M
Mike Vandeman
Guest
Of course, this is ALWAYS true, so bikes should be banned everywhere there are hikers! Bikes should
be restricted to pavement, as in Yosemite National Park.
Mike
From: Paul Nam <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 18:27:30 -0700 (PDT)
Begin rant:
Over the hills I've been riding lately I've had plenty of time for some soul searching. It is really
important to me to tell you all that we need to take care of the trails we ride, and even those we
might not ever ride.
Upon my return, going through the bundle of mail, I glanced at the cover of the Sierra Trading Post
"Adventure's Edge" catalog. It shows a great photo of an mtb downhill racer, dual crown fork,
armour, full-face, number plate (closed course?), small air, and a loose trail.
Well, after being around the riding scene for quite a while, to see a specialty catalog aimed at my
recreation like this one is both a milestone and a bit scary. Why is it scary?
My vacation's last descent was on one of my favorite downhills (Shuteye from the top), and after not
dropping it in two years, I discovered that it had been ruined by a lack of maintenance and abuse.
In this trail's case (Sierra Nat'l Forest) the real cause of destruction is uphill motorbikes, but
admittedly the increased mtb traffic hadn't ever helped this way overgrade bad boy of a trail.
Over time my riding skills and instincts have improved to a degree. Even more than those though, my
fitness is better than ever due to trail riding. I started out just liking to go out into the woods
for a longer distance than a hike or a run could manage. Then I really discovered downhilling, and
that sort of began to eclipse the sight-seeing aspect of riding a bit. I even bought some armour
(that I never wear, but I'm probably going to start).
Planet Earth calling: You better wear some armour or fix the trails.
A lot of trails in the west are getting trounced from weather and increased use, while others are
becoming overgrown and simply disappearing. Some of the problems are due to a lack of restrictions
(such as the case in the Sietrra Nat'l Forest imho). But most of the problem (imho, again) is from a
lack of care from the users themselves. That means us; you and me.
We all realize, I'm sure, that most trails were never designed for the use they actually recieve
these days. There are some outstanding exceptions. Human expansion into the west (Iimiting my scope
here to the 48 west of Denver) has been rapid. Historical foot and pack routes for trade are perhaps
the oldest. Then there's a layer of mining related activity and a huge network of forestry roads.
Riding all this stuff over the years has been an education into the formation of the west; it's
cultural and economic development, for all of us. Downieville is a good (you could also say "bad" ;
) ) example of this. At the same time we all get to learn about fire ecology, geology, erosion
abatement (and more often what happens when there is none), rare and endanged species, Native
Americans, watersheds, irrigation, water tables, and the USGS. In fact, mountain biking is a
university in itself.
I feel like I have relived the pioneer days. I've even struggled up many an abandonded stage
route, like the Emigrant Trail, the Butterfield, the Oregon Trail etc., and believe me, these
people were tough.
Mountain bikers should have access and defend and maintain that access. One reason is because they
can actually reach these places without potentially ruining them. Another reason is that we can help
keep the history alive, and spread the knowledge about natural beauty, why it must be respected, and
why we need to moderate our lifestyles to protect species and diversity. Unfortunately we are losing
access all over the place because we are not taking up our responsibility. I am not against
motorcycling on trails, but I know it needs to be restricted. Big horsepower throttle twisting
uphill damages trails faster than anything except for a 100 year flood or a summer of pack trains.
Mountainbiking is restricted often for the right reasons: Hikers need a place to find tranquility, a
fragile meadow or riparian community requires preservation, a trail is so ridiculously overgrade and
erosive that it must be closed for restoration, and the trail is within two miles radius of a
popular rural trailhead.
All over the beautiful west, in every locale, you can find incredible trails to ride on. Problem is,
there's not enough people caring for them. Our parks and forests personnel are stretched to the
limit. It takes a lot to manage an entire national forest and satisfy all the economic,
recreational, and preservation needs. The way I see it is: Mountain biking is a just a facet of a
beautiful, but for some reason, a lot of light shines through this facet and we can make it even
more beautiful if we just try.
Unfortunately things are going downhill fast. Pun intended. Literally the soils and the rocks are
heading out to sea faster than they would without us around. Sure it's entropy, chaos and anarchy
out there, but we can moderate, can't we?
In the big picture the management of our forests is more important than our puny recreation. The
management of fuels and soil is of overiding importance. These things affect all of the watersheds,
and ultimately the climate of the planet itself.
That's why mtb access must be a local issue. You are important because you understand this stuff. A
lot of Americans still don't. We are red, white, blue and green. If we don't take care of our trails
we will be forced off them by people who don't care for us, and the tradgedy will be that the Earth
will be the worse of for it. Sure, we'll still have a lot of unrestricted access in a lot of places,
but to ride them, you'll need long travel full-sus, big cojones, armour, and an attitude. Well, that
descibes me, sometimes, I admit (laughs). But we'll sure miss those flowy singletracks that swooped
like a beautiful melody through the woods, unless you help.
Ok. So come on out to the Donner Lake Rim Trail in a couple of weeks. Come on out to the local Henry
Coe IMBA Epic this Sept 20-21. Go to land manager meetings. Do stuff.You can still have your fun,
and you'll be discovering like I am, "how deep the rabbit hole goes."
- Paul
===
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to
help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande
be restricted to pavement, as in Yosemite National Park.
Mike
From: Paul Nam <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 18:27:30 -0700 (PDT)
Begin rant:
Over the hills I've been riding lately I've had plenty of time for some soul searching. It is really
important to me to tell you all that we need to take care of the trails we ride, and even those we
might not ever ride.
Upon my return, going through the bundle of mail, I glanced at the cover of the Sierra Trading Post
"Adventure's Edge" catalog. It shows a great photo of an mtb downhill racer, dual crown fork,
armour, full-face, number plate (closed course?), small air, and a loose trail.
Well, after being around the riding scene for quite a while, to see a specialty catalog aimed at my
recreation like this one is both a milestone and a bit scary. Why is it scary?
My vacation's last descent was on one of my favorite downhills (Shuteye from the top), and after not
dropping it in two years, I discovered that it had been ruined by a lack of maintenance and abuse.
In this trail's case (Sierra Nat'l Forest) the real cause of destruction is uphill motorbikes, but
admittedly the increased mtb traffic hadn't ever helped this way overgrade bad boy of a trail.
Over time my riding skills and instincts have improved to a degree. Even more than those though, my
fitness is better than ever due to trail riding. I started out just liking to go out into the woods
for a longer distance than a hike or a run could manage. Then I really discovered downhilling, and
that sort of began to eclipse the sight-seeing aspect of riding a bit. I even bought some armour
(that I never wear, but I'm probably going to start).
Planet Earth calling: You better wear some armour or fix the trails.
A lot of trails in the west are getting trounced from weather and increased use, while others are
becoming overgrown and simply disappearing. Some of the problems are due to a lack of restrictions
(such as the case in the Sietrra Nat'l Forest imho). But most of the problem (imho, again) is from a
lack of care from the users themselves. That means us; you and me.
We all realize, I'm sure, that most trails were never designed for the use they actually recieve
these days. There are some outstanding exceptions. Human expansion into the west (Iimiting my scope
here to the 48 west of Denver) has been rapid. Historical foot and pack routes for trade are perhaps
the oldest. Then there's a layer of mining related activity and a huge network of forestry roads.
Riding all this stuff over the years has been an education into the formation of the west; it's
cultural and economic development, for all of us. Downieville is a good (you could also say "bad" ;
) ) example of this. At the same time we all get to learn about fire ecology, geology, erosion
abatement (and more often what happens when there is none), rare and endanged species, Native
Americans, watersheds, irrigation, water tables, and the USGS. In fact, mountain biking is a
university in itself.
I feel like I have relived the pioneer days. I've even struggled up many an abandonded stage
route, like the Emigrant Trail, the Butterfield, the Oregon Trail etc., and believe me, these
people were tough.
Mountain bikers should have access and defend and maintain that access. One reason is because they
can actually reach these places without potentially ruining them. Another reason is that we can help
keep the history alive, and spread the knowledge about natural beauty, why it must be respected, and
why we need to moderate our lifestyles to protect species and diversity. Unfortunately we are losing
access all over the place because we are not taking up our responsibility. I am not against
motorcycling on trails, but I know it needs to be restricted. Big horsepower throttle twisting
uphill damages trails faster than anything except for a 100 year flood or a summer of pack trains.
Mountainbiking is restricted often for the right reasons: Hikers need a place to find tranquility, a
fragile meadow or riparian community requires preservation, a trail is so ridiculously overgrade and
erosive that it must be closed for restoration, and the trail is within two miles radius of a
popular rural trailhead.
All over the beautiful west, in every locale, you can find incredible trails to ride on. Problem is,
there's not enough people caring for them. Our parks and forests personnel are stretched to the
limit. It takes a lot to manage an entire national forest and satisfy all the economic,
recreational, and preservation needs. The way I see it is: Mountain biking is a just a facet of a
beautiful, but for some reason, a lot of light shines through this facet and we can make it even
more beautiful if we just try.
Unfortunately things are going downhill fast. Pun intended. Literally the soils and the rocks are
heading out to sea faster than they would without us around. Sure it's entropy, chaos and anarchy
out there, but we can moderate, can't we?
In the big picture the management of our forests is more important than our puny recreation. The
management of fuels and soil is of overiding importance. These things affect all of the watersheds,
and ultimately the climate of the planet itself.
That's why mtb access must be a local issue. You are important because you understand this stuff. A
lot of Americans still don't. We are red, white, blue and green. If we don't take care of our trails
we will be forced off them by people who don't care for us, and the tradgedy will be that the Earth
will be the worse of for it. Sure, we'll still have a lot of unrestricted access in a lot of places,
but to ride them, you'll need long travel full-sus, big cojones, armour, and an attitude. Well, that
descibes me, sometimes, I admit (laughs). But we'll sure miss those flowy singletracks that swooped
like a beautiful melody through the woods, unless you help.
Ok. So come on out to the Donner Lake Rim Trail in a couple of weeks. Come on out to the local Henry
Coe IMBA Epic this Sept 20-21. Go to land manager meetings. Do stuff.You can still have your fun,
and you'll be discovering like I am, "how deep the rabbit hole goes."
- Paul
===
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to
help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande
