As a kiwi, and who’s ridden at Rotorua a few times, I think this is a great idea.
Grading system is all over the place. Grade 5 at Auckland Woodhill is a piece of cake compared to even a Grade 3 at Fourforty downhill park, even though the latter is a shuttled downhill park.
Lots of trails can still be just as fun while reducing consequences. Like as the article says, more signage. Also making consequences on some drops/jumps safer.
Terrifying what this guy suffered. Makes me think if riding is worth it. Wish I knew the details of what happened to see if any extra protection could have helped.
Asleep_Detective3274 on
I agree that trail grading’s aren’t very consistent, but I don’t believe that would have made any difference, it sounds like he changed direction to take an easier line and his handlebar clipped a tree causing him to go over the bars, that can happen on pretty much any track, that’s part of the risks involved in riding mountain bikes, it even states that he crashed on a track he’s ridden many times before, so he knew the track and what to expect.
autech91 on
I wonder if as a community we could chip in to get mtbnz to go round grading all the big trail networks. Signage etc isn’t cheap
infotekt on
An inconsistent grading system is worse than no grading. However, everyone should know that when riding a new trail that you Pre-Ride, Re-Ride and then Free-Ride. especially in a bike park where speeds are high. Never hit a blind feature without checking it out first. I’m not blaming this guy at all because we’ve all had bad crashes and sometimes you just get very unlucky or lucky.
4 Comments
As a kiwi, and who’s ridden at Rotorua a few times, I think this is a great idea.
Grading system is all over the place. Grade 5 at Auckland Woodhill is a piece of cake compared to even a Grade 3 at Fourforty downhill park, even though the latter is a shuttled downhill park.
Lots of trails can still be just as fun while reducing consequences. Like as the article says, more signage. Also making consequences on some drops/jumps safer.
Terrifying what this guy suffered. Makes me think if riding is worth it. Wish I knew the details of what happened to see if any extra protection could have helped.
I agree that trail grading’s aren’t very consistent, but I don’t believe that would have made any difference, it sounds like he changed direction to take an easier line and his handlebar clipped a tree causing him to go over the bars, that can happen on pretty much any track, that’s part of the risks involved in riding mountain bikes, it even states that he crashed on a track he’s ridden many times before, so he knew the track and what to expect.
I wonder if as a community we could chip in to get mtbnz to go round grading all the big trail networks. Signage etc isn’t cheap
An inconsistent grading system is worse than no grading. However, everyone should know that when riding a new trail that you Pre-Ride, Re-Ride and then Free-Ride. especially in a bike park where speeds are high. Never hit a blind feature without checking it out first. I’m not blaming this guy at all because we’ve all had bad crashes and sometimes you just get very unlucky or lucky.