Opinion: Save the Turns, Stop the Straightlines
There's an unfortunate trend that seems to be happening more often at my local trail network – straightening out corners. And I don't mean going a little wider to avoid needing to jam on the brakes too hard. No, I'm talking about blatant straightlines, blasting right down the middle of a beautiful section of squiggles in order to avoid slowing down. All it takes is one or two riders to start taking a different route, and before you know it that becomes the main line, since humans seem to be hardwired to take the path of least resistance.
It's not just KOM-hungry Strava racers that are to blame either – there are other sections where straightlines are developing because the alternative would be to navigate over a series of slippery roots, and maybe a puddle or two, something that requires (gasp) slowing down to avoid getting spit sideways, and some basic bike handling skills.
A slight turn and a little puddle won't hurt you - go right, not left.
I've tried dragging logs over the cheater lines, covering them up with a pile of debris that makes it abundantly clear which way the trail is supposed to go... and then a few days later the straightline will be back again. The concept of stopping to unblock a trail braid boggles my mind, especially since it means someone is too lazy to work on their cornering skills, but motivated enough to stop and open up their own easy off-ramp.
Cornering is one of those skills that most riders will never truly perfect (myself included), and it's a big part of what makes riding so much fun. Mountain biking is supposed to be hard, at least some of the time. Every ride is like a puzzle, a quest to unlock the flow and find the cleanest way through a section.
Corners are for cornering, not cutting. Photo: Sven Martin
Putting in an egregious straightline, whether that's in the quest of speed or in an attempt to make things easier, is disrespectful to the next riders down the trail, and it's disrespectful to the original trail builder. Turns are there for a reason – take the time to enjoy them, to revel in the body and bike movements that are required to maintain momentum.
Yes, I know that this article fits into the 'old man yells at clouds' category, and expressing frustrations over trails being straightened out or dumbed down is a well worn path. However, the fact that it's still occurring, and seems to becoming increasingly common makes it seem like it's worth shouting some more.
Future me, shouting at the sky on my on my wireless brake equipped bike.
Years ago, Seb Kemp wrote a great article over on NSMB that still pops into my mind sometimes. He wrote, “Life is full of twists and turns and we have to train ourselves to deal with bends in the trails of our lives and not slip and fall when we’re faced with a curve.” I'm not going to get all touch-feely here, but there's something to be said for not backing down from a challenge and embracing the awkward. Tight turns and weird technical sections of trail are good for the soul, even if it doesn't immediately seem like it. Spend enough time trying to appreciate the old school, techical jank and you might be surprised – one day it'll all start to click, and flow will appear where it previously didn't seem like any existed.
For that vast majority of riders out there that aren't cutting corners, pat yourself on the back - thanks for playing nice. And don't be afraid to close off straightlines, drain puddles, and remove blowdown (keeping safety in mind, of course) – those small acts of trail maintenance can go a long ways. While you're at it, feel free to knock over any unnecessary stacks of rocks too. Rock stacking isn't art, it's obnoxious and unsightly, but that's probably a topic for another time.
As for the riders that are making those straightlines in the first place, well, the pinch flat fairy will find them soon enough.
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Seriously, if I wanna go straight and coast, I’ll go back to riding.
"Dirty dog straighlines, I hate it when people straightline ma tracks at home....we put corners in for a reason!"
He still got the 2nd fastest of all time, no French lines, first time down the track 1 second off local Remy......
I’ve taken issue with this for years here in the Okanagan where all it takes is one lazy rider or more often ‘hiker’ (read urbanite dressed in MEC gear) to lay a path through our fragile flora and it’s a ‘trail’ or new alignment followed by the masses. Having been an exec on the local trail club, built and maintained trails and trained others to do so, it’s flat out insulting.
Also, that trail is mostly unmaintained as far as anyone can tell and I’d be surprised if the trailbuilder was out there more than once a year.
"disrespectful to the original trail builder"
this is so true..i build trails here and seeing rider straightline the turns makes me want to burry them under that jumps..ahahaha
So it goes.
No chance they get their badges unless they can ride a bike.
I friggin love berms, but appreciate variety too, although I'm less into a trail of more flat turns than more berms.
Also, this notion that a trail "should" go somewhere... wth?! "should" is subjective. It belies values and the underlying skill a rider/builder has or doesn't have. IMO, a trail has a natural flow. Where the builder originally put it is merely a suggestion. Over time, the trail evolves and the natural flow comes out. Stop fighting it, and embrace it. And sometimes, it's ok to have an A and a B line. It allows rider preference and expression to come out. Obviously, there are limits, braided trails to go around perennially wet spots are a problem that need to be addressed lest a trail become 18m wide.
At our local beginner friendly trail network (probably 25 miles of trail) I can go for a 2 hour ride and see literally not a single person, with the exception of a steady stream of riders heading up the climb for the flow trail. They're lapping the same 1 mile loop at the same time I'm riding 20+ miles of different fun trail. Note that we're not talking about anything gnarly or difficult either, just normal XC trails. But people just ride the same thing over and over instead.
For context, the corner in the picture seems perfectly fine and I too wouldn't like to see shortcuts there. I'm primarily advocating creating some banked turns around holes where you'd otherwise have a wide straight section where people would both ride as well as brake too hard.
Long live jank; jank and turns should be able to co-exist.
Also I assume what Iron is talking about is the shitty reworks or sanctioning of trails that turn them into hucks of what they once were.
Where is this place and how soon can I move there?
A lot of the most famous trails in the North Shore were rogue built and have been adopted by the networks and made sanctioned.
I did build some of the trails that I am referring specifically to. Then a group of IMBA-ciles, “adopted” the trails, took full credit for and drastically altered them…
I have since moved on to new territory. Far from their scope of attention.
I can see why VMBA does their own thing.
So yeah, I'm all for line choice but this approach may not prevent trail erosion.
WPB has some of the best lift access gnar on the planet. It is what you make it.
cheers!
I'm dealing with that on a local obstacle. People keep stacking rocks to make it easier to do, even though I'm already capable of doing it on my XC bike. People just want everything be easier/faster.
Narcissitic scourage of our time
Q: Why’d the rock stack get cancelled?
A: It was acting like a Cairn.
Build your rock stack if you have to, but knock it down when you leave.
Cairns are for waymarking.
Rock stacks all over an otherwise pristine river beach are an eyesore.
so it's not just asinine, it's highly damaging.
I build trails myself, it's one of my favourite things to do but it also helps me understand how many lives even a single feature or a few meters of trail takes that you don't get to see. And I'm talking about trails built with much consideration. Machine built trails are another beast. I love them, don't get me wrong. I ride them, help build them but not without guilt and definitely not with a right to judge someone piling up a few rocks. A meter of bench cut does more damage than that. A new life starts below the bench cut or a landing of a jump, which may be a stack of rocks bigger than what a casual rocks stacker doesn't move in a lifetime.
It's good to look at things like Cairns with a critical eye, but I'd look at your own footprint before being too harsh.
Once again, rock stacks and cairns are not the same thing.
I appreciate your concern, but I will continue knocking them over when I see them, thanks.
yes, I'm old too.
In the end, most trails are just a bit of dirt that can be moved around to make a better riding experience.
But the whole trail is not straight at all, so involves a bunch of turns, and (in certain conditions) worst of all, ROOTS. OG line had a tight righthand corner that definitely rolled over various roots that could slide you a bit. I mean, even in dry, it was a pretty techy maneuver, and probably the toughest move on the top part of the trail. But, that fits the whole soul of the trail. Thus the straight line around that is faster, but for what, another hard brake and turn a few feet later? Maybe it was a MidAtantic rider missing some silly tech stuff after a few months in Bellingham, but I loved how annoying that corner was. You could easily curse the builder for that one move that (like evolved into a more) janky root section, but it always got your full attention.
I rode the trail after Dario mentioned it. I noticed that they cleared anything he put on it. I tried to move more on the straight line. Obvs didn't last. Most recent time the OG main line was filled in with other brush like it was the bandit line.
How do you know your opinion matters more than the builder's? Not saying the builder knows it all, but most builders I know also ride their features with other people and receive feedback. What if there's a whole league of riders that like it the way it is and you decide to change it because you didn't build it, but you know better?
The worst culprits are hairpin turns that just aren't necessary and kill the flow of the trail.
They were common in old-school trails and sure it is fine if they are really needed to make the trail go where it needs to go... but a smoother line is often better.
Typically, the local groms build the best trails.
Also, if the trail is legal there’s a good chance a crap-ton of planning, authorization, and inspection went into building the trail. Bushwhacking alternate lines (especially if they promote erosion or make the trail less safe) pisses off people who signed off on the trail in the first place reducing the probability that said municipality will allow more trail building.
Where is the handlebar?
Where is the rear brake?
Is he wearing two backpacks?
Where are his EYES?!
Strapless helmets are the future?
LMFAO
If more builders thought of berms as a way to bend the trail to change your trajectory in a way that conserves momentum, more people would like flow trails.
The vast majority of berms exist because the builder is trying to slow the rider down. And the berms they build don't slow the rider down, they just force the rider to brake. Then the berms become clapped brake bumps. The vast majority of berms I see on flow trails are 180 switchbacks, where you have to brake hard into them, and then have all your momentum killed on the exit of the switchback because the trail immediately cuts back traversing the slope.
Flow trails would require such little maintenance if builders stopped thinking about berms as switchbacks "to slow the rider down" and just thought of a flow trail as a trail that is curved and titled to conserve and embrace the momentum of a rider to require the smallest amount of braking or pedalling possible. When you just copy + paste the same switchback over and over again, people are going to braid your shitty excuse of a trail.
Flow trails don't suck, just the vast majority of flow trails suck. If your trail is clapped out after a month, your a shitty builder who probably doesn't test their shit until after everything's built.
5620 at Revelstoke is my least favourite trail that people are hyped to ride.
I had no say on where the line choice went when I built 5620, it was pre-laid out and after that I never built a trail with 180 switchbacks again. Even on steeper slopes. There's a way to do it.
You want to go straight? Ride a gravel bike or a sidewalk. Can’t handle the obstacles? Go ride a trail more to your skip level.
Take a moment and imagine what hikers think of the results of big bikes ripping around their home area. Let alone when they are terrified some shag on a enduro tearing down (or up on an ebike)through their family hike and they gotta scuttle kids and pets out of the way or SPLAT.
Respect other trail users first.
Respect the trail second.
Respect your priveledge to even use the trail or lose it.
I wont shut you down... they will. And they can be nasty. Barb wire at neck height in colorado springs on a a known trail, bikers not welcome on for example, I rode it many times, the news scared me for real. Big rocks in the key transition landing on others, f××kin ugly if you haulin through there. EVEN WORSE Groups lobby to exclude bikes, and guess what? Best trails in the valley closed to mtb.
Tread lightly and be polite. Be smooth and care for others. And yeah... dont cut the corner or make a new pussy route.
Also this article is just gasoline on a fire. This whole thing is common sense.
2013 size XL wheelbase: 1174mm
2023 size S wheelbase: 1209mm (35mm more)
PB praising the "straight line speed" of the bikes above most other traits certainly has a degree of guilt to.
The actual problem isn't the existence of large and extra large frame sizes. The problem is that most people buy frame sizes that are too big for them. Medium-sized dude should be riding a size medium, not a size large. But because ego and being a manly man and all that, he buys a size large regardless.
At least here, tighter corners help keep trails in better condition over the long haul. The roughest trails in town are the high speed ones that people just brake drag down the whole way...
PS: Let's keep the AI garbage out of at least one place in the internet please, use a real photo, a real artist, or not bother.
This isn't meant to be an attack on flow trails, advocacy or newer riders. It's simply stating an unpopular truth and that's that our trails are notably easier today than they were 10 years ago. We've created this culture of - if we can't ride it than it needs to be changed. I want to climb Mt Everest but can't climb - am I to advocate that an escalator be installed to get my ass to the top. No. It's no different at ski resorts and yet, for some reason, the mountain bike community struggles to wrap it's head around this tricky idea that some things are hard - and should always BE hard. @mikekazimer - huge props for using this platform to address this issue. It's encouraging to see this conversation being had and hopefully it leads to the sport starting to grow instead of stagnating in simplicity. Respect.
Ergo sanctioned trails get made easier. Unsanctioned trails are left creative to a trailbuilder's vision
Agreed! MTB is supposed to be hard but not everyone shares the same perspective of what hard is. Some riders like to race downhill and straightening out the corners is a part of racing. There is nothing wrong with a hard climb but some would rather use the e-assist so they can focus on going hard downhill through the gnarliest rock garden they can find. Don’t knock someone just because their goals and perspective of hard differs from yours. Live and let live. In the end we all love bikes and being in the woods.
Like a rock climbing route, unlocking the "puzzle" of the trail is what makes it fun and gratifying when you do unlock it.
Its occured to me (clearly with this article) that the humble PB comment board is something of a sub culture unto itself within the MTB community as a whole. Like a blow-off valve from the real (sometimes shitty / depressing world).
Anyways. Ya - corners are fun, lets keep them.
Going to guess it's because I've never built a berm.
Punji sticks in the straight line so line cutters get impaled is a nice final touch
Pressure plates that trigger poison darts and release a house size boulder that chases you down the trail is how the old timers did it.
They almost brought their guns into the forest to duke it out like the old west.
And now? The entire zone is a clear cut with zero trails.
Cut corners, or don't
who gives a flying F.
Just don't lose sight of why you love the sport;
Those stupid, fat, off the couch lazy button pushers can't have access to it.
Oh, wait....
We had a prolific trailbuilder locally that would almost fist fight new people that changed his trails. Is that how you bring people into your community? He also left the organization partially because people wouldn't help maintain trails. lol
Bikes are changing, and so is our demographic. Engage people into the community and educate them. Chastising them will accomplish absolutely nothing besides satisfying your need to shake your fist.
Disclaimer: I agree with Kaz
Bite the hand that feeds…
It's literally a "flow trail" with cheater lines through every other corner. So now it ... has no flow =/
www.trailforks.com/trails/thorn-alley
Maybe I'll print out this article and leave copies of it over all the cheater lines on this trail (actually not a bad idea, a sticker maybe?)
I wonder if it's time to separate the groups that are doing advocacy from those that are doing the bidding and building.
You are incorrect in thinking myself or anyone else cannot tell the difference in advanced moves tearing up berms as the braking bumps leading INTO said berms.
It's always the 'advanced' riders making those bomb holes.
I took a "cheater line" on one of my favorite trails for the first year I rode it, because it was so well-traveled that it looked like that was where the trail went. I only realized that it wasn't part of the intended trail after somebody did exactly what you did – dragged logs over it.
Since then I've always ridden the intended line (which is much harder and slower), but people keep moving the logs away and re-opening the "cheat" line. I would guess that the people who ride it are about 10% intentional cheaters and 90% people who are just taking what seems to be the easiest/most obvious line.
Short of a permanent sign that says "this isn't the f*ckin trail, go left" I'm not sure what can be done about it, though.
arguments of environmental damage ring hollow and hypocritical too, seeing as the builder spends a lot of their time hacking away topsoil
Now to be clear I am all for keeping trails maintained and relevant and that sometimes requires a little redesign but run your ideas past a couple local reputable trail builders (or better yet, someone who built or maintains the trail you want to modify). They may well embrace your idea and if not ask why and be open to the answer. I learned a lot about the engineering behind trail building by doing just that.
Disappointing to hear this is going on in Kaz's locale, as most of us consider the northwest (and all of Canada) to be the highest levels of mtn biking.
I've been building & maintaining trails for over 20yrs in numerous areas and the speed of natural trail destruction is at levels never ever seen before ........one Ebiker doing 3 party Laps to one biker's single lap is causing its own problems , but add inexperience , a multiplication of rider numbers by a factor of 10, on 55lb bikes they cant handle, riding in all manner of shit conditions then we have a serious issue escalating at a rate of knots that trail associations cant even keep pace with.
Having personally witnessed 3 slow riders on full fat Ebikes straight-line through the brash after me spending days fixing the corners they're missing, and me stopping them to say waddafukyedoing , they looked at me like i was insane and replied "but that's what we always do its easier than the tight corners" .... ive seen this numerous times in umpteen places , and its not just natural techy trails getting the moron treatment, trail centres with winding uphill sections are also getting the moron straight-line treatment , within weeks Scotland's flagship new trail centre at Tarland had to put social media posts out begging folk to stop straight-lining the climbs they'd spent a year beautifully forming. I wonder what sort of bike can go straight up a hill that requires sustained 500watts
My only hope now is this is just a blip caused by the huge uptake on biking during Covid The lazy folk will eventually fuk off and the one's interested in the sport will learn as they personally witness the destruction of their own trails. Eventually the rate of new uneducated/ still learning riders will go back to a more manageable level. ..... I hope.
You should see the lines and bike parks those pesky e bikers are building in Scotland (only spent 25 hours of my week off, eebing it to the trails to dig this week).
Thanks all trail builders in the north of Scotland, your all legends. Building some awesome stuff.
They aren't bicycles. They are motorized.
The old guys and girls need to buck up and get fit like everyone ever did until just a few years ago. The idea anyone needs an ebike is patently insane.
Whilst EBikes ..... like guns, are not the problem directly, they do lower the barrier of entry to biking down to the point where folk are smoking whilst cycling up hill .... where are those *ag butts going. In my litter bag a few weeks later is where. .....ad infinitum on other bad habits . If you think this is the Hollywood version then come down to glentress or the golfy on a weekend ....the numbers are upwards of 500 riders a day , 50% eebs 50% bikes all the overweight, smoking , vaping litter dropping ones cutting straight uphill lines are in one category .
It's not the experienced riders that's the issue..... its the inexperienced, uneducated riders ( both eeb and bike riders) new to the sport in their hordes that is the issue.
We hold public dig days ... theres over 440 riders on the FB page for this one little forest I ride & dig at , if i turn up on a sunday yer looking at up to 100 folk riding the majority on Ebikes party lapping a cluster of 1 min natural DH tracks .......if we get 5 people turn up for a dig day it's a minor miracle . ... both eeb and bike riders will turn up , but the most telling factor is not the type of bike they ride but the age and/or experience of those few that come to lend a hand . Its slowly changing though last week we had 2 dad's bring along 3 young teenagers agers with them .... so like always the future looks promising
The volume of riders and diversity is very different to up here though. We are lucky and don't have the rider numbers of the tweed valley. The trail I am working on just now only gets a handful of laps a year due to how many trails we have for our low population.
I'm acutely aware of my anti ebike stance , half of that is my age refusing to accept change and doing mental gymnastics to justify the hate , the other half is however embedded in my own very real experiences. I don't intend to create division or fuel hate but there is a historic problem that is 10x worse than it was a decade ago.
Thay said, It looks to me that the North East has an incredibly good scene , with respectful riders & landowners alike.
This creates leaps and bounds forward in progress due to that. Whatever you guys are doing keep doing it.
I also think going faster is unnecessary, and will ride my "slower" 27.5" wheels forever
Then break up the compacted soil so vegetation can regrow, plant a couple of plants like ferns for original aesthetics, voila.
We've done it many times, as long as the obstacle is sunk in and heavy as f*ck, it will permanently restore the line.
Or some image from the company the article is about.
So honest question here, where is the harm? No 'artist' is being left out. Am I missing something else?
Douffus, is that a signature?
And you can add dumbed down, flow trails to this rant...
That first pic brings out the old man in me.
is there a god?
If you don’t…you’re a squid.
I remember the guy who is now my CRC being criticised for planting massive rocks on the inside of turns to stop the trail moving when he built new stuff.
It was never his fault that we like to straight line everything. We made him do it then moaned about it.
Just built a line today around a massive rock, anyone can straight line in through the inside of the rock but unless it gets built it will end in tears and a trip to humble pie crash land. (it's a single black chicken line around a double black line).
YOU MUST FOLLOW WHAT I THINK IS THE TRAIL!!!!!! DO NOT DEVIATE FROM THE STRAIGHT PATH!!!!!!
(ops, sorry, I meant the curvy path ... anyway do what I think is right!)
Maybe at a bike park it's one thing, but at least in my area, most trails are shared use and a lot of them are on non-public land that the private landowners agree to let us use as long as people stay on the trails. When riders start creating new lines and riding off-trail, it can have negative impacts on the ecosystem, but more selfishly, it can also get mountain bikers banned from those trails.
And you calling me a kook for referencing that? Ever heard trail features described as 'trail speed'? You know, like we'll built jumps and drops that work at the normal speeds your bike wants to roll down a trail?
All I'm saying is that you deciding to modify a trail because you wa't it to ride faster than it does is you being a jerk. Riding that trail and learning to be a more skilled rider is awesome.
Be awesome, don't be a jerk.
But blocking a straighline that's not part of the main intended trail is always gonna be alright. And if you can't see that at Mach chicken then it's your fault.
Locally we have a slightly different issue where the curves are being left in but all other features are being removed. What used to be a rock garden or a nice drop can now be easily navigated by a new rider on a Walmart bike.
First - to each their own. If you want to play trail cop, go ahead.
Second - this happens at my local trails very often and i've almost gone to the hospital as a result. When new lines develop (i'm speaking about high speed trails specifically here, not meandering beginner trails), and you put rocks and logs in the way, and the next rider comes screaming down the trail and hits that log and hurts themself, that's on you Mike Kazimer. Your opinion on what the trail should look like, and how folks should ride, is your opinion. Imposing that opinion on unknowing folks who could literally end up in a hospital is another thing. If your trail center has rules regarding the alteration of lines on the trail, and folks are breaking those rules. Shame on them. If your trail center doesn't have those rules, and you're literally putting people in danger because you don't like their lines, or style of riding, or their vision of how a trail can/should be ridden, then shame on you, you suck. Don't put people in danger because you like turns better than straight lines. Some people like straight lines better than turns.
But a quick question. How big should a log be before you don't run into it full speed? I've put 20 ft trees over braids that some idiot has removed.
and my brother in poutine, @mikekazimer: it's good to know you only ride state-sanctioned legal trails. Always and forever. Right? ...you'll be twisted up tighter than those Tapeworm trails trying to reconcile your anti- corner-cutting claims with riding anything not fully vetted and approved by the Galactic Council
Claymore mines would be best but importing them to Canada would be problematic
Punji sticks in the straight line so line cutters get impaled is a nice final touch. May I add anything else in the braidblockers to make your day a tiny bit worse?
Hmm. Maybe it would. Nevermind.