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As above really. I am thinking of going to ride the Warren Boulder train in March as a bit of practice for the technical stuff.
Has anyone done it? Is it really tricky? Am I going to kill msyself? Any tips/advice?
I should point out that I have ridden at a fair few trail centres and can get round them OK, but I tend to wimp out on large drops/jumps and struggle with rock gardens, which is kinda why I wanna go so I can get some practice in.
Warren boulder = stainburn if you didn't know. You'll probably find more pics/vide etc with that.
It's worth going to for a play about, you probably never get more than a mile from the car park. There are a lot ofrock gardens though. We went up for a day before xmas as a group and had a great time messing about.
More info here...
[url] http://www.singletraction.org.uk/index.php [/url]
It is hard. It's the sort of place you session. Don't go expecting miles of trails though or usual trail centre facilities. The boulder trail is best ridden when it's dry especially if it's your first time. The rocks look very daunting when it's wet. Persevere with it and you'll love it and don't go home disheartened if you can't ride it all. Go back and do it again.
The locals may join you if you want a chaperone. Try posting on here or on the SingletrAction forums when you are going and some of us may join you.
Put 'Stainburn' into youtube to see a bit more.
There are natural trails over the road from the car park too but recent felling work has destroyed a lot of it. The SingletrAction volunteers are hoping to get back in there soon to start reclaiming trails and adding new stuff.
Cheers...yep, I knew it was at Stainburn but wasn't sure how many trails were there. Should have looked first really.
I have just looked at YouTube and it does look pretty technical, but that's what I need to improve at anyway. I've got knee/elbow pads so should be OK. Famous last words!
Chase, as you say....I was under the impression that it was somewhere that you don't blast round, but cut into sections - at least when you are new to it, I guess.
I need to improve with this kind of riding - I want to be able to ride more of the techie stuff in Spain, as last yr some of it was a real battle of wills between my low fear threshold and the trails!!
Provisionally we are going on the 22nd March, I think. Look out for a red/black Stumpjumper FSR being flung down the rocks and if my compadre gets his play-frame built up in time, he'll be on a Kona Coiler.
I would recommend going there on a 1st visit with a friend or friends, you're def. more likely to attempt stuff with a positive attitude (i.e. with a bit of encouragement), than if you're on your lonesome and therefore feeling a bit vunerable. Maybe do the short red trail first. Although it's easier, you still have to attack some stuff and punch the bike over obsicals with a positive determind approach, which will serve you well on the Black (Warren boulder trail).
There's a bit of a problem with one or two sections of the WBT at the mo., that some difficult features are being lost, caused by people by-passing them as they're not prepared to attempt them. Which is a shame for people like you who are going there because you want the difficulty. So, make sure you look out for all the original lines of difficulty.
You can also get a bit of light relief on the Descent line which starts at the very top corner of the red trail and swoops downhill for about 1.5k with a big drop en-route.
It's a really fun technical trail, but the hardest thing is the wood, if it's damp. the moss/algae on it is [i]really [/i]slippy.
As it's all fairly low speed stuff, you're unlikely to really hurt yourself when it goes wrong.
I hated it the first time I went - been back 3 or 4 times since (the last being Sunday just gone) and loved it. Don't plan on spending a full day there - 3 hours tops and you'll have had enough I reckon but its real good fun. Just remember to shove your seat right down before you head into the first section of trail - you'll need it!
And agree about stuff getting lost with people bypassing stuff. The trail which runs along the edge of the woods - theres parts of that where people have bypassed it sliding down the side of the hill. And the rocky ridge after the steep rocky left handed corner about halfway through - that section has got two deep gullies either side now where people have just been riding through... Makes the rocky ridge about a foot higher (and as such, makes people less likely to attempt it!) than it used to be.
I've ridden on some of the (lower) wood at Chicksands, so understand your warnings about the slipperiness of it in the wet! I shall be on my guard!
I think we will do a lap or two of the red to warm up to it and then attempt the black.
I think I have seen some Youtube stuff of the descent line - it looks like the big drop can be rolled over, is that right? I guess I will see when I get there! Quite looking forward to it now!
yeah the big drop can be rolled, there's also a chicken run to the side
There's a new slow speed techy line on the red which is worth going around again to have a session on. Article here [url= http://www.singletraction.org.uk/news2/fullnews.php?id=52 ]SingletrAction[/url]
As Chase says, sadly most of the stuff over the road has recently been lost to FC felling, of the few bits that survived, the best part that's worth seeking out is around the summit area (trig point/summit cairn) not far from the mast. There are some north shore and rock features to ride (there's always more than one line) and then 2 or 3 short descent options with rock features and various lines.
There is also another small northshore feature that I think survived, which is: from the car park cross the road, thru the gate, turn immediate right and 50yrds ish there is a northshore feature that crosses a stream (you can see it from the roadside if you walk down the main road a bit - idiots road so beware).