We have this ride, all very gentle stuff. The singletrack leads you down to the river where it dips slightly and there is a big root, standing a few inches clear of the trail, that runs diagonally across the track. Clearing it is simply a case of rolling over but it is right by a drop into the river and in my mind it is an almost insurmountable problem. I always clean it, it is never any trouble but in my head it is a massive issue.... but only if I ride it on the outward leg. If we ride it coming home, so to speak, I don't even see it.
Am I the only person on the planet to have a 'problem section' like this?
Needless to say, my mates always seem to head out that way when I'm riding, just to see me suffer! (That's what mates are for though....isn't it?) 🙂
Many! Some of which I ride, some I don't.
ScienceOfficer is standing in the stream bed as a stall and fall is quite likely and would hurt a lot.
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To the left of the image is a 6' deep pit that I have fallen in more than once!
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Every single jump pretty much feels like that to me, until I follow someone else who is hitting the jump, I don't seem to think about it then. Once it's been done once, it's no problem after that!
The log drop on Chute in Guisbrough woods*, I even watched a friend land it clean as a whistle in the dark, on my singlespeed thats several sizes too big for him while I rode arround the chicken run on the Pitch 🙁
*its only about 3ft, but the entry is off camber, the exits off camber, the lip isn't straight, etc etc etc etc
drop off the fire road on Cwmcarn dh, which is a POP but still gives me the heeby jeebies 😕
There's a pleasant slightly downhill traverse around the bottom of a well known Dartmoor Tor.. it's a lovely ribbon of smooth flowing singletrack wending it's way through the bracken with a couple of interesting rock gardens and three small drops.. each about 12-18"..
the third drop is on an almost imperceptable curve in the trail but that slight curve to the landing forces me to yank on the anchors and roll the drop every time.. it doesn't really make sense
I tend to treat any fear that I might fall off as entirely rational, given my overall crapness at riding a bike off road.
I do single out off-camber wet roots for special attention though - this tends to take the form of lockign all my joints rigid in preparation for what turns out to be an inevitable crash as the bike rattles off said roots at a wierd angle and I hit the deck.
I know photos make things look easier than they are but LOL @ the top pic 🙂
The last 2 drops at fort william are pretty similiar... First is ever so slightly higher but has a nicer transition, second is lower but to flat. Neither should really be a big deal but the first one spazzes me out completely, I always feel like I'm going to **** it up and die.
Probably the audience doesn't help 
I thought is was only me :wink:!!
I have a completely irrational mental block about the drop near the top of Barry Knows Best on Holmbury Hill. When I first started "proper" mtb earlier this summer, this was one of the first trails I found and I wimped on the obvious drop near the top. It was the roots that caught my eye and made me lose all technique completely. Since then, I have ridden much harder stuff but apart from once, I continue to struggle with this. All technique goes out of the window - body position, bike speed, visual focus beyond the drop etc - and I become fixated on the drop and the little root instead. Bang, on come the brakes. Its really pathetic!!
I need to go up there and just ride it over and over, as there really is nothing to it - just a nice flowing drop.
There's a small drop above a steep 50 yards of singletrack and it gets me every time. That the bit we rode Yunki?
yeah.. the last descent of the day before the short roadclimb back to the carpark Sam..
I know photos make things look easier than they are but LOL @ the top pic
Yeah I know. It's on the CLIC24 route, and most riders dismount because it's so awkward. It was on the last Mendip STW ride I organised, and only two locals managed it.
It's ~160 degree switchback that you descend, turn and then climb out. The apex is a jumble of rounded limestone and then the exit is muddy ramp.
You have to lean your bike to make the corner, but it's difficult to carry any speed through the apex so you tend to slip and stall on the rock. If you make it past, then you have to punch up the muddy ramp to get out. If you stall and put your inside foot down, you fall a few feet into the rocky stream bed. I've suffered two nasty bruisings trying it. High speed entry is the answer but it's committing.
It's good that it's there though - something to learn still 🙂
The corner in the lower picture is only difficult when wet and muddy and if you try to carry speed through it, as the combination of roots, holes and camber tend to throw you out left down into the pit 😆 Done at walking pace and using half-pedals to avoid catching the roots, it's easy.
Every single jump pretty much feels like that to me, until I follow someone else who is hitting the jump, I don't seem to think about it then. Once it's been done once, it's no problem after that!
I have this too sometimes. Once I've hit something, even if I crash on it the first time, I'm fine with it after that. But if I haven't hit something before, even if it's ridiculously similar to something else, or easier, I just get a little psyched out. It's really annoying. Fear of the unknown and all that.
I think i know the bit you mean, but i rolled all of them so cant differentiate between them all.
There's a pleasant slightly downhill traverse around the bottom of a well known Dartmoor Tor.. it's a lovely ribbon of smooth flowing singletrack
this one ?
[url= http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6018/5970241625_6f2a5ba21e.jp g" target="_blank">
[img] [/img]WTF kind of mate stands in a river to catch you rather than on the bank to laugh?
There's a short 'bridge' made up of ~18" wide very heavy timber, crossing over a few feet of ditch in the woods down the road. No transitions to get on or off it, just a gentle turn to start and a straight ride out. It couldn't be any easier - it's just a wide plank ... but I've never been able to ride it.
As I get towards it all I can see is the ditch ... the ditch ... the ditch, and that dark, abysmal troll-filled void under the bridge sucks all the life out of me.
I'm annoyed more each time that it happens, but I [i]know[/i] if I try to ride over it I'll fall in and that'll be that. 😕
that's exackery the one TM.. 🙂 (although possibly not that step... [i]hopefully[/i] 😳 )
Anything that involves narrow gaps between trees, like the werewolf "drop" at cannock. I've done stuff that's way bigger, I just hate the run in and out to that one.
The woodwork on Blue Velvet @ Whistler. Not sure why as it's fairly wide, I just get really shakey and nervous on it. And I don't dare go fast round the big wooden berm, just feel like I'm gonna lose grip.
The top of the staircase on Homebaked in Gisburn Forest always has me tensing up irrationally. Only fallen off there once and that was with black ice. Still have to will myself over it every time. Embarrasingly I was the one who built the step at the top which freaks everyone out 😳 . Also haven't read the slab at Gisburn despite riding steeper stuff at Lee Quarry.
I don't get why people are scared by the werewolf 'drop', it's absolutely nothing especially when they're running skinny bars. Wide bars make it a bit dodgier but it's still nothing.
I know it's nothing and have done way bigger/harder stuff, just a weird phobia of the narrow trees in the run up.
the werewolf drop is not nice with 750mm bars.
The drop-in to Picnic bench in Leigh Woods, Bristol. I've done it loads of times & never come off, but saw a mate go OTB down it a while back and get the fear every time I've tried it since.
And I came very close to coming off into the stream bed Buzz has posted (rear wheel span on the rock & almost had a SPD moment). The picture doesn't do it justice; it's quite a drop down.
Top of the top pitched section of Jacobs ladder dropping into the Edale side.
Stainburns Warren Boulder Trail!
@teamhurtmore I've ridden it dozens of times, I never had a problem with it, but on the approach ... I always know it's there.
Heaps of logs/log rolls. Can get over the feeling I'm going to stall on top/wheels will slide out if wet.
Top of Jacob's Ladder? Not sure if that qualifies as irrational heeby-jeebys, it's 'orrible 🙂
For me, it's the last decent into Darley Bridge on the White Peak mountain guide book's "5 Dales Circuit". If I just manned up and rode it normally it'd be nothing at all, but because I always sh!t myself and tense up, the big ruts really screw me up
+1 for that that bit of BKB. I've only ridden the trail a handful of times but it freaks me out, despite having done worse stuff with a less squishy landing. I know its fine, but if I'm in the woods alone (which seems to be the case recently-where is everyone?!) I just don't want wreck myself on it, or mutilate my lady-undercarriage when I brake hard at the last minute!
mrbelowski - I presume you mean Clough Wood? The goddam ruts did this to me (or my inability to ride did)
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Can't see the problem with the top of Jacobs, or the drops at Fort Bill though...
Mattjg and tyredbiker (nice name BTW!) - that's why its so irrational - crazy isn't it!! Its not a difficult piece of trail, just a nice quick dip with a straightforward exit. The roots are actually irrelevant as well. I'm sure that I would have no probs if it hadn't have been my first ever route up there and I was a novice at the time. But still it plays on my mind whenever I am cycling on Surrey Hills. I often force myself up from Pitch just to go and prove that I can do it. Nice and confident at the start. through the mini bomb hole, over the track, build up speed, round the corners, stay focused, over the two little drops, get ready, feel great then.......BRAKE!!!!!!! And here's me commenting on the new Flytipper thread!!!
Rock garden on the Gethin DH track, it needs to be ploughed through at speed for success but one time I hooked up and went OTB and smashed my face in on the rocks leading to a concussion and big grazes across face despite full facer and goggles.
Second time I hooked up on entry, went OTB from the entry rock-drop, landed on my knees and broke my Tibial plateau leading to all sorts of metal plate nonsense.
Not been back there since but its fair to say I have a mental issue with that section.
There's a set of badly eroded dirt steps that freak me out locally.
They are between metal posts/railings about 150cm apart, steep, covered loose stones and you have to make a 90 degree turn immediately at the bottom of them or you hit a barbed wire fence or metal post.
If they were on an open trail you'd fly down them. The proximity of the metal railings and the fact you'll get properly beaten up if you mess up has given me a total mental block.
There's a descent in the Dales over the river from Low Row that has also beaten me. It's a proper rock garden with lots of loose babies head boulders mixed with bigger rocks that can suck your front wheel in.
the werewolf drop is not nice with 750mm bars.
Try it with 785s... I actually got stuck at the top and had to kinda wiggle free!
Ah, the bit in my local woods where I fell in the river.
Now I have to walk it every bloody time.
Roots and a dip, followed by a fallen tree make it a precarious proposition, but I have ridden it once or twice.
To be fair, my dog also fell in the river at the same point, but she doesn't mind getting wet as much as I do.
To be fair, my dog also fell in the river at the same point, but she doesn't mind getting wet as much as I do.
What was she riding?
I feel in the river at Cwmcarn in the middle of winter, not paying attention and faffing with camelback just over first bridge on the climb, fully submerged 😳 😆
[i]What was she riding?[/i]
🙂 She was avoiding me, walking my bike across the same bit!
the werewolf drop is not nice with 750mm bars
Maybe your bars are too wide?
There's a nearby chute used to do a couple of times a week on a quick training loop. It isn't exactly hard, but the run in is blind, you can't see it til it's too late to back out.
One day I couldn't do it. No reason, never fallen off on it.
Last time I was there I walked it, and was passed by two blokes on loaded tourers (it's on the Camino de santiago) who did it no problem, although I guess they hadn't expected it. Still can't do it. Grrr....
Entry chute to Silly Arete near Verbier. Can't get my head around it. And a couple of corners on Jackass in the resort. Truly amazing trails though.
Anything that involves narrow gaps between trees, like the werewolf "drop" at cannock. I've done stuff that's way bigger, I just hate the run in and out to that one
Oh yeah.
There's two that always do for me. One is the short, steep and rocky chute through some closely-related trees at Gisburn on the Red, the other is the left/right steep turn on the North Red at Whinlatter*.
Don't know why, but the idea of either catching my bars or flipping and hitting the trees just gets to me.
*The one at Whinlatter had been smoothed out the last time i was there, but i'd already psyched myself out by the time i arrived at the feature. Could have kicked myself when i realised 🙁
Top of the top pitched section of Jacobs ladder dropping into the Edale side
Me too. One day... 😳
+ another 1 for the drop in at the top of Barry Knows Best at Holmbury Hill. I always bottle it at the top despite doing more hairy stuff elsewhere. There are now 2 lines and I ride the right side which is easier but I still have to stop before I do it. It's mental in every way.
Ha, there are loads...
The chalky S-bend descent on the xc course at Aston Hill is something I just cannot do. I just can't trust my front wheel not to wash out. Likewise, the subsequent off-camber chalky section is something I've never ridden in the wet.
Then there's the dropoff at Chalkney Woods that my so called "mate" spends hours at a time sessioning to the exclusion of miles of singletrack all around. I had a nasty off there in 2004 and have never gotten my head around it.
+1 for the rocky chute at Gisburn too.
Hovis Corner on Stainburn's Warren Boulder Trail
Crazy isn't it?
When (as i do most of the time) i ride BW/natural trails i'll get to a feature i know i can't ride and get off. When i get to a point on a purpose built trail that is DESIGNED TO BE RIDDEN i get freaked out and then angry with myself!
The log ride at Gisburn - 3 goes/3 painful fails. I give up, it has won..
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Not really irrational but there is a section on a local fast 25k loop I do for killing myself on.
It's quite simple singletrack through woods near a steep dropoff into the River (about 12ft) It's all tree lined and rooted, scooting along there at speed, twisty, windy, all out then theres a very sharp right turn up some exposed roots where I always get my gearing/stroke wrong, then topple into a tree. I always do the same thing, every bloomin time I ride it and I do this curcuit at least twice a week.
I must have some sort of mental block on that section.
i genuinely do not get the fear of the weirwolf drop, even with my 710mm bars....
its a roll in, always has been from day one...yes its a bit more tame now but its not even that technical really, its just a smoothish roll in, the only thing makes it slightly harder is the angle its at....
i tell you what doesnt help though alot of you is the morons stood at the bottom waiting for people or waiting to watch people fall, i think thats really bad for concentration on any section!
ps ive never fallen off, i find it rather ridiculously easy and cant see the fuss, but i can see if there is a crowd why it may distract you!
FWIW the earlier bits at cannock, those rocky little chute challenges are much harder!
and anything with those stupid woooden lethal berms, or logs! i dont get them at all.....its all about balance, and to me i never ever use it on natural every day riding, yet at trail centres they are all the rage, i avoid them as i see them totally pointless!
The chalky S-bend descent on the xc course at Aston Hill is something I just cannot do. I just can't trust my front wheel not to wash out. Likewise, the subsequent off-camber chalky section is something I've never ridden in the wet
Do people ride Aston Hill in the wet? Between the chalk and clay it's a touch on the slippery side. The roots are manageable, the claggy mud and slippery white stuff not so much.
There's one trail on redlands I crash on every single time I ride it. I gave it a gap of a year, rode it, crashed. So I'm done with it now.
Re BKB (we call it Golden Birdies), there's a general consensus amongst us its had it's day anyway, go look the other side of the fire trail, there's plenty of fast feisty ST.
I think the fear is because we all came across that drop as beginners, intimidated but had to do it to ride the rest. It stuck.
[s]feisty[/s] = twisty
Spot on mattjg!!
Where abouts is the other stuff. On the same side? Is the fire road the one you cross about 200m into Golden Birdies. Do these other trails all go down to the road?
@ ir_bandito
my bars are perfect width for my riding. the werewolf drop is the only obstacle where they have been a problem and i ride lots of different places.
maybe you should start a thread on optimum bar width because that probably has'nt been covered on this forum before 🙄
When i get to a point on a purpose built trail that is DESIGNED TO BE RIDDEN i get freaked out and then angry with myself!
Don't, you're making a massive assumption that the trail builder knows what they're doing, hence the comment I made about the rocky chute Gisburn 😳 , also notice above at least two members of SingletrAction have a problem riding the trail at Stainburn 😆
Soz no I mean back across the tarmac road, then to the left of the fire road that traverses to the car park.
We should all meet up at the drop, have a little party and ride the ****er to death.
Soz no I mean back across the tarmac road, then to the left of the fire road that traverses to the car par
I know this is a public forum and all that but can you clarify. Do you mean the where the fire road comes out near the top (hill) car park? I have never ridden down that bit.
We should all meet up at the drop, have a little party and ride the ****er to death.
That's a very good idea - lots of peer pressure!! Thats all you need because there really shouldn't be anything to it. But the second little set of roots just comes up and grabs my attention every time.
I still like GB/BKB although prefer to spend time on Pitch/Winterfold personally. I have yet to make it to Leith.
Take a look on the northern (London) side of the fire road that runs from the reservoir to the 'top' car park, lots of tracks in there, not as steep as BKB, faster. Got it?
Lots of fun to be had on Leith too, and tea and cake at the tower.
I get very nervous if there's a steep drop to the [b]left[/b] of me, whereas it's not a problem on the [b]right[/b] 😕
Life would be rather dull if you never felt the fear 🙂
As for Kayaks comments about the Gethin DH, that's why I'll never dare ride DH..
Is it time to have a quick crack at BKB or the other stuff that mattjg mentions - good to beat the bad weather coming in? Anyone know what trail conditions are like at the mo?
Uneven steps. Also timber steps that look damp!
Shudders.
Bridges over wee burns and streams. Even though they're often wider and more even and stable than the bits of trail that lead up to them, I invariably end up getting psyched out by them and walking across. 😳
Not a fan of anything that involves tippy-toeing over rocks/roots/logs etc where the consequences of binning it outweigh the satisfaction of cleaning it. If I wanted to ride trials I would've bought a trials bike.
Much prefer faster, open flowy stuff.
Uphill steps such as Evil Root Number One and Evil Slab (neé Evil Root Number Two) at Cannock Chase. Given that I'm lacking certain ligaments in my knees, I find mashing up climbs impossible, and I also struggle to unweight/lift the front wheel. I have managed to clear both just by ploughing into them at speed, but I've also managed to roll down the hill backwards entangled in my bike. 🙁 So I just walk them.
And also, Werewolf Drop. Tackled worse up in Scotland (and even on the Monkey), but it's just the combination of tight turning into and out of it, between narrow trees (normally with an audience) that I have trouble with. I've never even attempted it. :s
teamhurtmore - Member
Is it time to have a quick crack at BKB or the other stuff that mattjg mentions - good to beat the bad weather coming in? Anyone know what trail conditions are like at the mo?
Recent rain has washed alot of the sand out of steep sections of the Surrey hills so a few more exposed roots and stones than were there at the start of this summer
Another shaky gisburn fail pic
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Complete none event, bit of mud started to slide, had a bit of a tank slapper moment an elegant(ish) dismount the bike ended up perfectly balanced.
Got a few bits of trail that give me the fear but most of them are perfectly rational, do tend to get a huge mince-on on tame stuff in the wet tho.
At the bottom of the picnic bench in Leigh Woods Bristol, last corner, there is a TINY rock, about the size of a fag packet, yet in my mind it is the size of a hippo and will cause cetain death. It takes me a real force of will to just ignore it.
Similarly at the bottom of the knicker trail, there is a small drop/turn 90 degrees/squeeze bars through trees right at the bottom that I have never managed.