Self-assessment of riding skills and perception of trail difficulty in mountain biking
DOI: 10.1016/j.jort.2022.100500
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Abstract
Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism 39 (2022) 100500 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jort Self-assessment of riding skills and perception of trail difficulty in mountain biking - An investigation within the German-speaking mountain biking community Stefan Siebert a, *, Johannes Herden b, Helena Gey a a b German Sport University Cologne, Institute of Outdoor Sports and Environmental Science, Ge
Summary
Siebert, Herden & Gey (Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 2022) surveyed N=2,040 German-speaking mountain bikers online, presenting 30 trail photographs spanning the six grades of the Singletrail-Skala (STS) difficulty rating system. Participants rated perceived difficulty for each trail and indicated whether they could ride each, yielding an actual maximum manageable STS grade. Perceived trail difficulty rose as participant skill level fell, with no other demographic moderators identified. Self-assessed skill level diverged from actual STS maximum: beginners underestimated themselves while experienced riders, especially males, overestimated themselves; correlations between self-assessed and actual riding skill were low.
Key finding
Mountain bikers' self-assessed skill systematically misaligns with actual STS-graded performance (beginners underrate, experienced/male riders overrate), so trail-difficulty rating systems should not be calibrated by experts alone and trail recommendations should not depend on rider self-assessment.
Methodology
survey
Sample size: 2040
Quality score: 5 / 5