First time downhill advice please.

andymc06

I am going to have a crack at the downhill courses at Cwmcarn in a couple of weeks. First ever uplift day for me and my brother. I'll be riding my Trance x3 with 140mm forks on it for info. Has anyone got any top tips or critical advice?

I picked up a bargain full face helmet in the sales so that's sorted. However I only have riding glasses. How much benefit is there to wearing goggles?

Thanks in advance

Andy

dusk

Glasses are fine if you don't have goggles, there aren't any major benefits

ilovedirt

Just have fun!

milko9000

Just check the glasses fit inside the helmet, if it's tight they won't be comfortable.
Have fun!

welshkev

take your time and take it steady on your first run. everything there is rollable, but there are a few things that could catch you out.

the road drop isn't as bad as it looks from the top btw

have fun, it's a great track

rockmonkeysc

Relax, take it steady and enjoy it. Start slowly and build up speed through the day.
Other than that it's just weight back, try to keep speed up for any technical bits and always cover the brakes with one finger. Make sure you have plenty of material left on your brake pads, it's a fast track.
Might be worth taking a shock pump and track pump, you might find your XC set up isn't right on a DH track.
Try to set off on the trail after all but the slower riders just so you don't have some one sat right on your back wheel putting you off.

miss notax

Wait for the fast guys and girls (or those that look fast ) to go first.

Cwmcarn is lovely and all rollable but it's not much fun with a faster rider up your @rse and that's when mistakes happen in my experience....

(Says me who lets everyone go first on a DH track because I ride down them at about 2mph :oops: )

The Rookie

And we'd heard you were a fast girl........ ;-)

andymc06

Cheers guys. Looking forward to it!

welshkev

The Beginner wrote:

And we'd heard you were a fast girl........ ;-)

fast and loose some say

miss notax

jimothy78

welshkev wrote:

the road drop isn't as bad as it looks from the top btw

At the HWU meeting last night, Mike was saying Lewis had done it on his sledge!

EH_Rob

jimothy78 wrote:

welshkev wrote:

done it on his sledge!

This would be an excellent way to spice up the monotony of Red Bull Rampage. Second runs must be done on sledges.

Stevo_666

All good advice above.

Might be worth having a gander on youtube so you can see what the course looks like in advance. If you're accident prone like me then body armour and decent knee/shin pads are a worthwhile investment, the track is generally hardpack with a few rocks mixed in.

Might take a few goes before you have a crack at the road jump but like was said above, looks worse than it is and there's a chicken run next to it. A few bits that caught me out first time round were the first switchback and the plastic matting going into the road tunnel when its wet

PS: glasses are OK but goggles are definitely better.

Have fun.

cat_with_no_tail

EH_Rob wrote:

jimothy78 wrote:

welshkev wrote:

done it on his sledge!

This would be an excellent way to spice up the monotony of Red Bull Rampage. Second runs must be done on sledges.

Until someone comes along and double backflips it on a luge. Or a bobsleigh

Northwind

I don't get on with glasses in a full face personally, seems to blow the air around the sides or something. You can test that easily on the road though before you go.

What tyres do you have? You don't need to run out and buy dualplies but if you've got skinny XC numbers on you're more likely to suffer punctures and might wish for more grips. If you've got nice hard-use tyres anyway then they should be fine.

Rockmonkey and Miss Notax's advice is spot on and not an awful lot to add tbh. it's just riding your bike, just take it easy and have fun.

andymc06

I was planning on Hans Dampf 2.35 Trailstar up front and a High Roller 2.35 60a single ply on the rear. Should do the trick and saves buying any. I'll take a spare High Roller as back up.

Northwind

Aye, should be right. Never ridden at Cwmcarn, so don't know how puncturey it is mind.

rockmonkeysc

It's quite rocky. You should be ok oon single ply tyres if you take it a bit steady through rock gardens.

timpop

Hey there, while you're at it you might want to consider slowing down the rebound on your forks and rear shock a little and take some air out the rear shock to change the angle. I think that'll improve your first time experience. It'll set you back a little (good for descending) and help prevent you bouncing off the jumps too much. Of course that all depends how things are set-up right now.
Have fun.

rockmonkeysc

timpop wrote:

Hey there, while you're at it you might want to consider slowing down the rebound on your forks and rear shock a little and take some air out the rear shock to change the angle. I think that'll improve your first time experience. It'll set you back a little (good for descending) and help prevent you bouncing off the jumps too much. Of course that all depends how things are set-up right now.
Have fun.

That all sounds like bad ideas. Slowing rebound means the rear end won't recover between hits and your going to be getting bigger hits than normal so softening the rear shock will result in bottoming out.

Thewaylander

RockmonkeySC wrote:

timpop wrote:

Hey there, while you're at it you might want to consider slowing down the rebound on your forks and rear shock a little and take some air out the rear shock to change the angle. I think that'll improve your first time experience. It'll set you back a little (good for descending) and help prevent you bouncing off the jumps too much. Of course that all depends how things are set-up right now.
Have fun.

That all sounds like bad ideas. Slowing rebound means the rear end won't recover between hits and your going to be getting bigger hits than normal so softening the rear shock will result in bottoming out.

In they sound like completely stupid ideas to me... my shocks run pretty quick to absorb the fast repetative hits,

fyldesmurf

My main advice would be don't let anyone else stop you from having fun. There might be people with all the gear who'll probably sneer at you on your trail bike, it's certainly happened to me before. Just don't forget, you have just as much right to be there as they do, you can't expect to be quickest but you will definitely enjoy the challenge and speed, and that's what it's all about right?

miss notax

Completely agree with the above, but for what it's worth I have always found everyone to be really nice on uplift days actually! I was literally terrified on my first one, surrounded by kids (I was probably old enough to be their Mum :oops: ) in all the gear, but they were really nice guys and very encouraging

rockmonkeysc

Most are pretty friendly on uplifts. Most riders will be pretty slow with the exception of a few racers who will know that it's up to them to make sure that they are first on to the trail if they want a fast, uninterupted run.

Northwind

To be fair I do reckon a lot of people run their rebound too fast most of the time, probably more than run it too slow. But the other one's not smart, if anything you're more likely to find your normal settings are a little soft.

If you're happy with how your bike rides, don't **** it up! TBH it's better to have an ill-handling bike that you're familiar and comfortable with than a perfect handling bike that feels weird, when you're doing something new.

Thewaylander

Northwind wrote:

To be fair I do reckon a lot of people run their rebound too fast most of the time, probably more than run it too slow. But the other one's not smart, if anything you're more likely to find your normal settings are a little soft..

See i find the opposite most people go to slow because it feels good for a single pump of the fork when setting up rather than riding, but then everyone is a bit different too i guess.

andymc06

I'm happy with fork and shock set up as they are for descending and jumping. I'll have my shock pump in my pack for tweeking on the day if necessary. Don't worry I'll definitely
be having fun!

declan1

I did the Golspie downhill on a hardtail with cheap 120mm forks that didn't work, brakes that didn't really stop me and tyres that had no grip all while wearing a waterproof jacket and jeans. It was great fun!

Northwind

It's not a downhill line that- great trail, and no picnic, but not the same thing. More descents should end at the beach though.

declan1

Northwind wrote:

It's not a downhill line that- great trail, and no picnic, but not the same thing. More descents should end at the beach though.

I'm just saying that you don't need an ultra-precise DH machine to go downhill. Yes, you'll go faster, but don't worry about it