Banned in the USA: Part 1. Mar 18, You must login to Pinkbike. Don't have an account? Sign up. There is no environmental merit to banning bikes. Many opponents of bikes in Wilderness acknowledge this. Bikes, they argue instead, simply don't belong. This is less an environmental thing and more a social thing. Hikers and horseback riders don't like mountain bikers. It's as simple as that.
There are, after all, several million more mountain bikers in the United States than back in Though still outnumbered by hikers, the demographics are shifting. This shift in policy has accelerated the rate at which mountain bikers in the United States are getting kicked to the curb. Ten years ago you could have shrugged off this whole Wilderness issue. It's rare for members of Congress to stop throwing poo at one another, vote a new Wilderness into being and then get the presidential sign-of.
You need look no further than Montana, where mountain bikers are on track to lose access to nearly miles of singletrack within a decade's time. The loss of key backcountry singletrack routes outside of Sun Valley, Idaho, this past August, spread the pain further. At present, the Forest Service is considering Wilderness additions in North Carolina's famed Pisgah National Forest--there's hope that the Forest Service will consider an IMBA-backed plan that would preserve access to Pisgah's famed mountain bike trails, but nothing is guaranteed.
Posted In: Stories. Author Info:. G Prototype - Hardline Tasmania views. Score Time Who Faved. KrazyK69 Mar 18, at Sad how oil and gas companies have lobbied to have access to over 30 million acres of public land in the US and mountain bikers are viewed as the ones wrecking the environment.
Although I do sorta kinda agree at least based on the perception of outsiders who don't ride. If you didn't bike but when you saw images of mtb riders they were always enduro bros skidding the shit out of corners or risking their lives at the Rampage, you'd probably want them off limits too. I'm not saying it's right or accurate, but to those making the rules the perception of this sport can't make it seem like a positive addition to the natural environment.
