Poaching

In Colorado, Mountain Bikers have options. There are thousands of miles of legal singletrack to ride, as such very few bikers here poach illegal trails. We see that there has been reasonable compromise between user groups, and we respect these decisions. Moreover, we have been given something to loose, which makes OTHER mountain bikers frown on poaching, in a peer-pressure kind of way.

In Marin County, California, there are essentailly zero legal singletracks. SO, if I poach all the butter smooth illegal single I want, what can they do? Give me a ticket? I'll pay it. Happily.Every winter, I get to travel down to sea level and ride the sweet redwood trails of my hometown, on Mt. Tam. Its nice to come down from altitude, the power doesn't change much but the endurance goes through the roof! The air is super humid, and I wind up dripping in sweat. I'm so used to the dry Colorado air, sweating that much feels weird. The biggest difference is the people.

Of course, when you go to major urbanized areas, people become a bit more rude. You'd think that they'd leave it at the trailhead, but it seems like the opposite is true. In Colorado, hikers and equestrians are happy to share the trail and say hello. In Marin, you'd better be ready to fight. My standard defense is to smile and pretend like I can't hear them (IPOD Rockin'), and I am psyching myself up to not engage anyone on my next trip!

I'll be shamelessly poaching the classics on my next trip. High Marsh, Troop80/TCC, Northside, Coastal, its gonna be sweet. The best part is that I can do about double the miles down there at sea level.