how hard are downhill runs?

Boffington

i've been looking at a couple short holiday for after my GCSEs and thaught a trip to scotland or wales would be great for mountain biking. when i loked around though i got a little confused over how hard black a orange runs actually are.

i was looking on a website about innerleithen where apparently all 4 downhills are graded orange and only the xc trails are black and red

so orange runs are apparently the steepest and most technical of routes.
i'm young and athletic so i can deal with the physical abuse the run will throw at me.
i'm not a complete mug when it comes to technical skills, i can jump pretty well and i've got manuals and drifted turns pretty well down.
but i only have a small jump hard tail (giant STP) which obviously means throwing it down a downhill run will be a little sketchy to say the least. i have seen the hardtail division at downhill race meets but am i going to be way out of my depth if i go out there looking for some down hill thrills?
am i better sticking to the red and black trails?

god1406

ride what you can and walk the rest! I rode at Leogang bike park last Summer after having never done anything much like that before. You soon find out how far your abilities can take you.

if you go to a trail centre and don't get on with downhilling, you can just ride the graded XC loops instead.

schmako

A STP at Inners is a no no unless you are super smooth. Big enough jumps, even on my Patriot. Get to Glentress instead, the STP would be right at home at the freeride section and then if you feel you still want to go to Inners its only 5 minutes along the road.

KonaMike

Ive seen people doing the Downhill run at Cwmcarn on hardtails but as said above you could just do sections of the course and miss out the HUGE stuff !

Boffington

isn't it annoyin when your steaming down the full course to have some idiot on his hardtail cut in and do the easy bits?

skyliner

Not to me it isn't. We're all MTBers and we all do it for enjoyment.
It's not like you'd be iterrupting someone's race run or anything, if they've got a problem with it, it's not your fault. The trails are there for everyone to enjoy.

If you don't ride beyond your (or your bike's) limits, you'll actually cause fewer hold ups on the trails.

Scope it out, do what you're confident with, be mindful of other trail users, and most important HAVE A GREAT TIME.

shin0r

You'll be able to get down pretty much anything on a hardtail. It might not be too pretty though. I've done Cwmcarn DH on a hardtail, it was terrifying.

DH is very physically demanding no matter what bike you're on; a soft full suss with loads of travel might be a bit easier on you than a small light hardtail though.

The major thing that put me off DH was all the hanging around doing nothing, waiting for the uplift bus. I can't understand why people would spend so much money on huge rigs to enjoy perhaps an hour's riding (on a good day). Each to their own though!

Boffington

thanks for the help.

is wales or scotland better for a biking holiday? taking into account midges of course

gthang

Boffington wrote:

isn't it annoyin when your steaming down the full course to have some idiot on his hardtail cut in and do the easy bits?

No not at all! Its open to everyone.

Boffington

what lovely people mountain bikers are!

Bikedevil

Ive been known to take a Barracuda down the Darkside at Mabie before.... just go ride what looks fun.

P-Jay

Boffington wrote:

isn't it annoyin when your steaming down the full course to have some idiot on his hardtail cut in and do the easy bits?

I tell you what is annoying. When someone cuts you up but has to take a really ugly slow line to make it stick. So not only did they "overtake" completely unanounced but you have to grab a massive load of brake to stop riding straight into them. Owners of yellow 223's please take note.