To Ride or not To Ride- #Rain

This week's post might sound relevant to you riders out there considering the crummy weather system we have found ourselves in this week. For those of you bold enough to brave the elements this week of #YourFLT, we hope you brought items varying from rain jackets, to double gloves, to extra clothes, and of course....a helmet.

And now we get to the debate. After a big rain or wet weather, are you the type to get in the saddle and get some rubber on the trail, or do you stay in and perhaps, binge watch Superstore on Netflix? Opinions on these issues vary, not just a choice in Netflix shows, but also depending on what motivates the rider. This can sometimes can be philosophical in nature! ;)

Camp 1:The Rider's Rider: A little moisture on the trails makes for stickier, softer riding and fun times.

Camp 2: The Preservationist: Ride Dirt, Not Mud! Mud not only damages and erodes the trail before prime riding season-Riding mud also causes more slips, more broken chains, gears and parts, and more hassle to explain to your partner why the car is so muddy on the inside after transporting a wet bike home

Camp 3: Riding after rain causes Ruts? Huh?- let this article and the comment threat be an education for you!

From an organization perspective, riding after rain events causes more erosion, more ruts, more injured people and more poor trail conditions. We understand the need to get out for exercise in a time of restriction, but with out staffing levels and operation as a whole, we simply don't have the resources to fix erosion after large rain events-after all the multi use trail is a small part of our large property operation! Hopefully some of our engineered mitigations help reduce some erosion out there!

As we generally leave it up to the rider to determine whether they go out after a rain event and how the rider treats YourFLT- we would love to hear your opinion or resources this week.