The politics of Mountain Bikes

[EmL34]

After voting that MTB access was a 'B', but improving, I started thinking about it...what is the political climate here?

Lebanon seems to be an overwhelming success. It sounds like Harmon is moving forward. Signs of life are coming out of Murphy. From a riding perspective things definitely seem to be improving.

However, there must be some threats. I remember a couple of years ago there was a lot of talk about the River Bottoms, that it was going to be paved. And the farm is always in danger of being developed. What else is going on? After reading several articles about the SERIOUS user conflicts in the SF Bay area, I wonder if something like that could happen here.

So far it seems like riders in the area are pretty fortunate. This area seems to have a lot of options for non bicycle users, almost as if there's enough to go around. I do remember that there was some tension with a hiker group at Terrace Oaks, but even that is gone. However, all of the current success could put some strain on the land available. For example, the parking lot at Lebanon could be a problem, or the traffic, or something else that we don't see yet.

Can anyone with experience negotiating trail access comment on the local political situation and what future challenges might be? What is our strategy for staying on the right side of the access issue? Obviously the volunteer effort goes along way toward establishing goodwill. But, what if another local advocacy group with a conflicting agenda (there's only so much land) appears?

[mtnbykr]

if you look at the state on minnesota as a whole, the outstate area enjoys little to none of the success of the cities. no new trails [except for more race course @ spirit mtn] have been developed in duluth. in duluth, trails are finally being designated "biking/non-biking".

the superior hiking trail is coming thru duluth and unless the mtbers can convince the city that it needs to be multi-use, we lose access to that prime piece of singletrack.

there was plans for a 20 mile loop up the shore but it seems to be bogged down in the dnr system.

dunno what else i can tell you. be glad you have an organization like morc there to build/develp new trails.

k

[martini]

I have to echo Kurt here too. I've been attempting to get access to some land by Mt Kato to build some sustainable, Lebanon intermediate style trails on to expand our trail opportuniites down here. What I ran into was a land owner who was VERY appreicative of me contacting and asking for permission to build, but he "saw trails on the North Shore{BC,I assume from TV}, and they were heavily eroded, and destroyed the land." I tried to tell him our building principles, but he just didn't want his land disturbed. I have all the respect in the world for that, and we won't touch his land :cryin: {it was so ideal, gentle slopes with nice a nice heavy canopy that kept weed growth to a minimum}, but now we're back to step one down here. You guys be VERY lucky that you have MORC up there to help you.

If there's one thing that MORC could do better, is have an outreach style program that helped with outstate projects. I know it'd be hard to do, but in order to grow thier presence in the state political climate, I think it needs to be done.

[GearDaddy]

We shouldn't forget about the efforts of Bob Meuller and BLAST too. They are responsible for developments at Milaca, Elk River and some other trails north of the Twin Cities in recent years.

I've always been a bit stumped as to why the North Shore hasn't developed more singletrack. The riding that I've done in the Grand Marais area seems typical, i.e. a mix of fire roads, snowmobile trails, and a little singletrack. It's beautiful, but it seems hardly maintained. Perhaps the incentives are just not quite there because not very many people actually go up there and the season is shorter (I've seen snow in shady spots still in late May).

A couple of areas that seem to me to have tremendous potential are the Martineau trails in Paul Bunyan State Forest near Akeley/Walker and the area surrounding Sugar Hills near Grand Rapids. Currently these areas are bit overgrown and require some local knowledge and/or time to explore to find all the best trails. But there is potential to have large trail systems here. I know that much of the trails in both of these areas is due to enduro/dirt bike riders. These trails are nearby to the whole Brainerd lakes vacation land melee, so I would think a lot of people would take advantage if they knew these trails existed. Perhaps Hans has the skinny on any trail development in this neck of the woods?

[dennis porter]

Oh Boy, I love when this gets subject come up. To me it all revolves around getting involved. There are a million great ideas floating around. Build trails here, you guys should do this, when are "they" going to build more trails, you didn't build the trail the way I wanted it. Well the answer is .... YOU. The trails that have been built and are successful are done by people that get involved. You have to make the time and be persistant. It's funny that there is a thread asking people to think about becomming a board member and only one person that's not a current board member asked about getting more involved. I've been working on the MN River Trail issue for 10 years now. Yes, there are some land managers that still want to pave the trail. Years of attending meetings and not going away have made some progress. Bloomington is looking at actually rerouting and designating some of the trails east of Lyndale for mountain biking (and hiking). This is a start, hopefully we can nudge the other land managers into a natural trail instead of paved. That means we can't just go away. We (mountain bikers) need to keep building relationships and that means giving up riding time. I hope we can get good effective people to take the ball and keep the momentum going. Then the people that have been working for trail can just go riding again with confidence that someone is still working for the trails.
Dennis.

[gopherhockey]

Originally posted by martini


If there's one thing that MORC could do better, is have an outreach style program that helped with outstate projects. I know it'd be hard to do, but in order to grow thier presence in the state political climate, I think it needs to be done.

I believe it was put in the bylaws (or some document) to start establishing outstate chapters that would work with MORC. MORC would become the overall organization for the state, but local affiliates would be in charge of getting things done in their area.

I think it was mentioned before, but we could sure use one down in the Kato area... any takers? ;)

I think sometimes with all the local happenings and projects, races etc. it gets tough to concentrate on development in the overall big picture.. we end up hoping that people will step forward and ask rather than actively going out and working to gain more of a presence. Something we should shoot for this next year now that we really have things rolling and the outlook for new trails in the metro is going well.

If we're not careful we're going to end up with too much work for just one organization.

[manual63]

It's tough for a lot of us to get involved. Last night on our group ride I was talking about a video game called Battlefield 1942. One guy mentioned that he would have any time to play such a thing. A lot of us have very busy lives and something like a video game is a priority thing. I would love to be a board member or volunteer for more things, but I am just too busy and I would have to sacrifice my freetime I use for riding, playing games, and just relaxing to get any more involved. I know this sounds funny, but it takes a lot of work, motivation, and sacrifice to be a member or volunteer. When my wife finishes law school and I finish school, I might have more time, but then we will probably have a kid and I will have more excuses......:D.

That is why people like John should get so much praise. John is not the only one doing a lot of work for MORC, but he is one of the only ones I know much about. As for politics, they will always be there and MORC has made great improvements to the politics of mountain biking.

[jkalla]

A few weeks ago I was up north and rode the Cut Foot Sioux trail in the Chippewa Nat'l Forest. There were a lot of trees down and the trail was overgrown in a lot of areas. It also could use more trail markings. I stopped at the forest ranger station after my ride and expressed my thoughts on the trail. I was told that the USFS doesn't have the money to maintain the trail this year so the fallen trees will have to wait til next year when they plan to bid out the project as a cost saving measure. I offered to volunteer my time to clear some of the trees and he declined stating the liability issues. Any way - there may be an opportunity for groups like MORC to take some action in these areas like our state and national forests. Just don't expect much financial assistance.

[jitterjepp]

In the Dirt rag mag they have a cartoon of a guy on a mtb next to a sign that says no mountainbiking next to a sigh that says clear cut in progress.

[jkalla]

Originally posted by jitterjepp
In the Dirt rag mag they have a cartoon of a guy on a mtb next to a sign that says no mountainbiking next to a sigh that says clear cut in progress.

That's not clear cutting - it's "forest management"

[Don Youngdahl]

Originally posted by jitterjepp
In the Dirt rag mag they have a cartoon of a guy on a mtb next to a sign that says no mountainbiking next to a sigh that says clear cut in progress.

Logging and "forest management" are not the real enemies of mountain biking. Our real enemies are the Sierra Club and other groups with their insatiable thirst for more Wilderness, Roadless Areas, and more exclusion of all mechanized activities. Check on what SUWA (Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance) is pushing for Utah.

Logging requires roads, and those roads mean access for recreation. Logging means a few miles of trail is messed up, Wilderness is total exclusion, and Roadless Area is access only as far as you can make it on the trail.

When you look at the big picture, long term, as long as the land is open to utilization (logging, ranching, mining, etc), it will be open for recreation. I'll take that half a loaf in preference to total exclusion any time.

Don Youngdahl

[smeulebroe]

Backpacker Magazine September 2003

Here is the response to the question: Should mountain bikes be allowed on hiking trails?

No. Absolutely not, and for many reasons. One is eroision. Mountain bikes have knobby tires and travel fast, so when the trail is muddy, they create V-shaped grooves down the middle of the trail. It can harm wather quality below and make the trail dangerously hard to walk on.

Plus, mountain bikes are intrusive: Most people are out on a trail to get away from the city and things like machinery. you're out contemplating nature and a bike flies by. It's like someone bringing a boom box into a park-a total turnoff. And it's less fun hiking when you're worried about getting hit.

Even worse is what bikes do to wildlife. When you're riding, you have to pay a lot of attention to nopt crashing. You can't look down at what's right in front of your tire, so you don't notice a lot of small animals and plants until you've run over them. Hikers walk shorter distances and step over wildlife, but mountain bikers can travel 40, 50, 60 miles a day, trampling countless plants and animals and otherwise intimidating wildlife.

You'll hear mountain bikers say they are be


ing excluded for not being able to ride on certain trails. It's all a big lie: They just want sympathy. It's not bikers that are being excluded, it's their bikes. They say every user should be accommodated. They are being accommodated-all they have to do is walk.

Mike Vandeman
Former chair, wildlife committee,
San Francisco Bay chapter of the Sierra Club

[martini]

Mike Vandeman is famous for being a complete and utter irrational, smoke blowing, false fact saying, extremist bikeophobe. Look at his site: www.wheeledlocust.org or something like that and you'll see what a zealot he is. He's so bad in fact, that NO land managers listen to him any longer. They all know that he's a complete and utter crackpot. Do a search on MTBR Passion and look at his history there. Kooky dude that deserves absolutely NO respect.