Do You Ride Responsibly? – Poll
Are you scared of eMTB's eroding your trails? You should be, because this is the damage they cause.... oh sorry, this is commercial logging killing your trails.
Moving on from my previous poll about sustainability in the bike industry, the next question focuses on trail sustainability, another turbulent talking topic, especially recently as eMTB's are often accused of having the potential to wreak more dirty destruction than a normal bike.
Generalizing my experience in Europe, trail sustainability isn't a huge concern, here on the continent, when riders head to the woods. Bike-specific trails are often viewed as places to seek and destroy, and this is partly true because we have had it so good over the last decade or two. Since I have been riding, commercial or publicly-funded tracks and trails have been popping up everywhere and there are fantastic teams of spade-wielding pixies that come along when the parks are closed and clean up the mess after a darn-good-shredding has taken place.
Across the Atlantic, my view of US trails is that they are generally viewed as something that should be respected, cared for, and never skidded upon. This is due to many things, such as land access and user-segregation. It could simply be a culture thing; Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard, often references the way European alpinists viewed the mountains as something to be conquered; the pioneers would leave their bolts and hooks in the rock for the next ascenders. In America, by contrast, the mountains were seen as something to be respected; the view was that climbers should leave no trace and each experience should not be tainted by previous protagonists.
The 50to01 crew generally operate a seek and destroy procedure, but they also put in the hard graft themselves to build trails, does this even out their trail karma?
The 50to01 crew received some behind the scenes bad-mouthing this summer when they took on one of Pleney's (in Morzine, France) freshly-built loam sanctuaries and gave it a good hiding. The trail builders contacted me as they were unhappy with the crew rocking up, filming their shred (arguably for financial gain as they are sponsored riders) and then promptly getting out of there and on the way to their next destination. My response was that the locals may be annoyed about losing their fresh and loamy-looseness, but many of the trails here are unofficial and on private land. Secondly, everyone is a local somewhere. If we all take care of a spot, then trail karma will spread and all spots will improve and extend. Right? Maybe.
Pay ya' money, shred ya' turns. Revolution Bike Park in Wales does a great job of building and maintaining trails that are often ripped to pieces by pinners in the worst conditions weekend after weekend.
So if we head over to Revolution Bike Park in North Wales, we can all sample the hard-shoveled graft of some 50to01 members year round. We could shred the proverbial shit out of it and then head home for dinner while somebody else cleans up our mess. Does the 'mess' even matter? I like the way trails evolve, starting with a freshly cut line and ending in a root and rock filled rut-fest, then being shaped and cared for into a long-lasting and characterful trail.
Downhill racers rip the trails to shreds, but does it matter? Is it simply dirt moving around hillsides in the same the way that rain drags it from the mountains to the sea?
There are a few other factors at play around the world. Many of our trails are in forests that are harvested for timber (and commercial bike parks are doing a good job of generating money from the land and saving these from the chop). In the UK and Alps, rain likes to play its part in the erosion game. There is oftentimes so much precipitation that there is no option to let the trails to dry out. As a result, they receive a good rutting. Does any of this small-scale damage even register on the scale when you consider an autobahn carved out and paved in black through the countryside?
Do you consider trail erosion when you head out on the trails?
Do you care for the trails, or do you seek and destroy?
When you ride, do you consider the impact you have on the trail for the next rider?
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Always the best taste !
What ever happened to going easy on the trails? A few days ago PB published a story from @vernonfelton about the status of mountian biking in Wilderness, and most folks here got all jammed up that IMBA takes the standpoint that bike should not be in Wilderness. Then we see here today that skidding thru corners with no regard for anyone or anything seems to be the official PB viewpoint as posted by @mikelevy.
All I can say is this shit is weak and if so many of you care so little, then I hope Wilderness is never opened to bikes.
@thedirtyburritto - I am sure Mike meant that he switched to BMX full time. Team rumors: Steve Jones to E-GMBN, Mike Levy to VitalBMX, Richard Cunningham to Triumph, Paul Aston to Green Peace and Vernon Felton be like: BALLIN!
But yeah, going out in the rain and rutting up a well-built trail is generally not cool around here.
-Seek and destroy any dirt but when done grab a rake/shovel and help maintain the trail.
That’s me.
The attitude of most Japanese fans traveling to foreign shores for Rugby and Football world cups tell you all you need to know about how the vast majority of people here tend to ride; if you make a mess, you clear it up, so just try not to make a mess in the first place.
I'm not saying you shouldn't be responsible - I agree with everything else you said - but, on the other hand, you also shouldn't just accept being the problem and let everyone else trample all-over you.
Think about how you feel when a dirt bike (moto) is poaching your local singlettack. It doesn't make us advocates for more moto trails. The same thing happens when MTBs poach hiking or horse trails. We only make more enemies than friends.
All that being said, I've noticed that some areas of the country have a very different viewpoint on just making your own trails. In Arizona, I've noticed that it's quite easy to build new trails, and that people don't hate mtbers on the trails as much as they do in other states (California and utah).] I think the problem occurs when someone from an area with a lax viewpoint on leave no trace visits an area where it's a big deal. Take Moab. How many alternative yrails do we see veering off where someone decided to take a ? Far too many. But its just dirt, it'll be ok, right? Not true. Go read what SUWA proposes for MTB use in Moab and other places in southern utah. The damage we do to a trail gives ammunition to opposing groups.
Normally the trails we talk about being sustainable for mountain biking are not really sustainable for the forest - if you abandon an A Line then it'll probably still be there in 5 years. If you abandon a kicked in skidder there's a good chance it'll be totally reclaimed within a year.
I'd argue that the trails we built in the UK are more sustainable than the IMBA standard because they are more in concert with the forest than highways of machine built "flow", but that relies on people actually abandoning them when they get rutted out. I guess that's part of the problem out here - there's just so many people out sniffing for dirt, that trails tend to just keep getting ridden.
We also love a blown out, rutty trail - so trails need less maintenance anyway if that's the style you're going for. Steep BMX/DJ bike style dirt jumps are the only thing it's super frowned upon to ride when wet.
And we love watching that shite!
Dude shralp that berm destroy it!
Yes that exploding dirt looks awesome!
Wonder where we pick up our bad habbits?
Man, I just blacked out there. What was I saying?
There is a trail where I grew up in Marin, called Tenderfoot. I spend my youth picking gently around those switchbacks, especially the top on that was off camber and dusty. Ten years of that and they built a house on top of that switchback that I gingerly rode... such a sham. I wonder how much skill is left on the trail due to this irrational guilt??
I think fire roads have almost zero impact. I dig the salmon, dont get me wrong, but the heirchy of harms is just backwards.
I try to be respectful of the trails but if I am feeling rowdy, I get loose.
I am ALWAYS respectful of other users and profusely apologize if I ride up on someone or something fast.
I do trail maintenance on a regular basis such as moving/removing down trees, block trail spurs, reroute water run off, or rebuild/repack sections and/or features.
Since I am not "official" with any club, this is not all legal, but I am sure as heck trying to make minimal impacts to the trail and other users while enjoying the $*%& out of my bike
Seeing them ride over jumps taking out the lips can be annoying. That said, I see trail, I f@!k it hard.
My local trails are shut down do to a recent massive fire for this very reason, and here I thought they're treating us like children.
That is, until I saw the (arguably) most popular MTB site in the world happily endorsing total destruction of fragile burn areas at the absolute WORSE time.
I now regrettably agree with the closure of my local trail system.
Monkey see monkey do..
Anything that is well manicured just gets ruined by the DJ's though as they have to turn any small rise into a large double. What happened to the skill of pumping and rallying turns?
Sadly,
Here at Greece this kind of behavior is almost nonsexist. All trails seem to be under constant attack, and this stupidity expands over the hiking trails, in protected areas or even in man-made clearings directed for people gatherings and traditional fiestas (the latest are forcefully tuned into dirt parks!!!).
I remember the local trails in the early 90’s and there’s no comparison now. There are trails that have lost the dirt, changing to a constant rock garden for almost all their distance.
Funny thing, those who do the damage, claim to be the ones protecting the land! (a local patent)
So,
Responsibility is no existent in Greece. The (very) few examples just verify the rule.
Really? Ever heard of Tragedy of the Commons? So the 50to01 crew conferred with the private land owners and asked if it was OK if they beat the crap out of their trails? And, it's OK to destroy anything on "unofficial" land? And the 50to01 crew is carefully tracking how much work they do and keeping it equal with the trails they wreck? Call me skeptical because I say BS to every single one of your justifications.
The original article on the Tragedy of the Commons (at least the contemporary one that most scholarly debate is based on) by Harding had several major issues.
First, its base metaphor, that of the common grazing land leading to overgrazing, was exactly the way that common lands were managed in many communities for much for much of history without overgrazing, because communities manage that stuff socially. Chibniz on this: "Social scientists in diverse disciplines have convincingly shown, however, that in practice unrestricted access to commons is rare. Almost every society has developed rules and cultural norms that specify who is allowed to use common resources and how these resources can be used. Individuals often do not have the power to destroy commons". ('Anthropology, Economics, and Choice', 2011) Hence, ahistorical.
Second, one of his major arguments in the piece is that "the freedom to breed is intolerable" based on his presumption that the welfare state is causing people to have more children than they would otherwise, quite apart from the terribly ominous and elitist tones within that, it completely ignores the reality of a significantly lower birth rate in more developed nations.
Lastly, the entire construct of the argument is based upon rational choice theory, which makes huge sweeping generalisations about people always behaving in a rational and self interested manner. I'm not really sure what to cite for this, other than pretty much all social science other than the bizarre world of neoclassical economics.
the trails I destroy and absolutely shred are Enduro Trails and trails I maintain my self.
at season-high, i shred and train, in autumn I build or shred, in winter I maintain.
I get defensive when forestry is bashed...
I am that vacuum
(unless it's DJ's then I rude with the upmost responsibility and respect)
Hmmm...Pinkbike does not help much at this to be honest...
This place has some of the worst braking bumps in existence,
It is also the best place to ride in the UK.
Make a tire and call it a good year.
I huck smash and use da back brake