What All Mountain Bikers Should Know

[Crackle]

Walkers rarely chop down trees or dig up and transport rocks to make jumps and tracks, nor do they set fire to mature trees or attempt to fell them as they "are in the way of a new downhill"

so what? what is the point of there being countryside if you cannot use it? conveniently those that argue against bikes or walkers or horses or whatever damagaing the countryside kinda fail to mention the amount of damage i.e. diappearance of it by building, houses, roads and takeaways.

i am not syain we should go out willy nuilly and rie whereve we want but if there is an existing path, then it makes harldy any difference if it gets a little bit worn - it takes surprisingly short time for any unused path to get overgorwn and reclaimed by natrure.

Calm down chaps, just sayin' like

 

[Motozulu]

It's all a bit arguey is'nt it?

Well I'm afraid everyone, you're quite wrong, and I'm right

I think that's cleared that argument up.

 

[02GF74]

On the south downs and hereabouts herds of deer run away from walkers but often just stand and watch cyclists

ducks and geese do that as well, they are probbly checking out if you have rocket rons fitted .... or more likley get confused by a human moving so quickly or hypnotised by the rotating wheels "look into my wheels, look into my wheels ..... ".

a normal duck:

a hypnotised duck

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Walkers rarely chop down trees or dig up and transport rocks to make jumps and tracks, nor do they set fire to mature trees or attempt to fell them as they "are in the way of a new downhill"

Landowners do that sort of stuff all the time. Felling trees to block RoW, leaving wind blown fallen trees in place for months when they clear others, illegally locking gates hut, putting large concrete blocks across paths, uprooting fingerposts, driving 4WD over their land rendering the path useless to anyone not in a 4WD.

And that's just the examples I can think of from a 10 mile radius of my house from the last couple of years

 

[tadpole]

Landowners do that sort of stuff all the time. Felling trees to block RoW, leaving wind blown fallen trees in place for months when they clear others, illegally locking gates hut, putting large concrete blocks across paths, uprooting fingerposts, driving 4WD over their land rendering the path useless to anyone not in a 4WD.

And that's just the examples I can think of from a 10 mile radius of my house from the last couple of years

Not relevant, Walkers do no damage the land in the same way mountain bikers and cycle-cross riders do.

 

[Licramite]

Farmers/landowners have a point, some of the rights of way cut straignt across feilds so they haveto plough either side of it, thats non-sense , I'm all for rights of way but go round the outside.
the classic is to put a water trough for cattle right by the style - yea you can come over ye sytle and walk through the field , but you have to wade through 2ft of cow shoot first.

On the damage aspect the ones that do the most surface damage on bridlepaths ect are scambler motorbikes - apart from tractors -
of course it comes down to the frequency of use, even walkers, if you get enough regulary will churn up a path. - I'm partly involved in country path repairs - some areas are very prone to errosion.

we are still very lucky with our access to the countryside , its not universal and in many countrys you just have any rights of way,.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Not relevant, Walkers do no damage the land in the same way mountain bikers and cycle-cross riders do.

Eh? Have you not seen the damage walkers have done to honeypot locations in the Peaks and Lakes, or for that matter the footpath only sections of the SDW?

 

[User16625]

Screw it I go where I like unless signs clearly state the land is private or dangerous etc. I do give way if I need to but as for definitions of the type of land im riding on, I literally care more about the weather........on neptune.

 

[vernon]

Not relevant, Walkers do no damage the land in the same way mountain bikers and cycle-cross riders do.

Compare the Pennine Way now with what it was like thirty years ago then come back and say with 100% conviction that walkers do not damage the land in the same way as bike riders. Even thirty years ago the PW was worn to several feet below the surrounding ground. I''ve yet to see the same degree of erosion/damage caused by off road cycling.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Using erosion of upland moors by walkers isn't really a far example, as these landscapes are so fragile they are very easily damaged by even medium levels of use (feet, hoof or wheel). Peat moorland when in good condition isn't cycle friendly, and thus rarely gets used. Once the binding surface vegetation gets weakened it'll quickly turn to deep mush before disappearing altogether - this is what happened with the Pennine Way and many other popular routes that cross moorland. Obviously walkers were responsible for much of the damage simply because it's a long distance footpath, and so the vast majority if users do so on foot.

Cyclist tend to prefer harder surfaces, and by their vary nature they are more sustainable and far longer lasting so any damage occurs quite slowly in comparison to a 'soft ground' footpath with similar usage. But all forms of use cause wear and tear (call it erosion if you will) and, as I said earlier, different user groups cause erosion in different ways.

I've worked in countryside access management for close on 20 years, and I'm still amazed and amused by the way each faction points the finger of blame at someone else

 

[Licramite]

Tanks are worse - try cycling over salisbury plain, the bloody tanks make right mess out of tracks.

 

[david k]

"A pavement or footway MUST NOT be confused with a public footpath"

How do we define the difference?

 

[Licramite]

Mud - public footpaths are ussually muddy , pavements aren't - but both are covered in dog sh-t.