Sanitize hands, not trails!

[peterdbikes]

As a very active member of NEMBA and FOMBA, I have spent countless hours doing trail maintenance and construction. It really gets under my skin when we design and build a trail with technical features, only to find that same trail has been "sanitized" by someone who doesn't have the skill or ability to complete the feature as designed! They will ramp a log with deadfall or move rocks to smooth the approach. Mind you these are on technical trails, not doubletrack. They also will go to great lengths to make a ribbon trail, which takes even more effort than to walk the obstacle.

IF YOU CAN'T DO AN OBSTACLE, WALK OVER IT! DON'T RUIN IT FOR THOSE WHO CAN!

Clean up fallen branches...yes, but leave the trail they way it was designed.

Just venting.

Peter

[Quo Fan]

I agree. Although I don't do maintenance, and I know I should, I do make an effort to not sanitize the trail. I pick up dead fall, cut dangerous fallen trees so they won't injure another rider and otherwise "tidy up" dangerous parts of the trail.

[geezer]

REMEMBER ONLY "CERTAIN" PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED TO ALTER THE TRAIL SYSTEMS!!!!!!

[TrailBate]

I regularly block of sally lines.

but what about all the casual and family mountain bikers? Should we discourage them from riding by doing this?

[Jisch]

I ride with my family and, for the most part, they are not up to doing anything really technical. So I take them to places where they are comfortable riding. There are plenty of places around. Of course the 'standard' family riding isn't reading this and probably figures they are 'helping' by sanitizing.

I've seen some amazing sanitization at the Snip. Most of the trails out there are double, or wide single track. There is ALWAYS a way around the tough stuff, yet people insist on making the tough stuff easy - WTF? The effort expended is just mind boggling.

John

[Mr_Cheeze]

Motorized bikers are the biggest offenders of trail sanitizers where I usually ride. Or the damage they cause results in others creating detours around their ruts and loose dirt. And because they cannot ride over big logs and boulders,sally lines or ramps with logs are created. I've seen these offenses at both Foxboro and Otis.

Personally, I don't have a big problem with ramps over high logs or boulders if there is no other line. A small minority of recreational riders are skillful enough to be able to clear such an obstacle.

[truckboy]

Sometimes I make little deadfall ramps on big logs, but I ALWAYS make them off to one side so that more skilled riders can do their thing.

The last time I was out in the woods walking the dog, I came across 3 people who were cutting up a tree that had fallen across two trails near their intersection. They had even cut up some stuff that had laid there for a couple years a quarter mile back on the only singletrack in that section. Mind you, there was already a walkaround at the fat trunk, and the other part had made a neat arch and only needed to have a few branches broken away to make it passable. This was in a DCR (MDC) park outside of Boston. They said the other people who use it regularly had thanked them. I didn't have a leg to stand on as biking on these trails is as illegal as cutting deadfall, so I just asked them not to sanitize it too much and showed them how I could make a good 'stunt" out of what was left. They agreed not to do any more.

[MissJean]

It’s one thing to clear fallen logs off a trail that is multi-use in a park, but it is quite another thing to remove logs & move rocks on a trail that is made specifically for mtbing. I don’t know what trail Peter is referring to but I’d guess it is a FOMBA trail. Hikers & equestrians use them occasionally, but 99% of the time its mtb use.

In Nashua we’ve had the same problems on trails that are made just for mtbing. There was one log that I moved back into place 3 times. Finally I put a small sign on it (“trial nag” I know, but I was pissed) saying don’t move this log, it’s been here since the trail was cut, keep trying until you get it or walk it. It’s been a couple of weeks and the log is still in place.

It was suggested by someone that a “obstacle” sign be created. A symbol that could be placed on or near technical features, partly to let people know that the pile of rocks is suppose to be there and partly to warn them. I kinda like the idea.

[truckboy]

If that's true, that Peter's trail of note is a FOMBA trail, then I'm outraged as well.

[Husqvarna]

As an experienced trail builder of both mountian bike specific and multi-use trails. My suggestion is to leave trails as you find them. Leave the maintenance work to the maintenance crews, whom are best qualified to make decisions on what obstacles create a trail problem. If you want to contribute to the maintenance of a trail, get involved in the oganization that maintains them. Many times you may feel that you are helping, but in reality are creating another problem.

I recently went out to remove a deadfall, that created a techinical obstacle about 20 inches in height on a trail that had no other obstacles as challenging on it. When I arrived at the site, I found that someone had gone to the effort to cut branches from the surounding vegetation to create a bypass around the obstacle. The bypass was created in area that did not drain, therefore creating a mud hole. The mudhole was already growing in width where bikers would try to avoid the mud by riding around it. So not only did I have a tree to remove from the existing trail, but now had to block off the problematic bypass as well.

If you can't ride an obstacle, walk it, or work on the skills required to ride it, but don't change it.

[BG]

Good greif, when you build a trail with an obstacle in it, build a way around it for crying out loud. Or stay forever pissed off that someone else is doing it for you.

BG

[peterdbikes]

There is usually a way around all obstacles on the technical trails we build. I was particularly referring to that 6 inch log that most should be able to get over, but others with limited abilites seem to forget that there are other riders with more advanced skills on the trails too.

The trail husquarvarna was talking about, was an issue with deadfall that we didn't get to right away. Riders just got impatient and created a ribbon trail because thet were lazy.