Interesting Discussion!

[bsmith]

I went riding this weekend and passed a couple Mountain Bike riders on the trail.

I stop at my destination(sand hills) and was taking off my parka and mittens before riding hard. Well the Mountain Bikers caught up to me a started in about our sport.
He asked if I have ever thought of a less destructive sport? I replied yes, but haven't found one as fun.
He went into how "we" are destroying a great natural area and it is causing erosion and bla, bla, bla. The last thing he said was how I was trespassing on private property and the Railroad property and If I had gotten permission?

I asked him If he lived on the property above us, he replied "no", I then asked if he worked for the railroad, he said "no", I then stated well your trespassing aswell right! Yes but I'm not being destructive, but your trespassing correct?.
He said I was twisting his words. I simply replied I was riding on the same trails as he, and that I have been riding on for the past 15 years and have never been asked to stop or crossed a fence or went passed any signs.
I told him I try to stay on the trials, and really only tear up the railroad rightaway, not the private property.
I then asked him where he would ride without the motorcycle trials?

I also told him that no matter how long I rode I could never do as much damage as the power company did when they logged the first part of the trial(they did a horrible job and used the Cat and skidded the logs acrossed the hills and up the hills, creating a bigger erosion problem then I could) He agreed about the logging, and added how many weeds are now growing on the trials in that area.

At the end of our conversation I think I steered him more to the middle ground, once he heard my points, and I listened to his points. At the end I simply told him if he pushes to ban us from these types of areas the land owners will lock him out aswell. I said their are bad seeds in all sports and to look past them to get the big picture. We need to work together to keep areas open for all sports, and If he sees somebody abusing the area then confront them, if not be polite and realize that they are just having fun.

Can't we all just get along!
All in all it was a good discussion, I appreciated his points and he appreciated mine!

 

[Okiewan]

And you accidentally roosted his hypocritical back side when you pulled away? :p

 

[XRpredator]

No, that would have been me . . . :p

Actually, it's good you got along decent with the MTBers, Smith. The ones I have to deal with are, shall we say, intolerant. (the censor won't let me say what I really feel!)

 

[WoodsRider]

Next time remember to tell him that most GAG's (Green Advocacy Groups) consider mtn. biking destructive to nature and have been behind legislation preventing mtn. bike use in certain areas. Yet these same GAG's will rally mtn. biking groups to get trails shut down to motorized recreation. :ugg:

 

[atc3434`]

Were I ride there are also lots of the pedal power types. Can't figure out why you would pedal when you can just twist back on your wrist, but hey, to each his own. We always yield to them, and they usually appreciate it. We often take breaks, and several of them will usually stop and hang with us. But sometimes you'll run into a real jerk. Its hard not to just rip into them, but we wanna keep the land open. And we really don't rip it up a whole lot, I consider roosting trail grooming. Who likes that solid hardpack anyways!

 

[bsmith]

I had to bite my tongue a couple times, yet if I'm the only person he confronts I wanted it to be a good impression. Age does bring wisdom(what little I have), if it was ten years ago I would have made him suffer.:p
But to me it's important how other people view our sport, especially those that don't understand it.

The problem in the area are the few folks that don't stick to the trials, they want to make new ones, but the property is very long and skinny and the top of the valley is now lined with homes, we upset them and they will start putting up fences, for now they build for the view, not what is below them.
I think so far we have been lucky because there is about 3 mayor railroad tracks below them aswell, so the noise of the bikes is pretty minimal compared to the train.
I'm afraid that will soon change:ugg:

 

[LWilson250]

Here is a funny little story for you guys. Lots of people in my neighborhood ride horses. My neighbor across the street has 4 horses and her neighbor has a few also. Behind their houses are several miles of horse trails; Dorothy has her horse friends over 3 times a week to go riding. They ride no matter what the weather, so as you would expect the trails get very very torn up by the horses. Susan and Dorothy love having me ride back there, the tires beat down the trail smoothing it out and making it easier for the horses to walk. We all share the trails and everyone has a good time. I believe that horses to more damage to the trails then dirt bikes, after a horse has talked along a trail you can hardly walk on it anymore. Riding on a horse trail is very hard because of the damage they cause.

I use mountain bikes and BMX bikes to stay in shape and hone my skills. I grew up on 2 wheels and enjoy both pedal bikes and dirt bikes. Everyone needs to learn to share and take out their aggressions on the horse riders!!! JUST KIDDING.

Lee W.

 

[markdxx]

bsmith, good job providing a positive voice for our side. We need to convince the other reasonable, if somewhat misguided, off-road users that the sierra club and other nature nazis want nothing less than denying access to all of us.