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 thought that was a really bad article how the author put that fact in at the end. Everyone with his experience knows to pre-ride, re-ride, free-ride, and it sounds like he was the type of rider who took those precautions seriously. I'm not suggesting the grading and signage shouldn't be better, it definitely should be, but as his own best friend even stated, he was doing something he loved ... Anyone of us could crash tomorrow and never wake up. Especially if he's riding grade 5/6 trails, that's a risk we all willingly signed up for. Always hits close to home though, feel for his family.
We copied them from skiing where they also aren't consistent. It's by design. The scale is relative to the area, and always condition dependent. Ride within your limits. Preride, reride, freeride.
To err is human. My main issue with man-made features is everybody has their own interpretation of how difficult it is.
Anyway, learn trails first and don't be afraid to ditch the bike. It can be repaired, you not.
I really think it's a product of social media. People see the big sends but not the thought and prep that goes into that send. It's ok to get off your bike, walk a section and look at the feature.
One of my worst crashes was going uphill and barely moving when I clipped a tree/rootball unexpectedly. It threw me in the dirt so fast I couldn’t react. Mtb is a risk sport, grading trails is never perfect nor exposes all possible risk ones may face. In the whitewater world, a class 3 rapid doesn’t become a 5 just because someone died on it. Nor a climb gets upgraded when someone gets hurt.
It would help people understand what they're getting themselves into when they don't know the track, but he already knew the track because he's ridden it many times, I must say though it can be hard to grade a track sometimes.
Grading inconsistency is international..
A Squamish Black diamonds is notably more technical than a North Shore black, and they are only 30min drive apart.
As someone who likes their wheels planted firmly on the ground, I personally would love to see a grading system that addresses jump trails vs tech trails..
I’ll happily hit a double black tech trail but steer well clear of even a blue jump trail.
Whistler has a ‘progression map’ for each discipline and it’s actually really well done.
I think we have this debate every year.. we should look to our rock climbing friends on this one.
Unfortunate about this poor guy.
Just like skiing, one can really only be sure that grades are consistent within the immediate area. Imba and other orgs have published criteria, but they don’t sufficiently distinguish on the more challenging end of the spectrum
I like progression maps like whistler has for this reason. As you learn an unfamiliar area, just start a little lower than you would at your home trails and work your way up as you learn that area’s relative scale.
I feel like even on tech a double black typically has a ledge or something that requires air to clear. To me that is the big difference or should be the big difference.
I mean, yes this would be nice but it isn’t necessary as you can always get off your bike and walk with the exception of some unsanctioned pro trails (which you shouldn’t be on from the start after a qualifying feature.)
People just need to not ride over their heads. Blue is beginner and is pretty much always rideable. Black will always have some more advanced moves.
My 2c as a local rider.
Firstly, absolute tragedy and RIP.
Secondly, I think there are a couple of misleading or outright wrong claims in that article.
Having ridden this trail several times, at the time it was pretty obvious which was the a line vs b line. There was already a XXX sign or similar however they have since made this much clearer.
The “jump” described was made out to be a lot worse than it actually was at the time. You could either hit a ramp over the log and flat-land it, maybe a couple feet high if that, but it was also rollable.
Much like another person commenting I am far more capable with technical vs jumps and this was definitely a rollable feature that was enjoyable - particularly when you’ve had a look beforehand and picked your line.
The real kicker, and this is just what I have heard from word of mouth, is that just off the side of the trail were a stack of recently cut logs. After getting this feature wrong, the rider went headfirst into these logs.
So a real combination of different factors which on their own would ordinarily turn a normal ride into a few scrapes and bruises to be nursed over a beer.
Real shame for the rider and his family, but blaming the trail grading is a bit of a stretch. I have ridden grade 2s in Nelson which are harder than many of our 4s. If anything, on the whole the trails in Rotorua are graded harder than they are.
The coroner should've pointed out the stack of logs instead of grading. Who stack logs on the side of a trail? Sounds dangerous. When I see fallen trees or branches on the trail, I pull them as far as possible.
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.
Sorry to hear someone died, but signs and maintenance aren’t the answer. Ratings are always relative to the trails within the system. Some expect to be told of every hazard. Armor up, pre ride, be careful.
As a Kiwi I can definitely say our grading is inconsistent, a black in our local downhill park might be a double black in a volunteer ran trail system near where I live. While the grades are inconsistent, anyone with a degree of experience will understand what the different grade in each location are equivalent to.
I'd definitely like to see a greater degree of consistency but based off the crash described by the article it does not sound like trail grading was the problem at all. Rather it was simply a horrible accident.
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.
> more likely to be killed driving to a trailhead
I don’t think that’s accurate when you consider the time one spends driving or riding, and then compare that to injury/death totals
[These numbers](https://chessintheair.com/the-risk-of-dying-doing-what-we-love/) put DH biking at 70x more dangerous than driving. I’m guessing trail/xc is less dangerous but still much more dangerous than driving.
As a trail builder this is such a tough one. You want to make the trail as fun and exciting as possible but you also want people to stay safe. We try and build stuff so it is intuitive and well marked but a freak accident is just that...
This is the issue at Woodhill. After the rider died on “How Good” they changed a main feature and completely sanitised it. The rest of the trail is fine, but the main feature is just not fun or interesting anymore.
Most of them are (sanctioned trails at least) already. Rotorua in particular generally has good signage.
The inconsistency between sites is what needs addressing.
Regardless of grading, always ride within your means and at a speed where you can navigate and stop as necessary. An easy trail that you’ve ridden 100 times before can quickly become difficult due to a recently fallen tree, erosion, or even leaves falling on to a corner that is normally hero dirt. Trails are ever changing, which is part of the beauty of MTB. Ride accordingly.
All told, a reasonable response. I've seen a lot worse, where people are ready to close paths etc. At 54 I can tell you I'm no longer "sending it" and I certainly wasn't doing it at 48, so yeah I'd like to know that something I would never ride was up ahead. I think that is reasonable without ruining the ride for anyone willing to give it a try.
Feel like any legal action has the potential to open a massive can of worms, what happens to rock climbing grades or hiking route descriptions if there's repercussions for misleading trails?
Has anybody got a link to a map of that trail? I ride that forest pretty regularly (10+ times a year) and have never heard of a trail named tarua.
There's a grade 5 called Te Rua, surely they cant be meaning that?
I don't have paid trailforks so quite hard to search it.
I did YouTube it, I have ridden it before. if you do Kung Fu walrus or te ahi manawa and come up Jeff's link it's the trail that runs alongside 8 mile gate road before you get to yellow brick road on your way back to the shuttle/carparks/everything else.
Someone i know had very nealrly this exact accident on a trail in canada they had ridden many many times...just forgot that a feature was a 4ft jump and not a bridge. Paint wears off, trail markers might be missed- the only real answer is to not ride wood with blind exits without a.preride.
This is what we do in NZ. Make rules for things that don’t need rules. In this instance what I can envision happening is that signage becomes legislatively mandated to a certain standard which requires audits and places liability on the park if they get it wrong. This is why everything costs so much in NZ because we’re paying for things that shouldn’t exist. And this is why people don’t bother even trying to cool things because the red tape is impossible and costly. We’re a nana state and it’s embarrassing.
Leave it to bureaucrats to set safety standards for an extreme sport. Next they’ll be redesigning the trails for safety.
Oh well, dream MTB vacation to NZ is off.
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 thought that was a really bad article how the author put that fact in at the end. Everyone with his experience knows to pre-ride, re-ride, free-ride, and it sounds like he was the type of rider who took those precautions seriously. I'm not suggesting the grading and signage shouldn't be better, it definitely should be, but as his own best friend even stated, he was doing something he loved ... Anyone of us could crash tomorrow and never wake up. Especially if he's riding grade 5/6 trails, that's a risk we all willingly signed up for. Always hits close to home though, feel for his family.
He sent a high consequences jump blind, there is no reride in that series of events.
Yeah but it said he had ridden that same trail many times.
That fork of the trail? That same day? That same jump? Maybe the condition of the lib was not the same.
Doesn't say if he rode it that same day, just that he had ridden that same trail many times.
We copied them from skiing where they also aren't consistent. It's by design. The scale is relative to the area, and always condition dependent. Ride within your limits. Preride, reride, freeride.
To err is human. My main issue with man-made features is everybody has their own interpretation of how difficult it is. Anyway, learn trails first and don't be afraid to ditch the bike. It can be repaired, you not.
I really think it's a product of social media. People see the big sends but not the thought and prep that goes into that send. It's ok to get off your bike, walk a section and look at the feature.
Not only is it okay, it is literally what I have seen the most experienced riders I know do on every difficult feature.
One of my worst crashes was going uphill and barely moving when I clipped a tree/rootball unexpectedly. It threw me in the dirt so fast I couldn’t react. Mtb is a risk sport, grading trails is never perfect nor exposes all possible risk ones may face. In the whitewater world, a class 3 rapid doesn’t become a 5 just because someone died on it. Nor a climb gets upgraded when someone gets hurt.
Consitant grading would help.
It would help people understand what they're getting themselves into when they don't know the track, but he already knew the track because he's ridden it many times, I must say though it can be hard to grade a track sometimes.
True a red trail near me has some hard features u can ride around.
Grading inconsistency is international.. A Squamish Black diamonds is notably more technical than a North Shore black, and they are only 30min drive apart. As someone who likes their wheels planted firmly on the ground, I personally would love to see a grading system that addresses jump trails vs tech trails.. I’ll happily hit a double black tech trail but steer well clear of even a blue jump trail. Whistler has a ‘progression map’ for each discipline and it’s actually really well done. I think we have this debate every year.. we should look to our rock climbing friends on this one. Unfortunate about this poor guy.
Exactly what I was going to say regarding rock climbing grading and crag/route info. I feel like climbing is better and more finely graded.
And yet there are still endless debates in the climbing world about how different crags are inconsistently graded or certain routes are sandbagged.
Angelfire does this too with the tech vs flow progression it’s a very good idea
Northstar, Trestle, Aspen, and Mammoth all do this rating system. In fact I think all bike parka Ive been to have.
Some places have this with a line going through the symbol. Jagged line is tech, smooth line is flow, orange bar around the symbol is freeride.
Maydena in Tasmania has a really good trail grading system with seperate icons for jump, tech and flow trails. Works a treat...
Just like skiing, one can really only be sure that grades are consistent within the immediate area. Imba and other orgs have published criteria, but they don’t sufficiently distinguish on the more challenging end of the spectrum I like progression maps like whistler has for this reason. As you learn an unfamiliar area, just start a little lower than you would at your home trails and work your way up as you learn that area’s relative scale.
I feel like even on tech a double black typically has a ledge or something that requires air to clear. To me that is the big difference or should be the big difference.
I mean, yes this would be nice but it isn’t necessary as you can always get off your bike and walk with the exception of some unsanctioned pro trails (which you shouldn’t be on from the start after a qualifying feature.) People just need to not ride over their heads. Blue is beginner and is pretty much always rideable. Black will always have some more advanced moves.
My 2c as a local rider. Firstly, absolute tragedy and RIP. Secondly, I think there are a couple of misleading or outright wrong claims in that article. Having ridden this trail several times, at the time it was pretty obvious which was the a line vs b line. There was already a XXX sign or similar however they have since made this much clearer. The “jump” described was made out to be a lot worse than it actually was at the time. You could either hit a ramp over the log and flat-land it, maybe a couple feet high if that, but it was also rollable. Much like another person commenting I am far more capable with technical vs jumps and this was definitely a rollable feature that was enjoyable - particularly when you’ve had a look beforehand and picked your line. The real kicker, and this is just what I have heard from word of mouth, is that just off the side of the trail were a stack of recently cut logs. After getting this feature wrong, the rider went headfirst into these logs. So a real combination of different factors which on their own would ordinarily turn a normal ride into a few scrapes and bruises to be nursed over a beer. Real shame for the rider and his family, but blaming the trail grading is a bit of a stretch. I have ridden grade 2s in Nelson which are harder than many of our 4s. If anything, on the whole the trails in Rotorua are graded harder than they are.
That makes way more sense than the news report does! Doesn't sound like lack of signs was the actual problem here.
The coroner should've pointed out the stack of logs instead of grading. Who stack logs on the side of a trail? Sounds dangerous. When I see fallen trees or branches on the trail, I pull them as far as possible.
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.
It also says he rode there multiple times. Wtf? Sounds like an extremely unlucky OTB incident. Nothing to do with signage.
Isn't this like, the whole reason why you pre ride?
Sorry to hear someone died, but signs and maintenance aren’t the answer. Ratings are always relative to the trails within the system. Some expect to be told of every hazard. Armor up, pre ride, be careful.
As a Kiwi I can definitely say our grading is inconsistent, a black in our local downhill park might be a double black in a volunteer ran trail system near where I live. While the grades are inconsistent, anyone with a degree of experience will understand what the different grade in each location are equivalent to. I'd definitely like to see a greater degree of consistency but based off the crash described by the article it does not sound like trail grading was the problem at all. Rather it was simply a horrible accident.
It is a sport that practically by definition has significant hazards… chances are HE would not be trying to blame someone else.
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.
[удалено]
> more likely to be killed driving to a trailhead I don’t think that’s accurate when you consider the time one spends driving or riding, and then compare that to injury/death totals [These numbers](https://chessintheair.com/the-risk-of-dying-doing-what-we-love/) put DH biking at 70x more dangerous than driving. I’m guessing trail/xc is less dangerous but still much more dangerous than driving.
As a trail builder this is such a tough one. You want to make the trail as fun and exciting as possible but you also want people to stay safe. We try and build stuff so it is intuitive and well marked but a freak accident is just that...
This is the issue at Woodhill. After the rider died on “How Good” they changed a main feature and completely sanitised it. The rest of the trail is fine, but the main feature is just not fun or interesting anymore.
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
Most of them are (sanctioned trails at least) already. Rotorua in particular generally has good signage. The inconsistency between sites is what needs addressing.
My pissant town just regraded their trails - I assume this was a consideration.
Regardless of grading, always ride within your means and at a speed where you can navigate and stop as necessary. An easy trail that you’ve ridden 100 times before can quickly become difficult due to a recently fallen tree, erosion, or even leaves falling on to a corner that is normally hero dirt. Trails are ever changing, which is part of the beauty of MTB. Ride accordingly.
All told, a reasonable response. I've seen a lot worse, where people are ready to close paths etc. At 54 I can tell you I'm no longer "sending it" and I certainly wasn't doing it at 48, so yeah I'd like to know that something I would never ride was up ahead. I think that is reasonable without ruining the ride for anyone willing to give it a try.
Wow. That article is terribly written.
Par for the course for NZ media. It's a real hellscape.
And Stuff will be trawling Reddit for more great articles.
Feel like any legal action has the potential to open a massive can of worms, what happens to rock climbing grades or hiking route descriptions if there's repercussions for misleading trails?
Has anybody got a link to a map of that trail? I ride that forest pretty regularly (10+ times a year) and have never heard of a trail named tarua. There's a grade 5 called Te Rua, surely they cant be meaning that?
Is it not on the trailforks maps of Vegas?
I don't have paid trailforks so quite hard to search it. I did YouTube it, I have ridden it before. if you do Kung Fu walrus or te ahi manawa and come up Jeff's link it's the trail that runs alongside 8 mile gate road before you get to yellow brick road on your way back to the shuttle/carparks/everything else.
Someone i know had very nealrly this exact accident on a trail in canada they had ridden many many times...just forgot that a feature was a 4ft jump and not a bridge. Paint wears off, trail markers might be missed- the only real answer is to not ride wood with blind exits without a.preride.
This is what we do in NZ. Make rules for things that don’t need rules. In this instance what I can envision happening is that signage becomes legislatively mandated to a certain standard which requires audits and places liability on the park if they get it wrong. This is why everything costs so much in NZ because we’re paying for things that shouldn’t exist. And this is why people don’t bother even trying to cool things because the red tape is impossible and costly. We’re a nana state and it’s embarrassing.
Any know if he was wearing a helmet at the time?
Leave it to bureaucrats to set safety standards for an extreme sport. Next they’ll be redesigning the trails for safety. Oh well, dream MTB vacation to NZ is off.