Trail Review - Mountain Biking for the Elderly

[tibbits]

Thank you so much for the Dorrance trails, Oakely Doakely and Loam Ranger.

FORC will have received a membership renewal from this writer by the time you read this.

Both those trail names are intensely apt and pleasing.

The flow sections of both trails are terrific fun. By flow is meant the serpentine fairly flat sections. There must be some art to designing those.

The whoop-de-doos are everywhere. That took lots of work. Adds interest, maintains focus, adds a little challenge.

Both the uphill and downhill switchbacks are also excellent. The uphill one at the top of LR is nicely strenuous, and requires some bike handling during the effort.

A number of the banked turns are pure fun.

Most of the drops on LR are joyful. And the drop closely followed by the steep uphill is a challenge without being risky.

The following points are of concern only to those who are not young, coordinated, skilled, etc. If your bike mechanic, or your physician, sometimes asks you "How did this happen?" it is suggested to read on.

The very sharp downhill switchback with the berm on OD is somewhat disquieting. A little overconfidence and you're off the high side with no landing in sight. It is preferable to save that experience for the wooden monster at Illiniwek, where the tops of the planks mutilate you, but at least stop the fall.

A little after the entry to LR there are three tall roots spaced less than a bike length apart. The roots are tall enough to stop a 26" tire if the rider does not lift the front wheel. That's all OK, except the trail is along a steep hillside there.

Thank you for the small red flags on the two drops coming down from the top of LR. A more permanent, perhaps more prominent, warning would be reassuring. It is not known whether this rider can navigate those drops. It is not desired to learn, because flirting with quadriplegia becomes tiresome after awhile. (To detect whether this applies to you, take a moment to look to your left, then back to your right. Do you hear Rice Crispies?)

It would be interesting to ride the log feature on LR, if it were not four feet in the air. The elevation adds risk without adding difficulty. A rider whose center of gravity lies 3.5 feet above the trail will impact at about 10 mph. A rider on a four foot log feature will impact at 15 mph. For those of us who fracture rather than bounce, that's an important difference. (See quadriplegia note above. Also, Medicare gets testy about sports injuries.) The log skinny on Jumbo at Scott County is more challenging, and won't break your s__t.

Wishing you the best of luck, and the best of health.

Patrick

[DH001]

Glad you like the Dorrance trails and thanks for the suggestions and nice writeup! There is a warning sign before the big drops on LR (this one) but if you didn't notice it it might need to be moved. A tip for riding the switchback on OD downhill: enter high & exit low. The trail has migrated downhill and straightened since built and the main line is now a low entry and high exit (not ideal). The log skinny might look like 4' but is really around/less than 2'; the log was elevated a few inches and sits on sills vs. the ground to delay rot. It's really smooth and more of a mental challenge. Ride-arounds are available for most difficult features. The roots are a feature we left on purpose as a skill builder for what's coming on the black loop (Unkle Rukus). ;)

To all who haven't checked out Dorrance yet, there is a significant amount of trail (+3 mi) featuring good climbs, flowy descents, and a bunch of easy/moderate difficulty features. Could use more tires over there to keep the trail/features packed down. We'll be doing a group ride at Dorrance in the near future and building more trail this Saturday at 8am.