Mountain biking: How to ride in mud?

Question

Any one have any tips for riding in mud, and lots of it? I am talking about mountain biking.

Update

I am doing a race on Sunday, and it rained all week, and there's a chance of rain during the contest as well.

Answer 1

Turn your head before your face hits it. There might be rocks and dental work is expensive.

Seriously, more than about 50mm of mud and it's both faster and easier to carry your bike. Other than that it's just a sticky version of riding on loose gravel. So:

• stay loose on the bike - off the saddle or at least slightly unweight it. Be ready for the bike to move in its own direction.

• try to keep traction. If you hit a solid bump, pour on the power to get max benefit.

• learn to handle losing traction on the front wheel. Practice.

• if you're floating and don't have traction, power on and try to either dig through it or power over it. The difference is how much weight you put on the back wheel.

But any of this is only good for short sections. Note the liberal use of "power". If you've got 20km of mud you just have to slog through it, probably on foot. Touring on a mud-over-gravel road is about as miserable as it gets.