[Closed] QECP - scottfitz

Cheers smiff, there are lots of people that do more than just dig. we are a collective after all 🙂

[i]tyre choice is really crucial in QE[/i]

Nah.. been going there for nigh on 20 years, can't say I've ever cared what tyre I've used!
I do remember in about 2000 doing 6 laps on my RM Instinct with Michelin Jet tyres - like an early semi-slick. That was dry!
2 laps is a struggle these days 🙁

well the laps are a bit harder now right 😉

in the dry you can ride anything with enough volume no problem. in the wet nothing grips well, but some are def. more lethal than others! small treads clog with clay, but too big tread can be dodgy on hard wet chalk. this is why i go in with super soft single ply DH tyres in winter. i started riding there in the late 90s and it's hard to compare since everything was different then, trail, bikes, tyres, riding skills.. amount of lycra 😯 , etc.

surprised to hear cafe complaints, the few times i've eaten there (baked potato and chilli, bacon sandwich) it's been excellent. i miss the outside tap a bit..

The tap is still there - just well hidden round the back of the kitchen / by the park office

Group ride up there (and around) would be fun...

Cafe has changed hands its not as good as it was!

Get up there while it's still dry. Its fantastic at the moment!

Although the signage on one of the new sections (just after the jumpy-pumpy bit crosses the fire road) could be improved - lots of new lines have appeared and I had no idea which one to take!

Although the signage on one of the new sections (just after the jumpy-pumpy bit crosses the fire road) could be inproved - lots of new lines have appeared and I had no idea which one to take!

Sorry not sure where you mean (The last up hill rooty bit?), more info please and i will get on to the park for signage or see what i can do.

And yes its running sweet at the mo 😀
I want to go there for a ride Wednesday Evening but i should got to Rogate to practice for the race on sunday.
Maybe i will do both rogate in the light and QE when it gets dark 😯

Think he means the climb after the Velocity switchbacks/Snakebite, just before the bombholes. TBH, I usually cheat there and go left up the forestry road then right at the next junction. Longer but not as steep!

Will find it on the map, bear with 🙂

fwiw- i think the red is great. Roots, the rock steps - all fine with me and definitely preferable to something which rolled smoothly all the way round. It means each section has its own challenge, how smooth you are on roots, berms, the variable grip in different weather. Its all good.

Good work Scott and everyone!

Tyres - yeah- anything fast rolling now (bone dry) and in the wet- I go for something with an open blocky tread on the front and anything fastish on the rear.

No definitely not where mattbee says! Cheat?! No way!

Can't find a suitable map, so will try to describe.
It's on some of the very newest trails - after the very rooty climb that is close to the A3, you go right, up the old bash track, then drop to the right into the new bermy section, with the jumps. That weaves its way back up to the bash track/path, crosses the path then goes to the left I think. Well its there. There's a couple of routes after the path - one across the grass, one more to the left. Pretty confusing around there.

DezB - its got to be left as the grass shortcut will miss a section?

It's on some of the very newest trails - after the very rooty climb that is close to the A3, you go right, up the old bash track, then drop to the right into the new bermy section, with the jumps [b](Snakes & ladders)[/b]. That weaves its way back up to the bash track/path, crosses the path then goes to the left I think. Well its there. There's a couple of routes after the path - one across the grass, one more to the left. Pretty confusing around there.

yep not across the grass, back down the bash track till just before it crosses a horse trail, there is a red sign pointing you in to the woods and that trail is called "never seen it"

Maps on page 3= http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=20007&t=12839263&start=40

Yeah, worked out that bit - the actual trail goes up a short steep step thing? Just that there are multiple lines around there from people cutting/getting it wrong, it's a bit confusing. Needs a few more sign posts to clear it up, I think.

Need to plant some stinger stop people taking short cuts 😈

Good plan 🙂

I had my first ride up there in a few good months and i like the extra distance thats been added and you can even run it with both your forks and rear shock locked out. It is more fun if you do turn the lock out off mind. Good work by all i just wih i had the free time to come and help but even getting a ride in is a bit hit and miss. For whats its worth i run sepc 'the captian' tyres all year round and find they perform well iin most situations even QE park in the wet.

yeah the trail is riding amaaazingly atm, i was in there yesterday and it was weirdly quiet :/ almost too dusty i said to my mate hehe. he said it's bedded in really well. big grins all round.

there's a funny little shortcut on first climb, near road up where it wiggles a bit more than necessary (after the boards), someone (strava?) has cut across. tbh, i kinda like this shortcut because the trail wiggling was a bit OTT and feels a little silly imho. can we have a group meeting about this some time and pick a line or make it official?

what happens after S&L is some people like to take a higher line (which was the Race line) into NeverSeenIt and miss the first bank (it offically goes from right at the start of S&L, meaning anyone not feeling up to the drop in at S&L has a nice skip section option!). needs more signage where you come out of S&L? can we keep two routes in or is that a no-no for the park?

I think that well as the skull and crossbones for the "harder" bits, and chicken runs, strava lines should be marked 🙂

That said, the strava lines that have developed are ever because people don't like that bit, or as per the one on snakes and ladders you're just going to damned fast to tuck it back in so cut it out.

Was up there last night too, still dusty fun - just trying to get the last few fast laps in before the inevitable

i kinda like this shortcut because the trail wiggling was a bit OTT and feels a little silly imho. can we have a group meeting about this some time and pick a line or make it official?

yes needs more signage / blockage here.

I will tell the park about signage. And blockage I will stick some logs there next time im there, Smiff feel free to chip in the the logging of that area to try and help peeps going the right/offical way.

Also at first the plan was to go accross the grass but the park said no, thats why it goes round.

ok we want to block off the higher line across meadow, so everyone goes down fireroad to the S&L start and right up bank?
edit: ok gotcha, meadow bit needs blocking until grass grows back over it.

some idiot (?) had blocked off the new exit to lumberjack weekend before last, by moving the logs from the old exit. i was ahead luckily so cleared..

and great work on new lumberjack exit btw whoever traced that, even better than i imagined 😀

i was ahead luckily so cleared..

ok gotcha, meadow bit needs blocking until grass grows back over it.

Didn't relise the 'shortcut' on the climb was going to be a possible official option, just thought it was Strava knobbers so this morning I dragged a big branch over it to block it. What's wrong with the wiggly bit? Makes it more interesting. The trail is manmade, so it has never serve3d a purpose like old drovers or packhorse trails have. They usually end up being the easiest/straightest route from a to b and years later we've ended up riding them. The stuff that had been manmade has been designed to be fun though, so why cut bits out like that? If you set a precedent there where will it end? Line bypassing the Velocity switchbacks and going straight down like the old line? Straight line through Lumberjack? All that will happen if you make a Strava line 'official' is the prats who create them will think it is ok to do it elsewhere.
I'm in favour of chicken line at the end of the tril for safety reasons but effectively doing the same on a climb just so it's a little bit easier/quicker?
Just my thoughts.x

matt normally i'd agree it's just here this one small place the wiggling felt forced and unnecessary like trail is just being lengthened for the sake of it. (of course it is, but not enough height to justify it?) other people i've ridden with have said same and laughed at this section.. only an idea, and we might be thinking of different bits! i'll take pics next time i'm there. don't worry you did right thing to block any blatant shortcut for now thanks.

Didn't relise the 'shortcut' on the climb was going to be a possible official option,

I would like the wiggle to stay but if people keep short cutting it and moving blocking logs there not much we can do.

I use strava but cheats only cheat themselves.

If anyone one does see short cuts forming please log them off or if any see logs on official trail please move them (we have had cases in the past when walkers were moving logs on to the trails)

Scott signs might be better for anywhere that's no obvious why someone shouldn't be going.. could you pass this (end of S&L meadow) on to our Sign Guy? 😉
don't want Pile of Logs wars 😯

Just want to add to the chorus of well dones to you guys who produced the trail. Rode there the first time a few weekends back while it was pretty sodden, and have to say it was great fun and the trail seemed really well thought out with a mix of natural rootastic of camber stuff and more carved man made stuff.

Lots of folk on commuter bikes happily working their way round, some mad kids lashing round on what looked like their first bike ride - all of whom rode the steps at the end at great speed - and us and few other mtbers giving it a good old go and really enjoying it.

Feature wise I think it's pretty near perfect at the mo. I didn't have a go at some of the jumps / drops and chickened round them, which I like as it shows exactly where I am in terms of rad nar skills and also as avoiding them took me off the true line and so was slower. If I turned up and could 'send' everything you'd have made a trail waaay too tame to keep better riders than me interested. But equally as it stands I'd say just about anyone can get round and at the end see what the may choose to aspire to having a go at.

And as it happens I like the steps as a final thing to think about after all the berms - but equally some sort of high line run off as a last minute bail out / run off probably would be an addition, but as they stand they're a pretty good finale in my book.

Cheers Jason 8)

[i]Didn't relise the 'shortcut' on the climb was going to be a possible official option, just thought it was Strava knobbers so this morning I dragged a big branch over it to block it. What's wrong with the wiggly bit? Makes it more interesting. The trail is manmade, so it has never serve3d a purpose like old drovers or packhorse trails have. They usually end up being the easiest/straightest route from a to b and years later we've ended up riding them. The stuff that had been manmade has been designed to be fun though, so why cut bits out like that? If you set a precedent there where will it end? Line bypassing the Velocity switchbacks and going straight down like the old line? Straight line through Lumberjack? All that will happen if you make a Strava line 'official' is the prats who create them will think it is ok to do it elsewhere.
I'm in favour of chicken line at the end of the tril for safety reasons but effectively doing the same on a climb just so it's a little bit easier/quicker?[/i]

In big agreement with all of this ^^ !

[i]Strava cheaters only cheat themselves[/i]

Unfortunately not strictly true - they ruin the trails by making shitty new easy lines all over the place.

Im not sure if you can blame strava for

making shitty new easy lines all over the place.

Right Scott, Strava isn't the problem rather its probably the same people as before, only now thew can record how quickly they bugger up the trails for the rest of us.

DezB and matt i 100% agree with you both but there not my i can doo about people taking short cuts apart from designing the trail better.

When I first saw the bit on the first climb I said “why does it do that, people are just going to through there” and point to the bit where the short cut is now. For our part that is badly designed, the two parts of the trail are too close together. I have personally learn to take in to consideration people take short cuts. I very had to plan the trails some time and if they do work them we will have to edit them to suit, just like the table tops had to be reworked because they weren’t work properly. There are now wider with longer landings. This was to keep the masses happy, they fell fine to me apart from being to short 😈 but then again I do love a goo huck to flat

QE is work in progress and I hope it will stay that way. 😉

Totally understand mate!
Just was a bit peeved to find myself on the wrong bits occasionally - generally, your work is in the realm of the awesome. 😀

Got to be time for a cheeky repost of this: http://www.pinkbike.com/video/255358/

I forgot how muddy and wet it was when we film this pre trail launch.

Cool video 🙂

Not a great fan of 'logging off' parts of the trail, i've nearly come a cropper myself when i got lost due to poor sign posting and ran into a load of logs blocking the trail....also if militant walkers see logs across parts of the trail it might give them the green light to do it other parts they feel like blocking off.

Just improve the sign posting making it completely obvious which is the correct line to take.

Not a great fan of 'logging off' parts of the trail, i've nearly come a cropper myself when i got lost due to poor sign posting and ran into a load of logs blocking the trail....also if militant walkers see logs across parts of the trail it might give them the green light to do it other parts they feel like blocking off.

Just improve the sign posting making it completely obvious which is the correct line to take.

met office heavy rain warning for the south for sunday, make the most of it before then if you can guys.
looks like Scott was doing exactly that last night, now how the hell am i supposed to compete with those times? hehe. well i'll have a go on the ups anyways.. 😉

also is this another sneaky bit of trail? one beginning with "b"? tut tut.

That was 100% not me. I have never made a cheeky trail in my life 😐 😯
Especially ones starting 'bo' 😛

Any one going tomorrow? The website looks great, and the weather has inspired me for a ride of the red, with a 30K extension on the SDW, etc..?

I'll probably be there messing around with my kids on bikes, den building etc. If I get a chance i'll get one final dusty lap in before I swap out the summer tyres for muds.

hmmmm - need to get another dry lap in as Smiff took my only KOM yesterday 😉 🙂 Good work fella!

Does it get busy at weekends ?

Nope. Sometimes nicely popular, but never busy

Car parks get busy with families etc, but you'll always find somewhere to leave the car

Next question, from what I've read it appears nicer/more fun/less challenging to ride in the dry rather than the wet, so does it drain well after rain or am I going to have to wait for next summer to try it out in the dry ? I have to admit to becoming a bit of a fair weather cyclist anyway.