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I rode John the Baptist in the Surrey Hills the other day. Since the last time I rode it, someone added a few jumps on the main part of the trail, and I almost came a cropper because I wasn't expecting them there.
Someone else I chatted to said he'd almost crashed there too for the same reason. There is a separate line without jumps that goes off to the side.
What's the etiquette around new trail additions? Is that likely to have been added by random riders and not approved by the hurtwood team that maintain the trail? Should we all be doing a trial run before hitting any trail at full speed in case someone has made a change like that?
Are they official trails? If so, has the landowner or local trailbuilding group got a contact you can ask?
If unofficial then someone has decided to 'improve' them probably without permission (which if unofficial isn't likely to be caught anyway.
You could follow @hurtwood_trails
INSTAGRAM.COM to maybe get a heads up on official work but I always allow for unexpected changes, random people, etc on trails in the Surrey Hills or anywhere else that isn't dedicated bike park
How long since you last rode the trail? If it was a long time ago, it might have been signposted and signs disappeared overtime. But otherwise, poor form by the builder...
By convention, "easier" trails should have more difficult features off the main line and be obviously optional, whereas "harder" trails have the technical features as the main line with ride-arounds off line.
(This assumes the builders know these conventions and that the trail is "graded")
I'm not sure exactly on the status of Surrey Hills trails, they're not official but are incredibly well maintained. And all the main trails don't have surprises like this in my experience.
I last rode John the Baptist a while back, probably 4-5 months ago.
None are strictly official but a number are tolerated and the volunteer trail team have the ranger’s permission to maintain them. That does mean that features get added at the whim of the builders who will sometimes build what they want to ride rather than all abilities though Stuff does get altered in response to feedback and there should be a reasonable b line (we try).
The new jump line down on the trail down to walking bottom (rollercoaster. JtB is the top section) was, I think, built as a new alternative line with the original line turning slightly up the hill before the jumps. The issue is probably that the old line hasn’t had any love for a while and a lot of traffic is going down the new line so it’s not obvious.
I last rode John the Baptist a while back, probably 4-5 months ago.
Did you go down Supernova? That recently had me wondering where I was even supposed to be going it's got so much going on in places 😀
I ride here pretty regularly, and got surprised by these new gaps a few weeks ago. If you're going at "trail speed" the chicken line (which is slightly uphill) it's not that obvious... I cleared one by accident on my first sight of them.
The last time I rode this line, I stopped to fix a chain issue and some walkers went past us up the trail. I told them to watch out for bikes coming down at speed. The woman said "don't worry, we'll jump gazelle -like, out of the way" hubbie said "or maybe we won't"
Recently, I've been more likely to come a cropper in a crowd of belligerent walkers than a feature. Hard to ride at "trail speed"
I’ve only been there once and I think it was supernova where in nearly ran into a young couple with a baby walking up the track. Some discreet signage would be useful.
I'm not sure signage would help. I started down summer lightening recently, one of the only trails with a sign, even a picture of a bike.
A very angry 60yr old walker told me he'd walk wherever the f he wanted, and he didn't care if it was a bike trail.