Dumbing Down the trails

[Vibrato]

It's that time of year again!! We're riding the trails we've worked so hard to build and maintain, and the weather may actually cooperate this year with normal rain patterns. Excellent!!

However, it should be mentioned again that the trails are designed for varying skill levels. Without going through the whole IMBA lesson lets get right to the heart of it.

If you do not have the Stewards permission to remove an obstacle then do not remove it.

Decisions to change the trails are made by the Steward with input from the parks dirt crew 1st, the FORC board 2nd and everyone else a close 3rd. ALL IDEAS GET WEIGHED!! These ideas are looked at with safety and sustainability as the main consideration. If the obstacle is ridable and no safety or sustainability issue is present, there may not be a need for any change.

Especially on Black Diamond rated trails where there may not be a way around an obstacle (DO NOT MAKE ONE!)-If an obstacle is rideable by me, Kings, Neips and others, then it is ridable. If you want to remove it because you can't ride it, maybe you need to work on improving your skills instead.

Think about it- What kind of an ego driven person would think (roll background hero music) "If a mountain bike hero like ME can't ride it- it must be WAAY too hard for these other riders" ?

The people that build trails have spent thousands of hours and thousands of their own personal dollars to make trail systems that have skill levels for everyone. If you can't handle the obstacles on a certain trail- you can practice them or you can enjoy the other great trails and skip the one that is beyond your skill level.

Trail Hero's suck. Don't be one.

If you'd like to make the trails better, join us for work days!! They will be posted in the parks forum and we'd love to have you join us to make the trails better for everyone!!