Hot and Dry, or Cold and Wet for MTB?

[flymango]

Having slogged through this year's W2W Adventure and the weekend's Hell and Back, I couldn't help thinking how different both events could have been with scorching heat, and how I far prefer cool conditions to hot conditions, notwithstanding the treacherous conditions associated with rain and mud. So, aside from the damage to your bike and overnight challenges if doing a stage race, which conditions do you prefer on the bike?

[BarHugger]

You are already on the bike generating heat.....you don't need another nuclear reactor throwing chunks of radiation beams at your posterior and slowly drying you out like a piece of biltong. Mud is also the great equalizer....

 

PS: Recovery from cold is much nicer than recovering from heat stroke.

Edited November 18, 2013 by BarHugger

[LazyTrailRider]

Hot and dry without a doubt. Mud @#$s up bikes, having been a mountain biker for 25 years, I'm over the "but MTBs are made for mud, don't be a sissy!" BS. They're not. Exposed drivetrains are not designed to be dragged through grinding paste.

[VicanZA]

have u ever done a race in 70mm of rain? i have, was the worst race ever!!!!! fell 5 times, normal single track heaven becomes single track hell, clay sticks to the wheel u cant ride more than 20m. u slip and slide all over and brake pads get eaten up in no time.

 

Did the berg & bush in the heat, no problem for me would take it all day every day.

[Johny Bravo]

Hot and dry without a doubt. Mud @#$s up bikes, having been a mountain biker for 25 years, I'm over the "but MTBs are made for mud, don't be a sissy!" BS. They're not. Exposed drivetrains are not designed to be dragged through grinding paste.

So true. Maybe if you can afford to have your bike repaired every other day, but most of us cant. Riding in mud is so much fun, apart from the damage to the bike.

[RocknRolla]

In my limited experience, i prefer wet and cold over hot and dry.

 

I seem to really blow my radiator easily in hot conditions, but I can do cold and wet far longer.

[flymango]

My question more relates to performance and the cycling experience, rather than the impact on your bike. The latter is of course very relevant from a cost perspective.

[RocknRolla]

It has a lot to do with aclimatising, one can easily train oneself to be equally comfortable in either conditions.

[cfcjim]

Crashing in mud doesn't hurt too much. Falling off in hot and dry conditions is like smashing into concrete.

 

Well the way I fall of it is...

[BarHugger]

....wet means more mud, so you have to pick your lines more carefully and not just bash ahead as hard as you can. The air that you breath is however humid and relatively clean. Doing 65-70km in heat and dust really kills the internal carburator system....that black-greyish bomb that comes from the nose is proof enough.

[Pappa Bear]

...... hot and wet, the same as I like woman

 

The best is just afetr the rain and when th sun comes out...... when the mud turns to glue and you get double the tracktion!

 

Otherwise cold and wet.

[HOEKVLAG]

I definately prefer hot and dry conditions. Cannot lean into corners at speed in mud so for me it take most of the fun away. I just love the flow of (dry) singletrack and hammering it as quick as I can.

[Ratty]

My performance improves a lot when its cooler. All my best races have been in cold conditions. The hotter it is, the slower I ride.

 

At Berg & Bush, my partner couldn't believe the difference in my pace after I had found a nice cool river to jump into. I went from half dying to being able to climb up a hill and overtake others with ease (that's until I dried out and heated up again).

 

Some people just handle heat better than others. I hardly sweat so overheat quite quickly as my body doesn't cool itself down well.

[flymango]

No disrespect to anybody, but I wouldn't be surprised if those who prefer heat are ectomorph and probably at their ideal body weight, whilst most recreational cyclists are either mesomorph or endomorph.

[Super Sywurm]

Hot and dry, because I'm used to it!!!

[Toon63]

nee wat vat ver eerder die hitte

 

Koue werk nie met my nie, longe voel of hulle platval, want lug voel so dik en knieknoppe pyn voor jy begin trap al.

Dan trek ek daardie lang sokkies aan maar na 20min kry ek so warm weer met daardie goed dat ek hulle laat afsak.

 

Dan praat ek nie eers van val nie, in die koue val n ou dat dit voel of jy hop alle boomwortels en klippe voel harder in die koue as in die hitte en gewoontlik het n ou so loperige neus wat die heeltyd pla dan ry jy nog so snuif snuif en as jy jou wind uit val dan blaas jy al daardie gemors uit.

 

Ek ry eerder in 30c as in 10c