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Old 08-17-12 | 04:17 PM
  #8  
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Stealthammer
Still spinnin'.....
 
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 1,208
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From: Whitestown, IN

Bikes: Fisher Opie freeride/urban assault MTB, Redline Monocog 29er MTB, Serrota T-Max Commuter, Klein Rascal SS, Salsa Campion Road bike, Pake Rum Runner FG/SS Road bike, Cannondale Synapse Road bike, Santana Arriva Road Tandem, and others....

Originally Posted by ColinL
some of the stuff in Tacoma's list I would call trials riding, not singletrack MTB.
This is a perfect example of what I said earlier regarding technical being just too subjective of a term to have every rider of all skill-levels agree on just one definition. I thought Tacoma's list was pretty accurate for single track riding but a bit incomplete for some of the skills that are required to navigate many of the more challenging single tracks I have ridden in different locations. For instance, being able to maintain your balance and navigate down a 6-8" wide path to traverse the full length of a 15-20' fallen log, or being able to descend a drop so steep that your rear wheel is lifted off the ground for most of the distance, or doing tail-whips to negotiate a very tight turn when bracketed by trees.

But that pretty much proves my point as well because each of us ride in different conditions and many of the skills that I developed when doing near vertical single tracks in the San Gabriel Mountain in SoCal, or skills that I developed negotiating some of the drop-offs and near vertical drops at Slickrock in Moab, UT, are completely useless here in Indy. The trails I ride here are actually more like what I rode in New Jersey and Maryland where you spend a lot of time navigating through wooded areas with only short burst climbs that are usually slick as hell and tight slick turns that immediately go up or down a few feet.

Either way though, I think that the more experience you get in the widest variety of terrian will change your own definition of "technical" over time.

Last edited by Stealthammer; 08-18-12 at 02:34 AM.
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