Tour Divide Veterans - Talk to me

[Dave Barter]

Today I carried my bike for 20 minutes after stupidly committing to a clay track that quickly filled the bike to the brim with clag. There was no escape from this mud which was of the worst type possible. The kind that superglues itself to your tyre and took a good 10 minutes to clear using a farm hose.

Now I've read accounts of similar poor show on the TD but for much longer sections than I endured. Is this stuff really bike stopping mud and if you encountered it how did you cope? Is there a bike setup that could properly defend against it? I had a fork with a good 3" of clearance but even that did not help.

I think one mile further and I would simply have sat and cried for my Mum.

[Pirahna]

I had torrential overnight rain in northern New Mexico three nights ago. Yes the mud can be a show stopper. It's not clay like you find in England, this stuff washes off easily but clogs just the same.

I was riding with two others on 29 plus bikes and me on a Jones. The truss fork with a 2.2 tyre didn't really clog, the back did so still fun to had poking the mud out with a stick. The muddy sections can be anything from a hundred yards to a few miles. We detoured 30 miles out to a road but then I'm not racing.

I'm currently in Abiquiu waiting for a ride to Santa Fe to replace a front tyre (Maxxis Ikon tread is delaminating from the carcass). The two blokes I've be riding with have gone on, there is black sky all around. If it's rains on them the two day ride to Cuba could easily be three or four.

[Scattamah]

From Bannack Road all through to the frontage road leading to Lima...maybe 60 miles...if that is wet, you're walking/running through the sage brush. That mud is mixed with golf ball sized stone and dries like concrete. Your other option is to stop every couple of hundred meters and with a big stick/piece of wire, removing the mud. The piece of wire is used like you are cutting cheese off your tyre. The big stick is for removing it between the tyre and stays.

I didn't clean my chain down after Sheep Creek Divide sage brush hiking....and promptly managed to put the rear deraileur into the wheel, bending four spokes and the bracket between hanger and mech 45 degrees the wrong way. That was race over for me.

Also had some of this gunk in northern New Mexico just after Brazos Ridge.

Greetz

S.

[johnnystorm]

"Normal" mud encountered up until Brazos ridge for me until it too turned into peanut butter that just jammed both wheels and needed me to carry a stick to unclog every 30 seconds to get past that section. Ended up carrying and pushing for a fair while. When I could finally ride off it was like I had two different sized oval wheels. One of those moments when you begin to question your sanity!

[Zippy]

Encountered this at mayhem a few times, we'd swap to CX tyres that which can cut through the mud (on the ground and stuck to your frame/forks) and just about keep rolling.

[Mike]

The worst iv encountered by far was that horrid concrete mix that the monsoon rains of Spain threw at us that one day after leaving my phone in the bar. That was horrendous, iv never been so clagged up that even pushing the bike was almost impossible. Maybe we should go back and try it again ;0)

[Scattamah]

The mud Mike is referring to is very close to the mud you'll find on the GDMBR. If you cut through the top crust, you're in trouble.

Greetz

S.

[NewRetroTom]

I had some of this on the Old Bannack Road last summer. Used a stick to scrape it off the tyres, stays and forks so that the wheels would go round, then pushed until there was a rideable section. Ride for a few metres, repeat. That went on for probably 30 miles, which took several hours. The pushing killed my shoes too, as the mud clumped on the soles and then forced its way in around the cleats, separating the rubber sole from the last.

As for a bike that can cope with this - the more tyre clearance the better. Bigger tyres will pick up more mud, so are potentially worse.

[benp1]

There a section of cheeky footpath near home that I take in the summer

I took it one winter and it was horrific. It's used by walkers with wellies and it's London clay combined with water, then stomped by wellies. The clay stuck to my tyres and got caught in the seat stays and chain stays, I refer to it as a mudberg. It was so thick and sticky I couldn't ride, and so bad that when I got off the bike I couldn't walk in it in my (flat soled, non-SPD) shoes, and in fact almost lost a shoe. I carried my bike as best I could (really struggle considering I couldn't really walk) as I couldn't actually push it. I bailed as soon as I could and vowed never to return to that path in the wet. Shame as it's a good short cut!

I honestly don't know what would have got through that, the only way would be to shoulder the bike and walk through it

[GregMay]

Dave, the sadly simple answer is - walk.

Really, you just walk,then walk some more. Then curse. Then walk.

Both patches I had came when mentally low. One - I walked and ate. The other, I walked, looked at my watch and noted it was windy - so bivvied beside the road and waited for morning. When I woke, the trail was dry like teak.

The is no getting away from it if the weather turns. Accept it, walk.

[jameso]

Greg's right, walk/carry to keep moving or bivi, it dries fast. I was lucky, combination of riding like a day-racer through a section if the the weather threatened to get in or out fast or resting/slowing up ahead of a section that had been rained on meant I mostly didn't get caught out. We also got fire-diverted in NM, added a bunch of miles but skipped one area that can be bad. Cruces area got me in the end but it wasn't as bad as the Ridgeway in winter : )

[Scattamah]

That's a really good way to say it Greg.

You're not going to make good forward progress when you're jammed up like this...

2014-06-27 10.16.00.jpg (192.47 KiB) Viewed 4842 times

Greetz

S.

[Dave Barter]

Dave, the sadly simple answer is - walk.

Really, you just walk,then walk some more. Then curse. Then walk.

Both patches I had came when mentally low. One - I walked and ate. The other, I walked, looked at my watch and noted it was windy - so bivvied beside the road and waited for morning. When I woke, the trail was dry like teak.

The is no getting away from it if the weather turns. Accept it, walk.

Thing is the clay I encountered yesterday was not even walkable. That's probably down to my rear stays which offer less than 10mm of clearance.

[GregMay]

Then you carry your bike, and walk.

Really, it is what it is, accept it, move along.

NM clay is unridable, you also end up walking in platforms the way it builds up on your shoes.

[Blackhound]

I got caught in the mud a little before the Sheepcreek divide on the Bannack Road. It was horrible and spent many miles just walking in the sage brush as others have mentioned.

Got into Lima at 2am and the next day it was still slow some miles after Lima the following day. It was all a bit sweary!

I was lucky in that I had it dry in NM.

[Dave Barter]

I was thinking of investing in a frame with more clearance for these type of rides. But from what you lot are saying there's little point really as the gains will be minimal as regardless of frame you'll be walking.

To be clear Greg I have no problem with walking, I've really got my head round it these days mostly thanks to the Cambrian Trail/Doethe Valley. But at the weekend I couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't some solution.

I even started thinking of those things we had as kids that are now banned (I think) which flicked stones off your tyres. Can't remember what they were called

[sean_iow]

I spray the tyre side-walls and rims with silicon free cockpit spray (dashboard cleaner) and this does make a difference to the amount of mud that sticks. Needs to be done fresh before riding so more use for day rides but it still helps as the days go on.

Obviously keep it off the brake discs and no use for bikes with rim brakes. I used to liberally spray the underside of the wheel arches and the mud-flaps on my car when I raced land rovers as on a muddy event I could scrape 2 wheel barrows worth of mud off these areas afterwards which is quite a weight penalty. It's a tip I got from a friend who races motor-cross bikes. I take no responsibility if it dissolves your tires or rims

[KiwiDave]

Dave - yeah, the mud is THAT bad.

Work out a carry solution for you fully laden bike - mine was seat on shoulder with wet-weather glove cushioning it. Bike will weigh a few kg more due to the mud. Main thing is to clean it properly and not lose a rear derailleur. Some racers found that if they hit and maintained the "perfect speed" that they could ride through it.

It does dry out quickly though - some NOBO's told me of 2km of unpassable mud 1 hour ahead which I rode 90% of and would easily walk the rest.

Also - learn where the muddy sections are and don't stop to sleep before them if possible - ride it through if it is dry. Bannock Rd and Sheep Creek Divide can be horrid in the wet.

Take a spare rear derailleur hanger.