Video: Josh Bryceland Cleans Up his Local Trails

Sep 14, 2020
by Ed Spratt  

bigquotesHaving ridden this spot for 20 years, I have never seen it so messy. While lockdown has created time for everyone to enjoy the outdoors it disappoints me the lack of love shown by the local riders. Take no riding spot for granted, if you can carry your rubbish there, surely you can carry it back out!— Josh Bryceland


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113 Comments
  • 81 0
 Agreed. If I'm ever out and see rubbish on the trail I pick it up and take it home. There's often times I ride past a little piece of plastic and think 'ah, it is just a small bit so it's not worth stopping for, someone will probably get it'. These days it is usually quickly followed by the thought of 'actually if I think that then everyone else probably things the same, probably nobody will be along to pick this up and it'll stay there forever, I should just stop and pick it up. Often come home with pockets full of crap.
  • 33 36
 Probably best not to pick up any old trash in this crazy world, unless you pack trash gloves and steriliser...
  • 9 3
 @notphaedrus: @notphaedrus: you're right, not sure why you're being downvoted so much, that is a thought each time I pick things up at the moment. I'm not sure how you fix that but just use common sense to judge if it is a good idea or not. Generally if it has been left on the ground for a few days, it is probably fine tbh though.
  • 7 0
 @anyexcusetoride: I usually have 2 plastic/paper bags in my riding backpack - one is for picking up trash and another for the trash itself. (These are used bags that would go to the bin otherwise, so I don't generate trash to get rid of trash Wink )
Admittedly I don't use them as often as I could, but when I see a particularly offending piece of rubbish I stop my bike and pick it up. Still better than doing nothing...
  • 69 1
 Where's the subtitles when you need them?
  • 15 0
 it is hard to understand his accent sometimes. people from the UK - is his accent abnormal because I thought everyone talked like Jason Stratham in England! (joke for anyone ive offended)
  • 13 1
 @andyelliott3: people don't usually talk like him, but still its not hard for us to understand him
  • 11 0
 @andyelliott3: that's just a northern accent, must people up the north, around Sheffield way speak like that, only Londoners speak like jason statham
  • 12 5
 What language is he speaking?
  • 45 0
 @webermtb: Rat
  • 28 0
 @andyelliott3: Hes like the British equivalent of Boomhauer from king of the hill.
  • 4 0
 @pbuser2299: Ha! Nice analogy!
  • 3 0
 @webermtb: Chilango en ingles.
  • 2 1
 @poloanaya: Hahaha...but I don't think is the equivalent of Chilango in English, as that would be one of the London accents. He is more of a Manchester/Geordy kind of accent accentuated with the fact that he barely opens up his mouth when talking sometimes. When I was living in Durham (I studied for my Ph.D. there) I kind of get used to Geordy and Yorkshire accents, but some can be very strong and hard to understand even if you kind of get used to them.
  • 2 0
 @webermtb: He has a very loose, mumbly way of talking. It’s not specific to Northern accent, it’s just the Rat way. Plus, there was prob a spliff or 2 involved in the filming of this bit...
  • 2 0
 @webermtb: hehehehe, I'm just kidding man!
  • 58 0
 Monster - lol
  • 34 0
 And thats why everyone just loves this guy... so true to him self and the sport, big respect Ratboy !
  • 31 0
 More power to The Rat. Oy riders, rake your sh1t home.
  • 29 3
 Big ups to Rat. I went up there for the first time a few weeks back and I was astounded at the crap left lying around. I intended on returning with a bin bag or two and doing a clean up but I haven't gone back yet! Clean your trails people! We need to give as little reason as possible for them to be flattened!
  • 3 0
 One of the problems with that spot is how close you can park a car. Easy to take beers in, and then once inebriated, easy to leave them behind. I usually ride there without a bag, so it's not easy to take the cans away, but I do carry them to the layby so that it doesn't look as bad in the woods. The obvious fire-pit doesn't help our cause either. We've been pretty lucky to have been left to our own devices with regard to the trails, but it'll be the litter and fires that piss people off the most. Just no need. It's really embarrassing when it gets called up on the local fb group and all cyclists get tarred with the same brush.
  • 1 0
 @thingswelike: so you drop the litter in a lay by?

Genius ????
  • 21 0
 My local trail loop sees a lot of dog traffic and a surprising number of folks think that bagging their dog's logs and putting it off to the side is good enough. Turns out, dog ish doesn't magically disappear after it has been bagged! This particular issue is tough to deal with on a ride. A wrapper here and there is easy but carrying a big steamy bag of dog turds on a MTB is risky and disgusting.
  • 15 0
 All it does is preserve the turd, they'd be better off just letting them shit free, rather than having all these horrible little faecal landmines kicking about.
  • 13 0
 I've seen this same nonsense of people leaving little baggies of dog poo trail side. That annoys me for a variety of reasons:

1) assuming the dog didn't poo on the actual trail, the poo will decompose and fertilize
2) you're using a single use plastic bag to wrap up a biodegradeable object.
3) you have the audacity to just leave it there for some
Magical trail fairy to pick it up for you.
  • 22 0
 Why do humans go out to enjoy nature then destroy it?
  • 10 0
 "I've had my fun, and that's all that matters"
  • 15 0
 More of this, good job Rat. If you love your local spot don't fuck it up.
  • 10 0
 Legend. Can you believe that I was told I couldn't dispose of 'littered rubbish' at the local waste facility, after a litter pick (it was on my way home from the trails). I would instead have to ring the council for them to come and collect it from my house?! They don't make it easy...
  • 12 2
 Monster must have watched that with one eye closed with his comment - It goes to show that often the athletes behind these energy drinks have absolutely no desire to actually consume it. they know better than to pump the chemicals into them but unfortunately young kids see it and end up getting hooked. Remember seeing Gee taking a sip of RB and then wincing to swallow it
  • 13 3
 all the energy drinks have branded cans that contain water so their athletes can drink them on TV when they just want a drink of water. Gee might have been expecting water and been surprised when he got a mouthfull of fizz. And he's got enough sense to know he can't be filmed spitting it out.
  • 9 0
 Josh is no longer on Monster so he can say what he wants. He's on Drink Water. That is, he puts water in his bottle. If it is empty, he refills the bottle.
  • 5 0
 I remember years ago when a crewmember for Dani Pedrosa in MotoGP was caught pouring water into his Redbull bottle, and people were shocked.
  • 12 5
 Where did he keep that trashbag when he continued his ride? I do pick up small wrappers etc when I find them, but the bottles and cans he found, it would make for a very different ride if I would carry those until the nearest trash can. I do clean up sessions too, but it is different from the mountainbike rides. He's absolutely right though. Whoever managed to carry all that into the woods surely must have been able to take it back. No idea which (group of) mountainbikers would carry all that on a ride though!

Most plastic I've seen that can directly be traced back to mountainbikers is
1. bottles! This is definitely the root of my dislike for bottles no matter how much these have gone back in fashion lately. If you're too lazy to hike back up the rocky descend to recover the bottle you lost then don't ride with a bottle in the first place.
2. wrappers. Why, even? Make your own bars, cut them up and carry them in your reusable container. There was a topic on PB a while ago with some recipes and I added my own recipe in the comment section. Easier on your wallet, easier on the environment.

The less obvious trash we dump is
1. PTFE in our chain lube. I'm using Green Oil and hope it is as good as they claim it is. Whatever harmful goes into your lubes eventually ends up in the soil.
2. Tiny pieces of rubber. There isn't as much rubber on my tires there was when I bought it. Where has it gone?
3. Tire sealant. Someone convinced me it is harmless but I'm not too sure. If it contains fibres, flakes, glitter, whatnot for it to work, is that stuff actually safe? I honestly don't know.
4. Apparently some lament the fact that they find punctured tubes hanging off trees but I honestly have never seen that. Everyone I know takes them back and tries to patch them. Why dispose of a tube because of a puncture if you can patch it?
  • 11 0
 I have actually come across a big fat Maxxis "enduro"-tube hanging in a tree at the trailhead once. Up until then, I was fully convinced that no one could be that much of a dickhead and that the whole claim was a myth. I was wrong.. Hard to blame that one on a hiker. :-P
  • 5 0
 @eric-w: I see too many tubes tied up in trees at my local spots. Who even uses those things anymore?
  • 2 0
 @Mattysville: Tubes tied? Up in trees? That's doubling up on you birth control, I guess.
  • 1 3
 @Mattysville: Ehrm... I do. Actually until two years ago I was using latex tubes inside my tires. They could take more strain than butyl tubes so they were less likely to puncture in the first place. And because they are quite smooth on the outside (not all those ridges like butyl tubes have) they were quite easy to patch. It was only on this bike that I made the shift to ProCore. But there is no point ever removing the tube on a ride. I has happened to me that something long and sharp punctured both tube and tire. In which case the sealant seals the tire and the tube indeed deflates. In which case I usually need to increase tire pressure until the level regular tubeless riders run them to avoid burping and bottoming. But it is good enough for the remainder of the ride. It hasn't yet happened to me that I got a large cut in the tire which wouldn't seal and couldn't be plugged. At least the rim would still be protected well enough to finish the ride. But I can't imagine that whatever could case a large cut in the tire would also puncture the tube.

The other alternative I was looking at is the original Tannus Armour. I bought it back in November but it hasn't arrived yet. Once I have it installed then yeah, I'd be running tubes in the more traditional sense again.
  • 1 0
 @vinay Can you link the homemade bars page? I'd love to get on that
  • 2 0
 @Mattcon20: Check:
www.pinkbike.com/news/fueled-up-5-of-my-favourite-homemade-ride-snacks.html

If you want my recipe, look for my name in the comment section. The recipe is in the first match. Enjoy!
  • 9 0
 As the last person to wear a back pack, I've now become the group wheelie bin for all my suddenly environmentally conscious mates.
  • 11 0
 I really miss not understanding what he’s saying!! More Ratboy please!
  • 7 0
 If they don't care about dropping litter, doubtful they care about much else. Sadly a certain percentage of the 'human' race are ignorant, stupid, lazy, arrogant, the list goes on. Fairplay Josh!!
  • 6 0
 I do trail maintenance, the two main things I see: Tubes and Dog shit bags. Tube, you clearly have a place for them in your pack since you brought a spare so pack it up and tale it back with you. Dog shit bag (probably hikers): congratulation, your dog shit that would have decompose withing days is now going to last 10000 years.
  • 2 0
 I do a metric shit ton of roadie miles...and I see a LOT of road tubes on the sides of popular roads. Nearly drives me to anger.
  • 10 0
 LEAVE NO TRACE.
  • 5 0
 Always litter after school hols, unfortunately I'm never there when the kids are otherwise a few words would get said. (In a nurturing way, not a shouty way)

This is the way-
A few high profile shredders setting a good example!
  • 12 8
 This is great. No really, it is.

I also want to make sure nobody loses focus on our most destructive, and most immediately-invisible form of pollution: transportation and energy creation by burning hydrocarbons.

2 million acres have burned in CA so far. The climate is warming, bark beetle habitat has moved farther north (creating HUGE amounts of bone-dry dead pine trees that are being torched), and we're living under smoky skies and unhealthy air for weeks/months at a time.

Trailside trash pales in comparison to the environmental impact we have driving our trucks to the trailhead. Stop burning hydrocarbons. Buy a more fuel efficient car (or one that plugs in)! Ride your bike to the trailhead. Stop. Warming. Our. Planet.
  • 12 7
 Sorry. I'm going to be "that guy"

Yes. Cars and all transport are having a major impact on our environment.
But... The biggest cause of warming the planet isn't cars.
It's the meat and dairy industry...
  • 5 1
 @Allen82: I've always wondered why the 500+ atmospheric & stratospheric nuclear tests conducted by nations are never brought into a warming debate.
Surely that much energy released, along with the vast amount of ejector to the atmosphere created, must have had some effect on this process?
2 cents
  • 2 1
 @Dropthedebt: Yeah for sure.
  • 4 0
 @Dropthedebt: In short, not much:

www.skepticalscience.com/nuclear.html
  • 4 0
 @Allen82: Whilst meat and dairy are significant sources of environmental emissions that lead to global warming they are not the largest source. Those are energy (electricity) production and transportation. Whilst rearing animals for human consumption is a major methane emitter it is relative low compared to fossil fuel consumption.. Shipping all our consumables from China is a far greater emitter than than your steaks and cheese. See the links below for further details.

www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions
public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/greenhouse-gas-concentrations-atmosphere-reach-yet-another-high
  • 2 0
 @vonbuckle:
Depends if that takes into consideration the land use and deforestation required for grazing and feed.
  • 1 0
 @vonbuckle: Even if there were zero greenhouse gas emissions from producing animal products we'd still be killing 100 billion sentient land animals and an uncountable amount of see life anually which causes an insane amount of suffering. Sadly money doesn't grow on trees yet. But food does.
  • 1 0
 @colincolin: Well said
  • 4 0
 Britain is full of people who don't give a shit about littering. I remember returning for a visit after 10 years in Oz. I pulled off the motorway slip road and down to the junction at the bottom. I was genuinely shocked at how much rubbish was on the verges. It looked like some had emptied skips on either side of the road. Way too much of it to have been a small minority. People caught littering should be made to eat it. Cans, dog shit, the lot.
  • 1 0
 On a prime time tv slot or at half time at a match.
  • 3 0
 I saw an article on this group the other day: www.facebook.com/trashfreetrails - set up by the same guy who started surfers against sewage. Bottom line is, there is no excuse for littering and as Rat says in the video, there can already be conflicts between walkers / horse riders / riders so don't give reasons to kick bikes off trails!
  • 9 1
 Is he riding an ebike?
  • 3 0
 Thanks Josh. While I don’t live there it is nice to see a pro with significant influence on other riders giving such a positive message. Keep it up. I’ll make sure I do my pat on the local trails as well.
  • 2 0
 The spirit of trail stewardship, fun stuff. Even though it would get flamed here, I would like to see some Pink Bike videos on invasive plant species on the trails. Like trash, it needs human management, both in not spreading it further, and also keeping it controlled.
  • 1 0
 I've picked up garbage for years now. This year I've decided to track how many empty beer cans and bottles I've picke dup a little more closely. I've already eclipsed 300 cans. Of just deposit refundable cans, not even mentioning the extra garbage that is littered on trails. Increased traffic on trails due to covid is definitely to blame, but I would be lying if I said that frequent users weren't also littering.

As a whole, our community needs to get better and do better to teach people how selfish and lazy littering is. It starts from top(parents) and if the solution is more people picking up garbage it's already a lost battle. Educate your kids and friends! We need to set a better example.
  • 1 0
 I do my local spot every day on my dog walk, its amazing the sweets the kids eat, then at the weekend its a beer bottle or 2. Hopefully an ex pro picking up the litter might influence 1 kid to pick up the litter! But.. how many adults just walk past litter every day, if we all take responsibility for our local woodland they would all be lovely.
  • 1 0
 Here's the conundrum I have every time I pick up somebody else's trash be it disgusting domestic animal droppings left on the sidewalk in front of my house or random trash along my favourite trails: dickheads just keep acting selfishly since their litter magically disappears when someone else picks up after them.

It infuriates me to the point I fantasize throwing their refuse back in their faces if I catch them in the act. Sometimes, I leave the shit there for days to make a point that I won't systematically clean after their douche a$$es...

In the end, I do like Ratboy, but man do I hate perpetuating the problem by ding what is right. Anybody have a clever approach?
  • 1 0
 My GF was telling me how not only did her ex husband throw trash out the window while he was driving, that he did it even more when she was around to see it to antagonize her.

Some people will literally go out of their way to do this kind of stuff, just to irritate others. Example: rolling coal.
  • 1 0
 There's a jump spot near me that's mainly ridden by school kids, and they drop litter every time.
I was thinking want cleaning it up which would be a massive job for me alone .. So I need to try and make it a one-off. Any ideas for preventing future littering once I've cleared it?
  • 3 0
 It's incredible the disrespect some people have for their local trails (or just the outdoors in general)
  • 3 0
 My neck of the woods is literally filled with spent 12gauge shotgun shells.
  • 4 0
 not the kind of litterbugs you want to call out while you're alone out in the woods
  • 2 0
 @Mattysville: I'll tell you, litter Is not the main problem. What really pisses me off is crossing the firing line of old people with boar guns and heavy, thick glasses.
  • 3 0
 The trash you throw on the ground can't talk, but it sure says a lot about you.
  • 4 0
 They ran the audio backwards. I.T. is working on a fix.
  • 1 0
 This video should also be seen by "ambitious" racers who litter their gel bags on courses during any race, maybe because it's to heavy to carry it until the first tech zone
  • 2 0
 Mad thing is a lot of that crap looked like it had been there LONG time. Poor effort from the locals there
  • 3 0
 Something positive! Good to see some influence in the right direction.
  • 1 2
 Kudos to Josh for highlighting this growing problem. Interesting that he inferred that kids were the culprits. I was under the impression that all the world's environmental woes could be solely laid at the door of the boomer generation. I've got into the habit of picking at least 1 item up off of the trails on every ride.However, I draw the line at the bags of dog shit left hanging in trees.
  • 2 1
 Good job that man!
So that's Ratboy and Yoann Barelli actively encouraging litter picks using their social media.
Anyone else we need to add to the good guy list?
  • 1 0
 i applaud you rat boy. "if you lead a good example you dont need to teach kids" thank you for your influence. Also what did he say from 0:55 - 1:15? haha ratboy never change
  • 3 0
 I know my parents always drilled it into me..."dont drop litter:" and I remember thinking one time - i'd just eaten a bag of crisps - and I was like; I know they told me not to so I'm going to drop this litter right here..just to see what its like, and then I just dropped this packet of crisps and this old lady just come round the corner and "theres a bin there, get that in the bin" i was like [woo giggle] and i think that was my littering career over.

...crap - monster - sorry....
  • 2 0
 Great man, cheers for the push in the right direction.
  • 5 3
 would be great if I could understand what he 's saying
  • 2 0
 That is above and beyond, Rat! Way to go!
  • 2 0
 Yes rat! Great example to lead
  • 1 0
 Thank you Josh for caring about the planet , local forest. Thank you Pink Bike for covering this story.
  • 2 0
 Hell yea Trash Rat!!!! Way to lead by example man. BIG UPS
  • 2 0
 Trash free trails! www.trashfreetrails.org
  • 1 0
 dont trash the woods !!! but being french canadian , i only understood about 30-40 % of what he said ....
  • 1 0
 "If you lead a good example, you don't have to teach your kids."
Dr. Spock has got nothing on Ratboy!
  • 1 0
 Nice! Hoppy trails crew did a cleanup at ramblas san juan hills past weekend. Pack it in, pack it out...or closures hapn
  • 1 0
 Spot on! Leave a place cleaner than you found it and the world would be spick and span!
  • 1 0
 JB come to America and run for president, please?? We’d be in a much better spot going forward!
  • 2 0
 Are we just gonna forget the anti vax shit?
  • 1 0
 Such a cool bloke. Spoke to him once at Whistler. Sincere and friendly guy.
  • 1 0
 You could use the e-bike as a waste compactor to squash the rubbish into oblivion and fit even more in the bag.
  • 1 0
 Keep you spot green & clean. #drinkwater
  • 2 1
 Long live rat Die in hell, plastic
  • 1 0
 Don't take stuff too seriously and take care of the woods. Easy enough
  • 1 0
 Josh's old lady voice just made my day! And his riding, as usual...
  • 1 0
 Good on you ! it's a great exemple for people ! be like ratboy !!!
  • 1 0
 The monster ????
  • 1 0
 WORD
  • 1 1
 Apology accepted - namaste
  • 1 0
 story of my life!!!
  • 1 0
 Well in kidder X
  • 1 0
 Top man Josh!
  • 1 0
 Total legend!!
  • 1 0
 Respect to Rat!
  • 1 0
 *part
  • 1 0
 Good on ya Ratty.
  • 1 0
 Trashboy! Good work!
  • 1 1
 Tree Hugs!
  • 1 4
 sorry but fuck this tree hugger cunt. he lost any influence to me when he became a nobody.







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