+ 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 š
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 š³ , also notice above at least two members of SingletrAction have a problem riding the trail at Stainburn š
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] š
Life would be rather dull if you never felt the fear š
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. š³
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 (neĆ© 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. š 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.
