Video : Stop Holding Your Trails Back - Easy Ways to Improve MTB Trails

 Bahahahahah nice. Upvoted to stay front and center.

 That's odd. I'm being held back by the exact same thing!

 I was contacted and won an I9 stem, so if you have not been contacted you probably have not won at this point.

 @tubby1536: Pics or it didn't happen.

 @tubby1536: May we ask when you were contacted? Id be interested to see how they run these 'contests'.

 @shoreboy1866: I was contacted Jan 24 by Outside. I had to fill in a web form with my info and preferred stem sizing and sign off acknowledging the contest t&cs. I the had to wait about a week to get a call from the outside rep to ask the skill testing question. She then sent my info Pinkbike. They passed it over to I9 and I was contacted by them earlier this week to confirm the specs and they shipped it today.

Everything was done over email except for the skill testing question. There was no contact though my account at all.

 @tubby1536: 'Everyone immediately checking spam'

 @tubby1536: fake news!

 Basically my local illegal trail zone with our shovels in between gaps

 @HudsonBurnette: What's rule 1 of Fight Club?

 Off the top of my head:

Puts gaps on flat sections.

Does not put gaps over water crossings.

Drops to 160° turns.

There’s weird junk more around here

 Yes, downhill both ways!

 Best way to keep brake bumps off a trail is to make it so 99.9% of the population can't ride it.

 1. Build a double and be a complete ass about it.
1.1 - Slag off the better rider that build a double that is too big for you as you are really crap but want to swing your little weener around and think you are better than everyone else.
2. Build features for race pace and be a complete ass about it.
2.1 - Slag off the better rider that built a feature that is too hard for you coz your race pace is joey pace, swear you are never gonna ride that trai.
3. Ensure that because you cant carry speed there is nothing remotely uphill
3.1 - Slag off the better rider who rides faster, builds bigger features than you can handle.... see 1, 2 above.

This is the truth of this post.

OR

Build and rides stuff for everyone who can ride a certain grad of trail, have some aspirational lines (lets call lines, B-lines, A-Lines and Pro lines) let people progress and ride together, have fun on their bikes and not worry about that 30ft double that is gonna have you going around it forever.

 @betsie: I had to learn on the hard shit everyone else has to learn the hard way also!

 Don’t forget to take out every corner, obstacle, slight climb, etc out of the trails at your local state park so you can have an 18mph average on your Strava segment

 @betsie: Some trails are best left with proper squirrel catchers, to prevent the folk that are over their heads from dragging brake down the entire amazing DH trail. But yeah, some "trails for all" should also exist in a healthy trail system.

 @mammal: best way to do that. Make the best trails the hardest to reach with a steep and long climb.

 @bulletbassman: Definitely. Obstacles as a skill-filter are a good approach for established shuttle trails that are meant to maintain their original attitude. It sure helps to ensure that the maintenance crew's efforts are well invested.

 @bulletbassman: Don't forget to hide the entrance and exits!

 @olsen-chuck: I hid a trail for over 7 years, this year I opened it up top and bottom, simplified it and made it more for folk who are happy on blacks, the stoke you get as a builder with folk appreciating your efforts and wanting to complete the whole trail top to bottom is priceless. Some bits will need maintenance pretty quickly as its a new build, but making it robust and gnarly is the dream of this trail.
Build with it a secret or publish it everywhere as that can keep most folk off it anyway as they get to follow the progress.

 Wait a second, was I just tricked into reading a comment about a video that is suspected to be an add for trail forks?

 Yes, which is a bit lame? I mean, TF ad disguised as a pro-community vid, seriously?

 supremely icky

 @lkubica: It isn't a bad thing to show TF as a trail-building community page, and I get that PB has a vested interest in its success, but the TF ad points were quite strong.

 At least they didn’t plug the heatmap as a “way to get the most out of your ride” what BS

 It was an advertisement for Trailforks AND Ohlin … way to product drop!

But seriously, show me a video on Pinkbike that isn’t an advertisement.

Better yet, find anything posted to the front page of Pinkbike that isn’t an advertisement

 @corposello: yeah, let's make a PAID service with functionalities supporting a community and take the all the money from it. How does this sound?

 @lkubica: crooked

 Like getting Rick Rolled...

 You mean that company that takes my data and sells it back to me?

 @kookseverywhere: but this company built the interface to collect, store and display our data for us.

 Made me want to buy some fairy wings to wear while digging!

 Any intro with Quinney brings a smile to my face. And a 007 outro, keep 'em coming.

 Absolutely hilarious

 I chuckled, thanks Christina (and Henry)!

 I appreciated the whole thing.

 Tinder app oh boy your DMs about to be filled hahah

 Henry taking mushrooms again...

 @ridedigrepeat: You cannot say fairy anymore. They are Airborne-Ethereal.

 It was fun before I heard "Trailforks" for the 5-th time No amount of promotion will help it, in my area it completely lost momentum after it became paid, most trails simply disappeared form it, no reports no nothing, all people went 100% strava.

 @lkubica: Strava is paid too...?

 Good fun!
And what fork was that?

 @lkubica: I feel the same way. As mtb’s largest media outlet it would be nice if PB held itself to a higher standard than these incessant advertorials they keep trying to disguise at “content”. And don’t get me started about this autoplay data manipulation BS.

At least Trailforks, who in my opinion have single-handedly eroded more of mountain bike etiquette, trail culture and respect than any e-bike ever will (joke) is trying to educate its users with this ‘content’ but in some areas were almost too far gone for that. Entitlement’s cancer has taken hold in our sport, and it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing widespread negative consequences. Look at the recent closure of Kingdom trails in VT as a prime example. Just because you own a bike doesn’t mean you’re entitled to trails!

What upsets me further is the disparity between how much PB uses their local trail network in Squamish for content and how little they support SORCA, the local advocacy organization ($5k/year aka middle tier sponsorship). In 10 years of living in the corridor, and two season on SORCA trail crew I’ve seen little effort beyond the bare minimum from this media Goliath.

Furthermore, they have set a poor example of truancy that’s being replicated by all the internet’s favourite influencers. Take, take, take & give the bare minimum in return, and only when someone asks. Mountain biking won’t get better with this attitude.

I know their annual campaign does raise a boat load money for trails, but this is USER DONATED $$$. Trailforks are just providing the platform to donate easily. It’s not their money. A quick trail karma month search reveals they have raised $496k in donations (however it’s unclear if this is all time donations or results from their last initiative). Assuming this figure is all time donations, programs like Santa Cruz PayDirt and Specialized’s Soil Searching’s annual contributions eclipse Trailforks annual contributions. Marketing doesn’t appear to be the motivation behind either program, it seems like the people behind them just want to make mountain biking better. I don’t think the same can be said for TF.

Pinkbike and Trailforks constantly mine us for data, this and our attention is their product. As consumers we need to demand better.

Dear Pinkbike, DO BETTER.

No shade on Henry or Christina they are just doing their jobs.

 @Namehere: Robin - your move.

 @lev3000: I would rather read something thoughtfully written then PB which more closely resembles the Daily Mirror lately.

 Props to the companies that do sponsor SORCA to the highest level. One of the main sponsors is a running organization and they manage to donate a shed load of money every year.

sorca.ca/sponsors

Nice nod to Dave Reid though.

 That was soo good!

 @Namehere: yeah, this winter it seems PB turned 100% tabloid.

Anything for engagement I guess.

 @RonSauce: happened long before this winter and even before the acquisition by Outside

Funny thing is when they do post an insightful article, or anything that isn’t one of Seb Scott’s “5 things” lists the comments are filled with pleas “more content like this” but alas these don’t “perform” as well.

These thoughtful articles do however build culture, share knowledge and inspire, something that Seb’s lists generally lack.

I hope that the big brands start to shift their advertising dollars elsewhere. Ideally back into trails, the ‘community’ that actually sells them bikes.

They don’t need PBs audience, they have their own. Specialized, RockShox, Santa Cruz & Canyon all have over 1M followers on their own IG accounts. Brands like RideWrap have proven that if your product is good you don’t need to advertise on PB to grow a business, so why are others continuing to pay inflated ad prices for poor conversion rates? The price of a single one day PB homepage takeover is nearly the same as Pemberton’s (BC) annual trail maintenance budget. What would you rather see? Some shit ad designed to sell you stuff, or a big brand spending money to make your local trails better?

Hopefully the looming recession will correct all this for us.

 Trail building is no laughing matter. But I'm sure a reality show is forthcoming exclusively on Outdoor Plus

 @Namehere: I hear ya! Seems like the voice of reason is being drowned out by the throngs of new school entitled kooks. But, but, but WHAT WILL WE BUYYYYYYY?!!!!

 @dirtbagluvin: the onus is unfortunately on us the “experienced rider” to try and nip that behaviour in the butt, teach trail etiquette and lead by example. We all know Pinkbike or Trailforks isn’t going to do it for us.

 @dirtbagluvin: don’t give them any wise ideas. These weasels know how to ruin everything

 I like how at the end you are raking the trail to gravel bike standards.

 @Namehere: amen

 So cringe that people actually do this. People even destroyed tree roots and we lost trees in the ice storm because those roots were no longer there to support them.

 Ha ha ha ha

 My brother in law complained the trail was too bumpy. I can’t believe they have so many roots, why didn’t they take them out?

I replied, you just suck and you’re on a hard tail.

He’s getting better tho.

 @nickfranko: cutting roots is a bad idea in general hence trees are open for infections and tree rot then.

 @itslightoutandawaywego: too many rocks on most North Shore trails

 And maybe invest in an ebike and straight line everything. This is the way in the post vivid era.

 @itslightoutandawaywego: Let us know when he makes Friday Fails.

 @kingbike2: Yeah tell your friends it's too rough, you won't like it.

 @commental: This - corners are fun.

 Points 1 and 3...ABSOLUTELY! Nothing angers me more than seeing a re-route around an established feature/tech or rock gardens hammered down.

As for number 2....it depends. I would say cutting back face slappers (overgrown branches) and removing debris (even a nice raking) is universally welcomed on all trails.

 @SATN-XC: yes and then, while doing maintenance work, they build berms. And say it’s maintenance. IMO, maintenance does not change the character of the trail at all - and then, yes, it is perfectly fine - but too often, maintenance is used as an argument to change the trail‘s style / character (e.g. open corner -> bermed corner).

 You can find the answer to that by using Trailforks' handy ad-advisor feature

 @Woody25: !!!

 Or donating a good amount of money.

 @RonSauce: If I put my venmo on the trails I maintain you think people would donate?

 Most builders do still hide in the woods, but MTB is not a small sport anymore, we’re a multi billion dollar industry. This won’t continue for much longer.

More trails (and all bike parks) are built with cash and I reckon more people ride these organized and established trail centres (at least in North America) then any of the trails you’re talking about.

 typically said by people with slow strava times*

 I'd say turn Strava on....most of the riders in my area use their Strava feed to post about trail conditions (wet/muddy areas to avoid) and locations where something needs to be addressed. We just had a huge ice storm at the beginning of February and Strava was instrumental in organizing clean-up, what needed to be addressed and what had been addressed, and giving active locations where work was being done in real time.

 @SATN-XC: can we please get an 8m 33s Strava Advert for balance to the OP?

 In my area we use Strava heat maps to advocate for more trails.

 @sunringlerider: In my area Strava heat maps almost got our trails shut down.

 @VtVolk: People who strava unsanctioned trails should be shot.

 Some of our best local trails were "secret". Just mentioning them anywhere would get people pissed off with you. Video? Strava" Big FU would follow.

Then the city decided to sell the land to developers and now everyone wants the trails to be known and saved.

 @SEA5ONS: typically said by trail builders / maintainers that take care of shared trails to strava "racers" that see any other living live form on a trail as an obstacle on the way to their KOM

 @K1maxX: NEVER STRAVA LINE TRAILS

 haha saw that as well. essential for trail building never know when you may match in the woods.

 Gotta keep that training load up in the evenings too

 Same goes for the clay trails near me. People don't think about this nearly enough.

 Loam (/lōm/): a soil with roughly equal proportions of sand, silt, and clay.

 @TEAM-ROBOT: keep fighting the good fight

 @TEAM-ROBOT: yeah absolutely, although my area is high clay low silt

 Right, ride them when they are bone dry so the surface goes into the air with a "PooF" as you ride by.

Wait, no....ride them when wet so they have a fighting chance to settle and AVOID them in the dry season.

 Loamers are good to ride in the winter. The duff layer infiltrates nicely. Wanna stay away from heavy clay areas, and lay off the brakes.

 @TEAM-ROBOT: In MTB Loam is also mixed in with cut up organic matter like small roots, leaves, moss, needles and even rotton wood. Its all well on its way to being soill. The percentage of which is depending on where you are. In NZ you can ride a loamer and never even touch dirt.

 Our trails in Linz/Austria are open all year despite being super muddy and wet - we still decided that it's better to have something (legal) to ride in the winter and fix it in spring than not having anything to ride and still need to fix the trail in the spring. that being said, we only have like ~5 km of trail that need to be maintained and we also have a strong local crew willing to fix trails in their spare time.

 We spent some time in the forests of Italy last year, and I was surprised with how restrictive things were. To the point that someone we were hiking with told my kids to put down the "hiking sticks" they'd grabbed. Much more highly regulated and restricted than _most_ public lands in the United States and Canada.

I say most because there are areas like National Forests, some wilderness or national monuments that are similarly highly regulated in North America. But they're dwarfed, especially in the West, by public lands that have much less restrictive, well, restrictions.

 First they take your guns then they take your tools. FREEEEDOM!

 @atourgates: just because you ignore the rules and regulations doesn't mean they don't exist.

 Darkforks is a prime example of this self serving behaviour disguised as “utility for the trail advocates”

 interesting, did not know this,

its probably true most receiving donations dont really know how to manage the $

 And what if your local trail building orgs are absolute dogshit, that pretty much just pay out most of their annual donations to the "executive director" ? LOL.

 @pbfan08: That’s a greasy one.

Here in Canada, many organizations are non for profits & the rules for maintaining this status are pretty strict. If you don’t like what they are doing it’s pretty easy to buy a membership, get your likeminded friends to buy memberships and elicit some change. I don’t know about the US though.

 @Namehere: So the rules here are "strict ish" they have to report on a certain time schedule based on how much money moves through them/is donated. But the one I have a problem with locally is smaller so 2019 is the most recent year I have their tax info available.

Now when it comes to board compensation that's a trickier subject, there's no rules really limiting them how they pay.

 @pbfan08: trail advocacy is hard work, and if the ED or any staffer does a good job I think they deserved to get paid a living wage. No more of this subsidized by a pension, 401k or trust fund BS. It’s the industry’s job to support these employees as the sport grows into the mainstream. It’s the only way that trails will be viewed as recreational assets on the same scale as a hockey rink or soccer field.

If the ED sucks and they aren’t worth their salary, fire em! I know this is easier said then done, but a coup of a small trail advocacy organization can’t be too hard can it?

 You are misinformed. Trailforks takes no money from Karma donations. Trailforks never even touches the money, it simply facilities a direct transaction with the user and the trail association PayPal.

 @pbfan08: it's worth going to a volunteer day to learn why the organization does what it does. It's easy to think they aren't doing stuff, but a lot of the time it's just stuff we don't understand yet. If they're really not doing what they should be doing, you are then on the inside and can begin to steer, lead crews, set up volunteer opportunities and take care of the trails

 @pbfan08: then find the pirate builders and buy them beer/weed.

 @canadaka: Thanks for pointing this out, and perhaps the video might have stated that more clearly, considering all the comments.

 Yup. The fairy wings need to be worn in every video now. For all of 2023. Don’t let them go to waste.

 The tool section of the video was even cringier than the blatant trailforks ad leading up to it.

 It's a bargain now with the 20% off sale at only $3200.

 All for a 5 second clip in the video while misusing redundant tools!

 We have a few on the Eastshore of Kootenay Lake.