Description

If you want to begin sampling the chunkier goods in Cumberland Forest, this is a good loop for mixing advanced black diamond trails with some approachable-yet-challenging double black diamond trails. After climbing the Sobo No Michi climbing trail and some road sections, you'll begin the descent by dropping into Blockhead.

Blockhead is a challenging single black diamond trail that begins fairly moderate with some berms, launches, and drops.

But in the middle, the gnar ramps up, with some rock moves leading to a substantial rock roll down a dirty, rippled slab.

Below the rock roll, the chunder continues to the bottom. Roughneck keeps the jank alive, beginning with some up-and-down pedaling sections and leading to some steeper drops.

On Roughneck, you'll find yourself pinning through a series of endless roots, launching boulders, rolling slabs, and negotiating bigger obstacles.

There are several substantial obstacles on upper Roughneck that can be bypassed, including a substantial cliff drop.

The cliff drop is definitely expert-level, but the bypasses make the ride accessible to those who want to push their limits and build confidence on the gnarlier, more natural trails in Cumberland Forest. Lower Roughneck gets substantially more difficult than the upper section, with some mandatory gap jumps mixed in.

You can squirrel around most of the truly challenging obstacles, but the trail is designed to go straight over the gaps, so you'll need to ride heads-up and be very aware of what's coming at you.

Interspersed between the gaps are some steep rock slabs and classic BC jank. The Pig trail brings the gnar back down a level, but its old-school feel does add a special level of challenge.

This was one of the OG tech trails in Cumberland forest, and consequently, you'll find lots of old-school obstacles to challenge yourself on, such as long skinnies and elevated bridges.

Some of these can be bypassed, though. If you find yourself in too far over your head, there are several places to bail out of this ride.

You can bail out after Blockhead, between Upper and Lower Roughneck (a popular option to skip the gap jumps), or after Lower Roughneck and before The Pig.

Due to the complex network, you can always choose to mix and match trails to suit your liking.