On this Episode
Greg talks with Ted Stroll and Jackson Ratcliffe of the Sustainable Trails Coalition (STC) about their plan to lobby for mountain bike access in US Wilderness areas. In part one of this two-part podcast, Ted and Jackson talk about what the STC is trying to accomplish and why now is a good time for mountain bikers to act.
“Ultimately one of my goals is to get rid of the stigma that mountain biking is somehow less environmental, less natural, less good than riding a horse or hiking.” -Jackson Ratcliffe, STC Board Member
Click here to listen to Part 2 of this podcast.
Update 07/14/16: The Sustainable Trails Coalition’s Bill Has Been Introduced in Congress
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3 Comments
Dec 13, 2015
Dec 11, 2015
Sep 8, 2016
When you add in there is no genuine environmental damage posed by biking and the whole thing stemmed from people who just don't want to share it is even more absurd.
I mountain bike. I road bike. I hike. They are not mutually exclusive, but I have to say ever since becoming aware of some people's nazi attitude towards bikes I have simply been turned off to "conservation" efforts. If there is some concern about some rare species or whatever in one area, then study the idea of bike access in that area, but a blanket ban makes as much sense and forcing everyone to wear the same size shoes.
Ultimately this isn't even about mountain biking, it is about misgovernment. Some mtb opponents like the blanket ban because it conforms with their biases. Ask yourself where we'd be as a society if people refused to eliminate segregation because the idea of separate drinking fountains fit their bigoted views.
Here in NJ, misinterpretation of a county ordinance about sidewalks has allowed Union County to ban mountainbiking for 20 years. I have been fighting this since 2014 (i originally rode there as a teen before the ban, i am now over 30) so i can only imagine what the STC is going through at the federal level.
These guys need your support not nitpicking hyperbole denouncements based on the biases of those who would see us all forever barred from much of the land we would help preserve were it not for the fallacies that ban us from it.