Hey everybody, I need your help, Parks managers need your help, the mountain biking community needs your help.
I work for the Park System, now more than ever we need the mtb community to work with us. As more people enter parks these days, rogue trails only act to confuse them and pose a heightened risk to the trail user. Several weeks ago a mtber injured himself on rogue trails off of Questa at Hartshorne. Last week a hiker injured himself on a rogue trail off of Rocky Point.
When people get hurt on rogue trails we have to do something about it. Yes, we close them. Please honor the closure. Ignoring such closures so that you can do your thing only further aggravates land managers and diminishes the reputation of the mtb community as a whole.
Why do we close a rogue trail? It confuses trail users, since the trail is not marked nor on a map. People get hurt. While you may have skills for jumps or feel it's safe, the fact that others have injured themselves has proven otherwise. Some rogue trails lead to hiking only trails. We try to reduce user conflict by offering hikers a bike free trail, when bikes end up on a hiking only trail, we will get complaints.
As a mtber myself I am trying to make trails better for all of us (hikers, walkers, mtbers, equestrian). There are things I can't defend, rogue trails is one of them. Please help me, help our reputation as a user group. Honestly I'd rather spend time and resources improving the trails we have instead of closing down rogue trails repeatedly.
Finally give back.
Volunteer, we have Nica, Jorba, the Park System. This is how we boost our reputation in a positive way.
Peace out. Iggy
www.newjerseymtb.org
www.monmouthcountyparks.com
I work for the Park System, now more than ever we need the mtb community to work with us. As more people enter parks these days, rogue trails only act to confuse them and pose a heightened risk to the trail user. Several weeks ago a mtber injured himself on rogue trails off of Questa at Hartshorne. Last week a hiker injured himself on a rogue trail off of Rocky Point.
When people get hurt on rogue trails we have to do something about it. Yes, we close them. Please honor the closure. Ignoring such closures so that you can do your thing only further aggravates land managers and diminishes the reputation of the mtb community as a whole.
Why do we close a rogue trail? It confuses trail users, since the trail is not marked nor on a map. People get hurt. While you may have skills for jumps or feel it's safe, the fact that others have injured themselves has proven otherwise. Some rogue trails lead to hiking only trails. We try to reduce user conflict by offering hikers a bike free trail, when bikes end up on a hiking only trail, we will get complaints.
As a mtber myself I am trying to make trails better for all of us (hikers, walkers, mtbers, equestrian). There are things I can't defend, rogue trails is one of them. Please help me, help our reputation as a user group. Honestly I'd rather spend time and resources improving the trails we have instead of closing down rogue trails repeatedly.
Finally give back.
Volunteer, we have Nica, Jorba, the Park System. This is how we boost our reputation in a positive way.
Peace out. Iggy
Volunteer – New Jersey Interscholastic Cycling League
www.newjerseymtb.org
