Let me chime in as a 30 some year old that just got back into riding a couple years ago:
I rode BC at their last practice day. There were several jumps that I did not hit including the finish line jump, the uphill double (even though I should have) and I doubled the downhill triple instead of trying to triple it. I still had a blast. At the next practice day at BC I will hit the uphill double if I get a good run out of the corner before it. If not, I wont. Its all up the the rider's ability and knowing how hard they can ride safely. I wouldnt get out on a track if I didnt know where my comfort level was.
Would I want to ride on a track that I where I would hinder the faster riders and cause a crash from not hitting jumps? Absolutely not. But I feel tracks like BC are big enough (and more importantly wide enough) for me to hold my line and the fast riders know how to fly around me with no problems.
For me to go out and try to hit everything at BC would no doubt cause me to crash and be a day ending event. I know that going in and I ride to my ability while still trying to get faster and eventually get better to hit an extra jump here and there WHEN I FEEL COMFORTABLE doing so.
If I would go ride the C track alone I would be bored to death after 5-10 laps.
The key to making tracks safer, in my opinion, is not the size of the jumps but the forgiveness of the landings. When the landings are as peaked as the takeoffs, I am not riding it. I need a little room for error on where my front tire is going to come down. Watching supercross in Indy leaves me wondering how those guys have the timing to nail the peaked landings perfectly on every jump......but they also have thousands of dollars in their suspensions to get away with a mistake or two and they do it for a living. I ride for fun.
Build the jumps as big as you want. Speed or no speed I think the landings need to have a smooth transition with some roll to them so if someone comes up short its not a disaster when they fly over the bars.
I rode BC at their last practice day. There were several jumps that I did not hit including the finish line jump, the uphill double (even though I should have) and I doubled the downhill triple instead of trying to triple it. I still had a blast. At the next practice day at BC I will hit the uphill double if I get a good run out of the corner before it. If not, I wont. Its all up the the rider's ability and knowing how hard they can ride safely. I wouldnt get out on a track if I didnt know where my comfort level was.
Would I want to ride on a track that I where I would hinder the faster riders and cause a crash from not hitting jumps? Absolutely not. But I feel tracks like BC are big enough (and more importantly wide enough) for me to hold my line and the fast riders know how to fly around me with no problems.
For me to go out and try to hit everything at BC would no doubt cause me to crash and be a day ending event. I know that going in and I ride to my ability while still trying to get faster and eventually get better to hit an extra jump here and there WHEN I FEEL COMFORTABLE doing so.
If I would go ride the C track alone I would be bored to death after 5-10 laps.
The key to making tracks safer, in my opinion, is not the size of the jumps but the forgiveness of the landings. When the landings are as peaked as the takeoffs, I am not riding it. I need a little room for error on where my front tire is going to come down. Watching supercross in Indy leaves me wondering how those guys have the timing to nail the peaked landings perfectly on every jump......but they also have thousands of dollars in their suspensions to get away with a mistake or two and they do it for a living. I ride for fun.
Build the jumps as big as you want. Speed or no speed I think the landings need to have a smooth transition with some roll to them so if someone comes up short its not a disaster when they fly over the bars.