Rapid and ragged video shows us just how tight and twisty the Smegma Trail in New Zealand really is. They raced enduro down this?!

Those of us grey and wrinkled enough to remember the early nineties will remember the arrival of riser bars. They genuinely changed mountain biking pretty much overnight.

But you know what? It probably wasn’t the rise of them that was the main benefit. It was the extra width. We’re not talking wide by today’s standards. We seem to recall the iconic Club Roost Go-Fast riser bar was a not-whopping 640mm wide.

Well, time has moved on and even the most timid of riders are running handlebars in the 700’s of mm. It’s hard to quantify but we’d wager to say that the average bar width out there today is about 760mm.

Why are we talking about bar widths? Watch this vid. Count how many times your eye is drawn to an incoming narrow tree gap and how many times you wince as the POV rider nips on through.

We definitely would have hit the tree on the left at 1m 07s. For a start.

Skip to 4m 17s if you want to see the point where the POV rider’s luck runs out and he hits a tree… shortly followed by the deck!

Video description

Nate Hills: “Riding Smegma Trail with Ted Morton in Craigieburn, New Zealand. This was stage 3 from Trans NZ Enduro. Amazing track!!! #followcamfriday, roots and holes.”