[bigboulder]

Was riding up confluence trail yesterday when I came upon a crash victim at the Gap jump. He was riding with a lady friend, first time in Auburn coming down the confluence trail and did not see the Gap jump. Full face impact on the other side. It was pretty messy. Since they had no idea where they really were in Auburn I had to get on the phone with CalFire. It was easy to tell them where they were because they know the gap jump all to well. Met them at Mommoth bar and got the ditinct impression that they are getting tired of coming out there.

ASRA is in full trail and stunt destruction mode as some of you know from the recent tear down of the Thailand section near culvert. Local sources say they are going to be going all out to take out all jumps, stunts and unauthorized trails in the ASRA 2011.

 

[Finch Platte]

Ouch. Hope the guy's ok.

 

[badjenny]

Ah ha. Was wondering what happened, must have been you I saw talking to the ambulance as I went by to start Confluence.

When I came upon that group at the gap there were about 6 people standing around, the downed rider wasn't visible from the approach so it looked like they were just standing around. Not one of em was warning riders to slow down, didn't even realize the accident was there until I saw the poor guy in the ditch, figured it was on the moto side.

So, any info on him? hope he's ok.

 

[jeng]

Was riding up confluence trail yesterday when I came upon a crash victim at the Gap jump. He was riding with a lady friend, first time in Auburn coming down the confluence trail and did not see the Gap jump. Full face impact on the other side. It was pretty messy. Since they had no idea where they really were in Auburn I had to get on the phone with CalFire. It was easy to tell them where they were because they know the gap jump all to well. Met them at Mommoth bar and got the ditinct impression that they are getting tired of coming out there.

ASRA is in full trail and stunt destruction mode as some of you know from the recent tear down of the Thailand section near culvert. Local sources say they are going to be going all out to take out all jumps, stunts and unauthorized trails in the ASRA 2011.

Bummer would be nice if somehow we could sign the stunts instead of destroy...

 

[hoolie]

Make sighns or lose stunts

That sounds very irresponsible to make stunts with no warning on blind turns/rises. Read that sentence twice before you flame me. It is so sad to see any trailwork torn down ( or trails closed ). I ride in Bay Area where lots of hard work is destroyed, and over 30 years it becomes demoralizing. You riders up there could make last ditch effort for sighnage, bypasses for newbies, and keep those stunts!

 

[JFR]

Healing vibes to the injured rider.

Reminder to not override your line of site or attention.

Removal of stunts even remotely associated with accidents like this are a shame. There's really no excuse for "didn't see it" and crashing because of it.

Even local riders who suddenly come upon a new feature are overriding their line of site if they can't stop in time. What if the new feature is a downed tree or a kitten.

 

[Martin6]

Bummer would be nice if somehow we could sign the stunts instead of destroy...

I agree! All the "stunts" have routes around them so they can be avoided. I feel bad for the rider who got hurt, but c'mon - you hit a jump without knowing what it is?

 

[dth656]

ouch, hope the rider is ok. was he lucid and aware? was he able to feel it if someone touched his toes/fingers?

also, props to cal fire---those guys are awesome.

 

[ndamico]

hopefully the fellow is ok.

i agree with you JFR.. i don't take big jumps beyond my skill level but i do pay attention so as to go around them. if they want to make it fool proof they might as well make us all walk. no matter how much caution is taken ahead of time if the rider isn't paying attention or riding beyond his/her means they hurt themselves eventually.

Healing vibes to the injured rider.

Reminder to not override your line of site or attention.

Removal of stunts even remotely associated with accidents like this are a shame. There's really no excuse for "didn't see it" and crashing because of it.

Even local riders who suddenly come upon a new feature are overriding their line of site if they can't stop in time. What if the new feature is a downed tree or a kitten.

 

[redmr2_man]

whoa! you were only about 15minutes behind me @ russell road, and I didn't see anything like that. There were some people unloading bikes from a truck right in front of the gap jump though. Hope the rider is okay!

I had 4 very close head-on's going up connector yesterday. One guy just locks both up and slides into me with a small shoulder check. I look at him, we both start laughing, and say....connector on weekends! yay!

 

[nachomc]

I had 4 very close head-on's going up connector yesterday. One guy just locks both up and slides into me with a small shoulder check. I look at him, we both start laughing, and say....connector on weekends! yay!

:lol: that's always fun

 

[Buzzaro]

That whole "river" and "cliff" thing in ASRA are pretty dangerous they should remove those too. There's also all those cars, you never know where they are coming from or going and something needs to be done.

On a serious note, I can't think of a single stunt out there that doesn't have a ride around. That gap jump can be pretty hairy if you don't know its coming and you're really moving so I could see a sign for that one. I can't think of any others though and as others have stated you need to know the trail and ride accordingly.

 

[hoolie]

Riding accordingly will not work for newbies/morons

As newbies get hurt and morons complain, you will only end up riding your bike on bike paths. Trust me. Keep building awesome stuff, but make it idiot proof so CDF doesn't spend $12,000 on rescue. Bean counters and city attorneys will be left out of the loop if you mark trails and make bypasses. City workers with bulldozers need to justify pensions.

 

[Jayem]

We have some new technical trails around here in Arizona , not downhill but extremely technical and all on rock. There are disclaimers at every intersection and signs that say its NOT for casual riders and extremely advanced. I was out at auburn a little over a month ago and didn't see anything like that. Wouldn't really be an issue if it was an "illegal" trail, as all bets should be off, but it's not so simple on a system trail. Culvert and confluence (as i know them) are some of my favorites.

 

[nachomc]

That gap in particular is tricky. If you don't know it's there, it can really catch you off guard. If you do know it's there, it still comes up pretty fast. I definitely can see how someone unfamiliar could get hurt out there, but that's no reason to remove the jump/gap. Mountain biking isn't a cuddly sport; it's dangerous and you risk injury every time you ride.

We have some new technical trails around here in Arizona , not downhill but extremely technical and all on rock. There are disclaimers at every intersection and signs that say its NOT for casual riders and extremely advanced. I was out at auburn a little over a month ago and didn't see anything like that. Wouldn't really be an issue if it was an "illegal" trail, as all bets should be off, but it's not so simple on a system trail. Culvert and confluence (as i know them).

It would probably cost $50,000 once the state got its hands on the project, but it would be nice to rank the trails similar to ski runs (and according to the IMBA rules) using familiar signs like blue circles to black diamonds at trail heads. That way people would know what they were getting in to.

 

[Lowball]

I just rode it today and they have started taking down some of the jumps before Culvert...but after Culvert is pretty much the same with one new one added in actually...big gap with lots of consequence if you don't hit it with speed and the right line...almost looks to be a joke but I'm sure there are plenty who hit it.

But Connector "on the weekend" didn't fail to be a CF. We were yielding to a few uphill riders on the way down but then as we were climbing up and other "race" types were coming down...no yield to us. Pretty typical unfortunately. One guy even yelled at us about yielding to him after we had been doing it all morning for others...

 

[nachomc]

I just rode it today and they have started taking down some of the jumps before Culvert...but after Culvert is pretty much the same with one new one added in actually...big gap with lots of consequence if you don't hit it with speed and the right line...almost looks to be a joke but I'm sure there are plenty who hit it.

But Connector "on the weekend" didn't fail to be a CF. We were yielding to a few uphill riders on the way down but then as we were climbing up and other "race" types were coming down...no yield to us. Pretty typical unfortunately. One guy even yelled at us about yielding to him after we had been doing it all morning for others...

Can't remember if you were with us but a couple summers back we were climbing up from the bridge headed back to the parking lot on connector when a group of dude's in full face helmets came ripping by us down the hill. They didn't yield to us and we basically dove out of the way.

Had they yielded, we would have had time to warn them about the tree that was down around the next corner. Their bikes smashing in to each other made a nasty sound.

 

[Lowball]

Can't remember if you were with us but a couple summers back we were climbing up from the bridge headed back to the parking lot on connector when a group of dude's in full face helmets came ripping by us down the hill. They didn't yield to us and we basically dove out of the way.

Had they yielded, we would have had time to warn them about the tree that was down around the next corner. Their bikes smashing in to each other made a nasty sound.

yeah not sure, but because I love DH so much I also tend to yield to others coming down just because I know how fun it is to flow

 

[Roger___]

Ouch....

I finished a run on the divide yesterday and was driving just across the bridge when the ambulance was coming down...I figured it was a moto, sorry to hear it was a mtbr. I've often wondered if anyone has cased that not knowing the trail. :eekster:

 

[Roger___]

Jenny, were you sporting...

a Folsom Bike kit on Saturday? If so, that was me you passed running on the Divide on Sat.