EWS Round 1: Rotorua

[Capricorn]

way to go Sam Hill : smoking them on the 7th and last stage. Pulling in 9th overall is damn sharp. Even bigger props to Wyn Masters: 3rd overall? sick.

[niterider]

Nigel, some thoughts on the tracks...

 

The Whakarewarewa forest (stages 1-6) broadly speaking has two kinds of tracks, technical rooty ones through the native forest like what you've mostly seen on the EWS, and then more flowy tracks through the pine plantations.

 

The native tracks are all hand built and mostly un-maintained - whatever lines get cut in, or roots that get exposed, that's what the track becomes. The result is pretty technical tracks that are hard to get a flow on, and that require constant work to figure out the line. This weekend was a bit sketchier than normal because of the rain a few days before that meant the roots got a coating of mud, making grip a bit of a lottery in places.

 

The pine plantation tracks are a bit wider, faster and flowier. Many of them are machine built and made to be durable, since they get a lot of traffic (a lot more than the native tracks). Only stage 6 (which cobbled together several of non-mainstream DH lines - not machine built.) and stage 4 (easiest trail of the race) went through the pines.

 

Stage 7 at Skyline Park was mostly the same track that they ran the downhill race on the day before, with the gap jumps and rock gardens removed. It was riding easier as the week went on, as the very off-camber bits got benched in slightly. 

 

There were three local enduro races here in the lead up to the EWS (October, December and February). They made them increasingly harder to get people ready for the EWS. October's race was grade 3 and 4 tracks. December's was mostly grade 4 and 5, and Feb's was mostly grade 5 with a smattering of grade 6. The EWS was all grade 5 and 6, apart from the second half of stage 4 which was grade 4.

 

The trail grading system here is as follows:

Grade 3 - INTERMEDIATE: Steep slopes and obstacles possible on narrow track, plus poor traction.

Grade 4 - ADVANCED: Long steep climbs, narrow track, poor traction and obstacles present. Some parts may be easier to walk.

Grade 5 - EXPERT: Technically challenging, giant climbs, narrow track, drop-offs, sharp corners, some bike carrying required.

Grade 6 - EXTREME: Extremely steep sections with large drop-offs and other unavoidable obstacles. May include man-made structures and jumps.

 

It's difficult comparing with the tracks in Cape Town. There's nothing the same as the native forest really, although Jonkershoek does (did?) have a few good technical lines that I'd call grade 4 or 5. Definitely nothing that sustained that difficulty for as long a time.

 

Thinking of tracks that we've built locally (in East Auckland) recently, we're not afraid to have steep bits, eg sustained 30+% decents with technical features and turns, nor to leave sections un-benched for some off-camber interest. A part of that is due to the cost of building tracks here - labour is really expensive and so its cheaper to go straight down the hill on a 500m track with average 15% gradient, than meander our way down over 1.5km at 5% gradient.

 

Hope some of that is useful for you

[niterider]

Oh, and with regards to pedalling, it might be just for short pinches. Of course the pro's were pedalling on anything that was even mildly flat. The courses are very much DOWN. 

[nigelhicks]

dude thats awesome thanks

 

I have a very tight line to thread here with our series as it is still just a provincial series - so needs to cater for most riders - but i am slowly uping the game as I want it to be international standard by next year. ... But i also dont want to marginalise the new riders. so its a tough ask.

 

But its interesting to get takes on it from guys outside of SA as it gives a better perspective to what the world is doing ....

 

By next year - I am basically wanting one stage of 4 to be a provincial DH track with no jumps that they have to race ... but as its only year 2 of our regional series I know its baby steps - 

 

We will see the reaction from the next race we have in 3 weeks time - DaveD and I scouted trails today ... and they are steep, rooty and Downhill .... got to go build now ... 

 

got so much inspiration from watching those videos of rotorua.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

dude thats awesome thanks

 

I have a very tight line to thread here with our series as it is still just a provincial series - so needs to cater for most riders - but i am slowly uping the game as I want it to be international standard by next year. ... But i also dont want to marginalise the new riders. so its a tough ask.

 

But its interesting to get takes on it from guys outside of SA as it gives a better perspective to what the world is doing ....

 

By next year - I am basically wanting one stage of 4 to be a provincial DH track with no jumps that they have to race ... but as its only year 2 of our regional series I know its baby steps -

 

We will see the reaction from the next race we have in 3 weeks time - DaveD and I scouted trails today ... and they are steep, rooty and Downhill .... got to go build now ...

 

got so much inspiration from watching those videos of rotorua.

Same, bro.

 

And that's what we want in the new tokai, in places. Vince is going mad with all the plans in his head...

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Nigel, some thoughts on the tracks...

 

The Whakarewarewa forest (stages 1-6) broadly speaking has two kinds of tracks, technical rooty ones through the native forest like what you've mostly seen on the EWS, and then more flowy tracks through the pine plantations.

 

The native tracks are all hand built and mostly un-maintained - whatever lines get cut in, or roots that get exposed, that's what the track becomes. The result is pretty technical tracks that are hard to get a flow on, and that require constant work to figure out the line. This weekend was a bit sketchier than normal because of the rain a few days before that meant the roots got a coating of mud, making grip a bit of a lottery in places.

 

The pine plantation tracks are a bit wider, faster and flowier. Many of them are machine built and made to be durable, since they get a lot of traffic (a lot more than the native tracks). Only stage 6 (which cobbled together several of non-mainstream DH lines - not machine built.) and stage 4 (easiest trail of the race) went through the pines.

 

Stage 7 at Skyline Park was mostly the same track that they ran the downhill race on the day before, with the gap jumps and rock gardens removed. It was riding easier as the week went on, as the very off-camber bits got benched in slightly.

 

There were three local enduro races here in the lead up to the EWS (October, December and February). They made them increasingly harder to get people ready for the EWS. October's race was grade 3 and 4 tracks. December's was mostly grade 4 and 5, and Feb's was mostly grade 5 with a smattering of grade 6. The EWS was all grade 5 and 6, apart from the first half of stage 4 which was grade 4.

 

The trail grading system here is as follows:

Grade 3 - INTERMEDIATE: Steep slopes and obstacles possible on narrow track, plus poor traction.

Grade 4 - ADVANCED: Long steep climbs, narrow track, poor traction and obstacles present. Some parts may be easier to walk.

Grade 5 - EXPERT: Technically challenging, giant climbs, narrow track, drop-offs, sharp corners, some bike carrying required.

Grade 6 - EXTREME: Extremely steep sections with large drop-offs and other unavoidable obstacles. May include man-made structures and jumps.

 

It's difficult comparing with the tracks in Cape Town. There's nothing the same as the native forest really, although Jonkershoek does (did?) have a few good technical lines that I'd call grade 4 or 5. Definitely nothing that sustained that difficulty for as long a time.

 

Thinking of tracks that we've built locally (in East Auckland) recently, we're not afraid to have steep bits, eg sustained 30+% decents with technical features and turns, nor to leave sections un-benched for some off-camber interest. A part of that is due to the cost of building tracks here - labour is really expensive and so its cheaper to go straight down the hill on a 500m track with average 15% gradient, than meander our way down over 1.5km at 5% gradient.

 

Hope some of that is useful for you

So much want...

[niterider]

One of the spots we watched from on Saturday. This is Hatu Patu (stage 5) which along with Kataore (stage 1) are the most tech tracks in the forest (Kataore being a bit harder). I'm the one catching Nico Lau's bike

 

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/401956/

[nigelhicks]

NR - ok so that section in the video ... Its not uber steep, just muddy and littered with roots hey???

 

That roll with the roots at the top that caught Nico's pedal doesnt look vertical ... watching the videos although there are some steep bank drops most is decent grade down but nothing insanely steep ...

 

Am i right? 

[nigelhicks]

NR .... was there a B-line around these drops???

 

because I have some similar stuff that I want to use here - but there is no B-line and therefore we cant use it as only 20% of the field will ride it ...

 

would take forever to build a B-line as well - but still thinking about it as its an awesome section

[niterider]

It's not super steep, but it is off camber with slippery roots. And one root in particular that tripped a few people up. The best line was the high line, but you needed decent speed to position yourself up there.

[niterider]

NR .... was there a B-line around these drops???

 

because I have some similar stuff that I want to use here - but there is no B-line and therefore we cant use it as only 20% of the field will ride it ...

 

would take forever to build a B-line as well - but still thinking about it as its an awesome section

No b-line for something like that since it doesn't look too high. The bigger one (about 5m high) had a b-line, but they are actually all rollable.

 

Remember the guys could practice the course before race day, so everyone should have had a chance to have a look and plan their approach. In the Feb race we had a drop of about 2m that we all rode blind. You just had to roll it slowly so that the dropping part wasn't more than half a metre. We did watch a few others that day try landing it to flat, which wasn't pretty

[niterider]

Coming back to your question about steepness, it's the usual story of the camera taking some steepness out. Some of the corners on Kataore drop steeply, and the two DH stages obviously had big steeps.

[nigelhicks]

Coming back to your question about steepness, it's the usual story of the camera taking some steepness out.

 

Yeah thats why i was asking ... I am trying to put in more and more steep stuff ... but its the balancing act again having to cater for all the riders ...

 

I mean EWS is EWS - so there it can be gnar and its fine ... a regional is a different story, but I also want to push the limit a bit .... So for me B-lines are the only option!!

[nigelhicks]

hahaha at the last Giba event we had we used an amazing off camber steep trail and I heard a comment after from a rider (who doesnt race DH) saying "That one stage was insane, it was harder than a World Cup DH track" ..... I had to laugh ...

[nigelhicks]

hahaha I have just built a corner at Giba for our next Enduro that is almost exactly like the impossible left hand corner from the videos ... 

 

Tons of sniper roots ... hahahha

[Headshot]

Those trails remind me a lot of Knysna - ferns and trees and the potential for great slipperiness. The indigenous forest at Kirstenbosch is also like that.  If you scratched the surface soil away it would also be a mass of roots and the trails would have to be very tight through the trees.

 

Looked like an an amazing event  - thanks for sharing!