Trail centre and the emtb .

[mak]

Today was my 3rd time venturing to a trail come park centre, there routes are very tame but I live in the midlands so no mountains or hills to speak off.

Had an absolute cracking ride on there so called red route, mainly single track with nothing technical mainly flowing.

With decent tires and some riding ability on the right bike an emtb absolutely dominates these trails, I've never said excuse me/sorry and thank you so many times . Don't get on your high horse and reprimand me for not staying behind people, some of the fit guys would not move out the way and just assumed another mtb was behind them so they would show you how its done

Honestly I felt like I should of been banned, an emtb is not far off twice the pace overall on some trails if you can hold a line around the corners .
Does anyone else think an emtb may be banned from certain trail centres or has it already happened ?

 

[Doomanic]

Which trail centre was that?

 

[Gary]

Honestly I felt like I should of been banned

Why?

At the trail centres near me you're often sharing the same trails as Elite/Pro DH, XC, Endurance and Enduro riders. (and a few world champions). These riders also ride at twice the pace of an average rider on certain sections. and a lot faster than any Ebike noob on the descents.
there's no drama though. Just ride courteously and there's no issue whatso ever.
a lot of them also ride Emtbs now too.

Did you actually ask the "fit" riders to let you pass? and wait for a safe place to execute the pass?

 

[mak]

Why?

At the trail centres near me you're often sharing the same trails as Elite/Pro DH, XC, Endurance and Enduro riders. (and a few world champions). These riders also ride at twice the pace of an average rider on certain sections. and a lot faster than any Ebike noob on the descents.
there's no drama though. Just ride courteously and there's no issue whatso ever.
a lot of them also ride Emtbs now too.

Did you actually ask the "fit" riders to let you pass? and wait for a safe place to execute the pass?

I'm very polite Gary, honestly I apologised to every rider that let me pass. The big trail centres are a different ball game, I will get to one eventually but will need a weekend away to experience it, I am in no doubt on those trails I will be the one getting out of peoples way
I'm talking about trails that don't allow a good rider to get the pace up on the down hills to gain any advantage.
An EMTB just dominates on these routes ridden with some confidence.
I had a fantastic day ( on my own) I just felt guilty lol.

 

[mak]

Which trail centre was that?

Sherwood pines.

 

[steve_sordy]

Sherwood pines.

Pines can be a lot of fun, but an emtb is wasted on the red trail on busy days, for the reason that you discovered. The best part of Sherwood Pines is the off-piste stuff.
There is also a wild running track there that is more fun the faster you go, but I would never even try riding it at the weekend.

 

[Gary]

I'm very polite Gary, honestly I apologised to every rider that let me pass. The big trail centres are a different ball game, I will get to one eventually but will need a weekend away to experience it, I am in no doubt on those trails I will be the one getting out of peoples way

Why appologise unless you've done something wrong? Appologising and being polite and courteous are not the same things.

When approaching slower riders (whether on an Ebike or normal bike) you only have to ask to pass if the riders are blocking your way. Otherwise simply introduce yourself nicely (just letting the riders infront know of your presence) and explain you'll pass when there's room. or explain you'll just wait if that's what you're happy to do. If intending on passing even go to the trouble of explaining exactly where/when that will be. and if you don't know the trails well enough or can't make that judgement you're just going to have to wait. But even then let the riders infront know you're fine to wait so as not to make them feel harassed.
Cyclists can be very odd socially and many have all sorts of wierd competitive hang ups and insecurities often resulting in them feeling they have something to prove. Many simply have incredibly poor personal social skills.

I'm talking about trails that don't allow a good rider to get the pace up on the down hills to gain any advantage.
An EMTB just dominates on these routes ridden with some confidence.

I'm not sure I understand if the trails are descents the Eeb shouldn't be any faster. infact it should be slower if restricted to 15mph. if they're flat with turns the Eeb will not be faster than a fit rider with good riding technique either so I can only assume you were riding undulating trails with lots of short rises. But even on undulating downhills a genuinely experienced fit rider should be able to average out to the same speed as an Emtb. The difficulty comes with duration. with the Eeb obviously requiring less effort. Uphill is the only place an Eeb can allow you to ride at TWICE the speed of a normal bike and even then you're unlikely to be riding at twice the speed of a very fit rider.

I had a fantastic day ( on my own) I just felt guilty lol.

Unless you've been a dick don't feel guilty.

 

[mak]

Pines can be a lot of fun, but an emtb is wasted on the red trail on busy days, for the reason that you discovered. The best part of Sherwood Pines is the off-piste stuff.
There is also a wild running track there that is more fun the faster you go, but I would never even try riding it at the weekend.

It was ridiculously busy Steve. I will get out for some exploring over xmas when I'm off work

 

[Mteam]

If I catch someone up on a single track descent, I'll usually stop and wait for a minute or two( or 3) to give a big gap, so I can get a clear run for a while. This Seems to work better for me than trying to get past, a lot of the time even when they know youre there behind them they don't want to pull over, so it just gets frustrating.

If I know the trail and know theres a suitable passing place coming soon then I might stay there and pass when safe.

But sherwood pines is going to be one of those places where someone of average ability on an ebike is going to be miles faster than most people that ride there on a non ebike, its so flat

 

[Rosemount]

Why appologise unless you've done something wrong? Appologising and being polite and courteous are not the same things.

When approaching slower riders (whether on an Ebike or normal bike) you only have to ask to pass if the riders are blocking your way. Otherwise simply introduce yourself nicely (just letting the riders infront know of your presence) and explain you'll pass when there's room. or explain you'll just wait if that's what you're happy to do. If intending on passing even go to the trouble of explaining exactly where/when that will be. and if you don't know the trails well enough or can't make that judgement you're just going to have to wait. But even then let the riders infront know you're fine to wait so as not to make them feel harassed.
Cyclists can be very odd socially and many have all sorts of wierd competitive hang ups and insecurities often resulting in them feeling they have something to prove. Many simply have incredibly poor personal social skills.


I'm not sure I understand if the trails are descents the Eeb shouldn't be any faster. infact it should be slower if restricted to 15mph. if they're flat with turns the Eeb will not be faster than a fit rider with good riding technique either so I can only assume you were riding undulating trails with lots of short rises. But even on undulating downhills a genuinely experienced fit rider should be able to average out to the same speed as an Emtb. The difficulty comes with duration. with the Eeb obviously requiring less effort. Uphill is the only place an Eeb can allow you to ride at TWICE the speed of a normal bike and even then you're unlikely to be riding at twice the speed of a very fit rider.

Unless you've been a dick don't feel guilty.

Folks around here seem very aware of E Bikes .
They hear me approaching and either pull over or ask if I want to pass . I don`t usually announce my presence .I don`t want to be an E bike bully . Get outa my way !
I can generally pick a line and place to pass slower riders .And some times ask slower riders to continue on till it would be safe / appropriate to pass .

 

[flash]

Ebikers are not given lift access in some bike parks in Germany and AU.

AU as in Australia? Or are you meaning your friends next door? (Austria).

In OZ, anyway, lift access is fine at our biggest lift resort (Thredbo) with a limit per bike of 30kg. Blue Derby does eBike shuttle and the shops rent eBikes as well. Here, at least, in OZ we're are a very eBike friendly country.

Here we're also much quicker on out local trails, although I did have one cross country guy right on my rear wheel for ages. When I pulled over for him he said to keep going as he was using us to pace off!! Finally got rid of him after 3kms. We let him past while I caught my breath....

Mostly though we just cruise up behind people slowly and wait for them to let us by when it's convenient for them. We're not racing so waiting 30 seconds is just polite. We always say thanks and we always pass sensibly The only comments are "give us a tow", or "I need one of those".

@RobNevyn and I give enough car park demos that we should be on a couple of suppliers payrolls.....

Gordon

 

[RobNevyn]

Yeah, in the last 2 years I have been riding EMTBs, people on Acoustic bikes have slowly been getting used to us being around, as already mentioned, they will often hear us coming or realise the speed at which you are climbing and move over or start looking for a place to move over. Here in Oz it's great, very rearly do we see any elitists and most folks are happy to move over when they can.
If you are on some of the more technical or downhill trails, most riders on those types of trails will be reasonably good riders and 'the riding at twice the pace' thing will be far less of a problem.

@RobNevyn and I give enough car park demos that we should be on a couple of suppliers payrolls.....

Oh man, I do love to do this, the surprise on their faces at how good these things are and then come the usual questions of cost and weight. I reckon we'll have 50% of the riders at our MTB park on EMTBs in the next 5 years if I have my way.

 

[steve_sordy]

It was ridiculously busy Steve. I will get out for some exploring over xmas when I'm off work

There was one Sunday about 4 weeks ago where it was absolutely insanely busy. I have been going to Pines since 2008 and I had never seen it as busy. Not only were the carparks full, (they even had marshals, never seen that before), but the number of people riding on the regular trails was the largest I had seen. There were large groups too, travelling as a pack. I was with a mate and we were using part of the red trail to get from one off-piste section to another. We could see a group of slow movers up ahead so we waited on one of the forest roads for them to clear onto the blue trail. Just before we set off, I looked behind me, and there must have been 50-60 riders coming up the road! We got the hell out of there!

I was last at Pines on Sun 6th Dec and it was very wet indeed, not so bad on the off-piste trails, but parts of the red were awash! There has been a lot of rain since and I have not been back. Pines can take a huge amount of rain and still appear to be just firm and damp. Then all of a sudden, it gets one rain drop too many and it's awash. Thereafter any rain just makes bigger puddles. It's a combination of the water table being held back by the trees drinking the water. When they go into hibernation is when the trails start to get really wet. A week without rain and it will be fine.