Quote Originally Posted by Adventure Girl
Where I ride there are hundreds of miles of trails. I don’t know why someone would need to ride the illegal trails.
Lucky you...but what about people who don't live where there are hundreds of miles of trails?

I moved from a state, a very big state, but a state sadly lacking in public land. History and culture has kept much of the land in private hands. Big hint: our current president hails from this state. He rides a mtb...on his private ranch. It's a totally different vibe.

Soooo...in this big state many trails are built that cross private land; some "sanctioned" and some are not. It kind of works like this: trails are built on the limited public land, then trail-builders connect the trails. If a land-owner "allows" mtbing on his/her property he/she is afraid he/she will be liable for any accidents. So there is sort of a "don't ask/don't tell" policy. If a land owner really opposes mtbing he/she will erect barbed-wire and a bunch of "no tresspassing" signs. Then the trail is usually rerouted.

I've ridden and even worked on these "grey area" trails.

As for trails on public property that are closed(and clearly marked as closed)? No thank-you. Not worth the bad PR. If a trail is "hiking only" I just come back with my trail-running shoes

I've been an IMBA member for years, have built miles of trail, hosted IMBA crews in my home, and served on the IMBA mountain bike patrol.

Nothing sweeter than riding a trail and thinking "I made this".