Skiers, rock climbers, white water rafters - they all use commononly understood and agreed upon rating systems. If you tell a skier that a particular slope is rated Black Diamond, they quickly know whether it is for them or not.
In our own discussions on routes, I never really see any of us use any rating system to depict neither the route's difficulty, nor the rider skill level - making it challenging for others to get the real sense of how well a particular route matches a particular rider. I've recently come across the PSSOR-rating system, which I find is very good - and one which I wish more of us would adopt.
Simply put, POSSR rates both non paved routes difficulty levels, and rider skill levels, into the following five categories (
source of images: Adventure Rider Radio):
My two cents:
It is my opinion that a rider can both benefit from, and enjoy, riding one or two levels beyond the levels they are transitioning into - far beyond their current skill level! This however presupposes:
- That the most difficult stretches are very short (i.e. no more than a couple of hundred meters)
- That there are only a few very difficult stretches in total - spaced far appart
- That the exeedingly difficult bits only constitutes less than 1% of the entire distance travelled for the enitire trip
- That one has the assistance of at least one other fellow rider with a higher proficiency level than ones own
- "Ride your own ride" - taking things at your own pace, not feeling obliged or pressured to keep up with others, or do things which other do but you yourself neither enjoy nor feels ready for
- Riding with people that not only gets it, but that takes enjoyment from being in it together - regardless on where on the totem pole each and everyone finds themselves relative to their fellow team members - like a true team should!
I think a good way for improving as a rider, is to ride mostly within one's current skill level (you can allways improve further), but at the same time allocate a signicant ammount of time to the next level that one is transitioning into - if one wants to advance faster. At the same time, one should also allocate a small ammount of time and distance to even the next level after that - the level that puts one self far beyond one's current skill level.
Riding beyond one's own skill level is scary, exhausting and poses a lot of risk to both man and machine. This increases expontentially the further one moves up the ladder. At the same time, it can be both very exhilarating and rewarding in all sorts of ways - educational being one.
Consequently, in order to make for both an enjoyable trip, and one that advances ones skills - one should conscider both the individual riding days, as well as the trip in its totality. In other words, when planning the mix of difficulty levels, one has to conscider conserving both body, soul and machine - as well as the enjoyment of it all.
When riding outside one's current skill level, one needs more time to traverse the same ammount of terrain, and to rest up. This increases exponentially the further one gets away from one's current skill level. A good approach then, is to make the exeedingly difficult stretches shorter and more spaced out - and more so the further you get away from one's current skill level. At the same time, one should balance things out by making the riding days shorter, and by blending in an increased ammount of "easy riding". On top of that one should add more frequent and longer rests (applied to both riding days and rest days alike).
Example (my opinion): A sensible challenge for a rider currently at level 1*
Presupposing a typical ridng day of 200-400 kms/day, or 3-8 hours:
- 50% tarmac or very good graded gravel roads
- 30% level 1 (within current off road skill level)
- 15-20% level 2 (transitioning skill level) - I.e. with no more than 50 kms in total any given day
- 1-5% level 3 (far outside current skill level) - I.e. with no more than 10 kms in total any given day, and with spaced out stretches no longer than a few kms each
- >1% level 4 (very far outside current skill level) - I.e. with stretches less than a few hundred meters each, and not more than 1 km in total
- 0% level 5 (extremely far outside current skill level) - I.e. less than 10 meters on any given day.
*One will also have to conscider other factors such as being able to get out if the rider gets injured or the bike breaks down, as well as access to medical treatment, etc.
Please discuss!
So, when evaluating my comments - I currently conscider myself a level 3 rider, even though I have done my share of level 5 and have 30 years riding experience. My opinion is therefore one of an intermediate rider only, not an expert. I have only recently conscidered committing myself to become somewhat proficient at level 4 and get some proper professional training - time will show - at 46 I feel as I am getting old.