To get my ranting out of the way first I am going to have to bring up a couple of things that bother me to no end. The first one has to do with mountain biking and bike handling. The trails obviously are out there to be ridden which is a great thing but riding off of the trail, except to avoid injury to self or other, just should not be done. If you are going to ride in the spring after a very snowy winter you should expect mud and snow to still be on the trail. Ride through it for Christ's sake and DO NOT go off the trail and around it. I have news for you, repetitive actions of this nature turn awesome single track into double track into a freeway. That is why some forest roads are about 300 feet wide. People want to drive on them but refuse to get there vehicle muddy so they drive way around the mud off the road and it just gets wider and wider. If you don't want to ride in the mud and snow then ride on the pavement or wait until summer. Along the same lines is the topic of crypto-biotic soil in desert areas i.e. Sedona. I was in the Dry Creek area yesterday and the trail goes through a huge patch of this soil. I noticed two huge sets of mountain bike tire tracks going right through this area off trail. The ecosystem where this soil exists is very fragile and foot prints and tire tracks can last many years. The agencies that manage these areas are very aware of the damage that occurs in these ecosystems and when there is not a single foot print or horse hoof print in this soil but two sets of tire tracks I can guarantee that mountain bikers are going to be the first group banned from using the trails in this area. The second topic has to do with the general outdoor visitor no matter what they are doing. There is a ridiculous amount of trash in the woods. Is it that hard not to throw your trash out the window and hang on to it until you can throw it in a garbage can or recycle it? NO!!! I know that sometimes people miss there pocket with a gel wrapper or plastic bags blow out of the car but you can make up for it next time out by grabbing one piece of trash off of the trail for the one that got away and an extra piece of trash for the next guy. I decided yesterday that I was not going to ride the trainer any more until next winter and every time I ride I am going to grab one piece of trash whether it is interesting or just the run of the mill aluminum can. It is pretty easy to pick up a piece of trash and stuff it into a pocket or into the camelbal. Think about it. Now off of the box. I rode in the Dry Creek area in Sedona yesterday and Dry Creek is not so dry. I took a photo of the Girdner Trail across Dry Creek. The Dawa, Cockscomb, OK, and Arizona Cypress trails were all much more fun (and drier) than the Girdner Trail. Today I went out to the area of the AZ Trail and Continental Trail and found some mud and snow but lots of ridable single track. The Continental Trails being drier than the AZT. The AZT is not quite in good enough shape to be any fun without tearing up the trail pretty good. Anne ran an eight mile section of the AZT though and definitely had a good time because the trail was in great shape for running just not for tires. I took a couple of shots one with the bottle cap I picked up yesterday and one with the bundle of happy birthday balloons I found in the woods today.
2 comments:
Post a Comment