Where to ride in the rain?

Man - this weather completely sucks, eh?

Manly Dam and Red Hill will probably both be saturated at he moment. Away from them, there's not much damage you can do to a firetrail so you can try any of them. What with the grinding paste combo the water and sand will make your bike won't like you very much for it mind, but that's between you and... erm... it?

That said, I would imagine Cascades will be a real bog at the bottom, as will Perimeter Track in Terrey Hills, especially by the Enchunga Rd entrance.

The trail that holds up the best is usually Centre Track. Duck Holes may be passable to make a loop but can get standing water in places. As someone else mentioned today, trails on the East side of West Head road might also be OK (Towlers Bay, etc) as they are on steep hills and water doesn't get much chance to stand there.

Good luck wherever you try!

P.S. Here's last week's thread on the subject: http://nobmob.com/node/15225

I know how you feel, I came back from a few weeks holiday where I didn't ride but spent a lot of time swimming, in the surf and generally outdoors. After the heat I didn't mind being forced inside for a few days but now, champing at the bit.

The last time we were hit with something like this I went up to Terrey Hills, rode Duck Holes and then around to Centre and ended up continuing along Perimeter and around to Cullamine. Rob is right, Perimeter becomes a bog, mainly because it used by a lot of horse riders and hitting these trails when they have been drenched does not worry them at all. Many of the uphill sections are impossible to ride up. Duck Holes and Centre were ok, Cullamine wasn't too bad but you need to ride Perimeter to get there.

As stinging as I am for a ride, what kind of sets me back is the clean up afterwards. Getting all that fine sand/water out of the parts of my bike that matter was a pain. For the next few weeks after that I winced as heard that slight grinding sound.

I wondered up to Manly Dam last weekend to see if anyone has been riding it (yes, of rouse they have) and it is soaked. I would be up for track work...if only those who make the decisions about whether they should take advantage of free labour to look after assets that they are responsible for were as well.

My adventure race got cancelled so I am going to do some scumming tomorrow morning, either Syd to Gong and back on the train or West Head and Akuna...

Bike trainer in front of the TV with a copy of Solo 24 followed by the World Champs for some hard core training in the dry .......after last weeks Capital Punishment will probably have to strip the bike down first

Understandable dilemma. I have been out here for a while longer than you, but still fondly remember sliding around in the mud and the invigorating, almost self righteous, feeling returning home post wet muddy ride. The big difference between here and home is, as Rob indicated, whereas at home the mud makes one a touch mucky, here (at least Northern Beaches) it makes a kind of liquid sand paper that eats your drive chain, etc in a most aggressive fashion. You go out with something running beautifully, and come back with something sounding like a bucket of nails.

My solution; get a single speed and hit the trails mentioned above.

I really want to open an indoor MTB park!

http://www.raysmtb.com/index.php?option=com_cont...

i rode manly dam week before last after the rain stopped for a day or two and even then it was very very soft and passive amount of pooled water...not great for the bike or the track..so i pulled back onto the wakehurst parkway halfway through the ride (and yes i spent ages after the ride trying to clean my bike and get the grit out from all of the parts with very fine brushes)...so after this weeks amount of rain i could imagine it would be 10 x worse.... im acching to get back on the track i wish it would just dry up a little... i am also keen on starting to give back and do a little track work, im a lil bit of a newbie, so any suggestions of when or where and how to get involve let me know! And the idea of the indoor mtb park....totally awesome i would go in on that!!

@ nix85
although you live on the nthn beaches, if you are looking at getting involved in trail maintenance, there are regular maintenance days at Awaba, Glenrock up north or Royal National Park down south.
Maintenance days are generally posted on nobmob so just keep a look out.