Trail Issues and Ethics

Do you ride trails when they are sloppy?

Do you race on trails when it is muddy?

Would you skip a day on the trails in bad conditions for a road ride?

My personal feelings are that if you pay for a race you are in effect paying someone to be responsible for your riding. If it is a muddy race then the promoter and their organization should be responsible for putting the trails back into the condition they were before the event or in better condition. If you choose to ride in the slop all by yourself or with buddies then you are the one who should be responsible for excessive damage. Sometimes riding on wet trails isn't actually damaging the structure of the trails but it is harming the reputation of mountain biking. An example would be a hiker seeing tire tracks through the center of a soupy trail. The trail structure isn't damaged and in fact you could be even smoothing out foot prints from a winter thaw but their are negative effects that could arise from certain people especially if tire tracks are left in sensitive areas- just something to think about for where to ride when it is wet regardless of the physical damage to trails.

These are just some things that are always running through my head in respect to being a responsible rider.

These are not the views of Shenandoah Mountain Touring explicitly just some ramblings of Chris Scott in search of his own ethical definitions.

Peace! Mud Bog Dog!