Vedder Mountain Vandalism (Chilliwack, BC)

Jan 26, 2014 at 18:31
by Ernie Kliever  
photo
Photo Coursey of Scott Davis-Fisch

Vedder Mountain in Chilliwack BC, has recently been a victim to some serious Trail Vandalism. Two incidents of vandalism have gotten local riders and trail advocacy groups wondering who has it out for the local mountain bike community. The Vedder mountain bike trails are regularly maintained by the Fraser Valley Mountain Bike Association (FVMBA), and are managed by the Vedder Mountain Trail Association (VMTA), these groups work in conjunction to help to provide to area for local Chilliwack mountain bikers to recreate in. Unfortunately these recent acts of deliberate, malicious vandalism have both groups on edge. The Vedder Mountain Trail Association has released the following statement:

"Sometime between the late afternoon of Friday December 27 and the morning of Saturday December 28, an unidentified vandal used a chainsaw to damage the landing area of the gap jump that has defined the end of the Skidder mountain bike trail since 1998. This rendered this feature a significant potential danger to a rider who might have attempted to ride on the feature. Fortunately this was discovered early and the trail was blocked for the protection of riders. As this was a malicious act that appeared to have no purpose but to harm mountain bike riders, reports were made to RCMP and the Recreation Sites and Trails BC manager was informed. A large contingent of volunteers from Fraser Valley Mountain Bike Association, Vedder Running Club, Chilliwack Outdoor Club and several VMTA Directors and Officers attended on the following Saturday to rehabilitate the damaged trail. The end result was an even better and definitely a fun modification to this old-timely trail

Unfortunately, this past weekend saw yet more trail vandalism. This time the iconic Dilemma mountain bike trail that dates back to the early 1990’s was the target. Again chainsaws were employed to create the damage to several technical trail features and this was carried out sometime between the evening of Tuesday January 14 and Wednesday morning January 15. The way the features were damaged was consistent with the damage done on the Skidder Trail making it clear that the same individual(s) perpetrated this most recent crime. In this iteration of trail vandalism, 4 features were damaged. In 3 of the cases the damage was done in such a way that if a rider were to have ridden on the feature, it would have collapsed in on them likely leading to significant harm for the rider. The 4th feature was a rebuild of a very old feature commonly known as the Super Booter. It was only partially completed and all of the logs that were brought into place to be employed in the build were sawed into small pieces rendering them useless.

In addition to this damage, several signs were also removed including the Dilemma trail wand-sign and 2 large (3 foot x 4 foot) brown signs (in governmental colors) that were posted high up in trees (one on the road up from the mountain bike parking area and the other in the dirt bike parking area). Both signs were Ministry signs stating “No Unauthorized Trail Building or Trail Alteration Permitted”. These signs required an extension ladder to install and were lag-bolted to the trees requiring tools to remove (a time consuming activity to be sure). Is this just a coincidence or is there some association between the vandalism events and the theft of these govt signs?

Dilemma trail gets the heaviest use of any trail on Vedder Mountain (based upon trail counters) and though a mountain bike (non-motorized) trail, it has been happily shared by mountain bikers with hikers and trail runners for a long, long time. There have been no currently reported conflicts here between any user groups. This appears to be causing destruction for destruction-sake. There is a pretty strong intent to cause harm to mountain bikers.

We in the recreation community have been left wringing our hands trying to figure out who has perpetrated this crime, how to prevent this (and the potential injury to recreationists) in the future and how to move forward in a way where trail building volunteers would feel that their efforts and contributions were not an utter waste of their time and money. We know that we cannot do this alone.

We need eyes and ears in the forest. Installation of several motion sensitive cameras has been undertaken and it is hoped that these will catch perpetrators in the act in the event of any future activity. These crimes took time to perpetrate. The person had a truck with a ladder on it and someone undoubtedly saw this. Someone must have heard chain saws running. Someone may have seen a person walking out of the bush carrying a chainsaw or someone up a ladder doing something with a sign. We need people to come forward to help us here. Please consider sending information that you have to us and we will forward this to RCMP who VMTA is actively working with on this matter. We are offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator(s). Please know that you can send information anonymously (if you choose) by email to the following link (VMTA Trail Vandalism Tips). Please help us to stop this dangerous behavior before someone’s loved-one gets hurt." - (Mark Steinebach- VMTA President).

For more on this story check out the following links:

www.vmta.ca - Vandalism

www.fvmba.com - Vandals

www.theprogress.com

Video from BC's Global News:



Author Info:
ekliever avatar

Member since Feb 2, 2006
17 articles

160 Comments
  • 185 0
 Seriously, if someone where to do this at my local trails, I would be out in the cold in camo hiding in the brush, waiting to catch them. It pisses me of so much that people have the nerve to do this crap. They could seriously hurt someone, and obviously that was their intent. F them.
  • 46 0
 This is my local mountain. I was out riding those features the day before.
  • 67 2
 if i saw someone wrecking a trail.. oh boy i would pick up my bike and cog smash their face so hard. this shit pisses me off so much
  • 22 0
 This is under 10 minutes from my house. I ride here two to three times a week. Unfortunately we're unlikely to ever catch this sh!tbag. I hope all the media attention is enough to keep them away.
  • 142 5
 @dhftw But the question is, which wheel size is better for hitting them over the head with?
  • 7 1
 @whitebirdfeathers Cheap cameras from ebay with motion detection + some form of bate = photos / video of the guy/gal/group.

@dhftw1231 Hitting someone is not an option (unless you have a acid tank..... Wink ) as in most cases the kind of crap who take down trail are masters of the legal system and will probably have your ass at court!.
  • 14 0
 @pm148 doesn't matter. when bashing trail vandals mtbers have to unite. also the front chainring is best.
@Aibek ill go to jail happily knowing that the saan biatch has a messed face
  • 24 3
 Well lets figure this out. If you were to swing the larger rear wheel assuming it would be heavier (same make different size) as a result it would have greater momentum plus if you were to swing from the bike from above you downwards using the acc of gravity (9.8m/s) the force would be even greater although the energy taken would allow you to have one good swing at the vandal's head before he can react. On the other hand the smaller wheel size would allow you to be more nimble ( lighter) allowing you to generate less force although using less energy allowing more strikes to me made on the vandal. Although this is a very basic hypothisis disregarding many variables such as wheel make, bike type and cpmtruction. My personal preference would be the larger wheel to knock the f*cker out in one good shot. But it comes down to what feels right to you.
The end result should be the same though, the vandal, one the ground, uncocious/bloody/battered. Or all three.
  • 34 0
 Sharpen your seat posts boys...
  • 10 0
 Could be self defeating that idea. ..
  • 13 0
 Unless you're trying to put your seatpost in your frame upside down, you should be fine Big Grin
  • 7 1
 in freaking massachusetts the police and tree department do this to my trails...
  • 5 0
 Your braver than me! they had chainsaws!
  • 8 1
 Haledavies123, The "tree department" destroys the TTF's on "your" trails? What exactly is a "tree department"? did you have permission from the land manager before you built "your" trail? Sounds to me like you built some half-ass renegade trail and it was removed for good reason.
  • 7 0
 In Hungary the trails are massivly destroyed by the day, if we build something someone smashes it up the next day.... also they pull big trees on to the trails after the corners so you get a high speed accident for sure and even put up ropes and wires in the neck area right across the trails, one of my friends got one right in the middle and he got his head almost cut off lucky he is very light and got pulled of the bike by it before. Also homeless people steal the the wood from the northshores to make fire, honestly we might as well just give up on building.... in the last 15 years it has only got worse, the dirts are beeing smashed up also not just trails on the hill, if i ever see anyone doing shit like this, i dong need to tell you whats gonna happen... but homeless ppl will find a good food suply sliced up right. Its absolutly disguisting how others destroy our work, and joy of using these for a long time and free to use for anyone else... never understood these kind of ppl. I hope they got caught eventually.
  • 10 0
 at our local trail somebody ones put up wires between two trees on chest hight.. fuck this world!
  • 7 0
 Expecially since they did it in such a malicious way, they obviously had the intent of hurting people.... Its just dumb.... If i ever found out who it was, I'd wait till they weren't home take a chain saw and sneak into their house and rig random shot in their house to fall on them, or I'd chop down the biggest tree around their house so it fell directly on their house and run away giggling and jolly cause justice was served in the forest....
  • 8 0
 Me an my buddy once spent a good 6 hours building a jump and rode it in until it was dark. It was one of the coolest thing I have ridden and it felt like all our hard work was worth it. Then when we turned up the week after, the jump was a wreck and we saw a woman walking her dog and she said to us "you idiots are destroying the nature and tearing up roots" (We only ride trails that are already riddin in and we are considerate to all walkers and riders) she said this as we watched her dog poo I the middle of the path and then dig up the dirt around a tree, uprooting the roots.

I feel for all the people who have had their trails vandalised, especially if you have put in a lot of time and effort. I understand the pain!!
  • 5 5
 Obviously I f*ckin hate seeing trails getting destroyed for whatever reason it might be, but what this article fails to mention is whos land this is. Im left with the impression (correct me if I'm wrong) that this land is not public and does not belong to any of the MTB associations they mentioned in the article (FVMBA or VMTA) , they just upkeep the trails. So this would make this land privately owned land (like I said correct me if Im wrong..Im just going off this article) so if it is privatly owned then the land owners have the right to do whatever they please. Im not saying this is right but it is what it is. Where I ride we had a whole bunch of trails closed down due to land switching owners and the new owners didnt want bikers or trails on their land and unfortunately there isnt much one can do to change that other then talking to said land owners..... www.theprogress.com/news/209206661.html this article gives some insight as to why this might be happening.
  • 6 0
 Sound like they need a good old fashion beating!
  • 3 0
 @A-Smalls It's all provincial crown land (aka government owned) so I doubt it's land owners taking out their issues on the mtb community. The trail network on Vedder is quite well established as well, so if the land did change hands I doubt this kind of sabotage would happen with no notice from the new owners. This sounds like someone is just on a personal vendetta to give the mtb community shit.
  • 13 0
 a group of us were there yesterday and were surprised to see the local news crew out. I immediately thought they were there to capture my riding skills, but soon found out to my disgust that they were doing a story on this vandalism to our trails. there was an incident on another local mountain this last summer, where somebody strung a wire between to trees on a popular trail on ledgeview mountain.why would anybody do this? what is wrong with some people now a days. somebody could get killed.
  • 5 0
 PB - Put out some wildlife cams pointed at stunts still in existence and collect some evidence. You can set them up to collect on motion, plus you might get some great shots of people riding by!
  • 2 3
 Parks does this to my trails all the time and nobody cares...
  • 3 1
 The land is on Crown Land, this is not an issue of private property. We are currently working on a Section 56 designation agreement which would recognize Vedder as an official recreation site. The Ministry is well aware of our trails and we work together to help ensure that mountain bikers have an area to recreate in, to keep the trails safe, and practice proper building techniques that help to minimize our environmental impact.

@samtomkins, Parks really does not like mountain bike trails because of our impact on the forest, as well as liability. I would suggest forming a dedicated group to approach Parks and indicate your interest and intentions on developing a riding area. Sometimes forming a partnership is the best option to keep trails open.
  • 47 0
 Again, there is a very, dark, special place in hell for these people.
  • 2 2
 well, hell doesn't exist but if it did then yeah, they should just torture them while they are alive
  • 30 0
 There's just no getting through to people like this. Maybe it's a road-biker whose girl left him for a leg-hair-having, IPA-swillin', balls-out pinnin', suspension-squashin', big sender boostin', big dick swingin' muthafukka on a fat tire ride.
And now we all represent his/their own inadequacies...
  • 4 0
 This is awesome man, you made me LOL. Thanks for the laugh!
  • 1 0
 Most likely some miserable lonely person in the neighborhood who doesn't like seeing people have fun on bikes or is irritated by the traffic from riders.
  • 1 0
 chuckling at my desk from that one hahah
  • 3 0
 HEY! My gf left my shaved legs last week for some IPA chuggin', strato-boostin', probably hung like a cow freerider and I haven't destroyed anything! Quit giving us girl-less roadies a bad name!
  • 29 1
 a group of us from Vernon/Kamloops had the good fortune to ride Vedder yesterday. awesome trails, good mix of fun and tech, nice smooth entry level/intermediate riding, but with a leaning towards old school freeride. it was a beautiful warm sunny day, with dry tacky trails, and no mud. just a glorious day to be on a bike. and for riders from the Interior, a privilege to be on a bike in January. unheard of, in my 8 years of riding MTB

I'd heard about the vandalism, and I shake my head at why people would do this. angry, sad, socially-excluded bitter people with issues? who knows. I don't like riding near horses, personally, but they share the trails so they get respect and a cheery hello, and life goes on. but seeing this vandalism up close and personal, when structures have been built with great thought, sturdy, safe, using local low-impact materials, sustainable (low maintenance) and built purely on volunteer labour, in their own time and at their own expense, makes me despair

Vedder is a shining example of great people, a tight local community, where all motorized and non-motorized sports are integrated and are generally respectful towards each other. user conflicts seem to be minimal at Vedder

so, I hadn't ridden Vedder for 4 years or so. on the face of it, not much has changed. but what is obvious is a passion for the trails. TLC, great signage, clear trails, very well maintained, garbage-free, sustainable, and a nice friendly vibe between all trail users. a great place to ride a bike

to the Vedder trailbuilders and local riders; I apologise that we can't offer you any free labour, but Jack's Cycle took a donation from us for whatever you need. I hope this helps somewhat

if you get chance, go take a drive out to Vedder and sample the goods. go to Church. hopefully, the MTB community will unite and help the Vedder locals. there needs to be a revival. Vedder is worthy

regards,

your friends form the east
  • 6 0
 You rock dude. Thanks for your support.
  • 5 0
 Right on man! We met at the top of 2cent yesterday (I was with the Americans...)
Thanks for the support!
  • 2 0
 "the Americans"? that would be me. It was BS to see what these jerks have done. The comunity will come together and fix it all but things like this need not happen.
  • 2 0
 You are American aren't you?
You come up to gofor a rip with the Canadians eh!
  • 1 0
 I'm the white Mexican loco, you know his. haha But yes I was "up for a rip"!
  • 12 0
 What's wrong with these people. This is almost as bad as the trail Nazi from the east bay. He put sharpened stakes pointing up the trail to puncture tires (or worse) and even assaulted a mountain biker with a hand saw on a trail. Why are people so against mountain bikers?
  • 4 0
 I was going to say this reminds me of that crazy mike vandeman
  • 9 0
 Mike is out on the hunt.. AGAIN!

I gave that doofus a piece of my mind. imgur.com/Iuy3bqj
  • 2 0
 Sweet comment man! People need to get a clue.
  • 1 0
 Holy crap, had no idea that ol Mike was still at it. Thought multiple convictions would at least get him to tone it down a bit.
  • 3 0
 Wow, Vandeman's still around? He must be about to celebrate his 20th year of trying to keep bikes off of trails. That's so sad. And so is the vandalism in Chilliwack. I'm over there next month. If I can't meet for maintenance, I'm gonna try to get a ride in.

One strategy is to use natural features when possible but yes, it's old school, and it's also more a condiseration in design phases. Another: When actually building trail features, or performing vandal resistant rehabilitation, lean toward use of dirt and rock. I know, due to trail design goals, available materials, and the rainfall and drainage challenges in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley, it isn't always viable.
  • 7 0
 I don't get selfish, small minded, arrogant hypocrites like Vandeman or any other trail using group that try and say mtn bikers are destructive to nature. They seem to see no problem making trails to walk/hike on. If they were truly concerned about nature that much, then shouldn't they stay out of the forests and just enjoy viewing them from roadside where they would have no impact. The real truth is they usually just want the trails all to their greedy little selves and don't want to have to be bothered moving aside for another user group.
They're stupid because one day they may need allies to help prevent the total destruction of forested areas and mtn bikers would be all over that. Too thick to see we share common ground.
  • 3 1
 This Vandeman guy isn't alone, there are lots of people who don't understand mountain biking. I think is a real conscious effort from the mountain bike community to really build environmentally sustainable trails that are still enjoyable. We have seen some of this on the Shore, Squamish and Whistler really have it dialed in too (We are trying to follow their example out here). There is no reason why we can't exist alongside hikers, horse back riders and motorized users.

Unfortunately when people make uneducated comments like this it really doesn't help anyone, it just angers us riders.
  • 1 0
 @ekliever were you referring to my comment or the comments here in general?
  • 9 0
 Rebuilding those features quickly & even better than they were before would be the best type of revenge.

If you think the shock that you guys felt when you discovered your features were destroyed, it's nothing compared to the shock those vandals will feel when they discover the trail is back up & running even better than before. MTB'ers outnumber vandals a thousand to one, they don't stand a chance in destroying your trails.

Take the higher trail & kill'em with kindness & dedication to our sport.
  • 4 0
 Couldn't agree more. I understand how these vandals and their acts of stupidity can cause some very serious reactions and bring out some very serious emotions for people in the mountain bike community, but we are FAR better off channeling that frustration into reconstruction and making our voices heard to our local police and politicians. If just 1 out of every 10 people here that took the time they spent here to write about what they'd do if they catch the guy, writing to their police department and local politicians, can you imagine the real impact that that would have. Imagine if the police and our politicians saw us as a large and vocal constituency instead of trail users on the fringe. That would be powerful. That would make a real difference. If this sort of thing makes you mad then don't sink to their level. Dig and write, and let the vandals have their anger and irrationality.
  • 9 0
 We aren't bad people, we're not lame bank robbers, we are honest hard working people that just want a decent place to get some exercise and ride a bicycle.
  • 8 0
 A word to the wise, if anybody does catch the shit(s) responsible, be careful about approaching them, had a knife pulled on me once whilst confronting some scallys who were vandalizing a dirt jump spot in Liverpool.
  • 2 0
 Keyword is liverpoolWink
  • 7 0
 An unsupsected mtbiker could have been easilly injured or even die after falling into a destroyed landing. Effectively this guy planed (obviously since he has to carry tools) and created a death trap for the first unsuspected mtbiker. Where i come from, deliberately creating traps, with intention to serius injure or take human life, is a very serius offence, what the Local Police think about this?
  • 8 1
 This nob commented on www.theprogress.com/news/241894951.html

I gave him a piece of my mind.

imgur.com/Iuy3bqj
  • 6 0
 His facebook wall also makes me want to puke.
  • 3 0
 I am feeling a stupid amount of rage towards this ass right now. Seems like he's also an active contender of: www.facebook.com/pages/Mountain-Biking-is-Illegal-HERE-Post-your-Poacher-Pics-here/117731878242599

99.9% of the time we ride 100% legal trails (I do at least)
  • 2 0
 What was that guy smoking hahaha
  • 1 0
 A true lunatic. Thankfully it looks like the groups appear to be quite small, any quick look at his post history clearly shows he's nuts. I wonder what happened to him in the past?
  • 1 0
 His mommy wouldn't hold him.
  • 3 0
 His wife must have left him for a freerider
  • 4 0
 We have had our trails dismantled by the forestry commission, even though the wood has been an attraction for mountain bikers for years now, its established on google so that has to mean something. At first they claimed it was a safety issue.. that they had to destroy jumps/step downs etc for 'our' safety by law, even though they left behind a pile of rocks logs and mud. Much for dangerous than the actual jump they destroyed.

Granted the situation above is worse as it is clearly people who have a grudge against you guys riding and they left the features in a deliberate state made to cause harm, disgusting. But does anyone know if there is a way of appealing against the forestry commission or possibly coming to an agreement? They left signs up all over the wood but when we tried to contact them there is no answer, not to phone calls or emails. what do you? can you do anything?
  • 1 0
 I know that's how it went on the north shore years back. Most of the trails were illegal and land managers started looking at the TTF's and decommissioning them for safety reasons, but they did work together with the NSMBA to rebuild features more safely. Now the trail network is constantly growing and the TTF's are in great shape. I don't know what the community is like where you are but if you have a local mtb association, that's probably the best place to start.
  • 1 0
 Yeh that's the way to go really, the land we ride on isn't 'owned' by anyone it's a public area, we'd have to all come together and come to some kind of agreement. What's annoying is they have no problem with horse riders galloping through, I have know problem with that but let's be honest a big old horse is much for dangerous than a dh bike in my opinion so what's the deal there ha ha
  • 6 0
 Have you looked at this guy's facebook page? He's been commenting on the local media coverage.

www.facebook.com/mike.vandeman.96
  • 2 0
 I think you may have a good lead there. I hope the RCMP takes a long hard look at this guy. PB - DON"T MISS THIS COMMENT!
  • 1 2
 He's American.
  • 3 0
 Same shit over here at my hometrails!! they mostly block the way by throwing small trees an stuff on the trail but on some trails they putted big stumps, which could't be brought there by and.. since the first time I saw that shit I always walk the trails from bottom up at first!! And I defanetly would kick som arse if I catch some hobbyless shitbag doing that!! Cheers
  • 1 0
 My home trail was vandalized one time, they destroyed one of my jumps. But luckily a friend of mine and me were able to fix it and made it bigger before ride it. I always walk my trail from the bottom to the top before ride it. So i can be sure, there are no big rocks or branches which could prevent us! Ride on!
  • 3 0
 Well, I have lost count of how many times I woke up on Sunday morning and found my ramps totally crashed... I don't know if this is something that usually happens all over the world but in Brazil we got some serious problem when it comes to vandalism on trails. Most of the places where we are able to build something are most likely to be close to a neighborhood with lots of dealers and poor people. I don't know why but they might think that destroying our ramps and trails is something funny!! I just don't get it.

Once they simply put a couple of really tiny fishing lines with kind of a glue, sand and glass mix that is sharp as f*ck and one of my friends got a really deep wound and had to be taken to the hospital.

I really hope this kind of things wouldn't happen anymore. =((
  • 3 0
 Some people are crazy. Riding on my local trail one day and some guy put barbed wire between 2 trees going across the trail, my self and my friend were flying down and he went straight into it at chest hight, it threw him backwards and he dislodged a vertebrae in his back, he also needed 34 stiches across his chest from the wire, if that was a kid on a small bike it could have been fatal,
  • 3 0
 This is in a biking specific area! What the hell is wrong with these people. Blocking off trails that are multi use are bad enough, but a bike trail from the 90s? Ditto to skioo...there is a special place in hell for these people (bike thieves too). That is if someone doesn't get to them first...
  • 5 0
 Someone put cheese wire across the trails at neck height back at my old trails in the UK, lucky someone spotted it and no one lost their head!
  • 6 0
 build it bigger, build it stronger
  • 15 0
 it's hard to defy a retard with a chainsaw
  • 5 0
 While that's true, I think doingitright232 is more getting at a living well is the best revenge type of thing. Cool to see the community respond so quickly, when you show people like this that you can't be stopped and they have no long term power over you, they generally give up pretty quickly.
  • 1 0
 Start welding DOM tubing together and packing it in for ramps.
  • 3 1
 Even if these guys are caught red handed with chainsaws smoking...Wtf can be done? It's possible there is a punishment for stealing signage, but that's about it. It's not government property. It's not private property. It's a trail on public access property. There are no laws protecting the trails then there are no punishments for their destruction.
In a nut shell, we can't do shit but rebuild and hope they get tired of cutting it up.
  • 2 0
 That would be the funniest shit ever if some one replaced these features with concrete base and indestructible wooden textured metal planks with bamboo shards cast into the metal to create a similar surface. Try destroying that.... That may not even be the best solution hahah
  • 4 0
 This goes beyond vandalism and shows intent to harm riders. Catch the bastards responsible and charge them with gross negligence.
  • 2 0
 Only pricks wreck trails for mountain bikes his reason think of the children... I'm down for kids not getting hurt but its the parents common sense to make sure they hit stunt suitable for there skill level and to ride with them on those safe trails... Guy needs taped to a tricycle and pushed down a hill.
  • 4 0
 Catch and tight them around a tree and spread some honey on their body ......and have a 'BEAR PARTY' What a bunch of TWAAAATT!!!!!!
  • 3 0
 If they are intentionally damaging trails in such a manner as this, it's attempted homicide. If they want to try to kill me, I have no problem putting them in the ground. Dead men tell no tales, and damage no trails.
  • 1 0
 nice :-)
  • 3 0
 I'm afraid frontier justice maybe the only solution here. Get the jerks picture with a critter cam. Then get the jerk.
  • 2 0
 i always carry a broom stick spear when i go riding. but seriously, how hard would it be to post a deputy at the mountain and if he hears a chainsaw get on a dirtbike and go get him! shoot if i lived there i woulda volunteered to hunt him down.
  • 2 0
 This happens all over the world, we can not even build a small jump for my kids to play on in the local woods, they always lay logs on the trails and kick out all jumps, this is always a dangerous and selfish attitude to mountain biking. The problem is the authorities are more bothered about unofficial trails than people endangering lives. I hope the people responsible are found and dealt with! Twats!!
  • 2 0
 Ive had features cut down by forestry in BC, they cut down a 250 foot long section of bridging intu cute little chunck beacause, "you can see the feature from the road" wtf? this was newly constructed tho, not a feature thats been around for years, dispicable.......... get a game camera
  • 4 0
 Trail Cameras.... Use them for stuff like this. Catch vandals. And even capture a few sweet shots of you and your buddies flying down the trail Smile
  • 3 0
 Makes me sick. Destroying someone's trail is bad enough, but when the trail being destroyed is funded publicly or by a sanctioned organization it makes it that much worse. Down with bird watchers....
  • 2 0
 Isn't there some kind of hunting camera that you can buy that will take pictures when it detects motion? Set some of those up, catch the f*cker, then build some sketchy, booby trapped death line & force him to ride a bike on it. If he lives, jail, if he don't, problem solved.
  • 2 0
 I have seen it happen on Eagle Mountain years back and also on the Woodlot out in Maple Ridge. Over the years I have been very surprised on how extreme and radical some peoples views can get with their desire to carry out relentless attacks against people doing basically the same sport. If I where to be investigating possible suspects, I wouldn't exclude the possibility it could have been another rival bike coalition arguing different views on how trails should and shouldn't be constructed.
  • 2 0
 This is so sad...I ride there and just two days ago. Unfortunately part of the mountain is going to be developed ...so we will lose alot of the lower trails...its sad when its all about money! They say there will be trails but probably not like they are now.
With the development we will now have people wining about the wildlife in their back yard when we all know they were there first. f*ckin ignorant people...Frown
  • 4 0
 I feel for you guys there in Chilliwack... We don't have wooden features but cleaning up after misguided Greenies has become a standard trail maintenance practice.
  • 2 0
 There is a guy in North Georgia(stateside, not the country) who has shot at bikers on multiple occasions. Multiple reports and still no media coverage. I guess people in the great white north actually care about each other's safety and the media decided to act. Honestly I think trail destruction is > threat to bikers than some hill billy with a vendetta.
  • 1 0
 What trails has this happened on? I've never heard anything about this through any media coverage or local forums.
  • 1 0
 Stanley Gap for sure and rumored shots at bear creek.
  • 2 0
 Good to know, I'll make sure to pack next time I'm up there riding
  • 2 0
 Here in Brazil we dont have many problems on trails most of them are legal for mountain biking. When motocross riders see a new downhill trail they love to go there and destroy the trail just to show how stupid are the mentality of most of the mx riders. They love to destroy wood jumps abd berms...
  • 3 0
 Lame. "Legalese" may suggest that attacks targeted toward a specific group could be considered a hate crime. I hope they're able to curb this behavior quick! Good luck!
  • 4 0
 I can't decide what's worse... people who steal bikes or people who destroy mtb trails. Either way I hate both.
  • 2 1
 At least thieves can be punished.
  • 2 0
 set up some game cameras in there, man this shit pisses me off, that some low life looser has nothing better to do that go and wreck shit!! shit thats used to further enjoy the great outdoors!! f*ck you vandal/s!!
  • 3 0
 It sounds like attempted murder to me. i.e. focused on the landings, hidden cuts, and undermining the structures are the signs of a truly sick individual.
  • 1 0
 Use the same methods they use to sabotage logging. Tree spike your ramp pillars, read about it. I remember some activist site had detailed instruction on how to effectively do this. Basically a drill and a big spike driven in at an angle and camouflaged.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_spiking
  • 2 0
 Horrible, I used to ride there in high school before I moved back to the States. Never thought I would see something like this happen. I'm glad it is getting coverage though. Hopefully something comes out of this.
  • 1 0
 where im from we have to rebuild the trails and jumps every week or two cuz the chavs come out of their weed den on Saturday afternoon usually and destroy it because they don't know what a bike is. to be honest the people might just be chavs and they probably destroyed it because they are jealous that we can live fun, enjoyable lives when they are stuck smoking god knows what and shouting at people who look wealthy. they usually become to ill to move fairly quickly so you can relax then.
  • 4 1
 How about putting up woods cams in these sections? *an ounce of prevention....as they say.

EDIT: I guess I should read the whole article first.
  • 3 0
 I say when they catch people like this, their punishment should be community service building new trails. Under close supervision of course
  • 1 0
 selfish hikers is my best guess. we have very limited trails to ride and the hikers always come to our trails and walk up them telling us to slow down! they have all the good trails to hike on which we cant ride, and they insist on coming on to our trails and ruining our fun! hikers did it i'm serious
  • 1 0
 Using 4 trail/hunting cameras mounted in trees, we were able to photograph a local trail saboteur. He had been vandalizing features and pulling logs onto the trail in a very dangerous manner.

We stacked some rocks 3 feet tall in a form of trail art and pointed a motion activated camera at it. Sure enough,in less than a day the rocks had been kicked over. We even had a picture him doing the kicking. While his back was to the camera in that photo, other cameras mounted further down the trail captured his face. Later that night we had him identified; name, address, license plates etc.

The cameras are cheap. Put some in the trees and catch that bastard!
  • 4 1
 Find them and break their legs.. Get out of jail, find them and break their legs again!
  • 2 0
 They steal wooden obstacles in Poland to aquire fuel in winter, but if someone has money to use a machanical saw, this is just jealousy.
  • 1 1
 People that do these sorts of things get every dirty trick in the arsenal. Their cars will never run, their power bills go unreasonably up for no known to them reason, they start to get lots of telemarketer calls at awkward times. Generally making their lives even more unpleasant, until they decide to relocate. I live in a small town, and 99% of the people that live here are on the same page for dealing with trouble makers. Trail cams, people hiking the areas, and certain private pilots keep an eye on all of our stuff.
  • 2 0
 Embed bits of metal in any wood work constructed (9 inch nails etc), not so as it sticks out bud so it would knacker a chainsaw blade if anyone tried to cut it.
  • 2 0
 drug addicts do the exact same thing to my spot but relentless and never ending
  • 2 0
 Fu*ked up tree huggers.
"Earth First..........we'll ride the other planets later"
  • 1 0
 like your thinking
  • 1 0
 That dude's FB page made me want to throw up. I would rather have my kids out riding bikes than sitting on the couch playing video games any day. MTB is far from criminal.
  • 3 0
 janice , wheres my shotgun
  • 1 0
 Vedder Mountain? The vandal probably mistaken the mountain for being named after that grungy anti-constitutional loser
that lives near by.
  • 1 0
 Wow... Vedder Mountain is my back yard. I cant believe people would actually do this
  • 2 0
 this is insane.
  • 1 1
 After hearing this I am always going to carry an open knife in my chest pocket while I ride Incase I see a vandal
  • 2 1
 Why? You can't murder someone over a bicycle trail. Well, you can but you'll rot in jail. Pull a knife on someone you better be prepared to use it.
  • 1 0
 Guess i won't be riding Vedder this week...
  • 1 0
 Put their fingers in between the chain and the ring and just pedal.
  • 1 0
 This is seriously not okay. I hope the criminal is found.
  • 2 0
 Kill them with fire!!!
  • 1 0
 I diddo...'satn' comment....f*ckin C#unts!!!!!
  • 1 0
 an obvious extension of the environmental movement, PERIOD
  • 2 0
 That's fucked up
  • 1 0
 im just amazed someone would do that
  • 1 0
 Most of what I build takes 2x the amount of work to distroy.
  • 4 3
 Find them and hurt them.
  • 8 1
 no, tough guy. because that drags you down to their scummy level
  • 6 1
 And you'll go to jail. Or get shot by same guy who obviously doesn't give a shit about you and your mtn bike. Sad truth. It is a crime to harm people, it is not a crime to tear down mtn bike trails. Unfortunately.
  • 4 1
 Mountain biking and PB comments are super duper serious guys.
  • 2 2
 they actually are because bad ideas spread faster than smart ones.
  • 3 1
 It's called hyperbole pal, learn to appreciate it as part of how people communicate.
  • 1 2
 Don't help.
  • 3 1
 "Hyperbole (/haɪˈpɜrbəliː/ hy-pur-bə-lee; Greek: ὑπερβολή hyperbolē, "exaggeration") is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally."
  • 1 1
 That would be my first temptation also man, especially if I caught them in the act. I would want to wrap my wheels around his head! but guess who would go to jail, it would be me and if that happened it would most likely blow up in the media and give mountain bikers a bad name as a whole. It is best to try to stay calm and if you are on a legal trail (which i hope everyone on here is) let the police take care of it.

Cheers Smile
  • 4 0
 trail vandalism sucks ...not only are they destroying hard work but they are also putting people at risk to serious injury including kids which is just wrong!!

Your best bet is to file a police report and handle it through the law...be smart about this!! Also some cameras and scouting of all local trails may be in order. If you find someone with a chainsaw call the police and take down their license plates etc.

These people if caught can be charged with assault and reckless endangerment and serve jail time.

Look at this dude...http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/psycho-doc-jailed-booby-traps-bike-trails-article-1.1333042

Be safe and be smart.

-peace
  • 3 0
 Pepper spray works.
  • 2 0
 so does a 2by4 to the head :-)
  • 1 0
 Haha whatyousaid, thanks for the link. Very interesting. You know the most interesting part besides a middle aged "psychiatrist" being the perp'? The most interesting part besides that fact was how the dude basically got away with it. That monster willfully injured 3 innocent people, could've killed people & he got 30 days. 30 days? That sound like good reason to call the law to you? Not to me.
  • 1 0
 End them!
  • 1 0
 SCUM!
  • 1 0
 No Snipers in Canada?
  • 1 0
 some people eh like why?
  • 2 1
 f*ckin C#nts!!!
  • 2 1
 Kill those bastards!!
  • 1 0
 Put up trail cameras.
  • 1 1
 probably a horse rider
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