Bike Park Route Markings

[BruceNotTheBoss]

Background info: I've been mountain biking on a "regular" basis for approximately 10+ years now, I am in the Pretoria area and frequent the parks in and around me. I personally (not saying I don't) am not the biggest fan of hitting the open trails and then telling the story of how the guy with a knife jumped out of the bushes and stole my wheels... if I do I prefer it in bigger numbers.

Okay, (don't know if I should name drop but anyway here goes..) When I started out, The Big Red Barn was my place of choice, I liked going there because every time I rode there I found new sections I had missed the previous time. Then I realized that the route markings were so bad that I was pretty much just making up my own course. I then started trying out some of the other courses and found that there were some that had good markings to follow and others where you could also make up your own route as you go along, whilst hoping to see your car again 😁

Now I know that there are a bunch of parks out there, all over the country, that have amazing routes that are properly marked for first timers to enjoy. I can also appreciate that it costs lots of bucks to run a good setup. But imagine going on holiday taking your bike with so that you can try out a new park near the sea then getting so lost that you have to send a pin so that someone can come and find you...yes this really happened 🤪

I would like to think that I am not challenged in this area and maybe I am but I have seen a number of guys that have had the same experience and have stopped at intersections trying to figure out which path to take only to land up at the same place a little later. Some parks even have a "map" with different colors for each route showing where various paths cross or linkup (Hello Wolwespruit), now this should make sense but when out on the trails holding on with white knuckles and you get to an intersection and there are Blue wolves, Red wolves, Green wolves ... all of a sudden you realize that by not having a photographic mind, you cannot for the life of you remember which color links with which and now the map is a blur ...so you do that thing that you do in a multiple choice exam...you pick the middle one, only to run into a bunch of dog walkers who are now very pissed with you for riding on the walking trails. There is even a sign that says "EASY Route" in the middle of a Y junction...too late, all of a sudden you are back at the start.

On a happy note, I rode at Red Barn for the first time, after a short absence, to find that they had re-marked their trails to be legible, clear and easy to understand... you see it's not that hard

 That's the gist of my temper tantrum ...lol 

I'm sure there are a number of you guys out there that have had similar experiences at the parks you ride at or maybe it's just me.

Anyway, feel free to run with it 😎

[Nico van Loggerenberg]

Unfortunately a pretty common problem. Trailforks helps but it shouldn't be too hard to get it right on the ground.

[Steady Spin]

Red Barn is very clear thanks to excellent markings. They are upgrading their signage at the moment to be even better. 

Wolwespruit can to eat a bag of phallic objects with their excuse of trail markings. 

 

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

Yes, the signage at Wolvespruit can be confusing. Have found myself on walking trails and also found walkers on cycling trails.
The only suggestion I could make is take a pic of the map for reference but then again the signage should be such that it is not needed.
You do tend to learn the trails though and the new flow line on the top makes up for all the hiccups IMO.
 

[Headshot]

I can see why there may be problems - Red Barn has so many tracks stuffed into a relatively small area. Good use of the terrain but no doubt a bit of a maze too. Down here in CT we just take our bearings off the 'Berg and never bother with signs or maps. Same on our roads 🙂 

 

Edit: I also note that the TF trail descriptions are basically non-existent and I suspect this applies to most of the Gauteng bike parks. Perhaps its time for you okes to approach them to get their Trailforks admin done and provide proper descriptions and access info. 

Edited October 18, 2022 by Headshot

[The Ouzo]

I've done Rietvlei about 4 or 5 times and somehow always seem to miss large portions of it. Very poor markings from them.

[Tokyo]

57 minutes ago, Steven Knoetze (sk27) said:

Yes, the signage at Wolvespruit can be confusing. Have found myself on walking trails and also found walkers on cycling trails.
The only suggestion I could make is take a pic of the map for reference but then again the signage should be such that it is not needed.
You do tend to learn the trails though and the new flow line on the top makes up for all the hiccups IMO.
 

MMMM I was thinking for doing a night ride at Wolvespruit next week but maybe I should go there in the day time first 

[Blokman]

In my youth I was a rep with a tape and samples and I measured buildings for flooring. You would arrive at the site office. 

Foreman thats been on site for two years : " Ok , so blue in the staff toilets first and second floor safes. Light brown supervisors office and chemical store. There you go." Rolls up the drawings. 

Same thing at the trails. The owner/ trailbuilder knows the trails so well he can ride them with his eyes closed. And  assumes that the riders will know that this tiny board , planted at an angle at a crossing means you go there , not there Domkop. 

 

 

 

[Sandro]

I've never ridden the same route at Wolwespruit twice 😂

[Sandro]

This was at Buffelsdrift, their trails are generally very well marked but this one had me at 50/50 guessing.

[eala]

Been riding Wolwe from day one .I pick my own route nowadays. Can get scary for the small kids when they visit for the first time and get lost  

[VincentHolloway]

Maybe we should go the international route instead of doing our own thing and just include a name for the trail, A Line, B Line etc.

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, Blokman said:

In my youth I was a rep with a tape and samples and I measured buildings for flooring. You would arrive at the site office. 

Foreman thats been on site for two years : " Ok , so blue in the staff toilets first and second floor safes. Light brown supervisors office and chemical store. There you go." Rolls up the drawings. 

Same thing at the trails. The owner/ trailbuilder knows the trails so well he can ride them with his eyes closed. And  assumes that the riders will know that this tiny board , planted at an angle at a crossing means you go there , not there Domkop. 

 

 

 

 

Did Jonkershoek for my first time on Monday afternoon ... all alone on the trails.

 

Firehut 1 and 2 was sort of okay .... guess the TWO arrows pointing into the road with no access sign should have told me all I needed to know about signage on these trails ....

 

Back at the start I wanted to do the trails to the left .... circled three times before I figured out you need to pass the no entry signs, staying on the road ... once around the corner I saw the start of the trails ....

 

Climbing, the signage was okay ... though more than once you just had to carry on before seeing the next sign ....

 

 

Coming down was a disaster !!!  Lots of missing signs, no logical flow .... eventually saw another rider coming up, stopped and waited ... he just smiled and quickly pointed out where to go.  Once on the red route it followed logically ...

 

 

Local knowledge HELPS to fill in the gaps

 

Riding with others on the trails it is easy enough to fill in the gaps ....

 

 

Riding solo, with zero local knowledge .... 

 

My lesson learnt .... simply not enough signage to go solo the first time.

 

 

 

I think the only trails we have ever done blind, and had perfect signage, has to be the Hermanus trails, aka Hemel and Aarde trails

Edited October 18, 2022 by ChrisF

[WhuYu]

Hennops Bike Park is well marked, not easy to take wrong turn there.

[Rolf Hansen]

I find Big Red Barn very well marked.

The worst I find to be Van Gaalen's. I really like their trails but if you don't know where you are going you keep guessing all the time. If you are used to doing a little distance it is not so much of a problem but if you intend on just doing a short <10km or so you might be in for a surprise.

Northern farms I did not find too troublesome but we once found someone on the trail around 30km in. He was so exhausted, had no water left and had no idea where he was or how far he had gone. He thought he was still on the short 8 or 10km trail. He lost focus because of fatigue and had a nasty fall on his face just before we found him.

Wolwespruit is not well marked at all. It is easy to find yourself at exactly the same place after a few km. I have done Wolwespruit so many times so I usually know where I am or at least the direction that I need to go. I know of many people who have only been there once and refuse to return because they got so lost.

Last weekend we went riding at Wolwespruit and for those who have been there will know that on the highway side of the trail there is a very nice and easy flow trail that requires no pedaling. This is on the easy green family trail. What they have done, I assume to make it a little more fun for more experienced riders is to add a small but very steep jump on the right section of one of the bumps/jumps. There is no warning or indication and a child/inexperienced rider might not see what it is before it is too late. My brother hit the steep jump as it was directly in his line and subsequently we had to take him to Kloof Mediclinic for quite severe injuries. There is no warning or sign of any kind and it is part of the family trail.

[stephenplumb]

I suspect that it depends on the bike park, but places like Wolvesrpuit have no excuse, as they have more than enough support to do maintain the trails properly. I was complaining that they never do maintenance on the trails and some riders were agreeing, and that very weekend I found that they had in fact done some maintenance on the berms on the way down. 

I have also got lost in Big Red Barn, but mostly I find their signage okay, but have been going there for a while. It is difficult to compare the KZN parks as their vegetation grows unlike anything in Gauteng, but Giba George seems to have team working all the time and even when they have storms, they are up and running again in a few days. Hard to compare with Cascades, where it is mostly volunteers that keep the trails running. 

In general my epxectation is that if I am paying decent money, to ride, then the trails should be maintained properly, but if it is free or volunteer maintained, then the standards can be a lot lower. 

I rode recently for the first time in Karkloof and that was great, but I believe we were there shortly after they had remarked the trails. Definitely going back there again. I think they are somewhere in between as they seem to ride out of the country club, but Sappi does most of the trail maintenance. If you get lost there, however, you may well be riding for hours, as it is a huge area. 

Like the OP, I have close to zero sense of direction, so I am pretty reliant on trail marking in general.