Hard Trails
Majski
Posts: 443
So what, in your opinion, are the hardest trails you've come accross? Was having this conversation with a mate and I tend to judge the difficulty on the nastiest part of the trail. I ride more DH and he rides XC so we have different opinions of what makes a trail hard. Interested to hear everyones ideas.
For me i'd say the 6km super technical singletrack descents in Portugal were the 'hardest' trails i've done
For me i'd say the 6km super technical singletrack descents in Portugal were the 'hardest' trails i've done
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the 1999 DH world cup track at Äre and a few of the other trails there."Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
Parktools :?:SheldonBrown0 -
Toughest trail I've ridden I think was Nant Gwrtheyrn, unrelentingly steep and rocky all the way down. That or racing Rheola, I could barely hold on at the bottom! Such a long and gnarly track! Only breaks you got were at the fire road crossings. Probably just as tough as anything I encountered in the alps.0
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I'm dying to get to Rheola, there's an uplift there tomorrow but it's a bit of a trek as I've gotta come back to Brum in the evening. Will try get down there and do a weekend of Rheola / Cwmcarn after I'm back from the Alps0
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Yeah, mate of mine is getting on that tomorrow, pretty jealous. There's a race there on the 9th sept I think, you should try and get down, I think a load of us bangor uni lot are trying to get on it. Rheola is by far one of the best tracks I've ridden! Such hard work though!0
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Loads of people have told me it's the hardest place they've been, and that it's a bike smasher.ilovedirt wrote:Toughest trail I've ridden I think was Nant Gwrtheyrn, unrelentingly steep and rocky all the way down.
After seeing so many mates totally wreck their bikes there, I'm giving it a wide berth until I can actually afford to fix my forks should they be smashed
Not sure what the toughest trail I've ridden has been. There's a few mostly harmless trails that have caught me unawares as I became complacent with time, and there's some that initially felt terrifying, but have never actually ended up being challenging.
We rode the French Nationals DH track in Portes Du Soleil, which was pretty tricky, but we got down it fine, just not at race-pace.
So I dunno. Probably some of the natural trails, which aren't really "trails" - you can find yourself heading into something at speed, then it occurs to you... "Hang on is this ACTUALLY rideable?"0 -
It's alright if you're a competent downhiller. I rode it back in November when I wasn't as competent with steep stuff as I am now and on a short travel bike, reckon I'd be fine if I were to ride it now. You should give it a crack, it's a fun track!YeehaaMcgee wrote:
Loads of people have told me it's the hardest place they've been, and that it's a bike smasher.ilovedirt wrote:Toughest trail I've ridden I think was Nant Gwrtheyrn, unrelentingly steep and rocky all the way down.
After seeing so many mates totally wreck their bikes there, I'm giving it a wide berth until I can actually afford to fix my forks should they be smashed0 -
The french national is ok to make your way down as it's not steep. Really difficult to go fast on and hard to find any flow. The old top section that's gone now was a bit intimidating the first time I did it.
Nant G sounds good! I won't be racing Rheola though, I don't do racing!0 -
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Last time I raced I put a very nasty gash accross my shin, then got overtaken by Barracuda Bob, my ego still hasn't healed and that was 4 years ago0
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Isn't the giveaway in the fact it contains the word "race"?0
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what was the interval? or was it a mass start?Majski wrote:Last time I raced I put a very nasty gash accross my shin, then got overtaken by Barracuda Bob, my ego still hasn't healed and that was 4 years ago"Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
Parktools :?:SheldonBrown0 -
Hard trails, this is Insane.
That rocky step down is huge, and testing it on a 170mm Lyrik, Bonkers.
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Chatel-Mou ... -Walk.html
Snot green Canyon Nerve AM 8.0x0 -
Majski wrote:
I'd bIoody well hope you had to ride back to pick your leg up.0 -
:oops:0
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Single crown is the only way to do slope events like that, if you want to actually do tricks. Obviously I'd never hit that stuff though! Saw the mountain style track from afar when I was in Chatel last week and let me just say, the photos do that jump no justice. It's HUGE!ThePriory1978 wrote:Hard trails, this is Insane.
That rocky step down is huge, and testing it on a 170mm Lyrik, Bonkers.
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Chatel-Mou ... -Walk.html0 -
I've seen some of the Chatel insanity first hand, and nearly shat myslefThePriory1978 wrote:Hard trails, this is Insane.
That rocky step down is huge, and testing it on a 170mm Lyrik, Bonkers.
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Chatel-Mou ... -Walk.html
Since I don;t have the guts to ride down (or "off") most of that big stuff, I don't know how hard it is, but It looks well groomed, so it's more ballz than technical ability?
Hell, I dunno. Is there anyone here who can ride stuff that big that can say whether or not it's actually harder than, say, Nant G, to get down?0 -
A mate of mine rode the mountainstyle course in chatel and hit all the big lines. He also doesn't seem to have any problem riding super techy steep DH runs either though so i'm not sure!0
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I will next time I see him! but it might be a while as he seems to have given up MTB in favour of Jet Skiing.
I see your point about it being groomed though and more about just going balls out.0 -
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According to the PB track walk, the course is pretty rocky and shit, I guess it just looks smooth because it's so big. Either way, I know which I'd rather ride!!0
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^^^^^^^
omg! hope there is a stream for it id love to watch itopinions are worth exactly what you pay for them ;-)
2012 boardman team F/S tarting has begun..
1992 cannondale m1000 still going just0 -
The toughest trail I have ridden from memory would be the Red trail in Chatel but I am not sure that now that would seem that tough and it isnt more justa factor of the skill I had at the time.
I definitely rode plenty of stuff in the PdS that I would classify as the hardest I have ever ridden at the time - not ridden too much that is that hard in canada - some of the bike trails in our bike park are tricky some I wont ride because the jumps and drops rule them out for me (a ladder drop of about 8ft is beyond me)Closet jockey wheel pimp whore.0 -
After today i'm going to add revolution in the wet. Really fun but jaysus it was tricky as hell, long and steep too0
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Yeah? Really want to ride there. Think we're going to try and get an uplift booked in september for the uni mtb club.Majski wrote:After today i'm going to add revolution in the wet. Really fun but jaysus it was tricky as hell, long and steep too0 -
Yeah brilliant though. In the dry its a good challenging track, in the wet I couldn't do a clean run0
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The toughest track I know of in Britain is Glencoe, the Scottish Nationals DH track. There's no real jumps and drops but the gradient and the rocks is incredibly tricky. The NPS at Hamsterly is pretty good too, steep and very rooty.0
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Hardest track I have rode is Brendon's track at Triscombe.
It's extremely steep, loose as yer mum, rooty with switch backs so tight the only way a DH bike can get around them is to throw it in sideways. There are drops, one after another with no time to think about it but they need total commitment. I have never rode anything else which comes anywhere near as tough.
It was built by Rich Thomas & Brendon Fairclough to train for Champery.Transition Patrol - viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=130702350
