It's all about the gravity sends
On the Mogo-side it’s all about the gravity sends. Builders have been tasked to create trails that match their riding style and ability.
“It’s a fine art to get a constant descent like a roller coaster from top to bottom, without pedalling or braking,” Ruben from Next Level MTB said.
Next, the builders come through and scout the trail with the excavator, directing crews on the ground.
The cutting crew clears the corridor, preparing it for shovels and rakes along the pink tape to get a nice snake – it’s like a dot-to-dot puzzle coming to life.
The trails are tailored to the builders’ riding abilities. “The more advanced riders and machine operators get more creative freedom, while the rookie builders are tasked to the green trails – they see more tape and receive more direction.”
Photo: Ruben scopes the trail alignment with his clinometer – an analogue device showing the gradient. He scoots down the hill and ties pink ribbons at eye level.
For Jack Marsh and Kyle Wilkinson, trail building is about flow and shape.
“Smooth lines, nice transitions and no edges sticking out,” Jack said.
“If you’re comparing it to icing on a cake – you want it smooth with no knife lines.”
Kyle added: “We look at the terrain in front of us and scope out natural undulations or features like trees, stumps, or rocks.”
“If we can use them, we will. Otherwise, we sculpt the terrain into something new. Visualising a feature in bare bush takes time, but we carve it out until it takes shape.”
There’s always a bike hanging out in the bushes ready for test runs. But sometimes, when a bike isn’t handy, they’ll loosen up the legs and do a floppy jog to see if it works. Not silly at all!
Gradient v difficulty
How steep the gradient is, determines the difficulty.
A steeper gradient means higher speeds, which also means the features need to be bigger – so there’s taller berms and bigger jumps.
A slack gradient (not very steep) is around a 5% gradient. Anything less than 5%, you may as well be pedalling.
Between 5-7% makes a good green trail. Between 6-10 % is a blue trail. Then black and double blacks are typically a minimum of 10%.
All trails are rated so you will have some idea what to expect and how experienced you need to be before tackling a trail for the first time.