- Most diggers that I talked to (beep)
as far as I'm concerned
trail builders are right up there with the most
important asset we have within mountain biking.
I mean, seriously, if we don't have trails
and we don't have builders,
we'd still be stuck riding gravel ski hill runs.
So how do we keep the diggers happy,
so we're able to reap the benefits of their builds
long into the future?
Well, let's start by not pissing them off
with poor trail etiquette.
We reached out to trail builders and riders
all over the world to figure out what the biggest no-nos are
within mountain biking and why.
We're going to elaborate on those today
with the help of 'anonymous bad girl'.
(edgy music)
Don't worry though.
Any harm done to the trails today
has been fixed before moving on.
(contemporary music)
First little no-no that we've got to address
because this one came in with an overwhelming consensus
from the social media trail builders of the world
and that is the 'free ride flick',
or the Scandi flick, or the drift, or the rear brake skid,
Whatever you want to call it, it's all the same.
Anytime your rear wheel is losing traction on the ground
especially if you're just grabbing a bunch
of rear brake and skidding all about,
it's literally throwing dirt off the trail.
Now think about it.
Each little knob on your tire is
like a little tiny baby shovel.
Every time your tire goes around and it's skidding,
you're throwing the dirt off the trail.
And this is super annoying to trail builders
because they say it's actually unnecessarily
widening trails at the same time.
So tone it down a little bit.
Now builders worldwide have messaged me
and they're convinced that riders are out there doing this
because they don't know how to corner.
Now think about that for a second.
(pleasant music)
- Second biggest complaint that I received
from trail builders around the world
was that there's so many riders
out there these days, braiding trails,
and street landing trails.
Like whatever happened to just riding the trail you had,
nicely laid out there in front of you?
Straight lining a section of trail is just that,
it's cutting out all those fun twisty corners that somebody
placed right there for you and just taking the fast line.
Now that's great if you're in a race
and that's the course that's set out for you
but getting that King of the mountain
on your favorite local track
should not come at the price of changing a trail.
So let's just talk about this trail right behind me
on the riders left here,
we've got what I would think is the original line,
it's got a nice turn around the tree to slow the riders
down before the feature that's coming up.
And it's a little bit more on the uphill side of things.
Now you can see from the right,
what's turned into possibly the main line over years of use
but was an original braid. The line on the right's
got a lot more holes, a lot more trenches.
I don't think this is the line that the diggers
were originally planning on,
when they had this trail in mind.
And it's just a huge opportunity to pool water,
and create runoff, which is just going to be
drainage issues for the future.
(pleasant music)
Now, even though you might be the hometown hero
on your favorite line of single track
that does not give you the authority to
go changing the trail to your specifications.
Anytime we're changing features on trail
whether that's adding something new, taking something away,
we really should be consulting the original builder.
Because the last thing we want to do is to adapt
the style of trail to our style of riding.
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, what is this?
Is that new? Where's the sign?
Now similarly, if there are other people
in your neighborhood
that also love this bit of single track,
and you go throwing just a random old kicker
in the middle of the trail, that could be quite dangerous.
If they don't know what's coming
and a trail has changed, or features have moved
that can really throw people off and lead to a bad time.
So let's just not do that.
Now, if you come across a feature that's a bit too big
for you today, or you're just not feeling it,
let's not dumb down that feature for you.
Let's keep it there, keep it in the line
with the trail and let's give you something to
move up to one day or inspire to hit.
(upbeat music)
This one is a bit of a touchy subject
but it's a regional favorite.
And that's because if you live somewhere
where it's really muddy, or you've got clay-like dirt
riding in the wet can really disrupt these trails.
If you're out there leaving big trenches and that sort
of dirt or big divots in the ground, once they dry
it's really, really hard to correct them,
takes a lot of extra time from the trail builders.
And it ends up feeling more like a Moto track
than a mountain bike trail.
Which leads me to this little baby here.
Now the trail is actually about a meter wide,
but because most people have been funneled
into this nice outside line here, you can see a trench is
starting to develop, probably because
it was ridden in the wet. It didn't really have time to set.
And so now we've got about a
one little Christina foot wide trench here.
Doesn't look super terrible now, but next time it rains
the water's just going to start funneling down this thing
washing away the dirt as it goes.
So the less trenches we have out on trail
the better the water erosion's gonna be.
Hopefully over time, this is not going to turn into one
of those river bed rides.
They're not actually that fun. Personally, I prefer dirt.
(upbeat music)
Now, possibly one of the most dangerous
and annoying things that trail builders complain about,
is when riders drop into closed trails.
Now not only is this super disrespectful
to all the builders out there working hard,
but it could legitimately be deadly. I'm not exaggerating.
If a trail is closed, there's a good chance they're doing
some big repairs, including fallen trees,
maybe removing an old bridge, and putting a new one in.
Or, there might even be heavy machinery out on trail.
So if you just come blasting through all willy-nilly
that could be a serious hazard.
Just behind me is an authorized adjustment made
to this trail here by the local cycling association
because they wanted to re-route the exit of the trail.
So if you find yourself in an area with a ton
of down logs in your way, that's a pretty good indicator
you're not where you're supposed to be.
(pleasant music)
Now I know there's tons more things to add to this list
from the trail builders, but the final topic
I want to talk about that really annoys me,
it's my pet peeve, it's littering.
Ain't nobody got time for that.
If you pack it in, just pack it out.
There is no need to throw all this crap in the forest.
I mean, you wouldn't throw a granola bar wrapper
in your mom's living room.
So why would you do that
in mother nature's living room.
It's disgusting, and you know who litters? Garbage.
Got ourselves a little bit of a hotspot here.
The climbing trail is crossing under the downhill trail,
and for whatever reason, a whole bunch of trash
is collected here.
Just little pieces of candy wrappers,
and I don't know what this is, but it's ours now.
It's coming with us.
Now you may have heard the term
rake and report thrown around recently,
and that's because it's really helpful
in guiding local builders and associations
on where to focus their energy
and resources when it comes to trail maintenance.
Next time you're out on the trails
and you have a free moment,
maybe notice what's going on around you.
If there's some dead trees that have fallen
or drainage issues that need help, hop on to TrailForks,
make a little report, because builders all over the world
use this tool to know where to head to next.
Seems simple, right?
Don't do those few things out on trail
and we can actually have happy trail builders.
Now I will add if you can't get out there
and volunteer on the trails yourself,
or you can't donate to your favorite trail builder directly,
then at least support your local trail association
because there is a huge demand
for maintaining trails and building new ones,
and they need all the help they can get.
All right, do tell,
I'm sure there are some things we missed on this list.
So let us know in the comments below,
and also make sure to subscribe to the channel,
because we're releasing new videos all the time.
See you guys on the trails. Pew!
(contemporary music)