soil with ruts, it’s shows trail building laziness.
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trail building " lazyness" huh...... I'll remember that
 
Norm said:
LOL holy shit, I wonder what he's doing these days.
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I keep tabs on him. My cousin and him work with the same contractor. That leopard still has all his spots. Once in a blue moon I'll swing by his place.
 
V-Dub said:
ride in deep mud is not fun, right. why do people do it? walked around Jungle this morning and the ground is soft and mud everywhere
and there's many rutted tracks, I don't get it.
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Ebikes bro. The eBikers are riding whenever and wherever they want.
 
Ian F said:
Yeah... I watch those too... kinda jealous of the dirt (loam...) they have there. I've only really experienced trails a little bit like that in NH on some of the newer trails at Fort Rock. Grip for days... I doubt they will be the same the next time I can ride up there.

The trails we have in the mid-Atlantic area usually have more clay content in the soil, which tends to hold moisture in a different way and thus more prone to rutting and then staying rutted. But is it very "area dependent." In the Wissahickon valley, for example, the soil consists of what we have affectionately called "the Wissahickon Schist" and while particles of it sticks to everything, it drains pretty well and the trails there are usually good to go a few hours after a rain. At least all of the original trails are... the newer "IMBA sustainable" trails... not so much as they seem to be designed to hold water... 🙄 ...but some are better than others and they seem to get more water resistant as they age andget ridden in.
Click to expand...
Yeah, clay particles are tiny compared to loam and of course sand. Their size also makes them more easily electronically charged like lint. Then water molecules attract to them and we get the peanut butter consistency which takes forever to dry. That's why many of our NJ parks like 6mr take a while to dry out. Hey, I used my dual major in Geology today!
 
Norm said:
Almost daily, you earn your nickname.
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Thought that was going to be the reply. I love watching YouTube, my favorite videos are mostly done in the UK or the PNW. These are both places where if they didn’t ride in “mud season “, they would loose most of the year. The ground makeup plays a huge part in trail design. North jersey doesn’t make it easy, no dirt and tons of rocks. The new loop in sterling is a great example of how to do it right, there is only 15-20% of the loop cut over top soil. Warthog in jungle is an example of doing it wrong. More than 50% of that is on topsoil….. sorry if I offended anyone one.
 
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