Observations of mountain biking from the past 30 years

[Tubbsy]

Stromlo was a bit different as its mostly paid for by the government and grants so a bit trickier to do some volunteer work.

Since Iconic took over the trail building they’ve introduced semi-regular community days that get a decent turnout.

Kowalskis have them too from time to time.

 

[The Duckmeister]

Hard to wear out a rock garden.

Traffic and weather can conspire to make rocks grow, especially at the bottom of a garden. It's rather disconcerting to reach the end of a rock garden that you've ridden for years to find that the gentle run-out at the end has turned into a precipitous drop that you don't have momentum to glide over because the enlarged rocks have sapped your speed.

 

[frenchman]

trails need to flow - not be flow trails.

build trails. Everywhere. If they get shut down, build it again. Legitimising trails just turns them into 800mm IMBA approved benched highways anyway.

Ride an endurbro bike? then u should have have a chainguide - “my chain hasn’t dropped is a shit excuse. Ride hard and it will

Those annoying 14yo kids making TikTok’s are probably massive bellends, but they are the future of riding scary shit. U want awesome natural hand cut trails? Get the kids on board. The flow trails are for middle aged white guys that can’t hack gradient and off camber.

Good Trails are not sustainable. Fact. It’s always evolving, new lines, bigger gaps, wider ruts, more open corners.

Brakes are a safety device, spend big on them.

Riding out of a massive nosedive is the best spectacle any of ur mates will witness.

Peer pressure works - shame ur riding buddies into doing the features they wouldn’t do. Chances are they will make it through and thank you later, or u watch ur m8 hit the deck like a wet fish and u all laugh about after.

here’s a picture of a kicker that was put in today.
it’s a blind hip and I’m too scared to hit it no brakes. Go and swing ur shovel.

 

[Jabubu]

I feel special now, you always give me kudos
I thought the Rb strava thread was more about setting a goal to hold yourself to account, not a competition.


But on topic

-29er wheels are faster, but are not for everyone

This and motivation to get be as far up the leaderboard as possible - it helped motivate me to do one more uphill run.

 

[jrewing]

Sometimes it is, although I've been attending our local ones in Majura, Canberra and there's been quite a few young guns turning up to give a hand, certainly earning their turns.
Stromlo was a bit different as its mostly paid for by the government and grants so a bit trickier to do some volunteer work.

See, Faries dont turn up or need persmission. Do they even exist? Or make noise if no ones there to hear it..

 

[jrewing]

trails need to flow - not be flow trails.

build trails. Everywhere. If they get shut down, build it again. Legitimising trails just turns them into 800mm IMBA approved benched highways anyway.

Ride an endurbro bike? then u should have have a chainguide - “my chain hasn’t dropped is a shit excuse. Ride hard and it will

Those annoying 14yo kids making TikTok’s are probably massive bellends, but they are the future of riding scary shit. U want awesome natural hand cut trails? Get the kids on board. The flow trails are for middle aged white guys that can’t hack gradient and off camber.

Good Trails are not sustainable. Fact. It’s always evolving, new lines, bigger gaps, wider ruts, more open corners.

Brakes are a safety device, spend big on them.

Riding out of a massive nosedive is the best spectacle any of ur mates will witness.

Peer pressure works - shame ur riding buddies into doing the features they wouldn’t do. Chances are they will make it through and thank you later, or u watch ur m8 hit the deck like a wet fish and u all laugh about after.

here’s a picture of a kicker that was put in today.
it’s a blind hip and I’m too scared to hit it no brakes. Go and swing ur shovel.
View attachment 404294

Potato cam or my ageing eyes? I cant make out what that is? Accurate description of where my ridings going haha

16 yr olds think theyre king shit. Yeah i suppose we all were once… Me in my 20’s on a 26 dually was hitting sthat was as gnarly back then, more so because little wheels. Now ive got issues holding me back, like my sore back! Knees hips, ankles, thumb eye sight.
Thank god Tik Tok didnt exist

But i love that Mantra Build it and if its knocked down build it again.

 

[shiny]

So do I. Only problem is the old me is kicking my ass regularly.

Yep. Every ride. Stupid fit and fast old me. Get back from a ride that felt fast check Strava. Nope you slow old man. Oh well had fun.

Pretty lucky here in SA lots of trails to test your skills. There is a few flow trails but several local choices to test my (lack of) skills.

Randells is one. From my place it’s a narrow hand cut single track up with heaps of switch backs and rocks. Only cleared it all a few times without dabbing then the DH is just rocks down a hill. Pick a line and hold on.

 

[downunderdallas]

Death to Flow trails. Turn to Shit in months and require loads more maintanence than raw trails.

This is true the turn to shit part but they can be a huge amount of fun when they are in good nick. There is a reason a lot of them get built all over the world. Plus sometimes I have a sore back and don't want to ride non-stop rock gardens, I'm getting old.

 

[ozzybmx]

Randells is one. From my place it’s a narrow hand cut single track up with heaps of switch backs and rocks. Only cleared it all a few times without dabbing then the DH is just rocks down a hill.

Came up it today, I expect to clear it every time on my eeb but the last 3 corners are techy, it's a random chance, yep done it, faaark dabbed.

 

[yuley95]

Death to Flow trails. Turn to Shit in months and require loads more maintanence than raw trails.
Dropper posts were awesome, even though
I held out forever.
Trail fairies are the true heroes of Mtbing.

There’s a place for flow trails but the proliferation of them kills me. They turned some nice natural ‘flowing’ singletrack at Mt Buller into flow trails a couple of years ago and fucked them. They became so smooth it’s like riding on footpaths.

Give me some janky shit that makes me think, gives me natural features to gap and changes with wear.

To add to the OP:
- The advancement in lightweight, breathable and effective protection has been awesome. I almost never go out now without my lightweight full face, knee pads and elbow pads. These days I hardly ever need to have the dreaded post ride ride shower over fresh wounds as I try and gently scrub out the dirt

 

[Dozer]

Believe me, this shits us too. We'd run a monthly ride to reduce the intimidation factor of coming out to "race" but if one person gets hurt and decides it was our fault for not thinking for them the club is fucked.

I did mean to add to my original post that I think clubs are 94% of the problem with the direction mountain biking is going. I ran a club for yonks and tried to make it as care free for all involved as possible. I ran the thing basically by myself and staged some of the biggest events we've seen. People tried to jump in and make money off my hard work so I turfed it. The lazy bunch of people trying to get rich all disappeared and my beautiful trails that staged some of the most fun events ever have decayed. It should never be about making money. Geez, my speadsheet says I'm $15,000 out of pocket for what I pumped into it. Still, I had one of the world's leading commissaires tell me my trails were the best presented he's seen, was very proud. I also loved a comment from a visitor who said my events were so fun and reminded him of some wild west kind of adventure.

A relatively new issue I'm seeing develop is club's being awarded government grant money to build new trails. It sees as though the clincher to get the money over the line is saying you're hiring trail building experts to build trails for adaptive cyclists. I'm not aiming to sound like an arsehole here but this does not help the development of trail networks beyond easy wide green trails that suit only a handful of people Australia wide. For sure, build trails to suit adaptive people getting out for a fang around but build trails to suit all levels of riding skill, not just one. And a $500,000 grant for a guy to spend six months on a digger to build one trail is a rip off. I could build the same trail by hand in that time and you'd still have $450,000 left over.
The club system stinks and you're all just running scared of the big bad insurance man. That is a big problem in this country and dictates far too much of getting people involved in riding bikes.
It isn't really public knowledge but I'm part of the reason MTBA went arse up. They didn't support mountain biking whatsoever and were nothing more than an insurance company. The amount of money they wanted clubs to pay them to host a big event only to have no support with staffing an event was fucking outrageous and needed to stop. It stopped.

 

[Stredda]

No propped up university study will ever match the visual destruction e bikes are causing to single track. If this fact is something people deny then that backs my point that people are buying $20,000 e bikes, finding the green trails and being wanker heroes about it. If you can't pedal your mountain bike up a trail without getting off, get the fuck off the trail with your e bike.

As I said before, people were short cutting switchbacks, making Strava lines, riding muddy trails and skidding into corners long before Ebikes were a thing. If you are that concerned with damage to the trails just ban all bikes and there will be no wear on the trails.
Lumping all the blame of trail damage on Ebike riders is just as bad as people saying that all cyclists break the road rules.
I ride a normal bike and an Ebike and I also manage trail maintenance, so what boat am I in?

 

[Jabubu]

As I said before, people were short cutting switchbacks, making Strava lines, riding muddy trails and skidding into corners long before Ebikes were a thing. If you are that concerned with damage to the trails just ban all bikes and there will be no wear on the trails.
Lumping all the blame of trail damage on Ebike riders is just as bad as people saying that all cyclists break the road rules.
I ride a normal bike and an Ebike and I also manage trail maintenance, so what boat am I in?

The boat that gives back to the trails.

 

[Cardy George]

I did mean to add to my original post that I think clubs are 94% of the problem with the direction mountain biking is going. I ran a club for yonks and tried to make it as care free for all involved as possible. I ran the thing basically by myself and staged some of the biggest events we've seen. People tried to jump in and make money off my hard work so I turfed it. The lazy bunch of people trying to get rich all disappeared and my beautiful trails that staged some of the most fun events ever have decayed. It should never be about making money. Geez, my speadsheet says I'm $15,000 out of pocket for what I pumped into it. Still, I had one of the world's leading commissaires tell me my trails were the best presented he's seen, was very proud. I also loved a comment from a visitor who said my events were so fun and reminded him of some wild west kind of adventure.

A relatively new issue I'm seeing develop is club's being awarded government grant money to build new trails. It sees as though the clincher to get the money over the line is saying you're hiring trail building experts to build trails for adaptive cyclists. I'm not aiming to sound like an arsehole here but this does not help the development of trail networks beyond easy wide green trails that suit only a handful of people Australia wide. For sure, build trails to suit adaptive people getting out for a fang around but build trails to suit all levels of riding skill, not just one. And a $500,000 grant for a guy to spend six months on a digger to build one trail is a rip off. I could build the same trail by hand in that time and you'd still have $450,000 left over.
The club system stinks and you're all just running scared of the big bad insurance man. That is a big problem in this country and dictates far too much of getting people involved in riding bikes.
It isn't really public knowledge but I'm part of the reason MTBA went arse up. They didn't support mountain biking whatsoever and were nothing more than an insurance company. The amount of money they wanted clubs to pay them to host a big event only to have no support with staffing an event was fucking outrageous and needed to stop. It stopped.

Thankfully we're in that 6% and with both Mrs George and I on the executive committee we intend to keep it that way. We both know our club is in the middle of Butt Fuck Nowhere and our intention is to put on the best show we have the resources for, not to make money out of it.

One of the other executives wants trail builders to come in and turn our park in to Wonderland. I'm dead against it. Our park is flat already, with a few hand built features, there's nothing I've seen machine built that we don't already have. I'm already preparing myself to be disappointed with what they've done to the Forrest trails. He also keeps wanting to target caravan parks to get their riders in. Again, fuck off. Yes, visitors are more than welcome, but one time riders do nothing for supporting what we're doing.

And the insurance thing. We're affiliated with a Memorial Sporting Club and they provide a significant amount of funds, so if they say cower to the insurance gods, we really don't have a choice.

 

[jrewing]

I hate this insurance fear that seems to have come the last decade.
Has anyone lost their House and had their animals destroyed over an Out the front door moment to a First timer?
Luckily Awaba isnt dumbing their DH track down.

 

[bigdamo]

Ahh the scourge of E-MTB's. I was talking to a mate who has a E-mtb ( I do not yet) He says E-MTB are like what we had in the earlier 80'S when snow boards started making there way on to ski resorts and told no way your not coming on the lifts you damage the slopes cause injuiries blah blah blah.
Perisher relented and let them use two lifts the t-bar on the link between Smiggins and Persiher ( only one side of the link and a fair hike to get there) and the beginers rope tow. Look at Snowboarding now ski resorts can't spend enough to get boarders to their resort.

As my mate say's in another 5-10 years all the hoo-ha will be forgotten.

I see a pecking order out in the bush. Hikers dislike mtb, mtb dislike motos( and now dislike E-mtb) motos dislike 4wds You can throw horses some where into the equation. They probally dislike all of the above.

 

[Jabubu]

Ahh the scourge of E-MTB's. I was talking to a mate who has a E-mtb ( I do not yet) He says E-MTB are like what we had in the earlier 80'S when snow boards started making there way on to ski resorts and told no way your not coming on the lifts you damage the slopes cause injuiries blah blah blah.
Perisher relented and let them use two lifts the t-bar on the link between Smiggins and Persiher ( only one side of the link and a fair hike to get there) and the beginers rope tow. Look at Snowboarding now ski resorts can't spend enough to get boarders to their resort.

As my mate say's in another 5-10 years all the hoo-ha will be forgotten.

I see a pecking order out in the bush. Hikers dislike mtb, mtb dislike motos (and now dislike E-mtb) motos dislike 4wds You can throw horses some where into the equation. They probably dislike all of the above.

I don't dislike e-bikes, I dislike the accelerated wear on the trails and lack of resources to address said wear. Perhaps our trails are more sensitive to it but it wouldn't be an issue if more money could be funnelled to more regular upkeep. Trail etiquette from all bikers is exceptional here too so that's one less thing to be worried about.

 

[fjohn860]

But 150 spares who ride randomly.

 

[shiny]

Came up it today, I expect to clear it every time on my eeb but the last 3 corners are techy, it's a random chance, yep done it, faaark dabbed.

Yup. Got to time it just right or dab time. Need to go full Clarkson and POWER over the tech

I don't dislike e-bikes, I dislike the accelerated wear on the trails and lack of resources to address said wear. Perhaps our trails are more sensitive to it but it wouldn't be an issue if more money could be funnelled to more regular upkeep. Trail etiquette from all bikers is exceptional here too so that's one less thing to be worried about.

Interesting. We have a heap of boomer scooters in SA not seeing extra wear on the trails but unfortunately not doing any trail fairy work either due to family taking up spare time. Really need to slot some in.

 

[Minlak]

Interesting. We have a heap of boomer scooters in SA not seeing extra wear on the trails but unfortunately not doing any trail fairy work either due to family taking up spare time. Really need to slot some in.

I would suggest a little confirmation bias happening in a lot of these cases - our trails have eroded surely the weather has never changed exactly the same winds and rainfall all the time - and n=only the 5 actual mountain bikers now use our more popular trails - oh wait I saw an E-Biker - yup it all adds up must be the E-bikes!