The Heldekruin DH track has had a bit of a makeover recently so we thought we would give you a bit of a run down on what it looks like.

The track is pretty much designed and maintained by the local riders and gets ridden almost every weekend. There are a nice mix of features to the layout and we will run through them from the top of the hill to the bottom. This is by no means a run down of the entire track, but more a look at some of the key features.

The first obstacle in the track is a large rock feature. There is a line that runs around the rock as well as one that runs directly over it. Its open to debate which line is actually faster, so it pretty much boils down to personal preference, and both lines are used regularly.

After the rock feature the track heads over some loose rock sections before a fast left hand berm followed by a log jump. The track is covered with loose dirt and stones so the bermed corners really help you carry your speed in the turns.

Next up is the rock jump which basically forms a big step down. There are two lips to choose from with the biggest one being on the right, and then a chicken run heading down the far left hand side. The lines heading into both lips are more difficult to hit then it first appears, and neither look too comfortable either. The chicken line is really slow though, so under race conditions you pretty much have to jump one of the two lips.

Strait after the step down the trail splits into two high speed left hand berms. Railing the outside one seems like the faster line if you jump the big lip, but the inside line is a shorter distance.

Next up is a drop off that hips to the right. The further to the right you hit it the further the gap is, but lining it up right in the middle seems like the best option for speed setting up for the next obstacle. Once again there is also a chicken run on the far left.

The drop off leads into another high speed left hand berm with a fun lip at the end of it.

From there the track leads into a set of short sharp woops. They don’t look too difficult at first sight. But they have a habit of sending you over the bars if you loose your concentration.

Right after that is a rock garden which forces you to scrub a lot of speed. The rocks are pretty close together, so if you hit it with enough speed you can skim across the top of them. There is however a tricky lip/ditch at the end that makes it a bit more complicated.

The last major obstacle is a steep drop off leading into a high speed right hander. These pics really don’t do justice to how steep the drop off is, and it really sends you flying into the last corner. After that the track makes its way a little further across the hill before turning left over a rock face and then on to the finish. All in all the Heldekruin track is a lot of fun and has a nice mix of technical and fast sections. If you plan on paying the place a visit try go with a bunch of mates so that you can do shuttles to the top, as pushing up is tough work.

There are a number of Provincial races happening at this track in 2009 so have a look in the calendar section to see when those are happening.

Click on the image below to enlarge the map.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 9:17 am and is filed under Downhill, News, Reviews, Spots / Trails / Venues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.