Originally Posted by
2old
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I'm surprised by the difference in off road riding conditions in MD vs CA. It's raining now here (new record), but usually we can ride 350+ or so days a year (I remember riding 20 days in a row when my kids were at camp and there were no "family" factors prohibiting it).
In order for me to ride MTB ( off road ) now ( which is only weekends unless I'm on vacation ) I almost have to pray it doesn't rain on Fridays. Of course it all depends on "how much" and for how long. To make the decision "to ride or not to ride" I have to browse the Weather Underground website and check out the local private weather stations. WU allows you to access the private weather station's stats using their "Wonder Maps" which show all the stations and yes there are hundreds to chose from so that helps. I can get graphs and historic tallies of rain fall in almost any location from these private stations websites. Many of the MTB trails I ride in Md. are in low lying areas so that doesn't help either once the rain moves in.
The big problem is that I like to ride late in the day and that tends to be one of the times when rain seems to move in from the west. If I find a certain area has received more than 0.5" of rain in the last 24hrs I'll usually chose not to ride at that area. Then there are those days when it's not raining but threatening to rain. On those days I have to keep checking the radar to see where the rain is moving to. Last thing I want to happen is to get caught back in the woods as a thunderstorm moves in. ( not to mention I would hate to drive over an hour to a trail head only to find rain moving in right as I get there ) Thank God for weather apps! Those apps have saved me many times from being caught in a bad situation or driving somewhere and end up having to turn back.