I did so on a frosty early Saturday morning, before breakfast, just for those who doubt my commitment to the reporting here.
The track is great fun. It clearly hits its aim to be ridable for the less experienced, and to allow you to get as much out of it as you can as you get better and stronger. It loops around with constant jumps, all of which can be pumped, but tempt you to test yourself and get airborne. There are sets of rolling bumps that beg you to get good enough to manual through and the majority of the jumps are at least semi-tabletop style, allowing you to pull up short if your ambition outstrips your ability. Turns are dealt with excellent berms and all in all it’s a fabulous track to have right in the middle of a very urban bit of London.
The challenge is to go bigger, faster and harder and I did my best, even clearing one of the doubles consistently until my arms, legs and shoulders were too tired to keep pushing it and I headed home for breakfast. I’ll be back through the winter.
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I have to disagree, the track is built for elite riders and fails to offer the opportunity for those of less ability to bridge the divide between simply rolling over a series bumps to being able to develop the skills needed to ride the track to its potential. At its opening, I watched elite riders skipping over moguls on their back wheel wondering what the track provided for children who will never attain those skills. Too many of the sections simply kill any speed you have built up, there should have been sections for people to accomplish and learn what is needed to progress to more challenging sections, the basic premise of any form of inclusive education is scaffolding activities to allow people to attain their potential rather than saying 'well at least you can just roll over the bumps'..... So if this park is provided for local people it certainly fails to be inclusive.
ReplyDeleteThe jump park at Learnie, the bike park at Kielder and especially the skills loop at Dalbettie are the best examples I know where riders are able to develop their skills, of course the problem is they are all more than 300 miles away, the real shame is the missed opportunity of providing something of real use to the local community.
I didn’t reply sooner, as I wanted to go back to Lordship Rec and see if I’d missed something. I’m not sure that I agree with you, but see what you think of my thoughts that'll go up on Tuesday?
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Did you ever go back?
ReplyDeleteI did note the comment in your original post about the lack of fun. I live just around the corner and gave up using it after a couple of weeks, precisely for that reason.
I would add Hammersley to my list of great skill areas, blue red and black sections to chose from on a common path.