![]() “I would say probably more wilderness trails,” says Jacobs, looking at what’s going on overseas and adapting it to the growth of the sport locally. A growing number of other trail building companies are bringing their own style to the sport too. Photo: Andrew RailtonĪs a rider, travelling from one destination to another, you can feel this evolution in the way the terrain uses the hill, the way your body moves through corners, and how up hill transit trails feel increasingly effortless. Jacobs and World Trail have built some truly stunning trails. But again, every minute, every hour, every day, we are getting better at what we do.” “The terrain sort of depicts what the outcome’s going to be,” adds Jacobs, “because of the soil, the rocks, the hills, the slope and everything like that. The lessons learned from those trails informed the team’s work in Derby. Everything we learned from Stonefly, we put in Ridgy Didge, Trail 6, at Atherton.”Īfter Atherton, the crew returned to Mt Buller to build the 40km IMBA epic trail. Stonefly (at Mt Buller) is still fantastic, but we’ve evolved from there. “We’ve got all our history of whatever we’ve built. The one we’re building right now!” says Jacobs. “I get a question sometimes, ‘Which is your best trail?’ Well, probably the latest one. Predictability is also key, as is constantly refining what good trail building means. You can make it faster or slower if you like, so you end up having the perfect flow.” “We watch the tyre marks of what the locals ride and we can move the adjustment chokes in or out. For beginners, who are less skilled with picking a line and finding good flow, piles of rocks on the sides of the trails are cleverly used to guide riders’ eyes, bodies and tyres. While the extensive Atherton trail network certainly caters to the 78 per cent-ers, there are several sneaky line choices throughout the park that advanced riders will spot to keep them on their toes. “If you primarily build double black diamond trails, riders who are new to the sport will make a quick exit” It keeps you within the activity if you have trails to ride on that aren’t going to hurt you.” “If you build for the beginners – and we’re not talking footpaths, we’re talking mountain bike trails, like Atherton – people will go and ride, and they will enjoy the sport. The growth of the sport and its infrastructure will come to a quick halt. If you primarily build double black diamond trails, riders who are new to the sport will make a quick exit, Jacobs explains. “Of course we build core trails, all that World Cup stuff, we’ve done that for years,” says Jacobs, who was recently inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in California, USA. The remaining 22 per cent is split almost equally between beginner riders, and the core group of riders and racers that drive innovation and the sport’s image. We build for the people who will evolve the sport who want to get better.” Jacobs explains that when you look at mountain bike sales, 78 per cent are to the green circle and blue square riders. Key to the success of these trail networks is a design philosophy that caters to a recreational majority and gets the broader community on board. “You are going to travel to Atherton, you are going to travel to Derby, you are going to travel to Stromlo, in Canberra, you are going to go to all these different places to ride.”Ītherton, in Tropical North Queensland, Derby, just outside of Launceston, and Canberra’s Stromlo Forest Park, are just a few of the places where mountain bike tourism has become a critical part of the economy because of World Trail’s work. “People will travel to a destination to ride,” says Jacobs likening mountain biking to other popular landscape-based sports like skiing or climbing. Jacobs built the trails in Smithfield that helped put Australia on the global MTB map - and he and his team rebuilt them for the 20 World Cups.
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