No hills, no skill, no fitness. At least it was sunny.
phz
Posts: 478
And it's all still messing about on a bike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37CkNTOUudA
slainte
rob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37CkNTOUudA
slainte
rob 0
Comments
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Nice one Rob! I'm liking these ride videos that keep popping up. What We Achieve In Life, Echoes In Eternity0
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Hi,
I went to Thetford forest a couple of weekends ago and as much as I enjoyed the fresh air, I couldn't help but feel massively disappointed with the trails there.
The black run was comprised mostly of convoluted paths marked out in the small trees, on trails that were relentlessly bumpy (meaning it was impossible to keep any kind of speed up) and that wound around on themselves for no discernible reason other than to add a bit of length to the course. These 'sections' were interspersed with the occasional bomb-hole to relieve some of the boredom and to rest your shattered knees from the rutted trails. TBH the only enjoyable bit of the whole hour and half or so that it took to get round, was The Beast section which had some nice technical parts to it, but was finished all too quickly!
Does anyone else rate Thetford that highly? I went to Bedgebury Forest last year and had a fantastic time; Thetford doesn't even come close.
Nonetheless, nice video! What camera do you have? I'm thinking of investing in one.0 -
I was pondering on that being a black graded route. Cannock's Follow The Dog and Monkey Trail are much more technical and graded red, although there are black routes that peel off the Monkey Trail that are in some instances just downright risky for someone with my lack of skills.0
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Heehee.
Not holding Thetford up as a totally ace place to ride, but round here it's pretty much the best we have and is proper fun in places despite the lack of hills (I can get to Sherwood Pines in about the same journey time but aside from a touch more gradient it's not THAT much better there).
The Red/Black ratings are pretty much nonsense compared to most other UK centres, but do reflect the nature of the trails within the forest itself. Having said that, the rebuilt red with it's man-made surfaced and bermed sections (thanks to all the great work that the TIMBER group do - http://timbermtb.org/website/ ) is actually a better, faster, funner trail than most of the black these days (although The Beast is great if short fun and the bombholes are a laugh). The black has suffered from erosion and mixed use (it is very unflowing and bumpy and so saps speed in sections thanks (I think) to MX enduro races using some of the trails), and I know TIMBER are moving onto repairing/rebuilding this trail over the next couple of years.
Answers to other questions - yes it was (sadly) a solo ride, and the camera is a Drift X170 - tough,cheap and easy to use although there is now an HD version (I got mine for Xmas before I knew to ask for the upgraded model) which obviously gives better image quality - it has cool rotating mount and lens which means that it pretty easy to set up on a range of mounts.
slainte rob 0 -
Yeah I don't want to sound too scathing, because I know people put a lot of work into maintaining trails (often at their own time and expense), but after looking forward to it all winter the disappointment still gets to me now! Still I think the thread title sums up my experience quite succinctly.0
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That Drift X170 camera is excellent value for money, it's on my shopping list for sure0
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That's interesting. I assumed there was some kind of nationally recognized grading system in place around the country.
If one trail's black is the equivalent of another trail's red and so on, surely the grading is worthless. In theory you could set off at speed along what you imagine to be a trail within your capabilities, and find yourself 30' off the ground riding a 6" wide plank towards a set of rotating knives (or whatever goes for fun around those parts).
Sorry to take the thread off course. Nice video!0 -
Nicley shot Rob....Will be giving Thetford a run this summer 0
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Other, more widely travelled riders could probably confirm but as far as I can tell the green/blue/red/black grading system IS fairly consistent across most of the country (I have ridden both Laggan and Dalby red trails and they are pretty comparable although Laggan is a bit more technical and Dalby is much longer and physically harder).wheezee wrote:That's interesting. I assumed there was some kind of nationally recognized grading system in place around the country.
If one trail's black is the equivalent of another trail's red and so on, surely the grading is worthless. In theory you could set off at speed along what you imagine to be a trail within your capabilities, and find yourself 30' off the ground riding a 6" wide plank towards a set of rotating knives (or whatever goes for fun around those parts).
Sorry to take the thread off course. Nice video!
I think it's possibly the 'softer' midlands centres that skew things - both the red routes at Thetford and Sherwood are nowhere near as tough as the other reds I've ridden elsewhere, and the black at Thetford is obviously not on a par in any way with other black routes around the UK (and would barely even pass for red in most places).
For further comparison, the green route at Laggan is VERY similar to the current Thetford red in terms of surface, speed and challenge (although the Scottish route has more gradient and is way shorter).
slainte :? rob0 -
found the music strangely trippy and psychadelic... i like it
the route looks really fun for a blast, not very technical but fun if you get me0 -
Always good to see vids (although my daughter thinks I'm extremely sad when I film any of my biking)...makes you want to get out and ride even more.
I've been off this week so I've managed to get quite a bit of riding done - off out again this afternoon with my mate (who hasn't been out for approx. one year), so that should be fun.0 -
good stuff, i dont know why you said no fitness? ive ben wanting to get a cam but not sure what to go for or what mounting equipment to get, looks like you are doing well with yours0
