OK _ Went for a ride on Sunday and for our good luck we met up with the lady who owns the land yesterday, and it responsible for maintaining and guiding the track development of the horse riders there.
A few points. We have made a semi-formal arrangement with her about where each of us rides. She was quite happy at the understanding that the MTB's are free to ride what they want on the left hand side of the track, but attempt to stay clear of the right hand side. She said she doesn't mind track work done on the left, but asked for no obsticles to be built on the right, simply becuase her horses don't like them and they tend to distract the horse on their ride. Also they horses will destroy them and she doesn't want them being made bigger and stronger as it will one day hurt one of her horses.
We made it quite clear that she is to tell other horse riders on the track that if they see someone who is building obstacles on the right hand side of the track (as you look from the start of the track) to kindly tell them not to. Excessive language can be used at their choice. Also there are sections of the track they are shared, where both tracks meet and run for a short period, no track work there has been requested.
Also - now this is a message to the people doing track work on the left hand side of the track. There is some nice work there - and there is some absolutely shocking work. More attention needs to be paid to the safety of the other riders. If no effort is mae to make it safer for other riders, especially on the sections of Northshore, and no effrorts are made to provide B-Lines on the more technical parts of the track, then some riders might become annoyed and remove the unsafe obstacles.
Below are some photos of the track which I took on my ride, with some talk on them.
This is the beginning of the track. There are two distinct entries, left and right. Please keep the right hand track for Horse use and minimise the use of MTB"s through there.
This is the first "real" jump, there is a smaller rock jump before this. This is an example of good work. Clear B-Line, well designed and re-inforced.
This is the looking down shot (looking directly on top). The steep northshore on the reverse side is an excellent exaple of deisgn. If someone hits the jump to slow they can roll-over it and not stuff up their landing. THere is plenty off room too for a good sized jump and landing for beginners and amateurs.
This is some tree-made nothershore across a small section of a rut. Well made, very sturdy, not too obtrusive.
Here is a reverse shot (looking back at it)
This is the first "run" of northshore in the track. This has both good points and bad points which I will demonstrate.
This is a good point. Excellent entry, nice smooth start, well designed section. Embedded well in the dirt, minimal safety issues.
Yet only 1 metre further on there is a major issue. This is a photo looking back up the northshore on the first section desacribed above. This is a join from one section to the other. A small tree branch has been used for the second section with a piss poor connection. It wobbles, is not sturdy and will be one of the first sections to go when it does. Note the use of the word WHEN, not IF.
This is another example of some piss poor engineering in place. This is a cross beam which is one of the main supports for the northshore. Sure it is made from treated pine and will weather well, but is SITTING on top of a bent 44 gallon drum. I know that this is so it doesn't embed itself too deep, but what is to protect it from lateral movements?
Below are before and after shots of the northshore ending. The left hand one is from two weeks previous, and the right hand photo is from our ride on Sunday. The end of the Northshore has been risen by about 2 feet to make it a jump, something I was clearly not expecting. I broke hard and had to bail quickly not to hurt myself on this.
What annoys me here is the fact there is no B-Line off the end, it is jump or nothing, and the fact that it is chaning overnight with no warning is what is going to kill or hurt people. I could do the drop previously, but now it is too much for me.
This next section is too scary for me to ride it, and too bloody dangerous as it was, even more so now.
This is a rather large drop here, about 2 - 2.5 metres where someone has built a northshore ramp down. In theory it is good but the workmanship on the ramp is shocking to say the least. There is no correct support, nothing to prevent it slipping and the wood used does not appear to be strong enough for consistent use. The beginning of the ramp is the worst.
Now what has made it worse is the inclusion of a pallet at the beginning which makes a drop onto this poorly constructed ramp. One day someone is gong to hit it and end up with wood right through them, very dead!. One redeeming fact is the clear B-Line to the left of this monstrosity as seen in the third picture.
This next image is looking back on the northshore "death trap" ramp.
This next section would have to be the "Icing on the Cake" award for ultimate stupidity.
To cover a gap, which is seem running across the bottom of the photo, some 'genius' has place an unaltered pallet acorss this gap with the gooves facing in the direction of travel!. I know some beginners who ride this track and could easily get caught out on this idiotic peice of laziness. This will be the first to go if things don't change.
So to those who wish to modify and use this track.
1. Try to stick to the LEFT!
2. ALWAYS give way to the horses at ALL TIMES.
3. If you build an obsticle, make it for ALL skill levels, if this means spending an extra hour building a decent B-Line, then do it, it could be someone's arm, leg, hand, neck you save.
