Dear Trail Builders

[Chadvdw67]

1 hour ago, YaseenEnos said:

as many has alluded to here, are we just not overbiking in most cases?

We are, definitely, I decided to buy a big ass Enduro bike and I live in GP 🤣🤣 have changed the shock and airshaft in the fork so I now have a big trail bike, and it is still way over gunned, but, I love it......

[MORNE]

Meh, go string together some urban gnar lol. Concrete staircases also up the stakes quite a bit if it’s the rush you are chasing😅

[Headshot]

26 minutes ago, MORNE said:

Meh, go string together some urban gnar lol. Concrete staircases also up the stakes quite a bit if it’s the rush you are chasing😅

Ya, precisely. On my close to home green belt/TM  tracks I have put together a 20km loop that has 500plus m of climbing, a scary when wet rubber mat descent (20% or so), a trailside rock drop, a sight-line free series of corners, a trailside rocky ramp followed by a tiny kicker and a steepish but mellow double drop... the list goes on. There is also a bit of urban stuff to ride down/off if you look. 

[Robbie Stewart]

A bit late back to the party - sometimes I need to get some work done too 😁

I ride mostly Conties Black Rhino, Bloemendal flow and Hoogekraal Skills park on the local trail network these days. Conties for the jank, Bloemendal when I'm lazy and Skills park for that very reason - skills.

It took met 2 visits after my ankle was able to hit big jumps again to clear the big intermediate jump line all the way to the bottom.

As what @ChrisF references, I see so many people pedalling past without even once taking a cursory glance at what's available. Each time I ride there, its the same faces. Each time. Even after a 7 month hiatus due to aforementioned broken ankle, upon my return, again the same faces.

I see a new line at Hoogies being plumbed by none other than Duran van Eeden, so there's something to look forward to. His trail building prowess needs no introduction as he has a rather large hand in Hellsend.

I do venture out to Jonkershoek Armageddon and Red Phoenix, Banhoek, Plaisir etc. more and more these days, but with the prices of diesel these days that is not such a frequent occurrence as I'd like. I am already consuming a tank a week as it stands for work.

I have to confess to not having ridden Tokai yet. The price has been the major issue I have with riding there. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but a day-pass to ride there seems exorbitant for what you get in return, at least, that is what I have been led to believe by mates who have ventured out that way before.

But look, I'm not looking for the gnarliest, jankiest, craziest lines out there, just some variation in skills that do not require me to simply point the wheel down the trail and push "go" on the autopilot. It seems of late that the trails in general are all the same old, same old and are mostly there for the " ek ry 100km per dag, my bru" crowd.

How about for instance adding one or two options at Hoogekraal for instance that would enable me to actually use the skills I've been learning by riding the skills park, instead of limiting me to only riding the skills park since a lap over the hill by contrast would be the equivalent of taking a step back. Maybe add a A and a B line option, where A is a gap and B is a table of the same size that is rollable. That way you get best of both. Some adrenaline for those seeking it, and some upskilling options for those who opt to roll the table. 

In hindsight, reading my post again, did I just describe Berm Park ? I wish . . .
 

[MORNE]

I have the photos of a split open face, plastic surgery and shoulder X-rays of a posterior dislocation with a nice V groove sawed into shoulder ball by the shoulder blade to prove that if you go fast enough on a melo trail and run out of talent…ssshit can still be scary and go wrong big time haha. 
 

ps: bike was ok.

Edited May 23, 2022 by MORNE

[capediver]

21 minutes ago, Headshot said:

Ya, precisely. On my close to home green belt/TM  tracks I have put together a 20km loop that has 500plus m of climbing, a scary when wet rubber mat descent (20% or so), a trailside rock drop, a sight-line free series of corners, a trailside rocky ramp followed by a tiny kicker and a steepish but mellow double drop... the list goes on. There is also a bit of urban stuff to ride down/off if you look. 

That "scary when wet rubber mat" slide even gets me shaking in the dry!!!!

[Rock Guy]

Aah, my favorite topic again!

Soon we'll have okes rolling in here to say we need to fill up the gaps in the gap jumps to make more table tops.

On a side note, I was under the impression that Status Quo doesn't exist anymore. Last time I went past there MTO were logging that area. And to my knowledge it hasn't been open for a good few years now. Is it up and running again? Any plans to revive it?

edit: and also, TYGERBEEEEERM!!!!

Edited May 23, 2022 by Rock Guy

[Pure Savage]

Agreed!! Fish Hoek Main road was basically like the Arenberg Forest Paris Roubaix. Now, the DA got that strip resurfaced 2 weeks ahead of schedule and is now like riding most trails in Conties, super smooth. 

If we want to replicate a bit of Roubaix now, we have to ride to Simons Town where the new shopping centre is or past the entrance to Cape Point. They have EVEN started resurfacing the horse tracks in Constantia and adding CURBS! Next they going to add street lights.

There are just fewer and fewer places for practicing this lost art, thanks a lot DA.

[Headshot]

@Robbie Stewartyou mention the cost of travel to Stellenbosch, for instance. I used to head out to there or Wellington far more often  but cost and time constraints mean it hardly happens anymore. Even Tokai, which is barely 10km from home seems a tad far on an enduro bike (and still have juice to ride all the fun stuff) and too close to drive to, hence my reliance on the green belt/TM tracks. That said, I'm looking forward to going for a post work spin at Hoogies one of these days when the new descent is open.

Tokai requires a bit more than one visit to appreciate unless you have time and energy (battery power?) to ride everything in a day. It is still the busiest trail riding area in the country based on Strava and Trailforks data. This is partly because it is close to a very big urban area with no other options for proper MTB tracks within 30km.

[Headshot]

16 minutes ago, Pure Savage said:

Agreed!! Fish Hoek Main road was basically like the Arenberg Forest Paris Roubaix. Now, the DA got that strip resurfaced 2 weeks ahead of schedule and is now like riding most trails in Conties, super smooth. 

If we want to replicate a bit of Roubaix now, we have to ride to Simons Town where the new shopping centre is or past the entrance to Cape Point. They have EVEN started resurfacing the horse tracks in Constantia and adding CURBS! Next they going to add street lights.

There are just fewer and fewer places for practicing this lost art, thanks a lot DA.

Dude you so wrong. There are historic cobbles all over the back roads of Kalk Bay, or are these too steep for those ridiculous gear ratio's you ride. Bladdy roadies 🙂 

[Pure Savage]

5 minutes ago, Headshot said:

Dude you so wrong. There are historic cobbles all over the back roads of Kalk Bay, or are these too steep for those ridiculous gear ratio's you ride. Bladdy roadies 🙂 

You are looking at the KOM holder of those historic back road cobbles, its just a little "little" when the longest one is 380 meters long...

Edited May 23, 2022 by Pure Savage

[Mtree]

21 hours ago, ChrisF said:

 

And yet the Leat skills park is probably the least used part of the trails .... it is just possible that Maritz have done more laps at Leat than many adult club members.

 

When the flow trail next to Lombards Terra opened the paramedics were there constantly ....

 

 

Which all just prooves your point about the typical skill level ...

Went to the park on a Sunday afternoon and there was not another soul in sight, even after I went OTB.

Haven't ventured back yet, but need to at some point, confidence takes a huge knock when coming off like I did.
Simple issue was I wasn't carrying enough speed...

[PregoRoll]

Joburg is in dire need of steezy trails. 

[Eddy Gordo]

5 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

 

But I do agree that if you eliminate Plumber and Status, Jonkers and Tokai have a similar feel to them and in general are just fun to ride. Nothing to trouble the scorers with if you have decent skill. 

 

This is what happens when you employ the same builder to build trails. Tokai had a good thing going years ago. There are or maybe now there were people who were willing to sacrifice some serious man hours developing those trails, but things have changed. Now even tygerberg are using the same builders. 

[Eddy Gordo]

2 hours ago, Robbie Stewart said:

A bit late back to the party - sometimes I need to get some work done too 😁

I ride mostly Conties Black Rhino, Bloemendal flow and Hoogekraal Skills park on the local trail network these days. Conties for the jank, Bloemendal when I'm lazy and Skills park for that very reason - skills.

It took met 2 visits after my ankle was able to hit big jumps again to clear the big intermediate jump line all the way to the bottom.

As what @ChrisF references, I see so many people pedalling past without even once taking a cursory glance at what's available. Each time I ride there, its the same faces. Each time. Even after a 7 month hiatus due to aforementioned broken ankle, upon my return, again the same faces.

I see a new line at Hoogies being plumbed by none other than Duran van Eeden, so there's something to look forward to. His trail building prowess needs no introduction as he has a rather large hand in Hellsend.

I do venture out to Jonkershoek Armageddon and Red Phoenix, Banhoek, Plaisir etc. more and more these days, but with the prices of diesel these days that is not such a frequent occurrence as I'd like. I am already consuming a tank a week as it stands for work.

I have to confess to not having ridden Tokai yet. The price has been the major issue I have with riding there. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but a day-pass to ride there seems exorbitant for what you get in return, at least, that is what I have been led to believe by mates who have ventured out that way before.

But look, I'm not looking for the gnarliest, jankiest, craziest lines out there, just some variation in skills that do not require me to simply point the wheel down the trail and push "go" on the autopilot. It seems of late that the trails in general are all the same old, same old and are mostly there for the " ek ry 100km per dag, my bru" crowd.

How about for instance adding one or two options at Hoogekraal for instance that would enable me to actually use the skills I've been learning by riding the skills park, instead of limiting me to only riding the skills park since a lap over the hill by contrast would be the equivalent of taking a step back. Maybe add a A and a B line option, where A is a gap and B is a table of the same size that is rollable. That way you get best of both. Some adrenaline for those seeking it, and some upskilling options for those who opt to roll the table. 

In hindsight, reading my post again, did I just describe Berm Park ? I wish . . .
 

I thought that Sam Reynolds, Nico Vink and Clemens Kaudela, built the darkfest line?

[Jewbacca]

1 minute ago, Eddy Gordo said:

This is what happens when you employ the same builder to build trails. Tokai had a good thing going years ago. There are or maybe now there were people who were willing to sacrifice some serious man hours developing those trails, but things have changed. Now even tygerberg are using the same builders. 

Personally I don't think Tokai trails are 'worse' than they used to be due to builders.

The old snakes through the trees, bluegums etc were pretty timid trails.

The old DH line that split into Lizard was also pretty timid.

Retto and Duran did a lot of work at various times in recreating the trails after the fire and after the harvesting. 

Duran also built a fair amount of Helderberg and that is quite scary in places. 

Gradient is a big thing. Tokai lacks steeps and is pedally. Jonkers even lacks steeps for the most part. 

I like riding Tokai. It's a throwback to a simple time. I ride there from home, do my loops and ride home. 

It's a cool network to be able to loop as the climbing is quick and it isn't a massive commitment like Jonkers. 1 x Irish climb and big descent is quite an effort. Doing that 4 times to cover most of the 'good' trails top to bottom on the left side of the valley is a big day. 

Tokai you get to do a snakes loop, a DH to AM loop, bridal path and a full DH to car park and it's only a couple of hours.