What you could call a “trail” has some variety though. Quite alot of the riders in the several locations around the world probably would call our often quite technical but pretty flat trails more of a lazy sunday cruises. For Example, I remember a Mountain Bike UK interview of the downhill racer Steve Peat which included some “trail riding” with him. (Note: seems like the magazine has no website of its own but works with this larger community: http://www.bikeradar.com/ - looks definately worth checking BTW.) The magazine staff was quite suprised that Peat’s thought about “trail riding” included e.g. drops of about 6-10 feet and some very steep downhills!
The so called North Shore riders in Vancouver, Canada, are another crazy breed. Some of the stuff the guys call “trails” would be labeled as full on “stunts”/bike park freeride here – which quite a few riders would even attemp I guess?
The below video shows an example. “Mishugina!” trail on Bowen Island, Vancouver – built by the legendary rider / stunt builder, “Dangerous” Dan Cowan. Check out the no-handed track stand at around 0.50. Technical, eh? The Drop In Crew riders make this kind of stuff look like it would be a walk in the park…
And as we get into the gravity assisted mountain biking: an example of Steve Peat riding. Freeriding vs. DH? You be the judge… I’d say downhillers still get my vote, by a very very small margin though. I’d just say DH competitions are all about speed and that just separates the men out of the boys, just like in skiing one could argue? Anyway, enjoy the video:
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Trails vary all the time. But for one, an ideal trail should have well-posted signs, not muddy, and gives a good view of nature!
Rheanna, sometimes muddy trails can also be great. A bit more challenging