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Are you a rule follower?

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Historically mountain bikers haven't been for rule followers. Any of us who started riding in the previous century spent some time riding on trails where we weren't suppose to. But the sport has changed, we now have legal riding areas and those areas have rules. Some of us follow them, some of us don't.

I am a rule follower. I do break rules but it stresses me to do so. I follow the speed limits (generally) not because they may make sense but because I stress about getting pulled over. If I ride someplace where I shouldn't be, I stess about getting caught. I pull over for up-hill riders because I don't want to get yelled at. And I wouldn't even think about riding my E-bike someplace that says no E-bikes. For me it is pretty easy to follow the rules. When my favorite area is closed for grazing (even though there are never any cattle in there) I respect the closure. But not all of us are rule followers. I have a good friend who has zero issues breaking a rule if it suits him and he feels no harm will be done.

Where do you sit on rules?
 
#4 ·
In some areas poaching is life… unless you are content riding very tame trails. The sport (or land managers adapting) hasn’t changed fast enough.

I suspect our local tech/steeps/feature type rogue MTB scene will have parallels with skateboarding, just latent by 30 or so years.
 
#7 ·
Thinking more about this... Are you only taking about rules or are you including...

Guidelines, legal rules, policies, ordinances, regulations, laws?

Breaking rules usually has the lowest level of CONSEQUENCES in our legal system.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
chiefsilverback said:
Your rules or my rules?
Click to expand...
You know rules. Some arbitray rule that someone with some kind of supposed authority made, a rule that may or may not have a consequence for breaking.

Put in the context of mountain biking.
1. Would ride on MTB trails that were temperoraly closed?
2. Would you ride a trail that is always closed to mountain biking?
3. Would you build an illegal mountain bike trail?
4. Would you ride an e-bike on a trail marked no e-bikes?

I have on occassion done all but the last one, and I do ride an E-bike a fair bit.
 
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#13 ·
I am a rule follower, and I am riding with a couple of buddies who are just starting, and I am teaching them strictly. The only time I disobeyed a rule, and it is one of the most important rules. I went up a single track. I am sorry, but there were no people on the trail, and I needed to go up like 100ft, or else I would have to climb for another 30 minutes. I still feel bad about that, but normally I am a rule follower all the time. And I know I am going to get cursed because my tire logos aren't aligned with my valves.
 
#14 ·
A lot of this to me is about making decisions that don't make the mountain biking community look bad, but trail health is also a big one for me these days. For example:

I don't ride when my local trails are super wet - there are other things I can go do that won't result in tearing up the trails and making them obnoxious to ride for me and everyone else.

I don't ride where MTBs aren't allowed. I don't want people to curse us and I don't want folks on our trails who aren't supposed to be there. I do occasionally forget to check the "no mtb" days at a local loop and don't feel too bad if I realize I'm on the trail on the wrong day.

E-bike access is one thing that I've not totally figured out but have yet to break the rules. We know now that they don't tear up the trails like folks originally thought, so the reasoning of e.g. the U.S. Forest Service isn't exactly sound. I've seen them in disallowed places where they made sense (doing fire road climbs in the Cascades, climbing 1k feet at my local park before they were allowed) and never said anything to anyone about it. Would I ride in Pisgah? No. (Even if allowed, the holier-than-thou heckling would be insufferable). Would I consider a fire road climb in a low-use national forest somewhere? Probably. For now, though, I'm following the rules. Too many rule-following ways to ride to fool with intentionally going outside the bounds.
 
#16 ·
I generally follow the Mtn Biking rules of Tahoe and Seattle (where I’ve ridden a lot ). I apply these rules to my Bay Area riding, and there are some discrepancies in what constitutes bad behavior. It’s really weird, same rider (me), same behavior, but different legality depending upon the geographical area. WTF. I do me, man.
 
#18 ·
Definitely not a rule follower. Just look at my sig line.
Don't wear a helmet most of the time, or anything else in the way of protective equipment.
That's one thing that really surprises me these days. How conservative mountain bikers are, and how much they want to follow current fashion/trends, for a sport that was born from riders not following the norm, and doing something out of the ordinary. Really interesting.
 
#19 ·
speedygz said:
Definitely not a rule follower. Just look at my sig line.
Don't wear a helmet most of the time, or anything else in the way of protective equipment.
That's one thing that really surprises me these days. How conservative mountain bikers are, and how much they want to follow current fashion/trends, for a sport that was born from riders not following the norm, and doing something out of the ordinary. Really interesting.
Click to expand...
Sweet! Got some pics, rebel?
 
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