Every. Damn. Year.
Seriously, people, will we ever evolve beyond the need to annually beg, berate, cajole, harass, remind and otherwise tell morons to stay off the trails until they’re dry enough to ride without damaging them? These idiots who shred soft trails embarrass me as a mountain biker.
I hadn’t given it much thought this year until my friend Ryan posted this online:
“"Please, please, please stay off muddy, wet trails! I just ran into some mountain bikers trenching the new STA trails. They are NOT ready to sustain traffic at this point! There is still lots of snow out there and wet muddy sections are plentiful. You all know how hard everyone worked to hand finish these trails, let's not trash them now.”
It’s common knowledge that April and May are muddy months in Anchorage. It should be common knowledge -- or at least easy to figure out -- that riding soft, muddy trails causes damage.
Only two things could explain why the damage keeps happening: ignorance and/or selfishness. The latter is unforgivable and should be repaid with a gnarly endo that ends with a top tube to the offending rider’s crotch.
The former requires the rest of us to educate our fellow riders. If you see anyone riding soft trails, or hear them telling stories about a recent ride, please talk to them and set them straight.
Be calm and polite. People tell me that’s effective.
Please. Do it for those of us who can’t. I just don’t think I could manage calm and polite with these douche bags right now.
Seriously, people, will we ever evolve beyond the need to annually beg, berate, cajole, harass, remind and otherwise tell morons to stay off the trails until they’re dry enough to ride without damaging them? These idiots who shred soft trails embarrass me as a mountain biker.
I hadn’t given it much thought this year until my friend Ryan posted this online:
“"Please, please, please stay off muddy, wet trails! I just ran into some mountain bikers trenching the new STA trails. They are NOT ready to sustain traffic at this point! There is still lots of snow out there and wet muddy sections are plentiful. You all know how hard everyone worked to hand finish these trails, let's not trash them now.”
It’s common knowledge that April and May are muddy months in Anchorage. It should be common knowledge -- or at least easy to figure out -- that riding soft, muddy trails causes damage.
Only two things could explain why the damage keeps happening: ignorance and/or selfishness. The latter is unforgivable and should be repaid with a gnarly endo that ends with a top tube to the offending rider’s crotch.
The former requires the rest of us to educate our fellow riders. If you see anyone riding soft trails, or hear them telling stories about a recent ride, please talk to them and set them straight.
Be calm and polite. People tell me that’s effective.
Please. Do it for those of us who can’t. I just don’t think I could manage calm and polite with these douche bags right now.
6 comments:
Preach on!
I understand the overwhelming desire to hit the dirt after so many months of white stuff. However, like a crack fiend trying to get clean, we need to just resist. Someone, come up with a catch phrase on par with "Crack is Wack" to help raise everyone's awareness of this issue!
I totally agree on staying off wet trails but be careful on lectures. I got a very long indignant lecture last year about being on trails too early when I rode down the STA trails. I was on completely dry trail except one short spot that I walked around. So please make sure the trails are wet if you point out it is to early to ride. June 1st an arbitrary date, on a normal spring, is very conservative.
Do you folks have an online message board that riders can check to see if trails are open? Our local trail has a facebook page that they update daily to let riders know if they are open. Also, MORC posts regular trail updates. Even with that, there always seems to be a few selfish ignorant pricks who ride no matter what.
its simple,Stay of wet trails. Never go around wet spots. Ride THROUGH the wet spot. A rut is easier to fix that a wide spot that has been pounded in. Just look at
Moose Meadows and Rovers. Can you believe those used to be singletracks?
Steve, the thing about the trail w/just one wet area is that most people aren't going to dismount & carry. Riders just see tracks or another rider entering a trail & figure everyone's doing this. They aren't riding conscientiously & they certainly aren't showing up on trail work days. It's like anything else, we have to be aware of the example we set.
That said, the Kincaid STA trails did get torn up in the fall during the freeze-thaw cycles. I should have turned around, but everyone else was riding it...
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