Theyyyy’rrre baaaack! The quest for more single track trails by thrill-seeking bicyclists is on anew. And now the Marin Bicycle Coalition has joined the clamor for more single track trails to be opened for mountain bike use. I guess it’s not rewarding enough to help open bike paths along our roadways, or help kids with Safe Routes to School. No, now they’ve decided to use their considerable clout to hire a lobbyist because there just aren’t enough trails for bikers in the open space.
As someone who has represented hikers and equestrians on more than one occasion in the ongoing battle to keep our open spaces places of tranquility, not multi-use speedways, I have developed some simple rules for defusing the biker-hiker-equestrian conflicts on the mountain once and for all:
1. Don’t call them mountain bikes, call them fire-road bikes
This would be the easiest solution. It keeps them where they belong. No conflicts with wildlife, equestrians and hikers occur and no expectations unrealistically raised. Erosion and scofflaw illegal trailblazing will be eradicated. And all able-bodied bike jockeys who truly do want to experience the joys of winding mountain trails, can leave their bikes at home and walk.
2. License them
This is really a no-brainer. When I was a child, all bikes had to be issued licenses. This way, renegade bikers can be tracked down and cited appropriately. Assuming they don’t emulate TV criminals and obscure their license numbers, steal licenses from other bikes, or just steal the whole bikes and dump them in ravines when through with the thrill ride.
3. Make them go to pre-bike ownership counseling with at least one hiker and one equestrian in the room
In a mutually respectful setting, a neutral facilitator encourages all parties to let out their feelings. Then they can have a session of telling each other “How they really feel,” so long as only pillows and sofa cushions sustain damage from any unrestrained outbursts. Horses and small children should be kept outside.
4. Outlaw spandex
I know, this would impact the yoga, soccer mom and after hour club crowds too. But in light of the greater good that would result from making bikers wear ordinary clothes like ratty sweat soaked tee shirts and chain-catching blue jeans, that would be a small price to pay for renewed tranquility on the mountain.
5. (My personal favorite) Open a mountain bike theme park
This can have man-made mountains, narrow trails, fake snakes and other wildlife to squash under wheels. Chills and spills rides. Underbrush courses, for the really daring riders. Maybe adventure seeking volunteers can pretend to be hikers so the bikers can still enjoy shouting “on your left” as they pass perilously close.
Let the comments begin.
Um....is your user group totally unable to control themselves and ride safe speeds without natural and added obstacles on the trail? I have heard this silly argument before: technical trails naturally slow them down...in fact it gets downright absurd, i.e. proposals to put 100 "pinch points" on Bills Trails to slow mountain bikes down. This would make a formerly nice trail full of barricades just to slow down bikes, but why should hikers and equestrian have to deal with man-made pinch points just becuase bikers won't slow down? Again, not a compatable, or safe trail to make multi-use
This feels like a bad divorce - let's treat it as such. The problem with a vast minority of hikers and a slightly larger minority of equestrians is that they don't think mountain bikes have any place on 'their trails'. That's akin to a parent not agreeing to visitation rights after the divorce. Well, guess what - mountain bikes are here to stay, we ain't going away and we want to see our babies now and again. Just as there are trails that horses should never be on, there are trails that bikes should never be on. For the rest of the trails in Marin, we need a schedule of use so that everyone understands that they have time slots where they can freely use the trails as they like within the rules of the system. That's all bikers have ever wanted - we don't want to ban you from 'our trails', we just want to visit the trails that we can safely ride at times and under conditions that are safe for all of us. Why is this so hard to accept?
It is the elite equestrians that should fund their own private separate places to ride. Many years ago, when riding my bike above Deep Park in Fairfax, there was a group of 3 riders on horses, one horse got spooked and chucked the rider on to the ground. That was very scary, because I knew a beautiful girl who died in an accident in Bolinas in 1967 when the horse that she was riding threw her off . I will never forget it, because I loved her. Animals are never completely controlable, they have minds of their own sometimes and can do unpridictable things. For the safety of other people that use the trails and fire roads, these horses should have their own places to ride so as to not endanger hikers and bikers. Most people who ride bicycles on the trails and fire roads are cognizant and considerate of other users, sure, there a few bad apples, but they are the minority. Most people just want to get out on the mountain and enjoy the beauty of Marin, and certainly do not want to get in a wreck with anything. I knew someone who crashed and broke all their teeth out, can you imagine the cost and pain to put implants in ? I for one never ride on the street, I use my car and truck for work and shopping, so I resent it when someone suggests that I have to ride on the street and stay off of the trails. And a bike park ? , what a joke. I don't want to ride in a bike park, and I never will.
Tell does this sound familiar, I have provided a link to a story on the Temecula Patch. Please read the story and watch the video in the story. Add this to all your facebook accounts, get the word out. http://temecula.patch.com/articles/citizen-reader-shares-mining-sounds
Get over it girls. If you still want 1000 pounds of uncontrolable, sweaty meat between your legs, just get married.
Unfortunatly, you guys, not all, are not above "wrong doing," to get your way. I think the respectful mtbr's are going to have to be the one's to set the unrespectable, wrong doers straight. I've been urging them to do that for years. I love nature. I love the fact that wildlife has a safe haven. I respect that. I tread ever so lightly. It angers me & so many others, as you see from the clash over the years, that a rider, on something mechanical, fast, skidding, jumping, etc. so carelessly, is allowed to come in & just insist they have a right, just because somebody invented mt bikes. Your earlier question about multi use trails, & why I think I can use them the way I want, while mtbrs. can't. I don't feel that way. On multi use trails, I ask that mtbr's respect the other groups the way they used to. My comment about the entitled mentality is absolutely correct. Mtbr's now feel that they have right of way on multi use trails, whine that the parks don't provide & create more trails for them, so as a result feel entitled to ride on illegal trails, create their own trails, etc. no regard for parks, others safety, wildlife safety, habitat, etc. Mtbr,s definition of " everybody needs to get along", one of their favorite lines, is, we will go on whatever trails we want, everybody will move for us, not complain, & we will, then," all get along."
Please consider a very-late-term abortion for the little oxygen thieves.
I also trail run and hike quite a bit. There is no way you can make the claim that some equestrians and groups of hikers don't make just as much noise as bikers or any other group that uses the trails.
I mountain bike, hike and trail run. I am also a professional Environmental Scientist. I have made it my career to do what I can to help maintain our natural systems in any way possible. To continually lump me in with a few bad actors is insulting not only to me, but also to the MAJORITY of people who mountain bike in a safe, reasonable and cooperative way. Nobody (as has been said ad infinitum) is advocating opening every single track trail to mountain biking, but let's maybe take a look at a few of the many options and see if we can't come up with a few more trails where impact would be less. Is that really that unreasonable? Personally, I don't even ride single track, so it doesn't really effect me either way, but the hostility and unwillingness to comprimise is a bit shocking...especially in such an open and progressive place that we all live. I know it's a lot easier to think of everyone belonging to a group as being the same. That's why racism, sexism and homophobia are as prevelant as they are.