Endangering The Soul of Mountain Biking
A strange phenomenon is sweeping our local trail networks. Roots are disappearing. Rocks are migrating. The cuts in the side hill are getting wider. At it’s current rate of growth, every corner will be bermed by 2015, and terms like “off-camber,” or “bunny-hop,” will quietly make an exit from most mountain bikers’ vocabulary.
While masses of sheep cheer for faster, smoother, flowier trails, the lions left among us are growing worried. This growing trend in our communities may actually threaten the very foundation of our still great sport.
Many early mountain bike trails were all but un-rideable by any but the most seasoned riders. It may have taken years to gain the skills to clean what today are our favourite trails. At times sections of them were humiliating, frustrating, and even down right enraging, but they managed to get us hooked and kept us coming back for more. These challenges earned us great skills, confidence and power. In short, they made us better. Failures made us smarter, cuts and bruises made us tougher, and overcoming our fears made us smile! These were the principles that made mountain biking as popular as it is today. Obviously people could see that we were having fun because many of them are now trying out mountain biking for themselves.
All over the world, the sport of mountain biking is undergoing a major growth spurt. In our community we are seeing quite literally hundreds of new riders each year take it up! But this exponential growth is changing the face of mountain biking in a very significant way.
Apparently not every rider has the patience, perseverance, or courage to devote the time to becoming good enough to ride some of the more technical sections of trails, yet for some odd reason feel entitled to an experience free of getting off their bikes and walking!
I find the trend towards making the trails easier for everyone to be a disturbing one. I was fortunate enough to grow up with the sport of mountain biking from its early infancy, and have developed a lot of technical riding skills along the way. I don’t always miss all the roots and logs on my favourite climbs, yet out of principle, I can’t support the sterilization of our singletrack in any way. The individuals involved in the dumbing down of our trails are robbing themselves and other newer riders of opportunities to push themselves and become better. How can this be good for the soul of a sport that thrives on the progression of rider’s abilities? How can we prevent turning exciting rivers of singletrack into stagnant ponds?
If there are any of you new trail yuppies out there reading this, please be considerate, and think to yourself for a moment before you alter that section of trail you don’t like or can’t ride. Ask yourself these questions: Is it difficult? Is it challenging? Is there anybody who can ride it? Is it possible that someone could actually enjoy the difficulty and challenge? If you answer yes to any of these questions, then I suggest you put down your tools, pick up your bike, and try that section until you clean it, or have at least given it three to five honest attempts. Then go home, and come back to it another day and try it again. And again, and again, and again! After several years, go back to that section and look at it again. Are you a better rider now than you were before? Do you want to remove it now? I didn’t think so!
Also keep in mind that although you may believe that what you’re doing to the trail is improving it and increasing it’s sustainability, think again. Roots and rocks are like the rebar in your house’s concrete foundation. They’re helping hold the dirt together, and keep it on the trail. Removing them will make the trail faster, which may seem like a good thing for a while, but give it time and you will see the negative results. With more speed comes more braking, and with more braking comes more braking bumps. Deep braking bumps are every bit as rough as the roots and rocks that used to be there and much less satisfying to ride over. At least in my opinion.
Mountain biking is hard. It’s supposed to be challenging. This is the spirit the sport grew up in. Let’s not bring the trails down to our level. If you have no easy trails in your area, then build a new one, but let the difficult ones remain difficult. You’ll appreciate it once you’ve learned to ride better.
As an after thought to posting the above article, I would just like to throw out some credits for those who are out there and feeling inspired to build and maintain their community’s trails. I would hate to dissuade anyone willing to do the work. Most of the riders complaining about changes to their trails have never lifted a pick or a shovel. Some of you may be involved in taking out parts of trail that other people like to ride, but I can see that in many cases there can be a net gain as far as trail maintenance goes. Anybody who puts in the time and work does deserve trails that ride the way they want them too, my only hope is that they might consult their local riding community to ensure they’re not lessening anybody else’s riding experience.
The solution is obvious: stop giving money to IMBA and their local affiliates who are pushing “flow trails”. Start helping out wth maintenance and building and getting our opinions out there to other trail builders.
The same thing is happening up here, but from what I have seen the roots are not being removed they are getting a layer of rocks and gold over top to protect them from the traffic.
I do enjoy the new style of trail, but I do not want all trails to be built to that standard. They are great because they are more accessible to new riders, but natural trails need to be the bread and butter…I enjoy the challenge of a good rooty and rocky piece of trail, it helps make the sport fun and helps us grow as riders.
There is room in the forest for both types of trails, but the trail dumbing down needs to stop.
If all mountain bike trails became “flow trails” then it wouldn’t be nearly as fun. The best thing about mountain biking are the technical sections. Bunny hopping over logs, zipping through rock gardens, etc.
Some sack of sh*t removed the best part of the Pioneer Trail where there was a baby-head-sized-rock garden covering maybe 200 feet of the trail. Now when I ride it I always stop there and spend at least 5-10 minutes locating those rocks which were moved from their natural location and putting them back!