W2ttsy
Likes Dirt
hey guys,
here are some PM conversations ive been having with Bearl about the Tassie DH round...
since the information may be useful to more than him, i thought id post it up...
hey bearl,
it depends on the weather. if it can dry out nicely enough, then it should be a nice dirt/dusty track (the way it was intended), however the rain that we are hoping will stay at bay could make the track quite muddy (so pack change of clothes and wet weather tyres). then the course will be way more challenging.
glen jacobs has rated it world cup quality, and personally i think thats a slight exageration. sure there are lots of technical sections (3 rock gardens, lots of off camber sections, some nice little drop ins (2 - 3 feet)), but all of the sections have b lines and in some cases its probably just faster to hit the A-line (rock gardens for instance)..
as for the road gap, its not just a straight point and shoot affair. you have to bunny hop right as you leave the jump to boost some extra air if you want to clear it properly. as i said, its not something you decide at the last minute. you have to get into the mindset, and then be committed well before you hit the last turn...
personally, ive hit the gap, and find that its faster and more stable to take the b or c line... the b line is a 2 foot step down that is next to the jump, and the c line is a little down ramp that is too the far left of the jump. personally the c line is fairly tricky as its exit doesnt really point to the next section, so if you do hit it, you have to swing hard left (which can be tricky at speed)....
if you are on a dually then none of these sections will be difficult at all, as it can all be soaked up by the suspension. hard tail riders are going to have to pick their lines alot more carefully tho... smoothness and cleaning of lines is more essential than speed in this track.
also, the bottom 3rd of the track, right after the fireroad sprint will be a speed catching affair. it is fairly fast, and less technical through this part. and the bottom section (about 100 meters up from the road gap) is very very very fast. there are no obsticals other than a few turns, the road gap, another drop and some small root sections (which you can just gap off natural rises in the track). it would be quite easy for you to hit around 70km/h through there. i was pulling 69km the last time i was on the track in that section. its all open and fairly obstical free. it would have to be the most enjoyable part of the track. a great way to make up time.
just hammer it hard and when you hit the "highway" (the big open section at the end) & just jam it into gear 8/9 and go for broke. the big "50 footer" is a table that is easy as pie to hit. nice take off, and a solid landing, which will shoot you into a berm, another smaller table, and then a sprint to the finish line.
the big world cup style sprint jump at the end is going to be the best part...
gap to finish y0!
hey brad...
your bike will help you out alot i reckon... the track is very rough in some sections, so i guess that a smooth suspension action will make a big difference. i can tell you that my mates v10 is way better on the track than another mates demo9, or my d8, simply because of the bikes design...
and yeh, theres been a lot of hype surrounding the track, both in terms of "omg check out the leet jumps" and "oh cant wait to race it yeh", which makes it hard to actually get an idea of whats really going on...
at the end of the day, smoothness and clean lines will get you down the track faster than someone who balls it thru all the section and holds on for dear life (ie: james maltman)..
inside info: its raining hard at the moment, which means there will be the high possibility of a very wet track, so i recommend packing the wet weather tyres and your GOGGLES!
ive ridden the track both dry (dusty) and muddy, and i would take dusty any day... muddy just introduces an unwanted problem. it then becomes a challenge to keep the bike on the straights, let alone when you get to the tech areas...
im running a set of specialised roller pros (sworks edition) and ive found them to be ok in the wet (ie wet grass, pavement) but suck a bit in thuck mud...
im not really sure which sort of tyre would be good. possibly a tire with a wide shallow tread, so that mud cant get all clogged in it...
hopefully these questions and answers will provide info for others with a similar question...
if not, feel free to PM me, or post here and i will try to answer the questions.
W2ttsy
here are some PM conversations ive been having with Bearl about the Tassie DH round...
since the information may be useful to more than him, i thought id post it up...
bearl said:
hey bearl,
it depends on the weather. if it can dry out nicely enough, then it should be a nice dirt/dusty track (the way it was intended), however the rain that we are hoping will stay at bay could make the track quite muddy (so pack change of clothes and wet weather tyres). then the course will be way more challenging.
glen jacobs has rated it world cup quality, and personally i think thats a slight exageration. sure there are lots of technical sections (3 rock gardens, lots of off camber sections, some nice little drop ins (2 - 3 feet)), but all of the sections have b lines and in some cases its probably just faster to hit the A-line (rock gardens for instance)..
as for the road gap, its not just a straight point and shoot affair. you have to bunny hop right as you leave the jump to boost some extra air if you want to clear it properly. as i said, its not something you decide at the last minute. you have to get into the mindset, and then be committed well before you hit the last turn...
personally, ive hit the gap, and find that its faster and more stable to take the b or c line... the b line is a 2 foot step down that is next to the jump, and the c line is a little down ramp that is too the far left of the jump. personally the c line is fairly tricky as its exit doesnt really point to the next section, so if you do hit it, you have to swing hard left (which can be tricky at speed)....
if you are on a dually then none of these sections will be difficult at all, as it can all be soaked up by the suspension. hard tail riders are going to have to pick their lines alot more carefully tho... smoothness and cleaning of lines is more essential than speed in this track.
also, the bottom 3rd of the track, right after the fireroad sprint will be a speed catching affair. it is fairly fast, and less technical through this part. and the bottom section (about 100 meters up from the road gap) is very very very fast. there are no obsticals other than a few turns, the road gap, another drop and some small root sections (which you can just gap off natural rises in the track). it would be quite easy for you to hit around 70km/h through there. i was pulling 69km the last time i was on the track in that section. its all open and fairly obstical free. it would have to be the most enjoyable part of the track. a great way to make up time.
just hammer it hard and when you hit the "highway" (the big open section at the end) & just jam it into gear 8/9 and go for broke. the big "50 footer" is a table that is easy as pie to hit. nice take off, and a solid landing, which will shoot you into a berm, another smaller table, and then a sprint to the finish line.
the big world cup style sprint jump at the end is going to be the best part...
gap to finish y0!
bearl said:
hey brad...
your bike will help you out alot i reckon... the track is very rough in some sections, so i guess that a smooth suspension action will make a big difference. i can tell you that my mates v10 is way better on the track than another mates demo9, or my d8, simply because of the bikes design...
and yeh, theres been a lot of hype surrounding the track, both in terms of "omg check out the leet jumps" and "oh cant wait to race it yeh", which makes it hard to actually get an idea of whats really going on...
at the end of the day, smoothness and clean lines will get you down the track faster than someone who balls it thru all the section and holds on for dear life (ie: james maltman)..
inside info: its raining hard at the moment, which means there will be the high possibility of a very wet track, so i recommend packing the wet weather tyres and your GOGGLES!
ive ridden the track both dry (dusty) and muddy, and i would take dusty any day... muddy just introduces an unwanted problem. it then becomes a challenge to keep the bike on the straights, let alone when you get to the tech areas...
well hopefully the weather will improve. i think there are going to be a spate of small sunshowers, followed by sun, so we may get a decent track...bearl said:
im running a set of specialised roller pros (sworks edition) and ive found them to be ok in the wet (ie wet grass, pavement) but suck a bit in thuck mud...
im not really sure which sort of tyre would be good. possibly a tire with a wide shallow tread, so that mud cant get all clogged in it...
hopefully these questions and answers will provide info for others with a similar question...
if not, feel free to PM me, or post here and i will try to answer the questions.
W2ttsy
