Where does Rock-it at Aliso Woods stand in regards to difficulty?

Hello,
I'm brand new to the mountain biking scene and only have started about 2 months ago to try getting back in shape. I'm enjoying mountain biking a lot and love the friendly and help full people on the trails (couple weeks ago my brakes were rubbing and keeping my wheel from spinning and someone took the time to stop and help fix the problem! Kudos and thanks to that guy if you come on this site).

Well anyways back to my original question, I've only ridden in Aliso Woods and have only been practicing rock-it down hill. I'm pretty confident on that trail now and can do it without getting off my bike except for that one uphill part, BAH! I was curious to what rock-it is ranked as and in difficulty and what my next trail should be in trying to conquer that has a little more difficulty (difficulty as in descending down) Is there a list of all the trails in aliso and its difficulty somewhere? I was thinking of doing 5 oaks this weekend but not sure how that compares to rock it.

Oh, and another question i have is another time i was going to try a trail near top of the world and started talking with someone, He told me that i shouldn't attempt that trail with my hard tail bike and said its just way to much hill for my bike to handle. He wasn't being a jerk about it or anything and i appreciated the advice but was just wondering, which trails that should be avoided by hard tail bikes? I love my downhills and one day ill get a full suspension bike but i do want to get a better in riding before i make the switch.

:wave:

 

In my opinion, and not including the back side of Alsio, Rock is probably 4th from hardest. Next would be Lynx, then Car Wreck or 5 Oaks as the hardest.

 

I'd give it a 6.5 on the ten scale. Gets easier if you go slow. This is keeping your momentum up.

As for the other one its an illegal trail and should not be ridden...

 

You might want to try Stairsteps; I'd say it's a notch--or two--harder than Rock-it. Just take the left option at the trailhead- or take the right and stop and take a look before you drop/walk the waterfall. You'll have to come up the way you went down, but much of it is rideable.

You should also check out Lynx. It's not that tech, but gets harder with speed. I don't think you'd have much fun on Car Wreck or 5 Oaks on the HT, especially since you're a beginner.

Also, going downhill on Cholla on the weekend is fairly difficult.

 

I think Car wreck was the name of the trail the guy told me not to go on. So car wreck is same difficulty as 5 oaks? I think i may switch to trying lynx if that's the case..

 

Car wreck is near the top of MATHIS not top of the world. Its steep rocky and fun if you ask me..... kinda short though.

 

There's water falls in aliso woods?? okay, i gotta check that out!

 

Meadows would be a good choice for your HT.

 

Really? I've only been down (&up) stairsteps once but I'd say it's a few notches harder than Rock-it. I'll have to go back and give it another whack.

Ain't that the truth!

 

Just ride any of them you come across. If you need to walk a section, do it. There's no shame in walking a section if it's over your head.

As for rock-it itself; keep your speed up, your weight back, stay off the p-lines, and you'll be fine.

Don't let anyone tell you that something's not rideable, just because you don't have rear suspension.

 

Waterfall here referring to a 2' ledge to ride/drop/fall/otb down on, no water...

 

Some trails definitely aren't as fun without rear suspension (at least imo)...that doesn't mean that they're not rideable, though.

Car Wreck is A LOT harder than 5 oaks! Are you kidding? I have a hard time getting myself to try riding the stairs at the bottom of 5 oaks, but everything else is manageable if you take your time and try certain sections more than once. In comparison, the entire bottom half of car wreck is INSANE!!! I pretty much have to walk the entire thing.... Stairsteps and 5 oaks are probably around the same difficulty level.

As for Rock-it, I'd consider it an intermediate trail. The first time I did it was on a hardtail. I didn't clean it, but I did pretty well. Overall, it's a lot of fun and not very scary.

 

It depends on your bike. On a full suspension bike it is a complete non-issue. I've even seen people on very long travel bikes continuing to pedal to increase speed on that section. On a rigid it is a rockface I will not ride down as a fairly risk adverse rider. I ride a hardtail and rock it is a pretty violent descent.

 

Seriously right?

 

medium

 

If it's hard for you, then it's hard.
Ride it till it gets easier or you find something you like better.

 

Carwreck is the hardest downhill in aliso IMO....Ive never been down stairsteps or lynx though

 

On a scale 1 to 10 I say 3 .Lynx 4.

 

How do these compare to Rattlesnake at EL MORO? Only asking as I went OTB the other weekend on Rattlesnake and thought I broke my thumb. It was pretty rutted out and pretty rocky.

 

Rattlesnake, to me, is harder then Rock-It in terms of terrain. I'de give Rock-It a 6 / 10. Car Wreck and Stairsteps are pretty fun and technical as well. Never been on 5-Oaks.