Getting out of a Rut - Newbie Post

photonic69

Hi. I'm Nick. A newbie to this board though have been reading a lot of posts recently now that I have started to do some more serious riding. I have a Fuji Nevada 1.5 29er which I love. Great bike and suits me well for commuting and off road.

My main off road stuff is around the edges of the Salisbury Plain near Westbury going over the fields, through woods, downhills, up hills, tracks, gravel roads, single track stuff - the lot really. It's been a blast the last few months doing this. I've now sorted out my tyres after trial and error with Conti Rubber Queen 2.2 on the front and a Maxxis Beaver 2.0 on the rear.
My biggest problem is RUTS! These throw me off almost once a ride. A lot of the tracks are from sheep/cattle or just plain erroded. Some quickly turn into a rut with sides of about 3" and then suddenly veer left or right which due to speed/lack of experience/grip/or other send me flying off. Ideally I try to avoid this, but sometimes I can't.

Any advice on getting a wheel out of a rut and not stacking it? At my age falling off hurts a bit more!

homers_double

To be honest short of a swift side bunny hop out, once you're in you're IN.

If I get stuck like that I just stop, pull myself out and carry on.

YeehaaMcgee

homers double wrote:

To be honest short of a swift side bunny hop out, once you're in you're IN.

If I get stuck like that I just stop, pull myself out and carry on.

Yep, I concur. Some tyres, can sometimes grip enough to just pull up the side of a rut, but it's always a gamble, bunnyhopping is the only sure fire way.

Ruts are my pet hate - the amount of times I've had big, painful, high-speed offs because I got trapped in one, always leaves me slightly nervous of them

rockmonkeysc

If you're near Westbury there is much better riding than Salisbury Plain.
Longleat has miles of good single track. Earlstoke has some very good riding, either side of Pear Tree Hill in the woods.
As for getting out of ruts. Relax until you find a good spot to manual or bunny hop out.

97th choice

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Ruts are my pet hate - the amount of times I've had big, painful, high-speed offs because I got trapped in one, always leaves me slightly nervous of them

^this, you hit one and get cross axled, the back end of the bike gets up in the air and the next thing you know you're over the handlebars.

If I get in one I either do something stupid and crash, or rarely I slow down enough get out safely.

kajjal

The only other alternative is to learn the trails well and which ruts to avoid

I have had the get trapped in a rut at speed on unfamiliar trails experience. By pure luck I used a small rock to jump out of the rut. In my smugness I then did a Del Boy shortly afterwards

YeehaaMcgee

Kajjal wrote:

The only other alternative is to learn the trails well and which ruts to avoid

Even that doesn't work, since ruts come and go and change shape.

rockmonkeysc

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Kajjal wrote:

The only other alternative is to learn the trails well and which ruts to avoid

Even that doesn't work, since ruts come and go and change shape.

And you will soon get bored only riding one area. Learn to manual & bunny hop. Never tense up in a rut look well ahead, the closer to your front wheel you look the more difficult it is to hold a steady line.

stubs

One of the nastiest looking accidents I have ever seen was caused by a rut. We had been blasting some great fun trails in the Clwydian hills and were just freewheeling back down a farm track chatting when a mate got his front wheel in an angled rut he went straight over the bars and landed on his head. There was a scary couple of minutes where he didnt move and we were wondering how do we call an air ambulance. He got up with his eyes spinning, 2 broken teeth, a split lip and a smashed helmet but luckily only had concussion for a week.

Nasty nasty things especially when its bone dry and they have set rock hard.

fredblob

stubs wrote:

One of the nastiest looking accidents I have ever seen was caused by a rut. We had been blasting some great fun trails in the Clwydian hills and were just freewheeling back down a farm track chatting when a mate got his front wheel in an angled rut he went straight over the bars and landed on his head. There was a scary couple of minutes where he didnt move and we were wondering how do we call an air ambulance. He got up with his eyes spinning, 2 broken teeth, a split lip and a smashed helmet but luckily only had concussion for a week.

Nasty nasty things especially when its bone dry and they have set rock hard.

glad to see he was okay

helmets save lifes people and prevent brain injury wear them when riding people!!! or risk being a vegetable.

stubs

fredblob wrote:

helmets save lifes people and prevent brain injury wear them when riding people!!! or risk being a vegetable.

I am all in favour of helmets they probably only work in a few accidents but the times they work are well worth a sweaty head

fredblob

stubs wrote:

fredblob wrote:

helmets save lifes people and prevent brain injury wear them when riding people!!! or risk being a vegetable.

I am all in favour of helmets they probably only work in a few accidents but the times they work are well worth a sweaty head

yeah rather a cracked helmet then a cracked skull

photonic69

RockmonkeySC wrote:

If you're near Westbury there is much better riding than Salisbury Plain.
Longleat has miles of good single track. Earlstoke has some very good riding, either side of Pear Tree Hill in the woods.
As for getting out of ruts. Relax until you find a good spot to manual or bunny hop out.

Ah, so you must be familiar with the area then? You local? I'm Bath based but my mate is from Westbury.
Yes, we do the woods around Pear Tree Lane/woods/hill - excellent tracks. Some way too steep for a novice like me though. We usually drive up the Imber Road from Bratton and park near the MOD blockhouse then cycle up the track to the plain then ad lib from there across the fields to the woods.

Went up there Wednesday evening and did around 17 miles. Great fun and lovely weather. Didn't fall off this time which was nice. Felt more confident on some of the more open downhills and relaxed more and kept the speed up. Fortunately didn't hit a rut but took the advice and practiced some (or tried to) bunnyhop. Need to work on my technique a fair bit me thinks.

Thanks for all the advice and nice to know I'm not the only one who hates ruts and is spat out by them!

siancara

Excuse the total newbie here... what's a rut?

YeehaaMcgee

Have you no dictionary? It's not exactly biking terminology.

cooldad

You could have helped out a fellow foreigner.
It's a rhigol.
As in I blame Rhigol.

siancara

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Have you no dictionary? It's not exactly biking terminology.

You could have used the energy you just wasted posting that, to actually answer my question...

YeehaaMcgee

Well, it's a... Rut. A rut is a rut is a rut.
I'm not an English teacher.

cooldad

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

I'm not English.

And you have my sympathy.

stubs

A rut is a nasty deep groove cut into the track surface by 4x4s and tractors. Some are so deep bikes and riders have never been seen again and even shallow ruts are full of wheel bending and mech smashing Gremlins.

siancara

stubs wrote:

A rut is a nasty deep groove cut into the track surface by 4x4s and tractors. Some are so deep bikes and riders have never been seen again and even shallow ruts are full of wheel bending and mech smashing Gremlins.

Thanks!

rockmonkeysc

PhotoNic69 wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

If you're near Westbury there is much better riding than Salisbury Plain.
Longleat has miles of good single track. Earlstoke has some very good riding, either side of Pear Tree Hill in the woods.
As for getting out of ruts. Relax until you find a good spot to manual or bunny hop out.

Ah, so you must be familiar with the area then? You local? I'm Bath based but my mate is from Westbury.
Yes, we do the woods around Pear Tree Lane/woods/hill - excellent tracks. Some way too steep for a novice like me though. We usually drive up the Imber Road from Bratton and park near the MOD blockhouse then cycle up the track to the plain then ad lib from there across the fields to the woods.

Went up there Wednesday evening and did around 17 miles. Great fun and lovely weather. Didn't fall off this time which was nice. Felt more confident on some of the more open downhills and relaxed more and kept the speed up. Fortunately didn't hit a rut but took the advice and practiced some (or tried to) bunnyhop. Need to work on my technique a fair bit me thinks.

Thanks for all the advice and nice to know I'm not the only one who hates ruts and is spat out by them!

I am local. Its all a bit boring on the Plain. While the weather is good get over to Longleat. The single track is in the best condition I have ever seen at the moment. Just ride along a fire road, keep your eyes peeled and you will soon find some single track.

photonic69

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I am local. Its all a bit boring on the Plain. While the weather is good get over to Longleat. The single track is in the best condition I have ever seen at the moment. Just ride along a fire road, keep your eyes peeled and you will soon find some single track.

Thanks for that info. Where would be a good starting point for Longleat? I'm not really familiar with that area and would hate to cycle into the monkey compound by accident. They'd strip the wheels and have the inner tubes out in no time.