Spotted: mud-spattered riders

[juliar]

This past weekend my husband and I went hiking in BCSP - not biking - as we patiently wait for the green signal to GO.


Hiking up to Hesitation Point we saw a group of mtn bikers return from their ride covered in mud (and so were their bikes).


This pisses me off to no end. Ruining the trails for everyone else who know how to wait. [size=78%]These were well-geared up riders, people that looked like they should know better.[/size]


This is my first post. I'm not sure if this is a common topic, if any solutions have been posed, or even if my comment belongs in this section - please advise.


Thanks!

[Fett]

Juliar,
As much as we try, we are never going to get 100% of the riders to stay off the trails when they are muddy. be it a lack of education or just a lack of willingness to wait until they are dry. Most of the offenders are probably not people who even know about this website.
The best you can do is to educate as many as you can to mimimize the damage to the trails and try to get riders involved in building and maintaining the trails as people tend to take better care of them if they have a vested ownership in them.

[mtbikernate]

It is also possible that they only picked up the mud crossing creeks.

There is no clear answer.

Frankly, if it is too muddy to mtb, it is probably also too muddy to hike the same trails.

And yeah, you will NEVER get 100% compliance. I would hate for the parks to start closing trails for a little mud. But even if they do, a segment of the population STILL won't care and they will still ride even with the possibility of fines.

The best we can do is relax, educate, and convince those to care who we can.

[juliar]

We weren't hiking on the mountain bike trails. Hiking on foot trails with some muddy spots is different in my mind than hiking/biking on mountain bike trails that are closed. I think this is a different topic than my original post, however, so we can continue the discussion in a new thread if there is interest.

[Raleighguy29]

I rode there last night and trails were damn near perfect outside of the normal seaps. And if you see my bikes there always dirty since I never clean them unless they get real bad from Nebo or hickory.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[indyshred]

I agree, the mud on the bike is not really a good indicator of how the trail conditions are. It always looks worse than it is. Now if someone is covered head to toe that would be a little different.

[Otter]

Welcome aboard Juliar!  You've obviously hit upon a hot button area for the board....good job!

I think Fett gave the best advice, you won't get 100% compliance (for various reasons) and the best we can do is to do our best and try to get as many people on board to help out building and maintaining trails.  It's damn hard work and I'm willing to bet that of the people that do the work, 99.9% of them will leave the trails alone when they're susceptible to damage. That's why it's so important to get as many people involved as possible.  Not just to get things done, but to show them what is involved and to give them a greater respect of this great sport.

As the others have said, mud on the bike isn't always the best determination of trail conditions, however it can definitely give someone a good idea of how bad it is.  There's a big difference in mud splatter and caked on mud. 

Again, welcome aboard and thanks for caring about the trails! 

[mtbikernate]

We weren't hiking on the mountain bike trails. Hiking on foot trails with some muddy spots is different in my mind than hiking/biking on mountain bike trails that are closed. I think this is a different topic than my original post, however, so we can continue the discussion in a new thread if there is interest.

The mtb trails are not "closed". The indicators do not say that. HMBA does not have that control. The park does not close the trails, either. The indicators are a recommendation based on the best local intel we have, which is based on reports from the ground in addition to weather reports. They are an effort to educate riders to help keep the trails high quality, and reduce maintenance so we can build more of them.

Shaming people on this forum doesn't really do what you're trying to do, anyway. Just because the riders were "geared-up" doesn't mean that they're viewing this forum. It doesn't mean they are HMBA members. For that matter, given the quality of the trails at BCSP, it doesn't even mean that they're from Indiana.


I am locking this thread because these threads go downhill fast, and what needs to be said, has been said.

[Paul_Arlinghaus]

Please refrain from making personal attacks on the HMBA forum. We want new forum users to feel welcome to participate on this forum and personal attacks are counter productive to HMBA's advocacy goals.


Since a post was deleted the thread is being locked.