This is not going to be a popular opinion, but then I guess it’s really more a statement of fact than opinion at all: only mountain bikers care about trails.
And, now, before you start yelling, we should make a few ancillary points clear. Obviously, many more people than mountain bikers use trails, use them very often, and cherish that experience. Many more user groups than mountain bikers participate in trail stewardship projects (though not nearly to the same extent). Land managers, obviously, are charged with caring for trails each and every day of their careers.
I don’t dispute any of this. In fact I point to it with one hand as a scratch my head with the other: how is it that with trails helping to drive the new western economy, with trails as the central draw to our state parks and open spaces, that so few people put any thought into them.
An important distinction here is that we are talking about the trails themselves, and not the places they go. Many people care about going to the places that trails go, and are passionate about those experiences. But the trails themselves are apparently binary for most people. Is there a trail or is there not a trail? Is there a lot of trail or not a lot of trail? And that is where the conversation ends in most rooms.
Other users may have opinions about the aesthetics of a trail and where it goes. Is this a pretty place with a view? Are there rock outcroppings that will make me look cool on Instagram? But only mountain bikers ask the question of whether the trail is good.
Does it flow? Is it sustainable? Was it built thoughtfully and carefully? How are the switchbacks? Many users care that trails exist, and some feel strongly about where they go. But it is only mountain bikers that care deeply how they are made. It is only mountain bikers who care for the gentle nuance of how a path lays across the contours of a hillside, and how the tread surface will grow and change and evolve. Only mountain bikers care about the trails themselves.
This is not a slight to other trail users. As mountain bikers we understand that you do not. But we do, humbly, ask that when we speak about trails, you consider listening. Because we’ve spent a lot of time on this. Trails are expensive and time consuming to build, and when done wrong can scar a landscape or create a lifetime of ongoing maintenance.
But when done right they can save a timber town’s economy, and build healthy communities. They can be sustainable and require almost no annual upkeep and they can inspire armies of volunteers to make that work cost nothing. They can be really goddamn fun.
All it takes is someone who really cares.
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