Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

Summit Ridge: 1st Annual Trials-on-Tribulation

2K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  Opa 
#1 ·
A buddy of mine is putting this together. A fun little "honor system" event to encourage riders to get out in January. Paul's contact info is below.

1st Annual Trials-on-Tribulation
In celebration of all the work that's gone into Tribulation trail, we will be running a month long self administered (honor system) event. "Trials on Tribulation" will run January 1 thru the 31. You can ride it whenever and as much as you want. The rest of December will be a chance for everyone to practice the trail and learn the obstacles so everyone starts as even-Steven as possible.
The goal of the event is to ride the course with the fast time and fewest number of dabs.
As an example, certain obstacles and bridges will be +1 point and putting a foot down anywhere will be -1. It will also be a timed event with start/stop points clearly marked. A quicker time could offset more foot plants. The idea is that each rider only need time themselves around the main loop, keep a +/- number in their head and email these two values to me for record keeping. I am hoping to round up prizes for the Men's, Women's and Children's divisions, with the possibility for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes.

Rules:
1. Have fun!!!
2. Always ride within your abilities.
3. Your time and score is based on the honor system.
4. Event runs January 1st thru 31st
5. Follow the signs.
6. Time yourself.
7. Keep point tally.
a. Each bridge crossed cleanly…….+1 point.
b. Clearing marked obstacle……..+1 point.
c. Putting a foot down/crashing…….-1 point.
d. Riding around or bypassing an obstacle…. -2 points
8. Email your POINT TOTAL AND TIME to paulnotch@yahoo.com for processing.
9. Riders may ride as many times as they wish to improve (or trash) their score.
 
See less See more
#3 ·
Sounds a lot like the first half of the now defunct "Bent Event" up on the other Ridge farther north. Blue Bucket was a really difficult trail to clean. Had to be on the same bike for the FR/DH run after that too. The difference here is the timed part. Bent had a timed run after that for the less tech but more huck crowd to balance it out. Great idea indeed.
 
#4 ·
Any bonus points for doing it at night?
We will go give it a go one of these Wednesdays! Trib is a great example of how a trail in a flattish area can be a TON of fun. It might be a top 5 lowland trail for me. It's a great example of how you can mix old school tech and new school flow.
 
#7 ·
Read the post and I never rode Summit Ridge. The Scottish Trial style friendly competition sounds like fun.

So decided to check the parts bin at home, hmm......

Found my old frame, 13 inch bb, 25,5 tt, short stays.
cranks, 20t x 36 cogset. tires, rhino rims, 203 rotors. bla, bla, bla.
all I need to have the wife weld a caliper mount to the frame and I'm golden.

Here is what it looks so far, I did swap out the bar and stem for a better fit tho...
 

Attachments

#9 ·
Thank you for all the great feedback all!

Official rules will be posted at the trailhead of Tribulation Trail. Given results of a practice run, rule 7d will be eliminated to keep scoring as simple as possible and keep entry level riders from losing all hope to place when riding around obstacles.

Directions to Tribulation Trail/Summit Ridge: Take hwy 169 either north or south to Black Diamond, WA. On the north end of town where the speed increases/decreases from 35 to 50, find a grey metal gate with a HUGE green/black "Welcome to Summit Ridge" sign (opposite the white coal cart in the ditch). Bike past the gate about 40 yards and Tribulation Trail starts on your right hand side. Good luck!
 
#12 ·
2014 Trials on Tribulation Update:

Most of the signage is up on Tribulation Trail. Rules and reminders have been posted at the main trail entrance by the church gate. Both bailouts are being marked to reduce confusion while on-trail and keep rotation clockwise. T-minus 3 days until the fun begins!

The Fam and I will be run/walk/riding it tomorrow morning to finish the signage and see how it all "flows". The trail is in AWESOME condition with no standing water. Russ showed up to give bridge #1 an upgrade or two, so there are no areas that I am aware of needing attention. Tribulation is as safe as I have ever seen it. Bring it!!
 
#14 ·
I know this is all great fun, and not to be taken seriously, but I did want to point out a discrepancy in the rules. The Trailhead rules mention: head, shoulder and foot dabs as -1 point. The Evergreen rules only mention foot dabs. Also, is a ride-around really -2 points?, I dont recall that from the trailside rules. Some of those stumps are going to probably be impossible to not 'shoulder dab', or hit your bars against the tree stump? Is a pedal strike like a foot dab?

I think just keeping it closer to trials rules is better. No foot dabing or ejecting. brushing a shoulder briefly against a tree trunk, no big deal....do you really want to count that as -1. When does a brush turn into 'resting' or 'leaning', who cares just let people do it. I think a foot dab is obvious, the rest is not so much, and might end up in nitpicking and general loss of the 'fun factor'

That aside, you guys have done a ton of work up there. I am hoping to get out there again soon and hit that trail timed and nailing most of the features. What a great idea!


PS: as an aside, I noticed some of the features marked "drop" are really rollers (on Tribulation and some of the other trails--one you couldnt drop even if you tried). I think that is potentially dangerous as less experienced riders may think that all "drops" can be rolled, and get themselves into trouble.

Again keep up the awesome work, definately heading out there again soon.
 
#15 ·
Hey rdhfreethought...........thank you for the feedback! As you will see from my comment 5 days ago, the "Ride Around -2" was retracted to give less experienced riders a shot at staying in the + point total. The BDTC forum was also updated to match the trailhead. Sorry, but I didn't have permissions to update the calendar on Evergreen's site to eliminate rule 7d. The author just updated that post.

The "what constitutes a dab?" question is a toughy. I started with just a foot/crash, but was asked to update it to "any touch" to keep things as simple as possible. There's one particular rock/tree combo that I love leaning against, reset my crank, continue on. I have also ridden it many times w/o touching. Your crank/pedals will inadvertently touch various items as you ride past....no biggie. A dab is usually in association with a lack of forward progress. I think if we all use good judgment and a proper honor system, we'll all have a good time.

"Drops" are marked simply for rider safety. Given the web sites we used to get the word out, I feel there's a potential for many first time riders on the trail. Each marked drop can be ridden fast enough to catch air with little run-out and fairly tight corners below. Just wanted to flag the popular "endo" spots.

Thank you again and let's take this first year with a grain of salt. It's meant to get people out, explore a new trail possibly or track your individual progression (or regression for us old farts...) as a rider from year to year. Everyone should email thoughts/recommendations with their results for consideration next year.

Oh....and everyone please keep in mind that ALL trails on this parcel of land are multi-use with quite a few runners and dog walkers on them. PLEASE be considerate. No extra points for road kill... :)
 
#16 ·
Well said. Thank you for clearing that up.

Anyone who has not been, or thinks it is too far from Seattle (45 min from UW for me), just needs to get out there. Lots and lots of trails. And the trails are all in good shape, and constantly being fine-tuned by trail gnomes.

I hope this is the first of many such 'obstacle' races to come!
 
#17 ·
Opa, a couple of buddies and I rode Tribulation today (Mon.) and read the "rules". We are wondering if the points you get for doing the harder moves equate to time gains or just points?
If you do some of the obstacles it takes away from the flow and adds to a persons time over all. So would it be better to have a faster time or more points. (Probably both! Doah!)
Also we came to the conclusion that you shouldn't have to count the bridges as they aren't optional,
so wouldn't it be easier to count them as "dabs" if you can't make them instead of having to count them if you make them.
It's going to be hard to keep track of everything as it is. Just a thought.
BTW, the trail is in great shape! Thanks to all the gnomes that live out there in the woods!
 
#18 ·
UPDATE: Weekend #1 is in the books and we have 3 contestants (all men) so far. I am keeping results confidential for now, but will tell you this: I have made two runs and haven't even come close to the other two guys. I NEED YOUR HELP to catch these guys!! I am working with Summit Ridge Guy to have 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards for Men's, Women's and Kid's (17 and under) divisions. If you're the only woman or kid to email in a time/score, you may just get all 3 prizes for that division!

It's "easy":
1) Be safe and have fun. Time yourself from when you enter the main entrance until you exit this same point.
2) Get +1 point for riding across each of the 10 bridges (one bridge has a high route that's marked/worth +2). All other features worth additional points are marked. Any dabs that are accompanied by a loss of motion, -1 point. (Use common sense. We all know when we lose it and dab. This is an honor based system.)
3) Email your full name/time/point total to paulnotch@yahoo.com.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top