The mental aspect of riding a trail like that is huge. We ride trails much narrower all the time and rarely go off the trail, of course the penalty is minimal when there isn't a cliff. Physically it is exactly the same.
In fact the trail is hugely wide for a bicycle, but you are just right it would be very hard to ride it at all with all the thoughts of possible falling and game over. There are two major mental dangers to face. One of the very first approach when you know nothing about slope, surface, corners and you go discovering things and adjusting speed and technique. The other is the fact tha among others I would definitely ride it again and again and then routine and overconfidence could be fatal. The easiest feature of the trail is that it is quite flat. Immagine a steep descent or uphill.
It's always seems narrower than it really could be, because of the cam high over the helmet and it's wide angle optics. It shows everything more dangerously. Be a hero..
@dmadness, you are absolutely right, why risk your life for some mediocre single track? Still, the riders have incredible mental fortitude, good for them.
Guys! Parachute sounds like it could make sence, but it is too low and too close space for a parachute in majority of drops there. Maybe there are some tiny parachutes, like the one used in the movie Entrapment (1999), but they need some blowing upwards to make it really work and slow down a falling. Using a parachute safely means jumping far from a cliff. People usually don't fly. This is the attraction of this place. In Finland they say SISU.
Watching this path I am still judging if I could approach to ride it, so it can't so bad, becasue I am not really brave. I think it's a matter of control over body, bike etc. They are riding too fast for me. If I were to do this I would choose to ride completely alone and half of their speed. The worse part for me would be 2:24 where I would probably kill myself trying to avoid hitting the rock by the rear wheel. About Russians. I've found this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLDYtH1RH-U and it's the second time I've watched it. It's really hard for me to continue to watch through the second half of it. I've got a theory why Russians do such things. The theory consists of three fact. One: Living in Russia you get used to huge risks, like cars speeding on sidewalks, going the wrong way in traffic etc. This way, the second fact: it is really hard to have the adrenaline rush or others attention. The third one, probably the most convincing for me: Living in this country you are most likely to have nothing to loose. Off course this is my personal and by the same very subjective opinion.
Well !!!! That puckered up my butthole. Imagine the first time you get to ride that sketchy shit. You do only need space wide enough for your bars/shoulders though.
Alot of riders are saying that the gopro fisheye makes it look more dramatic than real life, but I've never looked at footage after the fact that did something justice, it ALWAYS looks bigger, scarier, gnarlier, sketchier in real life!
I completely agree! I show my videos after riding to my friends and I feel stupid because the stuff looks so easy and flat. The only thing that looks real or close is speed.
They pass two hikers (and is that a dog?) right before a blind corner at 1:53. And there are a lot of blind corners that could have gone terribly wrong at speed.
I am watching this for the fifth time and all I can say is that I like it much. I feel almost like watching this one: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDhRvvs5Xw, but it is a different story on a bike.
Hey anybody please, what does the rock say at 2:11?
Ive ridden some stuff in Utah that has scary exposure (flying monkey comes to mind first), but they seem far more technical/rocky than this trail. When its all techy you are so focused on where your tires are going theres no time to look over the edge. It's when you stop to scope out a line that you realize how scary it is. This trail seems way higher off the ground and a little faster with a lot more time to look around, when he turns his head and looks backward I paniced! I do not like heights.
I thinks it's all about this focusing only on controlling the bike to make you not thinking and not falling. I've just watched flying monkey and it's very technical. This one above is less, so I feel they had to speed up to make it hard enough to focus on the trail only. Going slower and by the same making it easier leaves time for the views and that would end bad.
Took everyone's advice and watched without sound on and hatebreed playing in the back ground. All I can say is wow and f**k that. Those guys ride it like it's no big deal.
Get on a DH bike, turn 90 degrees to the right, then ride
Sick riding though, it would suck to fall..... like this video, ive seen some bad crashes, and this is one of the worst. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVAF9QFcHME
That's pretty crazy, I think that's crazier than some of the DH stuff Ive seen. I'd rather attempt to go off a crazy big drop way outside my comfort zone than ride that trial, one mistake and your no doubt, dead!
Looks like most of the trails in the San Gabriel Mountain Range in Southern California!! It takes some getting used to at first, but fantastic trail riding if you never fall.
Mt Wilson and the entire Gabes is my local backyard, I've been riding them for 15+ years. I dont disagree with the fact taht there are some areas with exposure on the side but nothing as steep and rocky as shown in the video...
The location in the video has exposure that has nothing but a sheer drop and a flat bottom of more rocks and crevices. The San Gabriels have vegetation on the exposure with a more forgiving slope. Believe me, I know from personal experience having fallen over the side of Sunset ridge and being held up by vegetation, with my bike above me...
The San Gabes can be scary but that shyte on the video is just mind numbingly scary, no comparison in my mind
Maybe, last I heard someone years ago flew off the side of the ken Burton trail, granted the guy had apparently smoked the ganja before descending - same story?
I've been on a bunch of trails that have sections of dangerous exposure, but none of 'em have been that length or that long a drop. Truly humbling. I don't know if I'd be comfortable riding that. There's only a few sections where the trail tread is scary narrow, but it's all so high stakes. The only safe way to check out the view is to come to a complete stop.
Sure is nice to ride trails where the worst thing that might happen is broken bones.
Like the trail between the Gebeidumpass and the Simplonpass in Switzerland. Great ride. Keep in mind the gopro's fisheye makes that look more dramatic than it is. Still wondering where this one is though.
We have in Israel a lot of such trails in the south east of the country, near Death Sea, where the place it looks like The Grand Canyon. U all r welcome to ride with us here!
clearly someone has been able to hide goats inside human shells and assisted this new breed of semi-human-goats in learning how to ride mountain bikes.
If you've been on Jackson's then you've probably been on The Portal. Three people have met their maker on a spot you wouldn't even think about stopping for on a trail without a 400 foot cliff on your left. Exposure like that scares the hell out of me.
vimeo.com/95772264
Hey anybody please, what does the rock say at 2:11?
Sick riding though, it would suck to fall..... like this video, ive seen some bad crashes, and this is one of the worst.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVAF9QFcHME
The location in the video has exposure that has nothing but a sheer drop and a flat bottom of more rocks and crevices. The San Gabriels have vegetation on the exposure with a more forgiving slope. Believe me, I know from personal experience having fallen over the side of Sunset ridge and being held up by vegetation, with my bike above me...
The San Gabes can be scary but that shyte on the video is just mind numbingly scary, no comparison in my mind
I noticed French scribbles sur un placard.
Verdon is larger (it's a river) and cliffs are way higher in the narrower section.
Yellow mark at start of trail mean it's not a GR (Grande Randonnée) trail, but probably a minor regionnal trail.
*obsessively checks torque on stem bolts*
vimeo.com/95772264