I worked with a state park and staff to conduct the first state mountain bike championships and fat tire festival back where I used to live. The rangers' documentation of the improvement of conditions left by pack animals in soft trail conditions by the riders of guided trail rides and the race circuit was astonishing...unless you've ever ridden a bike after pack animals.
I think the mode of transport gets a bad rap when it's the rider(s) that needs to be condemned or condoned. I can only relate generally that at a time (in the past) a USDA ranger, in a bar, in a very small south Colorado town near my good friend's longtime family cabin pretty clearly instructed us to enter the proximate wilderness area and ride to a certain creek to be able to cast a dry fly for some trout and return the same day. We avoided leaving any more pack animal hoof-craters and did not have to overnight in the borders of the wilderness area. Spar City can be pretty remote by itself. Situational discretion seems like a no-brainer when conservation is involved, blanket edicts don't belong in the SOP of the varied wild lands we are fortunate to have within the confines of this nation. I'd include a picture of my friend from the end of our bootleg bike trip to the summit lake and subsequently fed creek, but I'm sure that I'd be violating some law that would be specified officiously if I did. It was absolutely brilliant though. Andy Cheatham Pittsburgh On Tuesday, August 18, 2015 at 12:06:48 PM UTC-4, Montclair BobbyB wrote: > > I have been an active member of a mountain biking group in NJ (JORBA) for > years (including building and maintaining trails for multi-use following > the IMBA method). I have been mostly opposed to wilderness area bans on > bicycles (having enjoyed several wild areas in CO and UT that presently > remain open to mountain bikers). On the other hand I have also see how > overuse can ruin a beautiful trail. Fruita CO is one area where I > personally think has gotten semi-trashed after being > over-hyped/over-ridden. There are so many places to ride; I personally am > opposed to wholesale banning, but support the idea of selectively closing > certain sensitive areas to mountain biking. > > I have several hundred acres of nice trails behind my residence, and > lately they have been overused (and it shows), mostly due to ignorance > (i.e.riding when the trails are too wet/soft)... Education can go a long > way (before closure becomes necessary) > > BB > > On Tuesday, August 18, 2015 at 12:44:47 AM UTC-4, dstein wrote: >> >> Saw this today and curious of the group's thoughts on this: >> http://www.sustainabletrailscoalition.org/ >> >> On the one hand, all they are aiming to do is lift a blanket ban on bikes >> in federal wilderness areas and trails so that land manager can make a >> decision on whether bikes would be allowed on a per park/wilderness area >> basis. It would not, for instance, automatically allow bikes on the AT, and >> that seems like a reasonably far fetched thing anyway. But would allow to >> keep things like the Continental Divide open, and also open up other >> wilderness areas that are much less traveled by foot than the AT. >> >> But on the other hand, things like the discouraging news of the Oregon >> Outback this year make me wonder if opening the doors too wide is a bad >> thing--not that that was a federal wilderness issue, but shows what can >> happen when too many eager cyclists take to some unsupervised bike routes. >> >> As for trail impact, there seems to be an argument either way as to >> whether bikes have more (or as much as) an impact as hikers. With riding in >> muddy trails being the biggest concern. >> >> Especially interested here since the RBW crowd seems to generally be >> super responsible and smart about hitting trails and stealth camping where >> bikes aren't typically allowed. >> >> For or against? >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
