Professional mountain biker Mike West was caught riding in an area around Flagstaff Mountain back in March that’s closed to protect golden eagles. After pleading guilty to “driving a vehicle in violation of the regulations,” he was sentenced to 60 hours of community service, three days in jail, and slapped with a $500 fine. His three day prison sentence and the fine have been suspended – as long as he doesn’t get in trouble over the next year. The article I read also notes this isn’t West’s first offense – he was given 12 hours of community service in 2006 for a similar offense – so that may have played into the sentencing decision.
Boulder is clearly sending a message with the prosecution and harsh punishment. Unfortunately the timing wasn’t great: the city council was set to consider allowing mountain bike acesss in the West Trail Study Area just days after the news broke. Not surprisingly the council “voted to uphold a current ban on mountain bikes in the vast majority of the study area.” (though we’re guessing they would have done this anyway)
West says he didn’t know the trail was off limits and he regrets his actions. He’s scheduled to speak to students in Boulder about the negative consequences of riding illegal trails and the environmental impact that often follows. During his trial West was suspended from the Yeti team, though he’s since been reinstated by team leaders.
The video below shows a short interview with Mike and I really found myself identifying with what he’s talking about: the desire to explore new trails, experiencing natural beauty from the seat of a bike, and also the need to get involved in advocacy groups like IMBA. Very few of us can say we’ve never ridden an unofficial mountain bike trail; this incident should just solidify our resolve to get more great trails open to bikes and to promote the low impact nature of mountain biking to non-riders.
13 Comments
May 3, 2011
May 4, 2011
May 3, 2011
May 12, 2015
May 4, 2011
May 5, 2011
May 4, 2011
SARCASM FOR THE WIN
+1 for: "the desire to explore new trails, experiencing natural beauty from the seat of a bike, and also the need to get involved in advocacy groups like IMBA."
May 4, 2011
I too have accidentally ended up on trails I was not supposed to be on, and Im sure it will happen again. Most common is out exploring trails only to turn onto a new one and follow it out only to find a ‘No Bikes’ sign at the trailhead- D’oh!
As far as the Eagles go, mtb isn’t really a danger to them but bike traffic through the woods near where they nest scares off the smaller wildlife they would hunt. Necessitating that they go farther for food thus leaving their nest and chicks for longer periods of time. I usually find these areas are only closed during certain periods of the year for raising young but am not sure if that was the case here or not. I wonder if the area in question was adequately signed and marked ‘closed’?
May 4, 2011
May 4, 2011
May 4, 2011
I guess it's just a crappy situation. Honestly, I can't say you wouldn't find me out there if I lived nearby but I think a pro should probably think twice. I guess the good thing is as long as he doesn't go illegal trail raiding for a year the fine and jail sentence is waived.
Jan 22, 2016
Don't get me wrong, I want to protect eagles, but so much anti-biking crap is flat out stupid, elitist, and some of it is even illegal (like those not legally authorized signs). Let's hold the gov't to a higher standard than some fool bully and demand they prove a case.
Oh and not for nothing, if you consider riding a "illegal" or "closed" trail the equivolent of a vehicle infraction, how many drivers -- even those that endanger people -- do jail time for a traffic offense? Never mind it was commuted or whatever, that's the sentence. So if you wanna make a comparison to something like running a stopsign which could actually kill someone (even tho what this mtb'er did physicially endangered no one) how about the same penalty as that? Which is, what, a small fine?
Or is anyone gonna argue that maybe scaring a bird is worse than killing a family of four with a car?
May 4, 2011