Mountain Biker vs. Dirt Biker trail use

[MountainGahwd]

I got into a small heated discussion with one of my coworkers the other day and i am still bugged by the conversation. Id like a little insight on the subject so feel free to share your opinion, concerns, comments or rambles.

So i live in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I just recently got into motorized riding and have been riding mountain biking for a few years now. I am outdoors as much as time allows. I care about the environment around me and do my best to clean up trails and keep nature as natural as possible. That said......My coworker is an intense Mountain biker. The discussion came about because i asked if she knew how to access a trail system near her house. She then attacked me verbally saying that us motorized riders don't respect trails, or we widen them, or we are just &%$#@!.(granted, we can all be &%$#@! or bitches if we want) I was a bit taken back by her accusations when all i did was ask a simple question. Now to her point if the trails were or are muddy and wet then i would indeed be destroying trails. But i wasn't planning on riding the trails, just wanted to figure out how to access them for when they do open in a week or so. 

Okay, all that being said my response to her was "I pay taxes, registration fees, my bike is insured, i have health insurance and i have to pay to use the trails on my bike. You however ride the same trails, motor ways and do damage to trails just like i do but do not pay ANY fees."

SOOOO i guess my post is to ask a question to the community: Should mountain bikers be required to have a sticker to ride trails? Should they have to register their bike if riding on the road? Should us dirt bikers be allowed to ride mountain bike trails since we actually pay to use trails and roads?(I know, not very realistic) Have you ever had any troubles with a pedal biker on your dirt bike? 

[William1]

Horses are more destructive to trails than dirt bikes.

What matters most of all is trail etiquette and respect.

What about road bikers that take up the entire road so they can ride side by side in groups of 30 and have conversations.

Anyone using the trails should have to pay the same fees to enjoy the same access. No one group should be forced to subsidize another. The point is, we can share everything unless certain people have a 'self important' attitude. Sounds to me like your co-worker is a jerk.

[Evan Dodd]

man you have strict rules in michigan we can ride all trails and on some backroads. You can get off the trail and onto a road and ride into town for lunch and then go back without having a plate or even a drivers liscence.

[MountainGahwd]

10 minutes ago, William1 said:

What about road bikers that take up the entire road so they can ride side by side in groups of 30 and have conversations.

Anyone using the trails should have to pay the same fees to enjoy the same access. No one group should be forced to subsidize another.

In Colorado they just passed a law that motor vehicles have to give pedal bikers a 3 foot space when passing. New laws for peddlers paid for by our motors. So yes, road bikers should have to be insured and have headlights/taillights....just like getting a dirt bike street legal.


Im glad im not the only one with this thought

[SlowDinoDog]

'intense mountain bikers' can sometimes get angry at dirt bikers and want to keep trails to themselves because we make them look so much slower and kinda boring...many have big egos that get squashed when we blow by them.
I always try to slow down and not dust mtn bikers and I will be careful around horseback riders and hikers...but, one time, some hot shot mtn biker thought he was fast going downhill and wouldn't pull over to let me by safely...so he got roosted by a 450F on the next turn to help him learn a little trail etiquette.
I used to ride a mtn bike regularly...still do a bit...but its kinda slow and boring for me now.

[Padilen]

man you have strict rules in michigan we can ride all trails and on some backroads. You can get off the trail and onto a road and ride into town for lunch and then go back without having a plate or even a drivers liscence.

Not sure your info is accurate. DL 16-18 is required. Not sure but assuming it's also required for over 18. Each county can have their own laws. State highways and US highways are not open. To legally operate an ORV on public lands under 16(?) A ORV certificate is required.

http://www.vvmapping.com/trails/MICounties/MICounties.html Check legal laws before assuming what's legal. Changes are made and system isn't updated regularly.

 

[BOAB]

Mountain bikers in general can be a real pain.  I tend to just ignore them.  A popular riding area here has a lot of trails that we share.  We usually pull over and stop for mtn. bikers just to be nice.

[EnglertRacing]

good dirt bike trails make shitty mtb trails, and good mtb trails make shitty moto trails.

I ride both moto, and mtb,

moto, desert, woods, track and supermoot, mtb trail and down hill

mtb we have to deal with more bs with hikers and horses bitching at us

my advice to you,

ride somewhere manly enough that you don't have hikers and bikers.

[Roostre]

Just now, EnglertRacing said:

good dirt bike trails make shitty mtb trails, and good mtb trails make shitty moto trails.

I ride both moto, and mtb,

moto, desert, woods, track and supermoot, mtb trail and down hill

mtb we have to deal with more bs with hikers and horses bitching at us

my advice to you,

ride somewhere manly enough that you don't have hikers and bikers.

The gateway to those places are often littered with both hikers and mtb's for the first few miles...then it's clear sailing because none of them make it that far in.

Most of my interactions with mtbikers has been positive,  only one time that a gal wouldn't let me go by for about 20 minutes as the sun was going down and I had an hour ride home left. She probably had no idea that I could cover the 25 miles over to the next canyon and ride the highway home though.

[Gflo]

If you pay OHV fees on your dirt bike, and those fees go to help maintain the trails, tell your co-worker that if it wasn’t for the dirt bikes, the trails she loves to ride may not even exist.  She should be thanking you for what your OHV fees do for her riding opportunities.

[Behind Bars]

She is narrow minded, as are many. She probably has no idea how much she is despised by hikers who share trails with her. In my opinion, mountain bikers can be the worst to share a trail with when hiking because of their speed vs the advance warning. With us at least you can hear that we are coming through.

That said, I would rather encounter 10 mnt bikes than a horse rider. Their attitude too often mirrors the offal of their ride and they leave the trail worse than any other user group (covered in shit and pot holes). In contrast, most mnt bikers are pretty cool. 

Remind her that 1) trails are being closed to wheeled travel--we are in many access battles together as mountain bikes are far more similar to dirt bikes than to boots. 2) trail damage by her bike is no better than trail damage by ours. 3) the more trails that are closed to dirt bikes the more we are concentrated on trails that are left. 

What's more irritating is the self-righteousness of some mountain bikers' attitudes when you consider that they are happy to drive a subaru up a once-pristine canyon only to arrive at the trail head and bike from there. Now anything past where they parked their car is only supposed to be used as they see fit. Road up to there=good; road past there=bad. The arbitrary line can be absurd, especially when one wheeled user group wishes to look down upon another. 

 

[shrub73]

I mountain bike 3-4 per week and where I live there isn't any issue with dirt bike vs mountain bikes because there is really no shared access for local trails in South OC. The biggest issue I have as a mountain biker is with hikers, not with equestrians. 

I think SBS are the biggest issue now and lumping dirt bike riders into that group. 

Edited April 3, 2018 by shrub73

[MadBro]

10 minutes ago, mikea 2 said:

She is narrow minded, as are many. She probably has no idea how much she is despised by hikers who share trails with her. In my opinion, mountain bikers can be the worst to share a trail with when hiking because of their speed vs the advance warning. With us at least you can hear that we are coming through.

That said, I would rather encounter 10 mnt bikes than a horse rider. Their attitude too often mirrors the offal of their ride and they leave the trail worse than any other user group (covered in shit and pot holes). In contrast, most mnt bikers are pretty cool. 

Remind her that 1) trails are being closed to wheeled travel--we are in many access battles together as mountain bikes are far more similar to dirt bikes than to boots. 2) trail damage by her bike is no better than trail damage by ours. 3) the more trails that are closed to dirt bikes the more we are concentrated on trails that are left. 

What's more irritating is the self-righteousness of some mountain bikers' attitudes when you consider that they are happy to drive a subaru up a once-pristine canyon only to arrive at the trail head and bike from there. Now anything past where they parked their car is only supposed to be used as they see fit. Road up to there=good; road past there=bad. The arbitrary line can be absurd, especially when one wheeled user group wishes to look down upon another. 

 

I liked your comment after the first paragraph. Tried to like it again at the end.

Don't forget that Subaru is brand new too with parts manufactured in the most environmentally friendly country in the world. China.

[Big Ron L]

We used to have a few small local spots that we could ride without hassle but mountain bikers took over and now they call the cops whenever they see us. We used to coexist and we would avoid certain trails and we had our own loop but eventually the mountain bikers took over and give us a hard time and  call the cops on us. Its not even worth going there anymore. I live in Yonkers just north of the Bronx and quadtards and urban "bike life" types always ask me where i ride. I always direct them to the spot the mountainbikers took over.

[Big Ron L]

Alot of them are elitist self righteous soy eating d#$^#^=gs. The ones that are cool usually hate other mountain bikers.

[EnglertRacing]

6 minutes ago, elrontx said:

Alot of them are elitist self righteous soy eating d#$^#^=gs. The ones that are cool usually hate other mountain bikers.

there is 2 kinds of mountain bikers

downhill/enduro/trail , and xc/fags

down hill/enduro/trail riders have more of a moto mentality only climbing hills for the opportunity to rip down at moto race speeds,  They infact often also ride dirt bikes.

xc/fags are more like hikers with wheels, or road bike riders and can be snobby as both, they walk their bikes down stuff, complain about shit, tell people to slow down, think they own the place.

[shrub73]

2 minutes ago, EnglertRacing said:

there is 2 kinds of mountain bikers

downhill/enduro/trail , and xc/fags

down hill/enduro/trail riders have more of a moto mentality only climbing hills for the opportunity to rip down at moto race speeds,  They infact often also ride dirt bikes.

xc/fags are more like hikers with wheels, or road bike riders and can be snobby as both, they walk their bikes down stuff, complain about shit, tell people to slow down, think they own the place.

Hikers and XC guys wearing spandex (and most times are road riders as well) are the most miserable pricks I encounter when I am mountain biking. 

 

[Sycamore]

I rode Colorado trails and was ready for mtn bike trail bigots, I figured I'd get some good laughs at their stupidity, but no.  They were the friendliest trail partners I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

I was stopped on the side of the road looking at a map when at least 20 mtn bikers came up to me and stopped and asked if I needed help finding something. They would not leave me alone until they helped me. This was not the only time this happened either.  I and they stopped when seeing bikers and hikers asked if help was needed or even a group pic taken together.  It was like this the whole week I was there.

Instead of buying into who pays for what or who ruins the trails or whatever seems we should be thinking more about the commonality of our shared interest in how we are enjoying the same area.  If you meet a dick on the trail, blind the dude or dudette with kindness.  It'll either turn them around or piss them off even more.  I enjoy both outcomes.  ? 

[LSHD]

I think you probably planted a seed by pointing out the YOU paid your share and hers for those trails. I would mention that in every single discussion with her on this subject. I would also point out that these trails are OURS, and are open to a variety of uses by ALL people whether they agree on that use or not.

Edited April 4, 2018 by LSHD

[BOAB]

6 minutes ago, Sycamore said:

I rode Colorado trails and was ready for mtn bike trail bigots, I figured I'd get some good laughs at their stupidity, but no.  They were the friendliest trail partners I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

I was stopped on the side of the road looking at a map when at least 20 mtn bikers came up to me and stopped and asked if I needed help finding something. They would not leave me alone until they helped me. This was not the only time this happened either.  I and they stopped when seeing bikers and hikers asked if help was needed or even a group pic taken together.  It was like this the whole week I was there.

Instead of buying into who pays for what or who ruins the trails or whatever seems we should be thinking more about the commonality of our shared interest in how we are enjoying the same area.  If you meet a dick on the trail, blind the dude or dudette with kindness.  It'll either turn them around or piss them off even more.  I enjoy both outcomes.  ? 

I think a lot of it has to do where you are.  The mtn. bikers around here are known for their holier than thou attitude.  But, I've heard stories like yours about other areas.