Guilty pleasures.

Mucky shoes

Winter mountainbiking in Christchurch is a guilty pleasure. There is a list of reasons why not to ride as long as the ruts that form in the wake of munter riders who choose to disobey the track closures.
As such, a road bike is often an outlet for mountainbikers seeking riding stoke, but the associated lyrca and roadie hats can bring a sheepish looks and further feelings of guilt.

With a multitude of users, particularly of the smaller brain to horsepower ratio, Worsley Spur is chewed up at the best of times. The damage that can be done from a single biker pales in comparison to the amount of soil that is washed down the hill during a typical rainfall event, so with this rationalisation I headed for the hills (via Dyers Pass) for a slide down Christchurch's winter riding gem.

Mucky crank

This particular afternoon the track was a mixture of slushy snow with an underlying layer of mother nature's filthiest and most slippery clay.
lines left this rider The descent itself was far from graceful, with frequent use of the 'tripod' required to keep face out of the growing mirky puddles. But the sheer challenge of stringing together barely ridablewooping all the way down. There is nothing like a muddy downhill to teach fine brake and steering control as anything else inevitably ends in a bum slide.

Mucky hub

After the ride it struck me the number of implications the ride had had, strangely leaving further feelings of guilt...
Most notably, the pile of flaked mud that had been transported via baggies to the bathroom floor. In hindsight this was well timed given that flatmates were scheduled to clean that particular room this week.
As for the argument that riding in the mud wears your bike prematurely, this base was safely covered by taking El Toro singlespeed complete with sparkly new (at least at the start) White Bros. Rock Solid Rigid fork. The latter performed exceptionally well in the muck, conveying mud clearance and steering precision beyond the realm of a suspension fork.

Complimentary mud camo paint finish

So if you find yourself in a similar situation on a sunny Sunday afternoon, take the plunge and head for a mucky Worsley's run. Ignore the pangs of guilt and you'll be rewarded with pure riding pleasure!

Mountain Pedaler out...