[Closed] Medusa's Drop Dalby Forest

Not very. You'll be fine. Seems sunny out, enjoy.

easy peasy lemon squezy!!

Depends how good you are. I hit it wrong and ended up in A and E with a grade 4 dislocated shoulder!

i consider myself very poor at riding.
i am trying my best to get better and love riding trail centre's.

sorry to hear of your shoulder misfortune from it 😯

Piece of cake, just roll it.

I'm usually confident at doing stuff thats more difficult than your average black graded stuff (Stainburn etc, no problem) but Medusas Drop has evaded me so far. Only looked at it once whilst we were pushed for time and its mega, mega steep.

Next time I do Dalby I'll have another look. Huge respect to the XC racers who do it with their seats up their asses.

Medusa's Drop is described on the BC website as; a precipitous zig-zag track that hangs off the hillside that leads to Scout Field, berms on the higher corners of the descent but it's the bottom of the course that provides the big dilemma as there is a choice of;

a. the direct route to the bottom. [i](there is tight entry near the top and as long as you keep your wits about you it is doable)[/i].

or

b. a more flowing but longer way down. [i](which is a normal trail centre decent, wide, smooth with no real surprises).[/i]

If you fancy the direct route my advice is to recce it on foot first, but if not there is a big field for the helicopter to land 😯

U-tube has some video footage that may be worth checking out

Where is this at Dalby? I don't remember it when I went last month.

Two things;

(a) it was very dicey this morning at 9am

(b) having just got back I can confirm that three hours ago Dalby was the wettest place on Earth

I shall walk the full track first and foremost to see what it is like then.

If i think it's feasible i will pluck up the courage to have a go.

i have no doubt it is extremely hard!

The 'a-line' is rooty and steep, but not absolutely horrendous, the 'b-line' is nothing to worry about.

Only ridden it on an XC race bike, but I'd certainly not say the main line is 'easy'. YMMV.

It's a lot easier to do on a nomad.

lol

Ahh
I was on an XC bike and at one of the national races. It was the a route I came off on. Think they had the b route as the chicken run which was very easy. You need to get over to the right before the 2nd drop to avoid some big roots- I didn't 😳

ahh the Nomad yes perfect bike for it.

bet it'll be shit on a mojo

what do you mean by that Cruz?
i think the Mojo should be super on it.

fairhurst = troll

❓

I once did it on Maxxis 2.1 Medusas. You'd think they were ideal for the job but they were actually sucked clean off the rims and into a paradoxical black hole. I had to complete the rest of the ride on the rims.

My 2.4 Advantages didn't have the same issue, and provided the added benefit of being better at bunny-hopping the many Louis Therouxs I'm forever having to avoid.

The hardest bit is turning the tight corner into it... the red line is probably faster / more fun.

Worry Gil which is also a piece of piss looks much more intimidating when stood at the top even though you can just roll it.

[img] [/img]

Kona TC, that sounds like the bit two sections after the really steep rock wall

I dont know the names, so pics to come:
Which of these is medusas drop officially?
Which of these is the OP asking about?
[img] [/img]
[img] [/img]
the 2nd pic is a black option near the bottom of a zigzag red descent?

First one, Ive done a few times but with the saddle dropped ~3" (the limit on my last FS frame) I was still tapping my chest on the saddle as I went over the top
Not quite sure how OTB it feels with a saddle fully up and low narrow bars a long TT away from you

am i correct in thinking james that the top picture is medusa's drop?

Top picture is Worry Gill

Ah, think I've got it wrong too then. If Worry Gill is the dead steep one with the 90 degree left hander into it, its that which I've looked at once and didn't do. Its steep. Very steep!

If Medusas Drop is the rooty pic above... bring it on. Could launch myself down that bad boy all day! Its awesome!

Not quite sure how OTB it feels with a saddle fully up and low narrow bars a long TT away from you

Not too bad! Here's my efforts on Worry Gill, looks really flat from there!

[img] [/img]

IMO Medusa's is significantly tougher, Worry Gill is just about commitment, it's pretty hard to get it wrong! But yes, the second photo is Medusa's.

worry gill is steep but there is little chance of getting it wrong, its has a very smooth straight run off it. medusa's drop however has loads of roots that could easily have you off the bike.

worry gill is steep but there is little chance of getting it wrong, its has a very smooth straight run off it.

Except for the 90 degree right into the rocky river bed at the bottom 😕

It's the turn into Medusas that makes me clench every lap round there - the actual descent is ok as long as you moderate your speed and lay off the front brake on the roots. It's funny - I have a mental thing about turning right into drops, despite forcing myself to practice lots... Turning left is ok. There is also a faster line over the edge of the runout at the bottom, but they usually tape that off in the races.

i find that right turn is easy to get round, unless there is someone who has taken the b line, coming in from the left;-)

The turn [i]in[/i]? Surely folk entering from the B-line doesn't become an issue until the bottom, and even then they're filtering in.

"90 degree right"......that read like you meant the bottom of the steep drop to me. oh yes, and i thought i was going to hit one of them (b line riders) once.
by the way, i'm not having a whinge at anyone, i've used the b line before. next time i rode there i just decided i was going to ride the drop and did. i have since been back in a non race context and rode it a few times. its just a case of having the bottle to drop over the edge.

I think you might be a little confused... Worry Gill is a big drop, that's easy. Medusas drop is a series of little drops and roots further on in the lap. It's the turn into Medusa's which gets me.

GB

Medusa looks like part of the old black route which zigg zagged down a steep section and was rooty all the way down. haven't been for years, but going tomorrow for the dig day and a ride, so will look out for it.

both of these features were OK on a bike with 160mm at both ends and the seat down. anyone who does it at race pace on an xc bike with the seat up gets massive respect from me, I couldn't do it.

BA - think the bottom bit is part of the old black descent. Remember when there was a gap jump at the bottom over the path and landing on the downslope into the field. Saw someone rip the rear end off a Super8 on that!

Having rode the Black once and watched 2 people fall on Medusa, I gave it a go on my Remedy.

I would have to say after the turn in you have to let it run and line choice is important, roots are your friends at speed!

This was at the end of last summer and in the wet it would be a different animal.

Not to put you off but we played there for about 30 mins and no one elsed cleared it while we was there, and the switchbacks that it cuts the last couple out, are the best bit anyway, so just ride and enjoy.

Sorry where was the 'drop'?

I marshalled at Medusa's drop for the BMBS race that was the test event before the world cups.... it was carnage 😉

Most of that was due to "racing" and committing to a line choice in order to pass someone, without realising the disastrous end point of said line choice. Add to that the pride of most riders in trying to ride out what they'd committed to and the result was some spectacular "dismounts"!

But racing and riding are very different things, and it's been tweaked/"improved" since then. It's nicely rideable as long as you just keep everything rolling. My biggest problem is that I usually end up belting along and completely miss the right turn to the drop and only realise I've missed it when I hit the berm at the end 🙂