We’ve just added live weather to every trail listing — shown as a quick Ride Readiness lozenge, plus a full Weather tab with more detail. 🌦️

This isn’t just a forecast. The lozenge translates rainfall into how the trails will actually feel — Dry, Damp, Wet, or Soaked — while the Weather tab layers in practical advice for clothing, tyres, and suspension.

It also shows wind speed and direction, so you can factor in shelter on exposed trails (or if you hate the wind like me give that ride a miss).

Soil-aware conditions

We also record what are the soil conditions so wetness now adapts to what’s under your tyres. Clay-heavy trails tip into Soaked sooner; loamy ones hold up better. And when a listing looks like a pump track, we’ll flag it as “likely armoured” so you know it’s often rideable even after rain.

Plan the week, not just the ride

Because British weather is never dull and consistent, we’ve added a built-in week-ahead map to explore rain, wind, and temperature before you ride.

What you’ll see at a glance

• Ground Conditions: a rider-friendly read on how the trail will feel.
• Wind & Direction: to help you plan clothing
• Temperature: with day min/max for packing the right layers.
• Rain history & UV: quick context for trail softness and sun exposure.
• Daylight left: how much usable light you’ve got right now.
• Kit & setup tips: clothing, tyre pressure, and suspension suggestions matched to conditions.

How we work this out

The new “Soil + Weather” view blends several layers into one simple rider-friendly output:

• Soil baseline — every trail is given a primary soil type from open data, plus how it usually rides (e.g. “loam — drains OK” or “clay — claggy when wet”).
• Wet-risk mix — if finer or organic soils make up a fair slice of the mix, we add a ⚠️ cue to highlight the chance of boggy or claggy patches when it’s wet.
• Weather input — live rainfall, gusts, temperature and daylight feeds are pulled from multiple authoritative forecast sources.
• Soil-aware wetness logic — the same rain amount means different things on different soils. On sandy trails it may stay “Dry”, on clay it flips to “Soaked” sooner.
• Ride Readiness pills — the lozenge translates this into plain language: Dry / Damp / Wet / Soaked, plus wind risk, temp and daylight.
• Rider advice — we also use that context to nudge setup: tyres, suspension, and clothing layers that might make the ride safer or more fun.

This is our first cut of the algorithm. It already gives a richer picture than a raw forecast, but we’ll keep tuning thresholds and wording. Because it’s based on authoritative live data, we expect it to track reality closely — but if the conditions shown don’t match what you find on the ground, please shout. Rider feedback helps refine the model.

Tell us what would help you ride more

Combined with reviews, facilities, events, news, videos and more, each trail page is now a one-stop hub for planning. What else would you find useful in the weather view or on a trail listing — for example, more detailed trail maps (this is being worked on currently), trail closures, or rider-reported conditions? Drop your ideas in the comments — your feedback shapes where we take this next.

A note for trail communities and bike park owners

Weather and soil data aren’t just rider favourites — they also help communities show care for trails. If conditions are soaked, the etiquette message is built in: a gentle nudge to protect the riding we all value.

Want the full picture of how iBikeRide supports trail communities? Check out From dig days 🪏 to data 💾 : iBikeRide’s toolkit for trail communities.

Read: 82 times Published: 02/10/2025