By Ambassador Johannes Seehuber

It’s summer of 2020 and the weatherforcast has just one thing on the table right now: rain, rain, clouds and rain.

This week I am forced to go on holiday… not the first time this year. So the house was already clean and tidy. Garage is already cleaned up. Paperwork done, bikes serviced, gym closed. 

Of course my thought was to go on another photo mission on my own and have a great day outdoors. No matter what the weather. There is a task to do a mudparty theme for Kona anyway, so I headed out for a photo ride.

The weather and mood were pretty perfect… not cold at all but pretty misty in the mountains.

Everything was green and shiny from the last few days of rain. Pretty nice for photos.

Found some good spots and enjoyed the process of taking photos on my own as usual.

The silence in the woods, the smell of wet loam and dirt, the sound of water drops falling down.

I smashed some puddles, roosted some loamy corners and slid over edges for my photos.

With the thought in mind… which story could I bring up with my mud party photos for the Kona Blog? hmmm…

After I was done with my photosession I rolled down to a lower part of the mountain where I did my lockdown trail build (you remember) and then a thought formed…

Is it justified to have a mud party?

My whole lockdown build project was rugged. Wet, washed out and in a cruel state. No more loam or grippy soil left. Just bombholes, roots, puddles and slippery clay. I was a bit sad but to be honest I’d been fearing this before.

Due to the lockdown situation all bikeparks where closed for a long time. People from all over the areas came to the spot and enjoyed there bike time there. The gradient, ground and soil conditions are also very bad for wet conditions.    

Therefor the Trail was f***ed.

I didn’t bother with it anymore and carried on with even more photos of puddles and playing in the mud.

Back at home, dry and clean I edited my photos and uploaded some to my Instagram.

And as fast as i could look i already had the first messages…

“Why do you ride there in the mud? Why do you ride this trail when it rains? Couldn’t you wait for dryer conditions?  The trail is already destroyed…

Of course i took this for granted to ride the trail I built and maintain on my own whenever i want… But then it gave me the feeling that I needed something good to come out of this for everyone! I want to use this blog as a little reminder to everyone. Please choose your trail and riding location for rain and mud rides in consederation of the environmental characteristics.

How is the soil there when it is wet? Is the substrate firm or loose? Does it dry up quickly enough? Steep or flat terrain? Could you help maintain the trail?