Mountain biking dissertation survey

supersonic

Completed. A couple of observations though...

Salary - 20k start? Many earn a lot less than this!
Type of riding - plenty more areas than that.
Prepared to travel to a trail? By what? On your bike, or by car?
Riding group - well if you ride alone ;-)
Trails - way more than just that. Rocky out crops? Flat lands? Rolling grass hills?

Angus Young

haydendmorrison wrote:

Thanks again though, genuinely surprised with the response I've had so far

Don't get too excited, the usual suspects will be along shortly to slate your efforts.

coulddobetter

Interesting survey . Would be interested in your hypotheses as someone who did geography and environmental science in uni . In the good old days when I had to find a friendly typist to write mine up.and questionnaires involved doorstopping.

cooldad

I did it because you have more than one post, but I had a lot of issues.
Wet/dry; and the seasons. They're all bloody wet except for a couple of days in summer.

I like woods but don't really think about what sort of trees, except to try and avoid riding into them.

Likewise development stages? Pre canopy closure? Er ok.


As for conflict, I am a happy hippy type, and conflict is not in my vocabulary, as is well known here. I hate everyone equally.

nicklouse

As above. Trees are trees. So gave up as there was not a don't care option and was not going to make choice where it does not matter.

More concerned about drainage. Or if there is an uplift. trees? They jump out infront of you.

BigAl

Done

Similar issues as above.

You need some "couldn't care less / wouldn't notice / don't know the difference" options

nicklouse

haydendmorrison wrote:

The season was more to see if anyone prefers BL leaves in the summer and needles in the winter. You might say different to the development stages if you rode places like Penmachno in poor weather, big areas of young/recently felled stuff makes it foul in bad weather!

But you will not get that. If it is a coniferous forest you won't find leaves in the summer. Just Needles all year round.

cooldad

Thing is I doubt anyone makes a decision on that basis, or even thinks about it. Sure we might avoid something horribly muddy, but not in terms of the leaves the trees trees shed, or the soil they like to grow in.

ilovedirt

nicklouse wrote:

haydendmorrison wrote:

The season was more to see if anyone prefers BL leaves in the summer and needles in the winter. You might say different to the development stages if you rode places like Penmachno in poor weather, big areas of young/recently felled stuff makes it foul in bad weather!

But you will not get that. If it is a coniferous forest you won't find leaves in the summer. Just Needles all year round.

That's exactly his point...

ilovedirt

cooldad wrote:

Thing is I doubt anyone makes a decision on that basis, or even thinks about it. Sure we might avoid something horribly muddy, but not in terms of the leaves the trees trees shed, or the soil they like to grow in.

I do - deciduous forest means lots of leaves, greasy trails, more mud etc. I prefer riding coniferous and try to avoid trails in deciduous woods if I can. The 2nd part of the last descent of the marin trail turns horribly muddy, greasy and difficult to follow in the winter because it goes through some deciduous woodlands.

Chunkers1980

But coniferous means no direct sun ever to dry out the trails.

It's swings and roundabouts. Coniferous forest are often the managed ones who do the bike trails for extra income, so you find that the trails are actually made and rocks and hard-core put in places where mud would be. Where there are deciduous woods they tend to be more natural trails (like the Marin) where this can happen, a bit of generalisation there.

ilovedirt

The marin is by no means natural, it's FC managed and all hardpack.

Chunkers1980

ilovedirt wrote:

The marin is by no means natural, it's FC managed and all hardpack.

Ok sorry, must be confused.

ilovedirt

You might be thinking of penmachno, it's a bit more natural, but still all man-made.

poah

BigAl wrote:

Done

Similar issues as above.

You need some "couldn't care less / wouldn't notice / don't know the difference" options

this - the trail is the important part not what's around it - your locality will be a major influence for the type of trail you ride. I don't ride in any marsh land and most trail centres in Scotland are pines etc which is different to down south

bennett_346

Aren't all trails man made? I don't think any marked path type thing is a natural occurence lol

ilovedirt

POAH wrote:

BigAl wrote:

Done

Similar issues as above.

You need some "couldn't care less / wouldn't notice / don't know the difference" options

this - the trail is the important part not what's around it - your locality will be a major influence for the type of trail you ride. I don't ride in any marsh land and most trail centres in Scotland are pines etc which is different to down south

Did you not stop to consider the fact that the surroundings affect the trails?

richywales97

You can't measure importance of the steepness of slope and severity of terrain on a scale from 1(gentle slope) to 5(very steep)

I ignored your scale and used 1(not important) to 5(very important) if this is what you meant

stubs

Done it. Well done there was no bad spelling, atrocious grammar, no repetive questioning and no obvious "I couldnt give a toss I just want someone to do my research for me". Still not perfect though as already pointed out.

paul.skibum

ilovedirt wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Thing is I doubt anyone makes a decision on that basis, or even thinks about it. Sure we might avoid something horribly muddy, but not in terms of the leaves the trees trees shed, or the soil they like to grow in.

I do - deciduous forest means lots of leaves, greasy trails, more mud etc. I prefer riding coniferous and try to avoid trails in deciduous woods if I can. The 2nd part of the last descent of the marin trail turns horribly muddy, greasy and difficult to follow in the winter because it goes through some deciduous woodlands.

Oh I rather like deciduous - the light is nicer, canopy better, fallen leaves in autumn give the trail colour and can make regular trails different. Coniferous woodland are fine but I like deciduous too.

poah

ilovedirt wrote:

Did you not stop to consider the fact that the surroundings affect the trails?

nope couldn't care less what is around the trail.

poah

haydendmorrison wrote:

It's been covered. Identical tracks in either woodland would be different whether you care to notice it or not. If you don't care then don't answer the survey, simple

Also, he asked have you thought that it has an impact on the trail, not whether you care or not.

nope - I'm looking at the track not what is around. wither its a scots pine or a silver burch has no effect how I enjoy the ride. if I was into walking then the surroundings would have a bigger impact but I hate walking

FYI I did answer the survey the best I could

bartimaeus

I like variety... trees, open spaces, good views, atmosphere. Hard to capture in a survey - but DONE anyway.

supersonic

Most the coniferous woods I ride through are already managed. IE Greno woods were Steve Peat holds the Sheffield mini downhill. All the trees are in a grid fashion. But there are also broad leafed trees outside these zones. The ground doesn't really change, except the leave type on the floor. Well except tor the slope, that makes the biggest difference.

Clank

paul.skibum wrote:

ilovedirt wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Thing is I doubt anyone makes a decision on that basis, or even thinks about it. Sure we might avoid something horribly muddy, but not in terms of the leaves the trees trees shed, or the soil they like to grow in.

I do - deciduous forest means lots of leaves, greasy trails, more mud etc. I prefer riding coniferous and try to avoid trails in deciduous woods if I can. The 2nd part of the last descent of the marin trail turns horribly muddy, greasy and difficult to follow in the winter because it goes through some deciduous woodlands.

Oh I rather like deciduous - the light is nicer, canopy better, fallen leaves in autumn give the trail colour and can make regular trails different. Coniferous woodland are fine but I like deciduous too.

Deciduous for me too, but for all the reasons ilovedirt says - there's seasonal variation to the trail and it isn't as prescriptive. It makes it feel more 'natural' (which I know is impossible in this country, but it's the emotion it projects). May be 'real' is a better word?

Okay, I like a good trail centre as much as the next rider (Mach Forest is bit of favourite), but I found some of the questions hard to answer - I prefer deciduous to coniferous or moorland, 'tis true, but I'd rather be on more natural feeling trails (with line choice), in the open - I like scenery. Mountain biking above the tree-line is brilliant and soul-lifting. I like heath land, too. I couldn't give two-hoots about fast, manufactured descents - give me long, rocky byways and I'm happiest. But give me line choice (which should be part of the experience of mountain biking).