- Quee. (hands clapping)
- Welcome back you beautiful people.
Do you know what, when you get to a bike path
for the very first time, there's usually
some blue trails, some red ones
and usually some blacks as well.
Now, if you're a bit unsure with
your riding abilities, where do you start?
The question is, do you take the blue pill
or do you take the red pill?
You know, that's a famous saying from "The Matrix."
If you haven't watched it, watch it, it's pretty cool.
Now that is the question, which one are you going to take?
Lets find out, blue, red, blue, red, blu--
(splattering)
(upbeat piano music)
So what makes a blue trail, well, blue trail
really is a bit of a flow trail.
Any rider can ride this trail and any bike as well.
You don't have to have such a big bike, just like this one.
And also, there's a lot of turns.
They all link together really nicely.
The trail itself is very smooth.
Everything's rollable, and what I mean by this,
is your jumps are rollable, your drops are rollable.
So there's no gaps to try and jump.
There's nothing you going to fall and crash on.
Now, a trail is ridden by all sorts of levels of riders.
From really beginner all the way up to advanced.
Where, an advanced rider can use it to warm up, as such,
before going on to a bigger, gnarlier trail.
And when you are a beginner you can gain a lot of skill
from riding these trails because you can learn how to pump.
You can learn how to flow, you can learn how to link,
looking ahead and you can also gain experience
on how to progress your jumping skills as well.
So there's a lot that goes into a blue trail.
Pretty much a family trail as such.
So what does a blue rider want in a trail?
Well, they're looking to maintain their speed.
Learning how to ride with speed.
Learning how to jump with minimum consequences.
Also, they want a flowy trail and a smooth ride.
Now that's what a blue ride is all about.
Smooth and learning, learning
those key skills in mountain biking.
I'm going to continue down here, it's got a little bit tacky.
(upbeat music) (tires rolling over ground)
All right, that's what a blue trail consists of.
A great one to learn your skills.
To hone in those skills before you jump in the deep end
and go and hit a red or even dare I say, a black.
If you haven't got the skills now or if
you're not a blue and you're a red.
Oh, a red trail, yes, now what does a red trail consist
of and what skills do you need
to do are red, let's find out.
(tires running over ground)
(upbeat music)
(tires running over ground)
Whoa, red trails, now what does a red trail consist of?
Well, for a start, you're going to need some skills.
Jumping skills required, also you're
going to have to learn how to maintain your speed.
Because the obstacles are getting a little bit bigger.
And everything potentially could be rollable on a red line
but there is some where you're going to have to jump
or you're going to have to gap over a certain thing
to get to the next part to link up the trail.
There's a small drops, there's some root gardens,
there's a little bit tacky.
Plus you're going fast through all these sections.
Where on this trail right here, there's some big table tops.
All of it can be rollable but there are big jumps
So you want to be going quite fast
to clear these jumps as well.
Now also, when it comes to it.
The bike choice, well you know, a cheaper,
hardtail version would struggle a little bit.
But any bike can do it,
you don't need a bike like this caliber.
A full suspension with a 150mm of travel.
A hardtail could do it, hey, I've done this on a cross bike.
So, it is capable, you can do it on any bike.
But the cheaper bike you know might struggle a little bit.
Another thing to take into consideration when riding
a red trail is potentially walk the trail through
before you go steaming in because
they're might be some obstacles on there
that could catch you up by surprise.
And you know, you don't want to have an accident
on your first run on a red trail.
When it comes to some of those jumps on a red trail,
they are a little bit steeper.
They are a bigger so when you're
coming in with some speed, it's
super easy to get bucked over the bars.
Plus, you need to go faster to clear such gaps.
Like these table tops, they're big
and you got to be confident within your skills
when you're on a red trail as well.
So you think you're a red rider?
You're going to have to have solid fundamental bike skills.
Want to challenge yourself, are ready
to take on gap jumps and drops.
Want to build their technical bike handling abilities.
That's what it takes to become a red rider.
(upbeat music)
So that's a red trail, now it consists of lots of jumps
that you are going to have to clear at some point
and you're going a little bit faster
so you need all of that but, we can't rule out,
(fingers snapping)
yes, the black trail, we can't rule this one out.
Now, this one's for the most advanced rider.
Because the trail is super tacky, it's rough, it's steep.
There could be some big, big, jumps on this thing.
Now, you got to bring out all those skills
you have in your box out and onto
your bike to ride a trail just like this one.
Plus, even the names get gnarly and black.
Look at that, Feed 'Em To The Lions,
that's three dots, with a black arrow.
(upbeat music)
Okay, straight away you can see the first obstacle
you get to on a bike you can't even roll it.
It's a little drop, now, challenge, can you roll it?
I don't think so, I think you can just hit
and somehow, probably do some damage to your bike.
You're going to have to jump it, drop skills come into play.
Oh, oh my no, it's a hot no, not even rolling.
Okay, I've ridden this trail before and to be honest,
I did walk the trail just before I rode it the first time.
Just to see what's there so I'm not surprised
with any crazy little drops, just like that one.
That can literally put you on edge,
put you in a horrible predicament.
So the best thing is to walk a trail before you get into it.
Especially a black trail, because
they are a little bit more gnarlier.
Now, look at this, this is the black route now.
I call these the black roots of the black root
because these are horrible.
When these get slippery, I call them sniper roots,
they're horrible and all these little potholes right here
can suck up your front wheel and put in a bit
of a predicament and spit you over the bars.
Now, you need some skill to ride all of this
and this is just the beginning of the trail.
The further you go down, the steeper it gets,
the rougher it gets and it becomes manic.
If you're not up for, I wouldn't
recommend dropping into a black.
(upbeat music)
Oof, whoa, now this, you do not, oh my goodness me.
You do not want to roll this thing.
This is the black, nah, this is where
you're going to need your drop skills.
And you're breaking skills, and you got to be confident
with your speed because no way out of it.
You're in, you're in, you're in for a treat of a ride.
(breathing heavy)
A black run, there is something
about black that just puts you on edge.
Nerves kick in but that's where you need to get
all your skills that you've learned
throughout your bikin' is bring 'em
all together to get yourself down a black route.
Because it can be gnarly, it can be steep, it could be fast,
rough, big drops, big jumps, anything that's on that
black route you're going to make sure
you know what's coming up.
Because it could bite you in the bum.
But like I said, some bike parks don't really put a
black route on something that's gnarly like this.
It could be a very long one, so it's
going to take you pretty much all day.
And it's going to be a few heavy climbs in it.
That could be a black run, just remember,
wherever you are, just walk that trail.
It could be gnarly, and if you're a blue rider,
you don't want to be dropping in that.
(upbeat synthesized music)
Woo, a blue, a red or a black trail.
All different trails that you know,
you need different skills to ride each individual one.
But, we're going to start with the blue.
The blue anyone can ride it, but it's a
great platform to build up your skills.
Now those skills are easily transferrable onto the red.
It's just you got to jump further, you're going
a little bit faster, plus you can gain more confidence
whilst riding a red to build up to a black one.
And when you're riding a black,
that's when you're at your peak.
I feel like if you can get down a black comfortably
and safe, I think you're a really good rider.
Now, hopefully this video's helped you
understand what skill level you would be at.
If you went to a bike park such like this one.
If you're a blue or red or a black.
Let us know in the common section down below
what trail you like to be, like to work up to
or what trail do you actually love riding?
Let us know in the comments down below.
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and I'll see you at the next one, see ya!
Ah, I'm going for lunch, it was a bit too much riding.
(tires rolling over ground) Bye, see ya.