My mate was pleased when he stravarized into the top ten on a section of the Minotaur trail at C y B 😉

Ride where you like and what you like but don’t give us some macho bitching bs. Its not like a real problem where say an excellent techy downhill has been turned towpath smooth by the council!

Yes, yes, OP – you’ve made this point before, we know you’re a riding god 🙄

Groomed trails are ace. If you are going to build something why do it to match what you can find naturally. You may as well make it different.

I like a mix. Rocky lakeland stuff is probably my favourite. Wide with multiple line options to make you think. I do love a good bit of glentress blue for mindless fun.

jonba – Member
Groomed trails are ace. If you are going to build something why do it to match what you can find naturally.

Amen, brother jon.

I’m not much into downhill but I do like trail centres. My favourite type of riding is on natural trails or a bit of bike packing. There’s something for everyone.

This thread needs smurfhat for complete awesomeness.

Btw, what’s a trail centre?

Judging from the IMBA trail building guidelines which appear to be the standard used by most to deliver the support of the landowners for sanctioned, sustainable, environmentally and legally sensitive trails, you won’t tend to see the steeps and technicality that can be found on natural or cheeky trails, maintained DH tracks, or once a year race venues.

ononeorange – Member
This thread needs smurfhat for complete awesomeness.

Btw, what’s a trail centre?
Saucer of milk table one, and something to put his chip into.

They are great fun places to ride which allow you to push yourself on terrain normally not found on natural trails. Great place to polish some all round skills.

My local trails are spot on – im very lucky. But as has allready been said…….

Trail centres provide…
All weather riding for people who live in boggy party of the country
Riding with less competent friends
Riding somewhere different without requiring local knowledge
Great for a quick loop if you happen to be close to one when attending a wedding or some other misfortune.

SImple really as Jonba puts it of you find a trailcentre too tame for you then ride a different one or find a wild trail that has what you after. It’s no different then going for any ride you pick your route based on what you want to do.

Judging from the IMBA trail building guidelines which appear to be the standard used by most to deliver the support of the landowners for sanctioned

Luckily it’s not most that follow these rather poor guidelines.

smooth flowy is fun.

rooty rock tech is fun.

just riding bikes really.

Trailcentres are simply playgrounds for (reluctant) adults. They’re fun, they’re safe and they bear about as much resemblance to a natural trail as a climbing frame does to a tree.

I’m amazed so many people respond seriously to such an obvious troll. Especially one who I haven’t ever seen do anything but troll.

I must admit alot of the trails being built now are wide with a firm kitty litter surface. It feels like you are riding a footpath for 70% of the time with some interesting ‘headliners’ features every so often.

Sorry to offend but alot of the main Guisburn routes falls into this and it just feels too ‘tamed’. Tamed is the word.

For me, the best trail rides ever are when you come home with branch/thorn etc scratches on your forearms due to the trail being ‘close combat’ 8)

Gisburn is one of the more natural feeling/less groomed trail centres IMO. 😕

Are you a groomed rider

One is the best groomed rider out there don’t you know. 😉
What do you mean “that’s not what you meant?”

I must admit alot of the trails being built now are wide with a firm kitty litter surface

+1. I’m guessing it’s because its cheap.
A little bit here and there is fun (like the bit at CYB MBR) but miles of it (to me) is boring. Each to his/her own and all that. I don’t have high hopes for the new penhydd at afan. Cognation seem one of the worst culprits.

They’re fun, they’re safe and they bear about as much resemblance to a natural trail as a climbing frame does to a tree.

It amazes me how people make comments like this. They seem to think that people who ride trail centres don’t also ride natural stuff and have no idea what it’s like.

the steeper and rootier the better for me and proper jumps with gaps in them none of this roller silliness. bollocks to making it accessible to everyone if the terrain is above your skill level ride somewhere else.

The smoother the more flowing the better for me with no jumps. If the terrain is below your skill level ride somewhere else or try it on a rigid single speed 🙂

I ride both, I like both but i don’t shave or (sometimes) shower before riding 😀

yacoby – Member

Oh my god. They make trail centres for everyone. Why can’t they make trail centres just for awesome people like me? Who cares about people who aren’t as awesome as me?

But exactly as awesome as me- they mustn’t build any trails for anyone who’s slightly more awesome than me!

It amazes me how people make comments like this. They seem to think that people who ride trail centres don’t also ride natural stuff and have no idea what it’s like.

What gave you that idea? Kids who play in playgrounds can also climb trees 🙂 Personally I think trailcentres are great. As I said, they are fun and they are safe. I know that I’ll be able to clear whatever obstacle I might meet if I’m on the right grade of trail and it is a chance to have fun and practice my skills for the other 80% of natural riding that I do. What’s not to like?

Oh my god. They make trail centres for everyone. Why can’t they make trail centres just for awesome people like me? Who cares about people who aren’t as awesome as me?

There seems to be an assumption that relatively new riders to ‘trails’ can’t ride a bike so need wide surfaces with little interest. If you want to hook people make it alittle less sanitised.

Clayton Vale here in Manchester – I’ve seen people on Tesco specials riding with their kids on the berms- maybe not proper leaning pro-style but then again neither do/can I. The berms there are good BTW.

Make the trails too uniform and dull with ‘special one off features’ and you’ll bore any newish riders never to bother again as they’ll ride round the hard one-off’s and decide that driving an hour to ride basically a tow-path through some trees isn’t that great.

hora – Member

There seems to be an assumption that relatively new riders to ‘trails’ can’t ride a bike so need wide surfaces with little interest.

That’s mostly just machine building- new trails tend to be as wide as the 360 used to dig them. Building more interesting trail and retaining ground features is much more labour intensive so the temptation is, if you’ve got X amount of money to build a blue route you build a jumps-n-berms because you can build much more. Like, probably 5-10 times more depending on ground conditions.

(when we handbuild, we build wider than you’d think, with the intention that over time vegetation and organic crap will encroach over the unridden surfaces and you’ll end up with a narrow ride line supported by a solid but unused surface- most durable option. But the reality is people end up using the whole width of the trail and then some so it often doesn’t happen.)

pussywillow – Member

Seems that mountain biking is taking a turn for the worse with all this 29er shite and marketing bs, but recently started to notice new trails being built are all super smooth berm baby berm with the odd feminine jump! I mean come on guys!! what ever happened to real riding steep n techie, that is what mountain biking is surely?? I could do most of these modern day downhill tracks on me bloody bmx for christ sakes!

Plenty of steep and techy available if you ride natural trails Pussywillow… and even more fast and fun if you ride 29er shite as you so eloquantly put it 😉

So PW lobbed that in and went back off to his bridge then, or is he back with his other alter-ego?

I like Jam on my toast so why do they insist on making Marmite and how does it keep appearing in my Fridge?

[tuppence] I like Trail centres from time to time, they are a bit like going to the gym, you know reliably what you can expect. They are pretty social, I quite like the Blue at GT as I can ride it with my kids and besides it is actually good fun. But more often I like the explore the track less travelled and sometimes that track is less travelled for a reason – i.e. it’s shit and 3hrs of hike-a-bike which is not good fun.[/tuppence]

I think pussywillow is one of the best trolls on here. Often gets loads of response to their threads, very rarely has to come back to them and stoke the fire.

No idea why they do it, though.

what ever happened to real riding steep n techie

Nothing. It’s all still out there waiting for you to get a map out and find it 🙂

I agree, Trail centres are a fun option for something a bit different occasionally; they’re also pretty sociable places to ride and the surface suits all weather conditions. If they are all you ride though then that’s what you’re going to get so quit complaining or get out there and help your local trailbuilders create something you do want to ride.

I ride trail centres, bike parks, groomed trails, natural trails, bmx tracks, canal towpaths and up the road for milk sometimes. If some nobody on the internet thinks I am not a ‘proper’ biker then so be it. I’m sure I’ll sleep soundly tonight regardless.

godzilla : i thought my mojo had got up and left me without saying goodbye but on checking he’s still where i left him, on a shelf. I have that trolls brother, i think he must be a scottish troll due to the ginger hair.

Lolz 😆

I ride trail centres, bike parks, groomed trails, natural trails, bmx tracks, canal towpaths and up the road for milk sometimes. If some nobody on the internet thinks I am not a ‘proper’ biker then so be it. I’m sure I’ll sleep soundly tonight regardless.

❓ Have you also ever answered an exam question and got the wrong meaning of the question?

Drac – Moderator
…
Judging from the IMBA trail building guidelines which appear to be the standard used by most to deliver the support of the landowners for sanctioned

Luckily it’s not most that follow these rather poor guidelines.

That’s good, admittedly that was an assumption based on what’s happening here where IMBA appear to be the self appointed font of trail building wisdom. That said, our trails aren’t covered in kitty litter (we have natural rocks and gravel for them to play with), but whoever is being listened to seems to be turning out similar results. Somebody mentioned in another thread that IMBA has lost its influence in the UK. Who or what has taken over, and what’s their approach?

I only got to ride CyB, Afan, and Inners before I emigrated. Inners is the only one of those with some steeps and technicality that I can remember, but I’d imagine as a DH venue it gets more maintenance and IMBA do have DH guidelines which seem to amount to covering steeps with rock cladding to prevent erosion.

I’m not knocking the effort or quality of the fantastic work our volunteers and trail advocates have put in. We have some great trails and they’re getting better, but it would be great if they could find a way to include some old school steeps instead of just riding and dropping off logs and ladders. I want to hang off the back of my saddle again (or even learn to stay centred) and be forced to release my brakes to avoid OTB or losing control to rear wheel skid. DH descents are not really the same if you’re required to jump gaps and large drops.

I rode a Coed y Brenin last month and included a section of historic trail that was on the other side of the road where the cafe used to be eons ago and it was very rocky and had not been ridden on much and had a wonderfully greasy finish to it enhanced by the light drizzle. And even better than all of that it didn’t have the rather unnecessary constant swoopy wiggly singletrack and featured some sections of straight!

wowsers!! 😯 Whats with all the trail centre accusations?? 😆
I never even ride in them places! full of ruperts dressing up like storm troopers thinking they can ride! 😆

Now dont get me wrong, I do like man made trails when built natural looking and techie but that is where the problem lies, The modern day dhiller prefers smooth arse tracks taking away what mountain biking really is!I think the industry is to blame for this as young people coming into the sport haven’t a clue and are mislead by all the magazines. Interesting though what some of your opinions are! Im guessing theres a lot of ruperts out there! 😆

The modern day dhiller prefers smooth arse tracks taking away what mountain biking really is!

The modern STWer likes to rant and rave about a load of imagined stereotypes!

The modern STWer likes to rant and rave about a load of imagined stereotypes!

+1

I can honestly say that two of my contrastingly favorite secions of trail are:

(1) Jacob’s Ladder (Peaks) and
(2) The Minotaur trail (Coed y Brenin).

One of these is rocky technical and wild, the other is swoopy, groomed trail centre loveliness.

Not quite sure what that makes me.

Probably just someone who rides bikes 🙄

My current favourite section of trail is 4 linked berms in Clayton Vale Manchester. You simply lean your body through them 4 times 8)