Which discipline do you want to kill off???

[thecat]

The difference between dirt jumps and the 4x / DH jumps is that you can pace your self on dirt jumps. No one is beside you (aka 4x) at you don't move at a race pace. The penalty for failure could be worse on 4x / dh jumps because of this.

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Your are preaching to the converted but try telling a land manager/council that.

 

[thecat]

stupid me posted in wrong section

 

[FR Drew]

Re Dirt Jump Comps:...

ONCE we have some legal dirt jump trails here in the ACT, I have every intention that there will be jump comps held.

If we have a legal trail, why the heck not?

This is the whole point. DJ has as much right as XC, DH, Observed Trials or any other bike sport to be a legitimate sector of the competition circuit. the only thing standing the in the way is that by and large (Cam's Jump Jam, Newton's Playground and the Red Bull Dirt Pipe notwithstanding,) the whole DJ scene is underground, secret and on illegal trails.

Get legitimate trails and you become a legitimate sector of the MTB scene.

Some of us are working hard for this. DJ is on the up, not something that's going to be killed off.

 

[team get sum yer goose]

Some more on dirt jumps...

I know that we don't have airt jump park outside of Tahmoor in NSW, but I can't really see why when there are jumps such as
- the triple treat at Stromlo. The first is now fixed to be very easy but initally it was a monster - and ended up being closed for racing anyway. The last is actually not that hard but there is a significant rock / boulder thing that's asking for some trouble. Sort of thing maybe best for a dirt jump park?
- Ebenezer 4x track has a massive jump, so big that lines close to it are bunted off. When 4x is about cheeky lines jumps such as this are more dirt jump than 4x.
- Blue Mountains 4x track (name escapes me at the moment) when the b-line when between the a line double. I've heard that this will be / has been changed. This jump and the jump in the track after it are again best for a dirt jump park.

What I'm getting at here is that there are dirt jumps in use at NSW MTB events that constitute dirt jumps. Downhillers shouldn't have to be able to clear a significant rocky double to get good times, and 12 meter jumps in a 4x track don't seem to be about close racing.

I've seen moves pulled on these jumps that could win a dirt jump comp! I've seen backflips at 4x races, blah blah blah.

May not be officially organised but are we sure there is no jump comp at some tracks already?

ps. I'm not bagging any of the above tracks, they just have features relevent to this discussion.

was it kurrajong you were thinking of?

i think there should be a big push to help publicize such events as newtons playground etc etc, so people see that when the right precautions are taken its really isnt as dangerous as they think. the people who you see getting taken to hospital at races are in many many case people who arnt wearing the safety gear, like body armor and even simple cheap gear like knee pads and elbo pads. eg, i have had only one injury in mtbing ever (which is quite an achievement for someone as accident prone as me ) and that was because i wasnt wearing my knee/shin pads.

what in saying is, that if they make all the safety gear mandatory it is going to become a much safer sport, and seen by other people (landowners willing to host an event) that thses sports dont have as large a risk as perceived.

 

[FR Drew]

And when you can't get 2/3 of the riders at a skate park to even wear a freaking helmet because it violates their style code, what chance in hell do you think you have for knee and elbow pads, let alone fuller body and neck armour?

 

[thecat]

was it kurrajong you were thinking of?

i think there should be a big push to help publicize such events as newtons playground etc etc, so people see that when the right precautions are taken its really isnt as dangerous as they think. .

It's easier to do that with events than general trails.

With Newtons, for example, we had control of the site. We took the liability on board and limited it by controlling who could do the jumps, who couldn't and what safety gear they had to wear.

Outside those event times is where councils get nervous. If it's an open trail how do you control who uses it? how do you make sure it's in a good state of repair?

These are questions that should be able to be answered, it's no different from a skate park or, for that matter, a park or footy oval but getting land managers to see this is the battle we are having.

 

[MoonRunX]

Which discipline do you want to kill off

So heres your chance to tell us what you want to see on aFwarez

How do you think we can spruce this place up a bit?