North shore Debate

7stanes-Midget

I think in xc courses we should have some high and quite skinny north shore just to scare the pants of us :shock:
i mean mountain biking is an extreme sport if you dont want to ride hard scary stuff go ride the green route!!

Anonymous

YES, I agree wholeheartedly. Black runs DEFINITELY need to be more extreme.

schmako

Hahaha, I can see quite a lot of xc riders taking to that :roll: If you want to ride extreme stuff, don't do xc.

Anonymous

Hmm I just realsied he meant cross-country solely. I was thinking more along the lines of trail centres.

schmako

I agree with that. Is there not loads of health and safety rubbish that has got to be adhered to though?

Anonymous

sasly yes, there is way too much health and safety crap in this country due to an excessive amount of litigation cases.

jrich

Thats what bikes with 5"+ of travel were invented for mate. We are talking about XC here, if your feeling that your adrenal gland isn't getting enough use then buy a DH bike, thats what I did

ratty2k

yeehaamcgee wrote:

sasly yes, there is way too much health and safety crap in this country due to an excessive amount of litigation cases.

Actually, its there to stop people dying and getting hurt. The way people apply rules is a different thing altogether tho....

toasty

I THINK MOTORWAYS SHOULD HAVE LOOP THE LOOPS AND BERMS.

cjw

Toasty wrote:

I THINK MOTORWAYS SHOULD HAVE LOOP THE LOOPS AND BERMS.

So when are you ever going to get up sufficient speed on a UK motorway (given the congestion) to complete a loop, or need a berm

Good idea though...

cee

And.....the train should defo go over the humps on the Forth Rail Bridge!

Anonymous

ratty2k wrote:

yeehaamcgee wrote:

sasly yes, there is way too much health and safety crap in this country due to an excessive amount of litigation cases.

Actually, its there to stop people dying and getting hurt. The way people apply rules is a different thing altogether tho....

I had to sit through a 4 day health and safety seminar years ago, and from what I recall from the brief moments I actually managed to remain awake, H&S laws are essentially just to ensure that blame is found when anything happens, so that compensation can be paid by that party.

I makes sense in the context of dodgy employers who would otherwise make their staff do stupid dangerous things, but it has gone way too far, and is now mostly used to try and get compo for pointless issues.

Anonymous

ooh, and trains should all be like rollercoasters, that would be ace

cjw

yeehaamcgee wrote:

, H&S laws are essentially just to ensure that blame is found when anything happens, so that compensation can be paid by that party.

.

Sorry, but that is totally wrong. Compensation is civil law between the two (or more) parties. H&S Legislation is criminal law (same as theft, robbery etc) and nothing to do with compensation at all.

Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 came in after review that showed previous disparate legislation wasn't working and pulled it all into one place. The essence of the Act is to ensure co-operation between employers and employees.

Anonymous

cjw wrote:

The essence of the Act is to ensure co-operation between employers and employees.

This is where it winds me up, because it's now used for any accident you could possibly dream up.
but as I said, I wasn't exactly paying much attention at the seminar. :oops:

cjw

Yep, but I think people tend to use the 'duty of care' (civil - tort) argument. So if you trip over an uneven paving stone, you use the argument that the council have a duty of care to ensure that the paving stones should be even. So that clumsy bastards don't fall over :roll:

I guess if you go up on a North Shore, you know what you're letting yourself in for and you forego any rights! Maybe....

Anonymous

But you also have a duty of care to look where you put your clumsy-arsed feet, surely. (not you personally, of course)

cjw

Agree entirely.

tomxc

i think the motorway thing is an awsome idea, n if u want to do sum north shore get an all mountain rig...not nesaserily a full susser but a hardtail with a bit more fork travel...i own a claud butler cape wrath d27 the 07 versoin and i'm doin xc ride's but hav also done a bit of small north shore on it.
personaly i think if you put north shore in an xc route it spoils the XC part you wouldn't go cross a country on tiny skinnie's or massive drops would u???

maddmatt

tomxc wrote:

personaly i think if you put north shore in an xc route it spoils the XC part you wouldn't go cross a country on tiny skinnie's or massive drops would u???

No, but i'd like to try.
Take the taster loop(black) at newcastleton that got a ridiculous high skinny, that scared the poo out of me

RichMTB

I think they should grade roads the same way they grade trails.

National speed limit roads that require a modicum of skill to travel on at the national speed limit should be graded appropriately

This might dissuade the blue rinse brigade from clogging up the road to Glentress at 35mph in their sodding Honda Jazz's

crazee_jamie

loop the loops on motorways - What a wicked idea!!!

Someone should create freestyle car driving..... Might be a touch on the expensive side though yeah!

Nodnol

Short and simple boardwalk sections should definately be implimented into any trail centre. However, alternative routes are key to make sure novices aren't put off riding the route.

Take Cannock's short boardwalk for instance. A skinny option if you're feeling daring, but a route round the side if you're not up to it.

Anonymous

crazee_jamie wrote:

Someone should create freestyle car driving..... Might be a touch on the expensive side though yeah!

i think this nutter's way ahead of you!!

linky to Nutter in a rally car

synchronicity

yeehaamcgee wrote:

I had to sit through a 4 day health and safety seminar years ago, and from what I recall from the brief moments I actually managed to remain awake, H&S laws are essentially just to ensure that blame is found when anything happens, so that compensation can be paid by that party.

Was this before or after your colleague twice poked that CNC router bit :?:

Anonymous

After, I think.

Actually, he wasn;t really my colleaugue, he was just on the same apprenticeship course as I was, except for a different company. he didn't last the whole course :shock:

Northwind

I want more flaming hoops to jump through on black runs.

Mmm. with north shore stuff I have to say I'm unconvinced that higher is better, I suppose if you do it for the total adrenaline/scare thing then that's great but I'm not sure that's what everyone wants from a ladder. Simple trails are still going to be simple if they're 50 feet up, and difficult trails are still difficult at 2 feet.

Braking Sucks

A trail 50 ft up is certainly more scary and life threatening than one only 2 ft up - it takes a hell of a lot more courage no matter how difficult it is; it's higher and a bigger risk to your health and your bike which will have had a lot of money spent on it (far more important than your health of course)

Anonymous

You're right, after all, we have the NHS to deal with injuries. A bike howvere, costs money to fix or replace. And the current economic state of the country makes it very foolhardy to wreck your bike!

Northwind

Braking Sucks wrote:

A trail 50 ft up is certainly more scary and life threatening than one only 2 ft up - it takes a hell of a lot more courage no matter how difficult it is; it's higher and a bigger risk to your health and your bike which will have had a lot of money spent on it (far more important than your health of course)

Yup, but it doesn't take any more skill or ability to ride- do you ride a 2 footer thinking "Ah well, might as well just fall off"? I suppose it's just down to your approach to riding, I like things that test my fitness, skill and machine, some people want to test their courage more than that. But if you put an easy run very high, the only danger there is that you panic and fall off, and that's kind of pointless to me.

supersonic

I think DH should have more uphill sections. Whay have a bike if you can't be asred to pedal it? Get a motorbike.