SV650.org - SV650 & Gladius 650 Forum - View Single Post

northwind · 04-07-09, 09:48 PM

So, more "What I've been riding". Me and a couple of (far better, far more experienced) mates were back at glentress today, initially to do the black but the humidity was killing us on the first climb so we decided to try something different. So, off to the double black diamond secret trails

These are all either old racelines, "natural" sections, or trailfairy volunteer built- part of it is an abandoned downhill race route, though fairly old so not quite like modern DH tracks.

So, yeah, I've never been so challenged on a bike, some of these are pure murder, the sort of thing you just don't get into unless you know you can ride it, and hard enough that I knew there was a really good chance I'd bin it. So I did walk quite a few bits, there was too much mud for me to be comfortable riding really techy, high consequence stuff (not to mention that I got to watch my mate Chris with his 10 years of trail, race and DH experience fail stuff on his Five Pro immediately before I tried it on my 130mm hardtail...). I walked probably 3/4s of the northshore stuff, I don't really have the accuracy or skill for this sort of thing...

But I'm pleased with the amount I rode, a lot of it when I looked back after I could barely believe I'd attempted never mind ridden. Fell off twice, one comedy slow over the bars moment after I wheeltrapped and another fairly fast one after I washed out the front on a rooty, steep descent- though it's in mature forest so the surface was very soft, nice to fall in. I'll definately be going back up there sometime when it dries. But don't tell anyone, it's a secret! And the next time someone tells me "there's nothing technical at glentress" or "GT is nothing but crushed stone, no natural features", I'll laugh in their faces...

Still bloody bottled the entrance to the Wormhole once we got back on the main black, but OTOH I cleared Double X which is a section I avoided previously.

Then, having been all rad and awesome and possibly even knarly, we decided to ride down the Blue

27mph down Good Game

You don't even need to jump the jumps, you just aim at them and fly.

04-07-09, 09:48 PM	#407
northwind Moderator Mega Poster Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: In the garage where I belong Posts: 17,083	Re: The MTB thread So, more "What I've been riding". Me and a couple of (far better, far more experienced) mates were back at glentress today, initially to do the black but the humidity was killing us on the first climb so we decided to try something different. So, off to the double black diamond secret trails These are all either old racelines, "natural" sections, or trailfairy volunteer built- part of it is an abandoned downhill race route, though fairly old so not quite like modern DH tracks. So, yeah, I've never been so challenged on a bike, some of these are pure murder, the sort of thing you just don't get into unless you know you can ride it, and hard enough that I knew there was a really good chance I'd bin it. So I did walk quite a few bits, there was too much mud for me to be comfortable riding really techy, high consequence stuff (not to mention that I got to watch my mate Chris with his 10 years of trail, race and DH experience fail stuff on his Five Pro immediately before I tried it on my 130mm hardtail...). I walked probably 3/4s of the northshore stuff, I don't really have the accuracy or skill for this sort of thing... But I'm pleased with the amount I rode, a lot of it when I looked back after I could barely believe I'd attempted never mind ridden. Fell off twice, one comedy slow over the bars moment after I wheeltrapped and another fairly fast one after I washed out the front on a rooty, steep descent- though it's in mature forest so the surface was very soft, nice to fall in. I'll definately be going back up there sometime when it dries. But don't tell anyone, it's a secret! And the next time someone tells me "there's nothing technical at glentress" or "GT is nothing but crushed stone, no natural features", I'll laugh in their faces... Still bloody bottled the entrance to the Wormhole once we got back on the main black, but OTOH I cleared Double X which is a section I avoided previously. Then, having been all rad and awesome and possibly even knarly, we decided to ride down the Blue 27mph down Good Game You don't even need to jump the jumps, you just aim at them and fly. __________________ "We are the angry mob, we read the papers every day We like what we like, we hate what we hate But we're oh so easily swayed"