Death of the Technical Trail?

knucklebuster

knucklebuster

Well-Known Member
<a class="postlink" href="http://blistergearreview.com/features/the-death-of-the-technical-trail" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://blistergearreview.com/features/t ... ical-trail</a>

The article is a long read and just a few peoples' opinion in it. What's yours?

Personally I don't think it's that black/white (i.e. groomed purpose built flow vs natural techy mountaingoat stuff), but my preference is the out back natural stuff that has a mix of techy stuff and flow, which is possible to get on some rides but maybe not so much on just one single trail. I'm thinking the opposite ends of the spectrum are Snow Summit on one side and some off grid Laguna or more techy Santa Ana Mountains trails (my Orange Co. centric perspective, not that familiar with the Gabes or farther reaches up north)

Just a discussion starter if anyone has any strong feelings about it one way or the other. Had a few of these discussions with people when doing trail work, i.e. "what do mtbikers really want?"
 
I love naturally technical trails, and I like berms and small jumps, drops and step ups. If the terrain allows for both, great. I do love some steep terrain with rock roll-downs, and some fast chunky natural rock gardens. I love quick turns at speed. Flow trails are the way to go if there are no natural obstacles to work with - like Meadows in Aliso. Flow trails at bike parks are fun too, if they have the right features for the intended rider (beginner, intermediate, advanced, crazy). Many bike parks offer both flow trails for differing abilities and chunk trails (Winter Park, Northstar, Whistler and more).

So - bottom line for me is, build a flow trail if you don't have the gradient or natural features to do anything else. Build or maintain steep, chunky trails where the terrain allows - but make them flow in their own way so it's not just a slow rock crawl. And of course, if you are going to build a flow trail with jumps, offer different sized jumps for differing abilities/desires. In short, do it all! I'll help. :thumbup:

Hell I would be happy just to have legal access to some of the gems in my own back yard. They offer both flow and natural, steep chunky terrain. Or so I've heard. :twisted:
 
When trails turn from social to legal the process of sanitizing starts. I vote for more of all types of trails. Just because I like smooth buff old man rides does not mean other types of trails should not be out there.

Dean
 
I feel there are many 'Natural Chunk' trails in SoCal. The reality is that 98% of the off-road community prefer easy smooth trails., which means it is tougher to find others to ride the chunk trails with. I have found this to be true in the MTB world and OHV world. The guys that enjoy the more technical trails may disagree but it is true.
 
I want to see more trails like the Holy Jims out there. I'll never ride them, except by accident, but I think those who enjoy self-abuse should be allowed to abuse themselves :P

In the same vein, no one should be allowed to sue for being injured on any trail. If you choose to ride, you accept the possibility of injury/incapacitation/death.

Also in the same vein, ...oh, who am I kidding. I'm not emperor so none of this will come to pass. :cry:
 
Now that I think about it, I ride a variety of bikes and a variety of routes just to vary the level of technical demand. If a trail is not interesting enough on a FS, I ride it on a HT next time. Because there is technical stuff, I opt for a more capable bike. It's to make it so I can ride if fast without less effort, as if the trail was smoother. Errr, I mean ride it faster than others or faster than what I expected from myself. I like fast, and smooth just happens to be fast, so I can't say I don't like smooth. On smoother trails, the features stand out more, which make the trail interesting.

Going by what I heard from the Soquel Demo Forest Flow trail, it's a hit. It manages to hit the sweet spot between boring and scary, in the fun and challenging zone, for riders of all skill; the challenge increases as speed goes up, apparently. Kind of surprised I don't hear much about traffic being a bummer. It's a 1-way trail, so that helps.

There's some weathered, raw, rutted out trails that were used for an Enduro mtb stage race nearby which I don't have much motivation to ride, especially when something like Sycamore Canyon is nearby, which offers hard-to-resist instant gratification.
 
I like it all. 8-)
Mild to Wild...
I know when I'm out of my league, and to get off and walk. :? Just don't fence me in.
 
I figure, in the end, people just ride what's nearby. If enough man hours were invested in a trail, and it was welcoming enough, then it would likely be worth the travel planning to check it out.
 
Varaxis said:
I figure, in the end, people just ride what's nearby.
Click to expand...

Thankfully I think you are right. Although I live in Laguna I tend to drive to San Gabs and San Berdos for local riding. These days I ride more on road trips than local. I have always been drawn to new dirt and exploring.

Dean
 
"what do mtbikers really want?"
Click to expand...
More trails.

rocky, tech, flow, puss, gnar, easy, hard, whatever. Just give me more places to ride please. Hard for me to complain if a new trail is being built and it isn't "hard" enough or that other trails are being "dumbed down" I don't care as long as I can still ride them. But then, I'm more your XC type / all mountain rider. I don't really care if the trail has enough chunk or techy challenge. in fact, I guess I actually like a smooth buffed single track over a giant pile of boulders that I have to dismount and walk over because I don't know the line or want to pay the penalty for failure.
 
Mikie said:
+1 on that Dean. I love new dirt and usually willing to drive for it!
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I certainly wish I had to time to go out consistently hit up new trails. Consistently enough to really enjoy it. The first time out to a lot of places, even with a guide, I'm still in exploration mode and can't make the most out of it. This applies to places that I may hit up just a few times a year too.

There's nothing like knowing exactly how hard you can hit something like the Grissom Park climb at the Floop. ;)
 
CarlS said:
rocky, tech, flow, puss, gnar, easy, hard, whatever. Just give me more places to ride please. Hard for me to complain if a new trail is being built and it isn't "hard" enough or that other trails are being "dumbed down" I don't care as long as I can still ride them. But then, I'm more your XC type / all mountain rider. I don't really care if the trail has enough chunk or techy challenge. in fact, I guess I actually like a smooth buffed single track over a giant pile of boulders that I have to dismount and walk over because I don't know the line or want to pay the penalty for failure.
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Perfect, completely agree!
 
Stuff doesn't have to be deadly to be "technical" IMO. The modern machine-built trails are fun in their own way, but go ride something like "Got Milk" in Utah or the pre-fire Coffee Pot in Idyllwild, or much of the inventory of unsanctioned trails in OC. and you'll see that trails that "just happen" are more interesting, and occupy your mind a whole lot more, even when they're not just massive rock gardens and cliffs. These trails just follow the deer/cows wherever they go, and your attention is forced to focus on the 25 feet of trail directly in front of you, and use technique (hence "technical") to get through the natural terrain. On a machine built trail, everything gets predictable and you end up riding the trail stupid fast just to make it interesting.
 
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