Ride report.... rain and a bit of mud.

Saturday morning we planned on an early start and have us a bit of a
Dual Sport ride north of Frisco. We had taken this rout a number of times
before.... but never in the rain.

We were under way at 7:00am leaving Shawn’s place, we headed North straight
up Coit.... past where the road ends.
we were still heading North when we started catching up with the one of the
many storm cells that were in the area Saturday. (any where between
Red river, Tioga and Bonham) The rain was great! We haven’t seen any
rain around here for months, so we were having a great time enjoying
getting wet and the slick conditions on many of the back road…that is
until we turned up this fine looking road.


The dirt on this road is not like anything any of us had encountered
before…sure we’ve all ridden in sticky Texas clay, the kind that gums up
tires and sticks to everything, but this stuff was BAD.

I still had my DS tires on the XR and was not expecting anything
as severe as this, this stuff proved to be too much for me and the tires.
In short, it took all three us to get the XR back off the clay.

Shawn and me, exhausted after dragging the XR about a ¼ mile down
The road, stopped for a rest.


The mud stuck to front wheels so badly that they would just stop turning
causing the rear to swing round and get you to drop the bike…
Here’s a shot of Randy’s tracks he left on the way out… at at least two of
the “turns” in his tracks, he dumped it, I lost count having dropped the XR
More than that myself… and Shawn dropped the XR on the way out once too.
That myself and Shawn, looking for a bit of traction in the grass.
The ditch got deeper as it went along though so we had to wrestle the XR
back up onto the road.


Shawn’s Bike was the only one to escape the mud, the man is a demon in the
Mud, his brand new Dunlop’s also did an amazing job of limiting the
build-up on the front tire….. or maybe it was just the speed he was doing.

Here’s a shot of Randy after he reached the road.... all cleaned up. I guess it
pays to be the camera man


Me cleaning the mud from the front wheel .. again….


All in all a fun day though. We went on to have breakfast at a gas station
Somewhere North of where 121North crosses over 75 along route 5 I think
The weather started closing in though so we chickened out and headed
For home via the car wash.

Mudshark said:

The dirt on this road is not like anything any of us had encountered
before…sure we’ve all ridden in sticky Texas clay, the kind that gums up
tires and sticks to everything, but this stuff was BAD.

Click to expand...

I believe you encountered what is known as "black gumbo" - excellent farm dirt in NE Texas. I've chased model rockets in that stuff when wet & walked back 1.5 inches taller!

Gilk51 said:

I believe you encountered what is known as "black gumbo" - excellent farm dirt in NE Texas. I've chased model rockets in that stuff when wet & walked back 1.5 inches taller!

Click to expand...

"Black Gumbo" well that expalins it then

Thanks for supplying the name Gilk, makes it easier to curse it, knowing what
to call it

Yep black gumbo sucks. Try racing a mountain bike in it.

I have some fond memories of the GS in that kind of goo... without knobbies I picked up the bike, with a FULL tank of gas, about four times in 40 minutes. The last time I got stuck and had to call for a rescue I was beat by the time I got home. It was a blast Did the same thing out near Big Bend just after I bought the GS. The front wheel was locked from the mud and it took us several hours to get going again! The mud seems to have had super glue mixed in with it as it stuck to EVERYTHING!! I was beat by the time we got to the campsite for the nite. It was a blast Then there was the time...

that black gumbo makes a great racing surface if you like sprint/dirt. check out greenvilles "superbowl speedway" sometime for some great racing. i used to work out there years ago. i grew up in that stuff and it does stick to everything. seems like carrying that mtb in a race would be the fastest way to go oldbmw.

just a dirttrack trick you might try........hose down the insides of the fenders or anything else you dont want mud sticking too with diesel. put it in a garden sprayer and go. it will come off easily at the carwash. keep away from brakes.

yep carrying was the best bet. Spraying the bike down with cooking spray works good as well.

thanks for the report....but, ick !!! I hate mud, especially really sticky stuff like that.