Our centre has three trails that vary in difficulty ranging from beginner through to expert. All our trails are hand built with no power tools so that there is minimal damage to the environment and wildlife. We don’t just build trails we build habitats around them too so rider and wildlife can coexist in harmony. Our trails are located on flat land and there are no gap jumps so that they are as user friendly as possible. The whole purpose of these ‘flatland’ trails are for people to learn how to ride properly and get comfortable on the bike before ever even stepping foot in a mountain. This will reduce the risk of injury and also ensuring a enjoyable experience on a mountain as all too often people spend a lot of money sometimes thousands of pounds on a bike and go to a mountain without having any experience at all, have a injury and get put off the sport and sell their bike for a fraction of the price they paid. Learning how to ride at our centre will give new riders a chance to get use to all the twists and turns and body positions needed for mountain biking and when they fall off they are falling into soft open ground rather than onto hard rock or smashing into the landing ramp of a gap jump.
The three trails that vary in difficulty are beginner (blue), intermediate (red), and expert (black). They are designed so that you start on the blue run and progress through the trails as you get more comfortable and increase your abilities until eventually you can complete lap after lap of black run without any difficulty. At this point you will be at a acceptable level to progress to mountain riding. Every rider progresses at different speeds and there is no upper or lower age limit for trails. Each trail should be judged purely on the riders ability and confidence as sometimes you will see very young children who are amazing on a bike who’s ability is well above average.
Each trail has been marked out with colour coded arrows at end bend or intersection so there is no confusion when riding your chosen trail. The trails will roughly last anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes or more depending on how fast you ride and ability. The trails are small so that riders can have numerous laps before getting tired giving them a chance to get use to riding each obstacle. Each trail has been given a name to indicate the style of riding needed or difficulty. We will now discuss each trail in more detail.
Beginner (blue trail).
The blue trail is called MTB Blues. MTB stands for mountain bike, we gave it this name because it’s a nice easy, flowy trail which makes you want to get out and learn to do more on the bike so can you can enjoy flowing round mountain trails. The blue part of the name refers to the difficulty.
This trail is the easiest of all the trails. It is a very wide trail for more room to move about, the trail consists of pumps and berms (bends/raised corners) only. The pumps and berms are between one and two foot in height except one pump at the back end of the trail which goes just past two foot in height. This pumped designed to give a little challenge to new riders but still very easy and well within blue difficulty boundaries for ability. The berms are small and wide so you can get use to riding sideways round corners. All in all it is a very enjoyable flowy trail especially for beginners.
MTB blues is a great way to start your MTB journey and will teach you how to pump and use the berms. The trail is smooth and flowy so you can get hours of bike time in without having too much of a challenge. Once you’ve mastered this trail you are now ready to progress to the red trail.
Intermediate (red trail).
The red trail is called Red Rooster. The Red part of the name refers to the difficulty. Rooster is taken from a MTB term called Roosting which is when riding a berm flicking your back wheel out as you slide round the berm kicking up dust and dirt. The red trail consists of mostly berms so there is a lot of opportunity to roost on those hot dry summer days so that is why Rooster is in the name.
This trail is the mid difficulty trail, having mastered MTB Blues you are already able to move about on the bike and negotiate trails and basic obstacles. You can see the progression as this trail just looks harder. The trail isn’t as wide as the blue trail but still of a decent width. It is mostly just berm after berm with the odd pump. The berms are higher, sharper and vary in shape to further increase your cornering skills and body/bike positioning. There are S bends and the pumps have berms leading in/out of the pumps so you have to go up or down while turning. This trail has twists and turns which get tight at times so that you can become confident and comfortable when negotiating those tight sharp mountain trails.
Red Rooster will help you master turning at speed and give you the ability to throw yourself and the bike about with easy which is a much needed skill to stay on mountain trails. Once you’ve mastered this trail you have learnt most of the basic skills you need and you are now ready to progress to the black trail and really get yourself mountain ready.
Expert (Black trail).
The black trail is called the Black Death. The black part of the name refers to the difficulty. The Death part is a play on words and also both a joke and a warning. The play on words is combining both Black and death together as this was a very infectious disease which wiped out a lot of the worlds population in the medieval days. Hopefully the trails will be very infectious and more people will use the trails becoming (infected) with the sport. The joke in the Death is to symbolise that this is the hardest of all trails at our centre. The warning part is towards beginner riders to stay away as this trail is too advanced and to teach people to respect the sport as when you get to the mountains you really can die so only do what you are capable of.
This trail is the hardest of all our trails, having mastered all the other trails you are now at a level you can begin to learn to jump. You can see the clear progression as this trail is the thinnest of all trails with parts that are single track (just wide enough for your bike). There are berms, pumps, jumps and balancing obstacles too. The pumps are high vary in shape and will test everything you have learnt about pumping. The berms are higher making you go higher and faster round corners. The jumps are all table tops (no gaps) this is so if someone Makes a mistake while jumping they won’t crash into the landing ramp. The jumps vary in shape and size but they are not too advanced allowing you to learn how to jump comfortably and because they are table tops it’s one less thing to worry about when learning to jump. There are obstacles with concrete slabs that you have to ride up, down and over increasing your balance. This trail will teach you how to jump and negotiate harder trails.
Black Death will help you master jumping and negotiating hard trails. This is also the trail you will have the most falls but falling is good and a huge part of the sport. Once you have mastered this trail you are now ready to hit the mountains and test out all you have learned. You will be a confident able rider who can negotiate most obstacles thrown at you on the mountains.
Final note
We do what we do for the people and to make somewhere special for wildlife and plant life to exist. Everyone who comes to our centre is not a customer but a family member and we want to help our family become the best riders they can be. Whether you are a complete beginner or a seasoned MTBer there is something for everyone at Trail Blazzers. We appreciate your support and we only exist because of you. I hope you have enjoyed reading the breakdown of our trails and keep coming back to read more blogs too. Take care. #TrailBlazzerMTBtrailsRainhill
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