Samurai Pizza Cat Posted October 12, 2015 Share Coming from the Jonkerhoek thread.... Trail ratings should not be about distance. It should be about the skill level required to ride the trail. For some reason some South African trail centers rate trails according to the distance and fitness level required to complete these trails. For example a "black" rated trail is often the trail with the most elevation and also the longest trail, while the green family trail will be the shortest trail at the park. Just because the trail is long, and has lots of climbing does not make it black. If it has no features that require advanced skills, but it is 60km, and has 1500m vert climbing, it is still a green trail. Once we start using the same grading system the rest of the world is using, our trails will be much safer, and it will also be easier for riders to progress their skill levels. The problem is that one trail centre rate a trail Blue because it is somewhere between green and red in distance. Next week someone with limited skills go ride a Blue trail somewhere else, but this TC correctly rated the trail according to the IMBA and this time the rider have to negotiate obstacles and features that is completely out of his comfort zone. The net result: The rider gets hurt and never returns to the second trail center. The first TC stays business with mediocre trails, and the second TC closes down or remove all the fun stuff. Which brings me to my next point: Stop naming trails after colors. Unless all the trails are true green / red / blue / black trails, the trails should have a name, followed by the rating. IE Banana Skin...10km...Rated Black...according to the guidelines laid out by the IMBA. ( Not rated according to the opinion of your neighbor on his XC Hardtail.) The same goes for warning signs: Only use warning signs when there is an actual obstacle that the rider have to be careful off. Putting up warning signs for every little change in the trail is going to get people hurt. A drop off is something with a step, it is not a slight incline in the trail. I can go on about skills vs fitness, and the lack of features on some trails, but I'll leave you guys to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henningvr Posted October 12, 2015 Share Come and take a spin on the trails here at Tranquilitas. The trails are properly graded according to technical difficulty. The black trail on the other side of the road is the shortest of the lot (+- 4km). But know this - it *is* black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisan Posted October 12, 2015 Share Not really disagreeing with your argument, but the IMBA (green / blue / black) rating system is aimed at "Rat(ing) Technical Challenge Only". And a lot of our local trails are currently using this international standard. What am I missing? Edit: wording Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samurai Pizza Cat Posted October 12, 2015 Share Come and take a spin on the trails here at Tranquilitas. The trails are properly graded according to technical difficulty. The black trail on the other side of the road is the shortest of the lot (+- 4km). But know this - it *is* black We love the trails at Tranquillitas...could play a whole morning on the 4x track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samurai Pizza Cat Posted October 12, 2015 Share Not really disagreeing with your argument, but the IMBA (green / blue / black) rating system is aimed at "Rat(ing) Technical Challenge Only". And a lot of our local trails are currently using this international standard. What am I missing? Edit: wordingYou are from the Western Cape...come ride here in Gauteng. Most of our trails are rated according to distance. Technical ability does not come into the equation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uni Posted October 12, 2015 Share Come and take a spin on the trails here at Tranquilitas. The trails are properly graded according to technical difficulty. The black trail on the other side of the road is the shortest of the lot (+- 4km). But know this - it *is* black That little 3km green follow the dog loop is definitely not a beginners loop... sorry about bleeding on your rocks. You are from the Western Cape...come ride here in Gauteng. Most of our trails are rated according to distance. Technical ability does not come into the equation.Agreed. In jhb you get so chuffed that you can move on to blue/red routes and then you get to places like karkloof & tranquilitas and you're back to the kiddies route Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonky Posted October 12, 2015 Share You are from the Western Cape...come ride here in Gauteng. Most of our trails are rated according to distance. Technical ability does not come into the equation. Go ride Hakahana and tell that story again...or is that in North West ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henningvr Posted October 12, 2015 Share You are correct, Sir. I agree, that is the one exception. That little 3km green follow the dog loop is definitely not a beginners loop... sorry about bleeding on your rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmptyB Posted October 12, 2015 Share Does get a bit confusing so more uniformity would be cool. Particularly when you get to some places with colours like purple and orange with no description or indication of difficulty... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samurai Pizza Cat Posted October 12, 2015 Share Go ride Hakahana and tell that story again...or is that in North West ? I think it's still Gauteng??? Hakahana is definitely excluded from this discussion, but I've never really noticed the colors of the the trails I've been riding...I just pedal to the fun sections and try not to hurt myself. (Are the trails graded by color?) If we had more trails like Hakahana I wouldn't have started this topic in the first place. Trying to find "fun" trails in and around Joburg is getting to be a problem. Hakahana is quite a drive, and you can only ride the Spruit so many times in one week. Wolwespruit is pretty cool, but once again, the black section is more like a tech blue, maybe red. The jump line is fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mntboy Posted October 12, 2015 Share Coming from the Jonkerhoek thread.... Trail ratings should not be about distance. It should be about the skill level required to ride the trail. For some reason some South African trail centers rate trails according to the distance and fitness level required to complete these trails. For example a "black" rated trail are often the trail with the most elevation and also the longest trail, while the green family trail will be the shortest trail at the park. Just because the trail is long, and has lots of climbing does not make it black. If it has no features that require advanced skills, but it is 60km, and has 1500m vert climbing, it is still a green trail. Once we start using the same grading system the rest of the world is using, our trails will be much safer, and it will also be easier for riders to progress their skill levels. The problem is that one trail centre rate a trail Blue because it is somewhere between green and red in distance. Next week someone with limited skills go ride a Blue trail somewhere else, but this TC correctly rated the trail according to the IMBA and this time the rider have to negotiate obstacles and features that is completely out of his comfort zone. The net result: The rider gets hurt and never returns to the second trail center. The first TC stays business with mediocre trails, and the second TC closes down or remove all the fun stuff. Which brings me to my next point: Stop naming trails after colors. Unless all the trails are true green / red / blue / black trails, the trails should have a name, followed by the rating. IE Banana Skin...10km...Rated Black...according to the guidelines laid out by the IMBA. ( Not rated according to the opinion of your neighbor on his XC Hardtail.) The same goes for warning signs: Only use warning signs when there is an actual obstacle that the rider have to be careful off. Putting up warning signs for every little change in the trail is going to get people hurt. A drop off is something with a step, it is not a slight incline in the trail. I can go on about skills vs fitness, and the lack of features on some trails, but I'll leave you guys to it. Yip grading is so incredibly important! Skills progression is very much linked to confidence and confidence is linked to what you can successfully handle on the bike. The more you know which grading of trail you can handle the easier it becomes to gain the skills necessary to be able to ride trails with higher grading. I think it is fair to say that each individual rider is responsible for his own skills development, not that assistance from experienced friends and coaches aren't valuable or unwanted - it does need to be asked for (and paid for if it's a coach). Also there are a number of useful resources for this. Similarly if you plan on riding at a Trail Centre you've never ridden on before it is a good idea to get as much information on that Trail centre as you can, preferably from someone who works there or from their website. Which leads me to this point: Trail builders are tasked with the difficult job of creating awesome fun trails that have challenging features/obstacles on them. It would be fair to assume that when they sit down to plan a route they keep in mind what grading they want to build at. Nothing wrong with a bit of mix and match as long as it remains within the limits prescribed by IMBA for the grading they are using and as long as it has the additional benefit of encouraging further skills development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicNacDH Posted October 12, 2015 Share I believe the differences is in the "trail builders mind", if there would be just only 1institution that has the right to "Grade Trails", than there would be something uniform.All the trails would be rated correctly, and the trail builder just gives each a name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gen Posted October 12, 2015 Share You are from the Western Cape...come ride here in Gauteng. Most of our trails are rated according to distance. Technical ability does not come into the equation.Which reminded me of this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gen Posted October 12, 2015 Share I have no idea how trail rating works..when I do get to actual trails, I just close my eyes and wing it and hope for the best.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odinson Posted October 12, 2015 Share Here's the Reader's Digest version of the OP: Trails should be rated according to the IMBA standard. The distance a trail covers does not affect its IMBA rating. Graded trails should be given names with which trails of different lengths/distances can be identified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Potgieter Posted October 12, 2015 Share I see a business opportunity. Start a company that spends some time overseas thoroughly understanding the difference between the trail ratings. Come back here. Assist local trail builders in grading the trails and possibly even design work to ensure a safe but standardised approach to the trail rating. You wont make millions, but by george, you'd have heaps of fun. hmmmmm......anyone want to partner up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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