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IanMunro - MemberSome lovely corner cutting here.
That's some gnarly, rad-to-the-max unnecessary grabbing of the brakes. I know that's a chairlift-accessible French DH track and they're always full of holes anyway, but if someone decided to emulate that on the steeps in my local woods, I'd be well annoyed.
From the first point corner cutting has been going on longer than strava, so has trying to be faster than your mates. Marin trail at one point had no identifiable corners at all in some sections.
A certain Dirt School DVD tells you to take "better lines" into corners.
In built trail the edges need to be built to stop it happening really, one guy mistimes and runs the corner, next guy follows new wheel tracks etc etc
I guess part of the problem is that in a normal "proper" race the "Tape it wide" ethos can be applied selectively by the organisers, with Strava where "every trail can be a race" at any time there is no selective taping or time allowed for the trail to recover or be maintained and thus any line the rider can imagine is pretty much fair game.
I suppose that was always the case before but maybe Strava has made the issue a little more pronounced in recent months with a larger number of people chasing KOM glory perhaps, I also think the novelty will be wearing off of strava by next winter for many probably...
Personally I like being able to choose my lines, but I also understand how a trail centre works, they are for all users not just a select few and as such will see a lot of traffic and need to be robust, they will suffer where a small percentage take shortcuts which can ultimately undermine armoured surfaces and constructed features.
The design of these trails needs to accomodate different levels of riding and confidence, not all of them manage to do this (not that it's a simple or easy task) and I think that can contribute to non-prescibed routes being taken by various riders for differing reasons, you'll never win this game at trail centres, where you have a wide spread of riders you will need a variety of trails and there will always be maintenance issues...
[i]forcing riders to slow down by using tighter corners seems to be the norm[/i]
Not on cheeky stuff, the trail goes where there is a path made by deer, squirrells, pr0n stash masters etc, gets ridden in, discovered by others, skidded and ridden when wet, straightlined, effed.
Railing a corner = awesome
Riding in a straight line = a bit boring
IMHO 😉
But why has limited time, effort and resources been used to slightly wiggle the trail? I doubt anyone comes back and says those extra wiggles in the that short climb really made my ride.
Probably hasnt been wiggled for your pleasure, more likely to prevent it becoming a fall line for water causing it to fail.
Is it just me, or were those 2 french guys utter knobs???
More wiggles = more riding.
Ride as fast as you can/want to but you should respect the trail.
Straigtening and cutting changes the whole character of a trail i.e. dumbing down. Environmental impact is also really important, especially in cheeky situations, some people don't seem to know or care that they are risking their playgrounds being closed to them. The best trails are less than 1 ft wide in my opinion.
mikewsmith - MemberA certain Dirt School DVD tells you to take "better lines" into corners.
I did their trail high school and I remember one section was 100% about how to cut corners. Mostly they're about interpreting the corner well and riding the best line through the trail that's there but I got a bit miffed when Andy started recommending to ride right off the tray, on GT blue of all places. Keep off the grass!
Railing a corner = awesome
Riding in a straight line = a bit boring
Totally agree.
I'd much rather zig zag through a forest than plough on straight ahead
Thank you seanodav, it really felt like some sections had been designed by someone with an ideological dislike of anything straight!
[i]Might I suggest that on artificial tracks it suggests that the line wasn't the best and the corner created for the sake of it.[/i]
Agree!
I haven't ridden at Bedgebury for years, but on the two occasions I did, all I remember was being constantly frustrated by how the trail wriggled about with no chance to flow. I never cut corners and follow the trail religious, but it annoyed me and some of the others we rode with.
It genuinely felt that when they built the trail, some guy had gone for a very wiggly walk through the forest with a line marking spray gun, shortly followed by a mini excavator.
It may have been improved since then, (it hadn't been built long) but certainly they had put corners in for the sake of it and made large sections of trail pretty rubbish to ride.
Flippin heck. Some massively up tight people on this thread. How are you meant to overtake anyone on single track without cutting corners? I guess your average trail centre rider likes to have all their decisions made for them and isn't into pinning it or racing their mates. Boring!
As for that video - its a DH track those guys are hitting the inside lines cos thats the racing line, where would you practice that if not on a DH track? Whats wrong with them cutting those turns to overtake slower riders without running them off the track? I've ridden that trail its awesome fun trying to get past your mates on the way down by cutting the corners.
I'm liking the comments about corners controlling speed. A good set of banked corners should allow the rider to create speed, railing a set of berms each one faster than the last until you eventually have to calm it down a bit is a privilege the corner cutters will not experience.
As it happens the corners just before the stair case on home baked fit this category. Lovely set of berms they are, and not a single petunia in sight.
From a discussion I had on another thread I learned (obvious really) that DH is about getting from top to bottom as fast as possible. For most other people it's about fun not timings.
I'd much rather zig zag through a forest than plough on straight ahead
You can do that on fire roads too. Just wobble from side to side a bit. 😀
It genuinely felt that when they built the trail, some guy had gone for a very
wiggly walk through the forest with a line marking spray gun, shortly followed by
a mini excavator.
That's exactly what did happen at Bedgebury! Since then a lot of time and effort has been spent in improving flow, sight lines etc. Some corners have been removed and others had berms added. It's a slow process with just volunteer labour and plenty of other things to do like adding trail features but we will get there!
Meantime cutting corners just ads to the list of things we have to repair taking time away from improvements.
Boris
Www.boarsonbikes.co.uk
scruff - Member
[i]forcing riders to slow down by using tighter corners seems to be the norm
[/i]
Not on cheeky stuff, the trail goes where there is a path made by deer, squirrells, pr0n stash masters etc, gets ridden in, discovered by others, skidded and ridden when wet, straightlined, effed.
I'm not familiar with the term 'cheeky', but i'm guessing you're referring to illegal or not designed/created by riders? We have plenty of that over here (Norn Iron), in fact almost all of it (there's only one small forest where it's not illegal to ride). Last year I spent a fair bit time altering a walking trail to make it suitable for bikes. You could ride it as it was, but it wasn't particularly fun. It is now, and walkers can still use the original line.
The best trails are less than 1 ft wide in my opinion.
Doesn't really allow for overtaking or more importantly, line choice. Natural trails like this generally turn into a rut over time. Causing water to run down compounding the issue. Eventually it can end up like a scalextric track. Not my idea of fun at all.
It genuinely felt that when they built the trail, some guy had gone for a very wiggly walk through the forest with a line marking spray gun, shortly followed by a mini excavator.
That's a lesson I learnt the hard way. What looks like a fun flowing trail at walking speed, can become a twisty, nadgery pain in the arse at riding speed.
I have an idea for a trail design that'll solve this conundrum
[img] 
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Sorted.