Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted December 19, 2013 Share But also remember that the gradings have to be relevant to the overall perceptions of the riders as well. So in the case of SA riders in general they are a black trail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awesme Posted December 19, 2013 Share Ok, Yellow... Rietvlei has one, basically short gravel road, for mom and dad to ride with kids, easy+++ My thinking otherwise is also: green blue black double black This is as per Rietvlei and Thaba Last time I was at modderfontein I was surprised that they did not follow this, G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rouxtjie Posted December 19, 2013 Share You haven't lived until you have hit the double black diamond at northerns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewbacca Posted December 19, 2013 Share But also remember that the gradings have to be relevant to the overall perceptions of the riders as well. So in the case of SA riders in general they are a black trail Grading routes will just open up more opportunity for disgruntled arguing on theHub! 'I rode Tokai the other week, NO WAY is that a black trail rating'..... 'Oh please OP, its harder than anything you have in Joburg! Did you do the road gap? No... Then you obviously cant ride'... and so forth... If we build trails with names and call them fun, more fun, funnest etc... then people cant complain because if they arent having fun riding trails then well, they really arent doing it right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awesme Posted December 19, 2013 Share Let's just check here I'm OP and at no time did I compare Jhb to cpt Matter of fact I did not compare anything, I asked for input re matching order of color to difficulty rating. G Grading routes will just open up more opportunity for disgruntled arguing on theHub! 'I rode Tokai the other week, NO WAY is that a black trail rating'..... 'Oh please OP, its harder than anything you have in Joburg! Did you do the road gap? No... Then you obviously cant ride'... and so forth... If we build trails with names and call them fun, more fun, funnest etc... then people cant complain because if they arent having fun riding trails then well, they really arent doing it right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted December 19, 2013 Share Grading routes will just open up more opportunity for disgruntled arguing on theHub! 'I rode Tokai the other week, NO WAY is that a black trail rating'..... 'Oh please OP, its harder than anything you have in Joburg! Did you do the road gap? No... Then you obviously cant ride'... and so forth... If we build trails with names and call them fun, more fun, funnest etc... then people cant complain because if they arent having fun riding trails then well, they really arent doing it right! Ja, but unfortunately the grading is a necessary feature for the public liability insurance that trail centres and landowners need to have in place. If a trail isn't graded, or is graded incorrectly according to the rest of the region / country etc then the insurance won't cover it, and the landowner will be liable for any damage / injury incurred as a result of an accident. Cos if the trail is graded blue and it has a road gap in it somewhere, it's not actually a blue trail. It's a black trail with blue features. So unfortunately grading is here to stay. Luckily we have the IMBA and the standards they set for trail grading, so we can go by that. But as with everything, it's open to interpretation. Which means drastic differences between here and other places and even different trails in the same region. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewbacca Posted December 19, 2013 Share Let's just check here I'm OP and at no time did I compare Jhb to cpt Matter of fact I did not compare anything, I asked for input re matching order of color to difficulty rating. G hahaha... No dude, that was an imaginary thread I had in the future when all trails are graded! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewbacca Posted December 19, 2013 Share Ja, but unfortunately the grading is a necessary feature for the public liability insurance that trail centres and landowners need to have in place. If a trail isn't graded, or is graded incorrectly according to the rest of the region / country etc then the insurance won't cover it, and the landowner will be liable for any damage / injury incurred as a result of an accident. Cos if the trail is graded blue and it has a road gap in it somewhere, it's not actually a blue trail. It's a black trail with blue features. So unfortunately grading is here to stay. Luckily we have the IMBA and the standards they set for trail grading, so we can go by that. But as with everything, it's open to interpretation. Which means drastic differences between here and other places and even different trails in the same region. True. It is a pity. I rode this really awesome trail centre in Wales a couple of years ago and at the start it had metal maps with the route, its profile, distance and rating all layed out. It showed the hairy sections and the fast sections. But next to it was a description which also described the route, the views and so forth. So a black route was also said to be black only in 2 places so as not to put everybody off. I liked that trail centre a lot. I am not saying every place needs such elaborate things. Woodhill Bike Park in NZ has a gazillion trails and obstacles and stuff and the way they did it was to rate everything from family to intermediate, then say after that the rating is up to you, here is a map of out park (in black and white) and the 150km of purpose built single track is yours to play on as you so wish. Children under 16 need supervision, which is written and there are park rules which one needs to adhere to. Like so many things in riding bikes, we as the end users have overcomplicated everything so much that things are constantly going wrong. It actually doesnt bug me in the least and I am not arguing the inception of the system. I am worried about the attitude of the end users and the amount of worms which shall be decanned over this..... I have no idea when, but somewhere along the line we have turned from fun loving, thrill seeking individuals to whinging, argumentative gripes! (I suddenly got excited and thought it was Friday! Dammit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted December 19, 2013 Share True. It is a pity. I rode this really awesome trail centre in Wales a couple of years ago and at the start it had metal maps with the route, its profile, distance and rating all layed out. It showed the hairy sections and the fast sections. But next to it was a description which also described the route, the views and so forth. So a black route was also said to be black only in 2 places so as not to put everybody off. I liked that trail centre a lot. I am not saying every place needs such elaborate things. Woodhill Bike Park in NZ has a gazillion trails and obstacles and stuff and the way they did it was to rate everything from family to intermediate, then say after that the rating is up to you, here is a map of out park (in black and white) and the 150km of purpose built single track is yours to play on as you so wish. Children under 16 need supervision, which is written and there are park rules which one needs to adhere to. Like so many things in riding bikes, we as the end users have overcomplicated everything so much that things are constantly going wrong. It actually doesnt bug me in the least and I am not arguing the inception of the system. I am worried about the attitude of the end users and the amount of worms which shall be decanned over this..... I have no idea when, but somewhere along the line we have turned from fun loving, thrill seeking individuals to whinging, argumentative gripes! (I suddenly got excited and thought it was Friday! Dammit) SO true, dude... oh. And it is Friday for me. Off to the mountain tomorrow to put in some much needed, freshly printed SIGNAGE!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grebel Posted December 19, 2013 Share Another thing to consider is that the colour of the rout may just be a name of said route. Nothing stopping the trail centre from calling it the Yellow route but rating it white. As far as I know most most bike parks adhere to the IMBA trail ratings (This can tend to be a bit subjective but for the most part it works) If you are a seasoned North Shore rider than riding most things in SA would be Green routes in your mind. However riding a bike park blue route to a beginner may seem like a double black to them at their skill level.... As far as the use of arrows in races go, that is subject to the course builder. A triple caution might be a 0,5m drop that to a seasoned trail rider will be a doddle but to a soccer mom (No offence to soccer moms...) might seem like jumping a moving train to a the seasoned trail rider. I think those arrows need to be taken in the context of the race. Not sure how close to the mark I am here...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Omega Man Posted December 19, 2013 Share Lol. Tokai DH trails are only just black...By Euro standards Tokai DH is a blue Edited December 19, 2013 by Omega Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted December 19, 2013 Share By Euro standards Tokai DH is a blue Did you read my follow up post, dude? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Omega Man Posted December 19, 2013 Share In my experience the grading std's are based on the same standards used to grade ski slopes. Green = FamilyBlue = Some jumpsRed = Big jumps Some gaps roots for flavorYellow = Little bit gnarlier than redBlack = Super tech & rooty Gap jumps sphincter slamming stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted December 19, 2013 Share In my experience the grading std's are based on the same standards used to grade ski slopes. Green = FamilyBlue = Some jumpsRed = Big jumps Some gaps roots for flavorYellow = Little bit gnarlier than redBlack = Super tech & rooty Gap jumps sphincter slamming stuff Hmmm. Interedasting. By that classification the DH trails in Tokai (and most of the country) would be Red. Jonkers new DH line could also be red / yellow. What would PMB be considered, as compared to the Euro WC standards? Yellow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Omega Man Posted December 19, 2013 Share Hmmm. Interedasting. By that classification the DH trails in Tokai (and most of the country) would be Red. Jonkers new DH line could also be red / yellow. What would PMB be considered, as compared to the Euro WC standards? Yellow? (Disclaimer. This is just my opinion. I can only use what I've seen as a guide) Tokai DH is a blue with 1 red feature. The road gap. The jumps are tiny. I'm just saying what I've seen. Also it has to be said that the grading seems to differ from place to place. The Blue at Morgins would be a red in Les Gets for example and the Blue trails in Chatel are still pretty darn steep. Most of the black trails in France I wouldn't even consider riding down. The new Jonkers line has 2 massive doubles and proper big rock drop/stepdown in it at the top. Those are black features for sure. I've only ridden the PMB track once a few years ago and it was proper. Don't be fooled by the flat bit in the middle. The PMB world cup track is a black. There's some proper HUGE jumps on that track. And some steep ass tech stuff at the top. That money maker jump at the end is FARKING HUUUUUUGE. But we're derailing the OP's thread here. Edited December 19, 2013 by Omega Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinsnyman Posted December 19, 2013 Share The setup at Northern farms makes sense: Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue, red, black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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