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 The Single Track

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DeeBart

DeeBart


Posts : 137
Join date : 2009-08-12
Age : 48
Location : Hoover

The Single Track Empty
PostSubject: The Single Track   The Single Track EmptyThu Sep 03, 2009 5:49 pm

This is good stuff....

Without question, the best
gauge of a rider's skill is the "single track" trail.
In the sixties, we called them "pig" trails. In the
seventies, they were "boogie" trails. In the eighties
they were the "tight" trails. I missed out on the nineties,
but somewhere in there they became "single track" as
opposed to "double track" or ATV trails. Then you move
to the less challenging "jeep trails" or "fire
roads," and then up to the "hard packed roads"
or "red roads," as they are sometimes called. They
all demand a certain skill level to ride. Novice riders find
fire roads and hard packed roads challenging. Intermediate level
riders move quickly to the double track roads and jeep trails
for a fun ride. But the real fun, the real reason to ride dirt
bikes is the "single track" trail.


The single track is the
sole domain of the dirt bike. No four-wheel drive truck, ATV,
mountain bike, or horse can ride the single track. There are
single tracks were even a human couldn't negotiate. But a good
rider, on a well set up woods bike, can not only negotiate the
sometimes impossible single track, he, or she, can actually fly
through the trail at truly unbelievable speeds.


It is always amazing to
novice riders how anyone can move through the tight, twisty, trails
as such speeds. These lightening fast riders seem impervious
to the thousands of obstacles Mother Nature puts it the way of
their on-coming machines. Roots, ruts, sandy berms, logs, low
hanging limbs, deep powdery sand (moon dust some call it), prickly
bushes, sharp cutting wait-a-minute vines, and of course, bike
sucking mud are all part of the single track. The fast woods
rider deals with them as if they weren't there. Of course the
slower rider deals with them also, it's just that he knows they
are there. Boy does he know it. Ask him and he will tell you
elaborate tales of tragedy about mud holes seat deep and up hills
straight up to the sky. Ask the fast rider and he will probably
comment "Yea, there was a little mud."


Whether you ride it fast
or slow, it is the single track trail that test a riders soul.
Most riders can handle the single tack pretty well for a few
miles. Maybe even ten miles. But after thirty miles and then
forty the single track becomes a relentless, pounding, twisting
blur of sharp turns, trees, roots and thicket. It takes on a
life of its own. That's because at this point in an Enduro or
Hare Scramble the rider falls into a "Zone". He is
running on sheer natural instincts. He no longer thinks about
the next turn or the trail ahead. The body numbs and the mind
wanders. Shifting, braking, sliding through turns, all are on
automatic. The rider finds himself thinking of the next check
point. There are people there. Humans. Something, anything,
but the everlasting "single track" threading its way,
turn after hairpin turns, mile after mile, towards the end of
your misery. You pray for some open double track or jeep trails
for a few minutes break. Anything to break the brutality of the
"single track".


But the "single track"
knows your weaknesses. It knows how tired you are. It even knows
if your having trouble with your bike. If your rear brake is
fading, then the "single track" is mostly steep down
hills and long straight-aways with sharp 90 degree turns. If
your bike is loading up, there is absolutely no place you can
get out of 1st gear and hope to clear your engine. It knows if
you busted your left hand on a tree, and will continue to put
sturdy saplings in just the right spots to whack you again, and
again. Ask any rider and they will back me up on this. The "single
track" knows.


But just because the "single
track" is uncanny in its ability to torture, and relentless
in its pressure, that doesn't mean the "single track"
always wins. In fact, more often it is the rider who is eventually
the victor. This is because the rider has several potent weapons
in his fanny pack. First, there is "experience". The
more time on the trails the easier the "single track"
becomes. Stamina, skill and confidence all increase as a rider
gains first hand knowledge of what Mother Nature (and the promoters,
but that's another story) can throw at you. Second, is that illusive
element which causes the rider to gain any experience in the first
place. That solely human trait of conquest. You ride the "single
track" because it is difficult, and the more difficult it
is, the more you want to ride it.


The "single track"
demonstrates the riders skill level. Better riders go faster,
and it shows the most on a "single track". It's a fact.
But more than that, the "single track" is a test of
a riders true urge for conquest. We call it, "Fun",
but in fact we are fulfilling out urge to conquer the trail. It
doesn't matter whether you ride it fast or slow, it only matters
that you ride it. Every time you finish a loop or a particularly
hard section, you feel as though you've accomplished something.
You've been tested and you were victorious.


At least until the next
trail ride.


Victor Ostrowski
Ft Walton Beach Fl
vico@nuc.net
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easy2pass

easy2pass


Posts : 79
Join date : 2009-08-09
Age : 42
Location : Pell City

The Single Track Empty
PostSubject: Re: The Single Track   The Single Track EmptyThu Sep 03, 2009 9:20 pm

good stuff The Single Track 954592
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VELOSITY

VELOSITY


Posts : 25
Join date : 2009-08-27
Age : 51
Location : OAK GROVE

The Single Track Empty
PostSubject: Re: The Single Track   The Single Track EmptyFri Sep 04, 2009 10:28 am

Single track is the "weed out". Separating RIDERS from people who own motorcycles
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Hak
Admin
Hak


Posts : 204
Join date : 2009-08-09
Age : 46
Location : Alabaster

The Single Track Empty
PostSubject: Re: The Single Track   The Single Track EmptyFri Sep 04, 2009 3:52 pm

Nice!
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PostSubject: Re: The Single Track   The Single Track Empty

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