Trail user conflicts in the news.

Gee... I wonder if they are going to ban hikers on the Colorado Trail after those two unleashed dogs attacked me Saturday...Do you think that the dpost will publish that story? Don't worry, I was able to get my bike between me in the dogs while the hikers pulled them off and attached their leashes while they apologized profusely. No harm, no foul.

And wow, did the dpost have an unpaid summer intern write that story? Letting the horse advocate so casually and completely lump mountain bikes in with motorcycles like that is ridiculous. And if she didn't want to encounter other trail users (particularly mountain bikes) why didn't she take her horse to one of the half-a-dozen wilderness areas that surround Durango?

I am still baffled by the respect the horse lobby gets. This is what happens when we have public lands and allow access to those lands is controlled by unelected officials & bureaucrats. Decisions aren't being made on the basis of what's right for the most people, they sure seem to be being made for the wrong reasons--political paybacks, personal preferences, etc. Of course, when your ready made excuse for any decision is to "protect natural resources" or some such bunk, the deciders can never be questioned. The beginning of the end indeed.

Good for us, Dave Weins came across as the sanest person in that article:

And in the end, it may just come down to how people treat one another.

Riding a trail in BLM's Hartman Rocks, outside Gunnison, Dave Weins, a champion mountain bike racer, said he encountered a dirt biker who swung wide off the trail to give him room.

"I waved him down and said, 'Hey, man, I know you were trying to be polite, but we want to keep the trail and not widen it. I can stop for you; we all have to live on the trail.'"

Not only is he fast, he's a great adocate.

In my view equestrians are powerful politically because they tend to be older, financially well off, and politically connected. Politically active hikers are similar. Mountain bikers seem to be much younger and less organized by comparison. This is why its so important that we get organized and involved in the process. I continue to be astonished by riders who either have no idea how their conduct puts our riding privileges at risk or don't care. That's why we need to educate and pull them into the process.

Today while patrolling on Chimney Gulch there were two young kids with full face helmets who yielded to myself and two hikers as we chatted on the tail. Later two other hikers I chatted with mentioned two kids in full face helmets who were the most polite mountain bikers they had ever encountered. Due to the helmets the hikers were astonished. I hope this wasn't just because I was sighted on the trail because it really gives me hope we can make improvement happen.

Msurk

Scrambler said:

It's dangerous for mtbers that bikes are so casually lumped in with motorcycles.

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Perhaps the appropriate response is for bike advocacy organizations all over Colorado to draft letters in response to the article, and then have them signed by the board of directors of the organizations, before forwarding them to the DP editor? Let the DP editor know that bike riders will not put up with being lumped in with other forms of recreation.

UT

Scrambler said:

Perception = realizing that speed and armor, right or wrong, freak people out.

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The more people that wear armor, the less people will pay any attention to it...

dbabuser said:

The more people that wear armor, the less people will pay any attention to it...

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Perhaps... I don't see that as a short-term PR strategy.

Maybe we can have our kids duke it out at daycare What room is your kid in at C2C? My daughter is in T2...

Listened to this on KUNC this morning. I think that while some media will stick MTBs with dirt bikes, for the most part, folks at the FS and BLM know the difference. Around here there is an OHV group that does some good things, but in general, the dirt bikers and ATVers pretty much run amok and are doing some serious damage. While MTBers are far from innocent, I think the land managers know the difference in the impacts, The FS, and open space depts have teamed up with the sheriff dept to do more enforcement and education. We're fairly lucky here in that there are relatively few conflicts between the non-motorized users. It's the resource damage that the motorized folks are incurring and to a lesser extent the motorized -non motorized conflicts that are getting the attention.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/k...20/Regional/In.the.West..a.Crack.Down.on.ORVs

Funny, I have not seen any article like this around here in Durango.
By a large percentage, most trail user encounters are friendly, pleasant situations, including bikers, motos, horse people, hikers and hunters.
When they are not, we ask them to move back to where they came from

I particularly like how the example in the begining is so vague, "the buzz of dirt bikes", the writer allows the reader to his/her own interpetation as to whether it was MTB or motorcycles. Lets not confuse our bias with facts.

Buzz can be interpeted as the noise of an engine, or the noise of gears, wheels, brakes and riderss.
Other descriptions could have been used to clearly identify the "destroyer of the peace"

Roar of the engine, sounds of the approaching bicycles.

What we as mountain bikers think of non-mountain bikers' perception of us is largely irrelevant. Perception is reality. If non-mountain bikers have a certain negative perception of us mountain bikers, that's the reality of the situation we as a group need to deal with. We need to change that perception by setting good examples as riders and educating other riders to do the same. Moaning amongst ourselves about an inaccurate perception accomplishes little. Wishing it away accomplishes nothing.

Msurk

Scrambler said:

Perhaps... I don't see that as a short-term PR strategy.

Maybe we can have our kids duke it out at daycare What room is your kid in at C2C? My daughter is in T2...

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Ha, I've probably said hi to you before. My daughter, Sofia, is in T2. She's little, but is working on her growl lately (and I have no idea why).

msurk said:

What we as mountain bikers think of non-mountain bikers' perception of us is largely irrelevant. Perception is reality. If non-mountain bikers have a certain negative perception of us mountain bikers, that's the reality of the situation we as a group need to deal with. We need to change that perception by setting good examples as riders and educating other riders to do the same. Moaning amongst ourselves about an inaccurate perception accomplishes little. Wishing it away accomplishes nothing.

Msurk

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perception becomes reality for those who don't know better.

dbabuser said:

Ha, I've probably said hi to you before. My daughter, Sofia, is in T2. She's little, but is working on her growl lately (and I have not idea why).

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:thumbsup: Nice. My daughter is Anya. I think Anya and Sofia are buds.

Cheers.

I rear ended an off-leash dog last week, yes OFF-LEASH I said!
I had a hefty exchange of words with the owner. Name calling, cursing, it nearly came to fists!

Luckily, no one was within 5 miles of my dogs and I to hear me aguing with myself.

btadlock said:

perception becomes reality for those who don't know better.

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Exactly. Which is why we need to set an example which belies a better image for ourselves. Sitting idling by and complaining about the perception hoping it will change on its own accomplishes little.

Msurk

uhm, wow. Many of you bring up good points. As I read through the story, it was nebulous as to what mt. bikers and motobikers are. Sounds like the OHV organization has the most to lose here, but why bring up the issues with bikers?

ugh.

IndecentExposure said:

uhm, wow. Many of you bring up good points. As I read through the story, it was nebulous as to what mt. bikers and motobikers are. Sounds like the OHV organization has the most to lose here, but why bring up the issues with bikers?

ugh.

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Don't forget the OHV groups have one up on MTB'rs.

With the new state OHV licensing program, OHV groups and local governments can obtain grants from state parks to build/maintain trails, purchase trail maintenance equipment, or even purchase property for an OHV park. State Parks had so much OHV money last year they ran 2 grant cycles instead of one.

OHV users may be loosing some ground, but in times like these, their money quite possibly will open the door when negotiating with land managers.