Trail Manners?

Relaxitscool

Hi all, the other half and I just got back from a very wet weekend at Coed Llandegla. We had a fab time except for one aspect, the manners shown by other riders. We both ride short travel bikes, a Trek Fuel 9.9 for her and a Viper Nitro for me and we keep up a good pace both up and down the trail.

However, time and time again we'd come across groups of guys on downhill bikes at the top of a downhill section sat in the middle of the trail. Not a problem, we'll just thread our way through, whats more annoying is they'd then wait a short time, and I mean seconds and come barreling down behind us, overtake us, again no probs there, but then run out of puff on the next uphill bit and more often than not stop in the middle of the track blocking the way as we are mashing away trying to get up the hill.

Is it just me being overly sensitive or has anybody else experienced this?

Anonymous

Yeah, seen those "DH" muppets there all too often. They really annoy me. Had a load of them force their way in front of me before a black section once, actually shouting "I'll show you how you're meant to ride this" before proceeding to wobble slowly down the trail. I stopped at the first switchback for several minutes so I could have a clear run, but annoyingly still caught up with them before the end of the section.
Way to ruin someone else's enjoyment, MUPPETS!

Ah well, at least I just take great humour in the fact that they're riding one of the tamest trails in Britain on 7"+ travel bikes, complete with Boxxers and massive tyres, and they still seem overwhelmed.

Relaxitscool

At first it was amusing that they just couldn't get up the inclines, but after being blocked countless times, on our second circuit we diverted and went down the blue route, we were surprised by it really. Obviously its hardly ever used and very tame but the trail was in fab condition compared to the red route and we were able to get some good speed up, even in the wet conditons, best of all, there was nobody there to block us!

Tom Barton

Its commonly known trail ettiqutte to not sit ones self or bike in the trail - if you need a rest find a suitable spot where you can sit to one side. Most experianced mountain bikers know this.

Other common bad manners you'll see plenty of is littering, people not moving (even when safe spots come up) when faster riders call from behind. Some faster riders being overly aggressive behind slower or noivce riders. Unessecery skidding etc etc etc.

Prepare to develop thick skin....

Most people I bump into in south wales are very nice though

Anonymous

I've done the blue once when we got caught out in a snowy whiteout and needed to get back to the cafe ASAP (no jackets, freezing cold in T-shirts with a friend's 15 year old daughter in my charge!) And yeah, the blue trail is definitely a nice little ride.
I would definitely suggest that you give the red another attempt though, it is a great trail, with several fun sections. There's also plenty of stuff there to keep revisiting. trying to go faster and faster round the berms for example Or trying to do the second long black section with no brakes whilst fully comitting to the berms is also good fun. Just be carful of the weirdly spaced jumps after the first descent on that section.

Several people seem to struggle with the bumpy boardwalk on the last half of the red trail too, so revisiting it to try and crack that part is also a welcome challenge.

All in all, the Llandegla crowd are generally a good bunch, don't let that small crowd of knobheads put you off returning there.

Anonymous

ARGH, littering, that drives me mad. Beautiful scenery, forests mountains, wherever, and there's bound to be crap littered around. More often than not it's those foil gel wrappers.

stumpyjon

and festive inners tubes hanging from trees.....

Thread8

Litter and dog turds on the trails are my pet hates, along with ramblers putting their traps up everywhere (logs, string between trees etc etc) :evil:

Robie P

Thread8 wrote:

Litter and dog turds on the trails are my pet hates, along with ramblers putting their traps up everywhere (logs, string between trees etc etc) :evil:

Im with you on that one fella, I was out riding yesterday and came down a hill at speed into a bit of single track and some d**k head had put a pile of wood across it !

If I had been on my old bike I wouldnt of been able to stop in time and would of ended up in a barb wire fence .

I stopped and removed the death trap :evil:

Rob

Relaxitscool

yeehaamcgee wrote:

All in all, the Llandegla crowd are generally a good bunch, don't let that small crowd of knobheads put you off returning there.

It won't stop us, we've always enjoyed it in the past, although the trail is quite rutted in places at the moment. Interestingly, when coming down the blue route we came across a section of raised singletrack thats intersected it running downhill from right to left. We assumed it was part of a black route but the map doesn't show any other trails crossing the blue route. Does anybody know what it is?

dsmiff

That will be the section of Bluey / Red - not open yet, runs down from the end of the roller coasters.

There are quite a few new sections that have been built, just waiting for them to open........

Relaxitscool

I'm looking forward to riding it. It reminded me of a section of the red route at Dalby where the singletrack is raised.

Rob

omegas

Interestingly, when coming down the blue route we came across a section of raised singletrack thats intersected it running downhill from right to left. We assumed it was part of a black route but the map doesn't show any other trails crossing the blue route. Does anybody know what it is?

I think the track you have seen is an old walking route that used to cross the trail, it always looked interesting to ride as it is steep and not very wide coming down the hill right to left. Its not a new section of trail as its always been there as far back as I can remember.

dsmiff

omegas wrote:

Interestingly, when coming down the blue route we came across a section of raised singletrack thats intersected it running downhill from right to left. We assumed it was part of a black route but the map doesn't show any other trails crossing the blue route. Does anybody know what it is?

I think the track you have seen is an old walking route that used to cross the trail, it always looked interesting to ride as it is steep and not very wide coming down the hill right to left. Its not a new section of trail as its always been there as far back as I can remember.

Ahh, could it be the Offas Dyke route that runs through the forest? We often ride up it if I'm with the youngest instead of finishing on the red - which is not that interesting from the tin hut onwards anyway and you get to have fun on the blue - it is a bridleway, so you can ride it.

ExeterSimon

Glad I'm not the only one:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12704945&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20

But I wish I was TBH....