Mud, Glorious Mud....or not.

Conrad has recently agreed to share his thoughts on mud and has posted below...

Mud has been a strange benchmarker for me over the years. From an exhiliratng medium to powerslide across the cricket field, to teetering on the brink of control in a vehicle on a slippery road. To public enemy number one.

There are of course a variety categories of mud to describe - recently damp gravel roads create brilliant "spray-on" decals those in Sandton, Pine Valley and the like would pay lots for - that's good mud. Even riding your MTB through that is ok, it's when the mud coagulates around the wheels, rendering the greatest invention on earth impotent. A wheel that can't turn. Eish. Added to that, the bike now needs to be carried as far as a water trough (poor cattle) or a tap or the like - but do that and notice how heavy mud is. On your shoulder. get home and realize how heavy it is on the pocket. Mud is abrasive and it destroys the best bikes, very little good can be said about this type of mud. Unless of course you are leaning agaisnt your bike watching the brave souls plunder on through tranches of thick mud, battling it out - bravely. And then uncermoniously being dumped. Then mud is good - its funny, but this again is not true for the soul who recently bonded with the wet earth. Also, this mud is good for your bike shop - they really rub their hands with glee everytime it rains on race day because that is when your logic is overruled by your raceface and you challenge the wet dirt.

Bliksem, it makes trail running and riding tricky - but if you are a forward thinker, berm up the mud or shape it into jumps in exactly the right sections and you'll reap the rewards of a lekker jump on packed earth when it all dries out.

Conrad - 36