Anybody know what happened ? Hopefully nothing too bad.  There was a fire truck, ambulance, and a  fire dept. pickup truck towing a 4x4 utility vehicle. I saw them drive the 4x4 off the trailer and head down the trail.  This was in the field at the top of the hill near the highway end of the field.

They need to adjust the profiles on some of the Jumps on the Tower 93 trail, otherwise they are going to be steady haulin' people out.

Enoch wrote on 08/17/14 at 9:00pm:



This!

Those jumps are definitely not built to the speed that you can carry out there. They need a much longer table or maybe to camel hump them so you can have the option to pump roll or jump. The old slalom course is built pretty well and all the jumps connect up with the speed you carry. I have a feeling they were going for something a bit smaller on the tower 93 section. Maybe if the just take the edge off the lip?! so its more of a big roller.

I like the addition of that section though it is a lot of fun and hope it can just be tweaked if necessary and not removed.

I have thought this same thing since that section was finished...  What is the point of having a roller with a lip?  Not sure what they were going for there, but it's definitely a fubar.  A few of the larger jumps are fun, mainly the gap jumps that are the proper size for the speed you're carrying.

GeneD wrote on 08/20/14 at 9:36pm:


I never once mentioned that it was the jumps fault. I stated they could be better  built for the speeds you can hit them at. I am a firm believer of look before you leap and if you eject yourself then it is your own fault. It is possible to no brake that entire line no problem you just land flat on the other side of the "jump" instead of being able to catch a downside, just not as fun to me but I am also sure some people think they are spot on.

MTBman1127 wrote on 08/20/14 at 11:03pm:


+1 
They straitened out the switch back near the top. I blew my front tire coming in there to hot the week before. Landed right into the berm. (I believe I can fly...) Superman'd it right across the top of the berm into the bushes and had that long walk of shame back to my car.

Obviously that was a bit to much speed. I'm still learning.

So you can carry more speed thru the section now. Then you hit, I don't even know what to call it, a jump that could easily be made into a double for the people that want to carry that speed or you could just pump thru with less speed.

It's just that the profile of the jump is so steep, I bet the pitch is almost perfect for a back flip to be honest. You wont see me tryn that, and if you do be sure to tape it 

to MSEDLY.  I agree.......you are saying the same thing I said in my second paragraph.

The Cycle Path wrote on 08/22/14 at 3:42pm:



I agree.  My "take offs" are at least 10-12 feet.....a little extra effort but worth it to the jumpers and trail integrity.  Of course I am not talking about small jumps where you get no higher than 2 ft off the ground.  Also, I always "test" it a few times, most likely making changes to the lip area to get it like it should be.  I would think the jumps are tested/tweeked a few times by experienced "jumpers" at Whitewater, but maybe not.  Maybe some guys need to sign up to be "jump testers", giving their input.

I love a few good jumps or features on a trail, the more the better.  But there IS a science to building one that doesn't throw you out of the flow.  It's one thing if the feature is natural, you roll with what Mother Nature lays out.  But if the trail is sculpted/created on purpose the jumps should accentuate the experience.  No matter how fast you are riding. +1 to the advice about scoping out the trail first...if you can

Here's my measly $.02

First, I am no expert mountain biker.  Second, I am not that great at doing jumps.   Third, I used to watch a lot of BMX back in the day and a lot of motorcross these days (thanks to my brother who races).

With that said, I don't think the jumps at Tower 93 were designed for high speed, downhillers riding downhill bikes nor trail bikes.  Not too many people around here own them and in my humble opinion, you don't need them around here (unless of course you make regular trips to Pisgah).

The jumps out there clearly look like, to me anyhow, that they were designed for low-travel cross country, hardtail or even a rigid.  If ridden on one of those bikes, with a BMX mindset, they'll flow just fine.  If you're riding your big squish bike and expect to haul arse with a full faced helmet and protective gear like what we just watched on the world cup, I'm afraid you have the wrong trail.   

I sat back and watched a bunch of folks riding it from everything to trail bikes to cross country and it appeared to me that folks were jumping the rollers and rolling the jumps.  They looked very awkward and it didn't look smooth at all.  Then I saw a couple of guys, one on a complete rigid single speed flow through it like butta.  It was very cool to see some talented guys ride it with the way it was designed to be ridden.

Again, just my measly $.02