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Fire Road/Access Road Vs Single track.
Alright, this has probably been chatted about a lot but it is something I have been thinking a lot about recently as I am about to head off on a road trip hitting up over a dozen areas between the Sunshine Coast and Thredbo.
First off I ride XC mainly, I head out 2 times a week on average and cover only 20kms or so on each outing. Basically if a fire road doesn't get me to some single track I have no real compulsion to ride it. I enjoy riding a bike to work on the road, I enjoy riding up a steep bit(over an hour is fine) of access road to get to a ripping bit of single track, but if I head out on my MTB I would never willingly hit up a fire road only area. I guess if I had a long epic trip between huts or out into some awesome backcountry this would make it likely I would hit it up.
Apart from that I can see fire roads as great fitness training areas but I am not really looking at getting to a racing level of fitness as it is hot as hell up here at the moment(bring on autumn already!) and 4 am wakeups kill me. I can understand several reasons why people do enjoy fire roads, but I would like a bit of an explanation from those people who love 'em what it is that makes them feel that way.
Personally, flowing on and cranking up technical single track is the most enjoyable way of riding a bike I have experienced. I hope this post makes some kind of sense to someone. Please help me expand my horizons with your insights!
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I think what you are saying is that unless a fire trail actually goes somewhere useful, like a bit of single track, it's pretty pointless. Ie. riding a fire road to get some where is OK, but riding it for the sake of riding it is pointless. Unless, as you point out, you are just smashing along it to get some kays in for training.
As opposed to single track which can be ridden just for the sake of riding it. Ie. because it's fun!
Surely you weren't asking why single track is more fun than fire trail, where you?
However, think I'd add to that, that riding a fire trail to get to a nice lookout or other beautiful place is worthwhile. But then you could say that just about anywhere is the bush is a beautiful place and therefore riding any fire trail takes you there and can be appreciated from that point of view. You know - cruising along, listening to the birds, appreciating the plants and other wildlife, chatting to your buddies as you go, feeling that 'miles from anywhere' feeling is what riding fire trails can be about.
What Rob said.
I rode 30km+ with my son and cousin almost entirely on the fire roads back of Old Bar on the weekend. What made it enjoyable was the excellent company - my older cousin and I share a lot of the same interests and it's really the only time we get to catch up. Can't chat about the state of the economy, real estate deals and family goings-on on singletrack - can't hear conversations properly, and you're too busy anyway!
A good couple of steep climbs and descents spiced it up a little. Since I'm still rehabilitating a shoulder reconstruction I'm a bit paranoid still about unfamiliar singletrack. Cruising along with the trees filtering the sun into dappled shadow on the forest roadways miles from anywhere was just what the doctor ordered.
Some of the roads are starting to grow over through non-use, or have been very seriously damaged by wet-weather 4WD use, so there was a bit of challenge to be had picking your way through.
I don't normally do this often. It quickly becomes boring as a staple riding diet. Like you, my strong preference is for singletrack. Nothing beats flowy singletrack trails for pure riding enjoyment. My preference is for the XC end of the technical challenge spectrum as my skills need work.
Good point - this is why I would never do the Dirtworx 50k again - pretty much all firetrail.