Braking bumps...
Comments
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Northwind, I noticed that there were a few more braking bumps in Glentress.
We hardly ever get them in Coed y Brenin, or, more recently it occurred to me, the Marin trail.
Now, the Marin trail is nowhere near as popular as Glentress or Coedy, but it's been built over a decade ago (EDIT: wow, just thought about this, nearly two decades! - maybe more), and has been more or less left to it's own devices. It's eroded through weather and use, but still hasn't got any braking bumps and feels kind of natural.
There's another naturally occurring trail nearby that a fair few people over the years have used as an impromptu DH track. Loads of people walk on that as well, in all weather, but again, it's still a pretty good surface - and has NEVER seen any maintenance.
BUT, these trails are all built on a flint/slate bedrock.
So, my point is... Maybe the ground the trail is built on can alter how likely braking bumps and the like are of occurring?
Maybe some places are just really prone to it, whilst others hold up fine?0 -
Now you say that Yeehaa, Falla Brae is built on very good bedrock and doesn't have bad braking bumps but then Magic Mushroom and the like are literally built on shite and they have the worst. Not sure about spooky wood but I think thats built on some pretty soft ground0
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Yup, definately... Though the newer trails and repairs at GT are mostly imported stone on a deep tray so the ground conditions don't get a look-in
(Falla Brae, when you stop to look at it, is actually ripped to bits, it just wears it very well. That's the benefit of "as dug" I guess.)
I think the main thing is that GT attracts a lot of knobbers and noobs, and concentrates them together. CYB I can't speak for, still never been but IIRC the footfall isn't much less than that of GT and I know there's more trails, whereas most of our traffic is on the one red route.Uncompromising extremist0 -
Northwind wrote:(Falla Brae, when you stop to look at it, is actually ripped to bits, it just wears it very well. That's the benefit of "as dug" I guess.)
Thats the point. It's all worn and ripped to pieces so you don't get braking bumps since the rest of the track is torn up anyway0 -
Yeah, it kind of wears more naturally, not so much braking bumps, as just worn all over.
If I remember rightly, Dafydd who was responsible for most of the original Coedy stuff used to go around as a consultant, teaching people how to build trails that last.
Maybe he should have said
Step 1 - find somewhere with a solid foundation 0 -
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peter413 wrote:Thats the point. It's all worn and ripped to pieces so you don't get braking bumps since the rest of the track is torn up anyway
Well, it does get braking bumps, 2 or 3 of the sessions I've done have been braking bump repairs there- the big horrible corner rebuild, and at least one higher up, and it's had smaller wardman fettles on a fairly constant basis. And there's still loads left too. One of the reasons the blue descent was built was just to take traffic off falla brae apparently, as an alternative to totally rebuilding it, it had a load of work a few years ago too (before my time).
But yeah, it's in good ground, you can wander around in the forest there and there's hardly any mud. Magic Mushroom's in a swamp
But also, it's generally a bit slower, GT's got speed obsessed which means people braking more, falla brae can be fast but it doesn't sneak up on you so people take it at a fairly sustainable pace. Not like, say, Pennel's Vennel. And that's probably the trick to avoiding braking bumps. Not to mention making really, really nice trails. (And tbh, I'm not totally sure I approve, that new black bit we're doing could be an awesomely nadgery slow trail but now we're dropping in tons of hardcore again.)Uncompromising extremist0 -
The Northern Monkey wrote:I didn't think the ones on the Monkey Trail were bad at all!
As long as you picked your line, you could pretty much float over them!
The dust was immense though, never seen anything like that...
Yes a lot can be bypassed with the right line but it has to be said that some berms at Cannock have such large amounts of BB's that no line whatsoever will be a good one.
Totally ruined and a bit of a shame.0 -
Re Northwind's earlier comment about the braking bumps at the new bit of the red trail. Knowing how long the guys had worked on it and having ridden it just after it opened and thinking what grat flowy lines it had (the speed it spits you out on to the bridge at is a hoot!) I couldn't believe the deterioration evident a week later from what comes from people either riding outside of their capabilities in terms of speed or braking ability or just being ignorant of the damage that skids do.
Disclaimer - this is not a cue for rants on how are people going to inprove without pushing capabilities! There's a difference between pushing yourself incrementally and just hitting things faster than you should be and panicking
Must be very frustrating for trail builders.You don't need eyes to see, you need vision0 -
I've got used to the bbs on the Chase but the trail is pretty cut up compared to how it was when it opened in April. The bbs appear so suddenly that I don't blame visitors for complaining about them.
Tacks Blast seems to have suffered the worse, a victim of its own popularity and easy accessibility. In contrast the Monkey is holding up very well, probably because it requires some effort to get there :twisted:
One thing I have heard mentioned is the inclusion of technical starts (woodwork, rocks) to the heaviest-used sections of trail. The idea is to dissuade casual riders from starting the section and cutting it up, but I think that's elitist. How are people going to improve their skills if they can't get on the trail?0 -
I think that's what they've done in Coed y Brenin. I've crtainly seen a few people attempt the start of one of the trails and give up after about a hundred feet..blitz wrote:One thing I have heard mentioned is the inclusion of technical starts (woodwork, rocks) to the heaviest-used sections of trail. The idea is to dissuade casual riders from starting the section and cutting it up, but I think that's elitist. How are people going to improve their skills if they can't get on the trail?0 -
I think it would work on some sections but on the other hand I'm not particularly skillful and having some easily-accessible technical features on the trails has taught me a thing or two. I would be the first to put my hand up and say I've skidded into some of the turns and contributed towards the braking bumps but hey we learn from our mistakes.
If I couldn't get on the section because of an obstacle, I would have to stay on the blue routes and then I wouldn't get in the way of the bigger boys who go so much faster. Hang on a minute...
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We've got that on some bits, the Wormhole on the black is a classic qualifier, basically a flight of steps with a corner halfway down and trees growing through it Because the trail behind is old volunteer built stuff so not very durable, so it cuts down the traffic. I think Pennel's Vennel's designed as a taster/qualifier but I'm not sure if that works so well, since the more technical bits can all be bypassed. Uncompromising extremist0
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Is the wormhole in Glentress? I don't remember the name, but it sounds like one of the very last black options from your description.0
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Yep, the very last bit of black before it joins the red descent, the rock feature's right off the fireroad. Not really all that hard by the standards of other places but it still gives people so much hassle. Er, me included, i target fixate on the bloody tree Finally got it tamed but it took an embarassingly long time, even after doing miles harder stuff elsewhere.
Here it is, hard at work...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvQg077lOUYUncompromising extremist0 -
I dont mind them that much, if they are small you can just float over them flat out, if its just one or two you can jump or pump them depending on speed and if they are big you can double them up and use them like little double jumps.I like bikes and stuff0
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This bit? I loved that!Northwind wrote:Yep, the very last bit of black before it joins the red descent,
We never got the chance to try out the black route in it's entirety unfortunately, my riding buddy felt knackered after the red and Innerleithen, and we didn't know why at the time.
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Nah, that's the (now partly dead) black diversion on falla brae. Wormhole is right after XX and the Bitch, then you roll along a fireroad and it's on the left, you literally roll off the fireroad down a flight of steps.
(sorry, the trailfairies tore up the entrance to the bit you love, and now we're building a new entrance. Which may very well be mint, provided we don't bury all the good stuff)Uncompromising extremist0 -
Ah, good, I'll be making a return trip there sometime, hopefully this year 0
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I've only ridden two or three trail centres (including Cannock where the braking bumps are pretty nasty in places) but I don't ever recall seeing any obvious signs telling people not to skid. I'm sure some trail centres do have such signs (and maybe they do exist at Cannock but if I've not noticed them then others must also have missed them). I reckon a lot of the people skidding around the place simply don't understand the damage they are doing.0
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There wouldn't be any if people rode within there capabilites !! It really pi$$es me off when riding trail centres when I see people riding the reds and blacks (mainly Llandegla) hanging on for dear life brakes squealing like a pig which is just about to be slaughtered because they ain't got the skills to ride them !! Great boasting to their mates in the pub though...
Trail centres take a lot of building, time effort and money..yes I know there to be enjoyed by the masses, however have the balls to say it's not within my ability and try the lessor marked trails until you have the skills to move onto more challanging stuff..
Nuff said0
