I am in a similar situation where I am, but see it from the opposite side of the mirror! ha! As mountain bikers here have become more numerous, it became untenable for the managers of the public land to ignore or exclude us. As a result, the local trail association has finally found traction in sanctioning and legitimizing many of the unsanctioned trails. The problem is that they have taken the old trails - the one's I've been riding for close to (or is that over?) 30 years now - and fully dumbed them down. Berms everywhere, filling in dirt between rocks and roots, and essentially making it easier to ride for people new to the sport and people moving into the developments that are being built on the periphery of the forest.
This might sound great, but for me and the people who have been riding these trails over the years, we've lost the magic and challenge of what made it appealing to us. So we've migrated - built new trails or connectors between old great trails, so we can still ride the stuff that drew us to the sport in the first place. I understand the challenge of trying to please everyone (I was involved in the trail association in its early days and know full well that trying to get mountain bikers to agree on anything is like herding cats), but if some level of cooperation/consideration could be given to the old timers instead of making everything a bermy blue trail, I think that would be go a long way.
All this to say, yes we undoubtedly need to evolve, but we don't need turn our backs entirely on the old ways either.
Oct. 27, 2023, 10:56 a.m. - slyfink
I am in a similar situation where I am, but see it from the opposite side of the mirror! ha! As mountain bikers here have become more numerous, it became untenable for the managers of the public land to ignore or exclude us. As a result, the local trail association has finally found traction in sanctioning and legitimizing many of the unsanctioned trails. The problem is that they have taken the old trails - the one's I've been riding for close to (or is that over?) 30 years now - and fully dumbed them down. Berms everywhere, filling in dirt between rocks and roots, and essentially making it easier to ride for people new to the sport and people moving into the developments that are being built on the periphery of the forest. This might sound great, but for me and the people who have been riding these trails over the years, we've lost the magic and challenge of what made it appealing to us. So we've migrated - built new trails or connectors between old great trails, so we can still ride the stuff that drew us to the sport in the first place. I understand the challenge of trying to please everyone (I was involved in the trail association in its early days and know full well that trying to get mountain bikers to agree on anything is like herding cats), but if some level of cooperation/consideration could be given to the old timers instead of making everything a bermy blue trail, I think that would be go a long way. All this to say, yes we undoubtedly need to evolve, but we don't need turn our backs entirely on the old ways either.