Hi all
Looks like I will shortly be adding a skills loop to the BMX track and road race circuit at Marsh Tracks.

What would the collective say makes a good loop? what do you like /hate bout these things, what would make you stop off in Rhyl on your way to/from Marin, Penmachno CYB etc?…. all input appreciated!

Prob have £100k budget but land only undulates…couple of acres alongside a river and is council owned so prefer a lower visual impact as its currently a nature area….cant see big shore structures going down well

Have a look at the skills area at Llandegla for starters. It’s good fun for a wee whiley.

Lots of run in and run off. Take for example, a drop line, needs plenty of time to get yourself comfortable and right before hitting the drop, then plenty of room to stop afterwards. Lee Quarry is a bad example, IMO, the drops are too close together, and there isn’t enough run up, and as a beginner you want a bit of time.

The Llandegla one is excellent, although I’ve heard it said the run out of the smaller jumps is a bit short, you have to be on the brakes as soon as you land.

Thanks Guys Llandegla is not far away and ride it a bit, but not really checked out the skills area properly so will do….expected more replies in this…should have posted up what skills areas for SS fat bikes 😉

blow 4% of your budget on a trip to Whistler (I’m coming too)
come home
build a mini-version

Thanks Brakes I’ll run that by the board…best make it 8% and get a big bike sorted too 😀

What’s a skills loop?

Hi Dezb…hard to define suppose its a small offroad loop with features like step ups, dropoffs, rock gardens, bermed corners for you to learn/practice skills on. I’m thinking of all of the above in a variety of sizes so if you are scared of dropoffs for example, you can start small and work up as your confidence grows

Hoped to get more help from the STW massive though 😯

Make the features wide and have good run ins and outs and it’ll be much more accessible. The drops at Llandegla are too narrow for beginners and the ones dat Lee Quarry have no run in and are on too much of a slope. Actually at Lee Quarry the access to them is over a berm and quite tricky for a relative beginner.

Make stuff that allows you to progress.

Have you seen glentress skills loop?

Perhaps a small / medium / largish obstacle of each type – and a set of berms as well

Sounds great! I want one!

Bits so you are able to break things down into the different skills.

Naybe try contacting someone who really knows what they’re on about…

What’s that fellas name… you know the Star Wars religious guy…

Lol, Herts Shore relocated to Rhyl. Worth it just to see the look on councilors faces whent hey see the family cycle track they were imagining built 6″ wide 20′ up in the air.

Appart from jumps, drops, berms for impresing the gurlz on, how about some loose off camber sections, switchbacks, steps and corners on rocky climbs etc. You know mountainbike stuff rather than a scaled down BMX track for middleweight IT managers.

[edit] how about some natural trials sections? Trials seems to be making a resurgence arround Reading, the towns full of kids on silly bikes hopping on/off stuff, don’t know if thats a national trend.

[double edit] make it hard, IMO the point of a skills loop is a challange, if an average rider can clear it all first time wheres the fun in that?

Stainburn has lots of rock obstical in a small area.
[video]http://vimeo.com/10976671[/video]

Southern Yeti…hmm think I know who you mean….popular religious leader if the census forms are to be believed?

In all seriousness I have asked Jon Collins MBLA instructor for input,(I’ve just qualified as a MBLA leader with him) he will advise what works to coach on just wanted some rider feedback too

Thisisnotaspoon ramps to launch folks into the river would work well…when the tides in anyway 😆

TJ’s spot on with progression… Best thing I can think of as an example here is the glentress freeride area, there’s a line of 3 ladder drops. First one can be rolled to build up confidence then dropped, it’s a tiny wee step really but it has the feeling of ladderdropness. Second one can be rolled but it’s high enough not to encourage it. 3rd one is mandatory air and high enough to be pretty scary for most. All 3 have the same run-in (which admittedly is too short IMO) and go into the same landing. Pretty close to perfect I reckon.

Likewise, if you have a big rock feature, include an easy one, a harder one and a proper hard one.

And make it very very easy to double back and do things again. No use having the perfect sessionable feature if there’s no push-up or ride-up to get back to the top, and people will push up anyway even if you don’t build one, only they’ll do it in stupid places.

Best of all is to have a skills climb and a skills descent so you’re not just riding down then wandering back to the top- give it some steppy rocks or a low level balance beam or a tight switchback or something to make the climb interesting. A lot of these things seem to only think about descents.

What is it for? Fun and practice for experienced riders, coaching beginners?

How much will it cost to have a go assuming I’m on mt way through from the Marin or somewhere else?

That video’s good

When I’m not in Uni, I live just outside Colwyn Bay, so actually have an interest in this project.

I think its important to cater for skilled riders as well as unskilled. They’re the ones who will be keen to return and use the spot if its decent.

A well designed pump track- fully rollable, but with bits that can be doubled/tripled up.
Decent sets of tables and doubles. Not just one set getting bigger and bigger, but 2 or 3 sets, one small and easy, one medium, and an actually challenging set (make them doubles so you’ll only go for them if you;re confident you’ll be able to make the gap). Ideally with hips etc too, not just straight sets.

Apart from that, make random flat rock gardens/logs etc if people want them.