Mountain Bike Ethics question

[LBTC]

There is strength in numbers. You don't have to take this fight on yourself.

ah....if only you girls all lived here, then I would truly not be alone!

seriously, other riders here who see what is wrong will whisper about it amongst themselves, but none is willing to speak up. DH and I are branded as intolerant purists, so our influence would be considered detrimental to the possibility of moving forward.

Namaste,
~T~

[LBTC]

Ah, Simple. Your suggestions are good, really. And we've tried them.

The unofficial organized ride has been a staple of wednesday nights in this town for eleven years. The core group of people is still the same, and it has never involved the "dark side". We've been here all along. This is the group that disappeared while we were being blackballed. Well meaning, but too afraid to speak up.

The character who owns the evil LBS is a sort of cult figure in town. For some reason no-one will do anything against him. Despite the fact that he is quite openly into the drug scene and has many children and young kids look up to him.

The wife of the current "president" of the official "club" is a city councillor. Nobody really respects her, but I suspect she'll win when she runs for mayor in our next election.

We have given information to government ministries. Only to find out that a ministry official was the club's PR guy.

Our newspaper reporter smokes weed with the bike shop owner. She also ambushed "our" ride last summer, was very agressive with them, then said in the paper that our group was not willing to cooperate.

We pretty much feel like Mulder and Skully. We don't know who to trust.

Oh, yes, and I do have pictures. Even this spring I emailed our city guy with pictures of a half built stunt on city property that used live trees and cut down live trees in its construction. That was months ago. The stunt is still there. Oh, and I cc'd that email to the club executive. The silence has been deafening.

Most of the trails are on crown land. The ones that are on private land are ones that none of our group would ever go near. So they never bother to say anything about those ones either! And, oh, guess who it was who alerted the rancher to the story in the newspaper? Yup, DH just picked up the phone and let him know. At least some action came from that, but it didn't stop the hooligans from just riding on the other guys' land!

Basically, people hope that we will just go away. Hence the threats. And the group we ride with knows that the actions the government ministries are taking are only against stunts. Our group doesn't really care about the stunts - take 'em or leave 'em. Our trails are not about to be shut down by government so we can just keep riding.

During the bogus public meetings, some of our group did show up and speak up....but they were out yelled and out jeered in a crowded room full of little sh***s from out of town. Once the club actually came together we had some good representation on the club. That lasted for about 3 meetings. Once they realized what the club is *actually* doing, they just backed away so as not to be implicated when someone finally discovers it. They learned from our example to not say No.

So we are feeling a lot like we've tried just about everything and our hope has disappeared. Again, I wish you ladies were actually here. Despite the dark side, I'd at least have great people to ride with .... not just DH!

Namaste,
~T~

[RoadRaven]

LB... you've had lots of suggestions here already, and I feel a bit powerless from this distance.
I think I would be inclined to paint the stumps... though I am not saying you should
Sending you positive and feel good and "take heart - be strong" thoughts your way and trusting that the right thing will be the outcome of this, and that many people learn useful lessons from the whole awful mess...

[SimpleCycle]

We pretty much feel like Mulder and Skully. We don't know who to trust.

Oh, yes, and I do have pictures. Even this spring I emailed our city guy with pictures of a half built stunt on city property that used live trees and cut down live trees in its construction. That was months ago. The stunt is still there. Oh, and I cc'd that email to the club executive. The silence has been deafening.

Oy. Well, in that case, I don't have any idea what I would do in your situation, other than finding new places to ride. And that option really sucks since it sounds like you have some great trails right nearby.

It is so sad when people think land is just there for them to use and abuse and then abandon. It's even worse when those people are in charge of things.

[snowtulip]

LBTC, I must say this is a difficult situation. I have been around the freeride community for a while now and have seen people that get frustrated with not having enough trails to freeride, have tried to work with the proper agencies (who become concerned that freeriders are punk kids on drugs and are unwilling to work with freeriders), and eventually do their own trailbuilding. There is a full spectrum of riders out there and it is so difficult when you become labelled a punk freerider or a purist, as you've been called.

IMBA has worked with us on a variety of issues and the trailbuilding sessions are great, but it's difficult to maintain the niceties between different types of mountain bikers when they leave.

The big picture is that a variety of mountain biking styles need to be accomodated in some fashion and cooperative planning between different types of riders is essential. Legal freeriding needs to be available, lovely cross country singletrack, downhilling wonder - everything needs to be given consideration. And all need to maintain the ecological integrity of the area.

I do not have a solution for you, but just want to remind you that your voice is important, just as a freeriders voice is also important.

We all need to be vocal and participatory in the "politics" of mountain biking.

Have you ever heard of the term "guerilla within"? Maybe participating in this club, bringing along like-minded friends, and maybe begin to share options with the group that provide a common thread? Building a sense of community.

I hope it gets better for you, I know you are an open minded kind-hearted person from your posts. I can also see the passion you have for cycling, and it seems that you are too passionate to do nothing about it. Hopefully the forum will give you the strength you need to voice another side of mountain biking and encourage others who have been quiet to follow in your footsteps.

Another suggestion is talk to some facilitators in your area that have a passion for mountain biking - they might have some great insight and strategies.

Good luck and please continue venting, we don't you want you sick anymore (let the frustration out so it doesn't fester in your body), especially now that you are riding again!

[LBTC]

aw, snowtulip! thank you!

Now I'm all teary eyed for the caring you've shown me!!

Today was rainstorm, sun, rainstorm, sun, so I went to kickboxing and I hit and kicked hard and my body feels so good!

But I had to check this thread and see what else my ladies had to say....and it turns out that my head and heart are still somewhat sad.

I have to say, the last few trail rides I have been on were with one other girl, not a group. I loved that. Very free. I still stopped and fixed some lines here and there. I still chatted about how climbers have the right of way on a trail. I only saw a couple of things that shouldn't have been done, and they weren't that bad. The rides were fun and I was far away from the bull****. I want all of our rides to be like that!

Unfortunately, DH has had the opposite experience on his last 2 trail rides. He's gone with the wednesday group, the riders who supposedly have the same values and riding style, and on one ride, they were actually *helping* that club "president" move wood into the woods to build stunts. DH didn't want to be involved and did an extra loop of riding while they all did that. Not long after the first 3 riders, DH among them, got separated from the rest of the group as no-one said they were going to take a turn. He ended up riding by himself and when he got to the bar for after ride drinks, a couple of the other riders were shmoozing with one of the shuttle operators (who doesn't even have liability insurance!!). She's the one that shuttles them up so they can ride down a climb! So, DH just left. I was heartened when our buddy that has the other LBS also thought it was a bad ride, but that didn't seem to help enough.

Sadly, joining the club is likely not a very helpful option. Everyone in town knows our opinions and does not think we should be involved. On both sides. And so far, each person from our group that has joined we've tried to encourage and tried to be supportive of has either seen what the club is actually doing and then backed away, or has stayed in the group but won't even encourage them to try things another way.....let alone tell them when they're heading down the wrong path.

We're just not a big enough community for us to have any kind of anonymity.

Road riding is starting to seem like a very attractive option. And riding on the road still scares the willies out of me! There's something wonderful and comforting about being in the woods in the dirt and the rocks and the trees! I just love to be there. The road is kind of okay when there isn't traffic, but the logging trucks have started hauling on my favourite route, so I need to find out if the scales are open at any given time to ensure I feel safe out there.

Yup, it's all complicated.

Thank you for your encouragement. I'm humbled.

Especially seeing the adds for Live 8. Man, that Bob Geldof is a saint. They have done an amazing job with their ads! I hope the concerts all go without a hitch and that they can actually have an impact on the world "leaders"....

oh.....I think it's time to have a glass of wine and chill....

Namaste, everyone!

~T~

[MightyMitre]

What a frustrating and upsetting situation to be in! This kind of thing makes me mad - when a small group feel they have the right to spoil everyone elses fun. If this was a school playground they'd be known as bullies and they could be reported to the Head.

At the end of the day we're all cyclists - even the baddies from the LBS - and our passion is to ride bikes. Seems crazy that 2 groups of people who love to do the same thing have been driven apart by their passion rather than being united by it. If only this could be turned round.

Best of luck LBTC - keep us posted on the situation and to quote a great British phrase 'Don't let the b'strds grind you down!'

Liz

[LBTC]

Thank you all for your encouragement and support!

The latest in the woods up here is an invitation to the "grand opening" of a trail. This trail is a short downhill with quite a few obstacles, that begins in a residential neighbourhood. Most of the riders who use it, shuttle to the top. Several people who live in the neighbourhood have complained over the years about the terrible noise these riders make when they get ther, music blaring, their hooting and hollering, burning donuts, etc....

This trail is the one where the Ministry of Forests dismantled a number of stunts due to their poor construction, etc. That happened last year. So far, the newly formed "club" has only worked on rebuilding the stunts on this trail, with money they somehow got from the Ministry of Forests.

The invitation was emailed out yesterday, for the opening which will be next Wednesday night at 6:00.

Please note that the one group of riders who has had any opposition to the type of trail building that this club is endorsing (albeit all in theory, no-body is saying much about it), has been meeting to ride every Wednesday night at 6:00 for the past 11 years. The choice of time and date is either and attempt at getting the two groups to work together, or a slap in the face that the Wednesday ride isn't important, nothing is going on that night so it's a good night to do this.

Bear in mind that the Wed group almost never shuttles anywhere and wouldn't really consider riding to this trail. However, if they wanted to ride to it, it would take around a half hour to get there, so, if they choose to ride it next week, they'll miss the opening part of it, or have to change the time of the ride.

All that said, I let DH know about the invitation that arrived in my inbox, not realizing the effect it would have. We had intended to ride with the Wed group last night, but, once that arrived we really didn't want to be around while they talked about the whole thing as if it is good, or comlained about the club or what they are doing, without any intention of doing something about it.

It was rather demoralizing to think about. He's being sucked back into the vortex and currently I'm the one somehow feeling almost cheerful, for reasons I don't understand.

We ended up going on a nice road ride (about 45 km, almost 2 hours, we're guessing probably a total of 3000 ft of climbing, but can't wait to get the Garmin Forerunner 301 so we can find out for sure!). It was a very good ride! He felt better afterward, but has no interest at this point in riding any of the trails here - he only wants to ride trails if it's out of town!

Among the things that has started going through his head is moving away from here. We thought about it way back when when this was much uglier for us, but it was more complicated due to some family constraints that have since been removed. Now that he's mentioned it, we're starting to look at things seriously. The company I work for has a lot of plants in BC, and a friend and riding partner will start work for another plant in a nice area of the province on August 1st. We're going to use part of our vacation time to check out other areas and see what the options might be.

It would be difficult and a HUGE change! I've never lived anywhere else. We have some pretty big commitments (2 house with mortgages - fairly high debt), we have way too much stuff(!) and we both have well paying jobs that will be hard to find elsewhere. But we figure it's worth looking.

I like that the anger and discontent has turned into the possibility of action. But, dont' get me wrong, I'm scared ****less of moving!!

We both know that there are bigger and worse problems that people deal with in life. We haven't got it that bad, and hey, at least we have the option for change!

So that's the update. Thanks again for your support and encouragement!

Hugs all around,
Namaste,
~T~