Risky Business...

Of the many arguments used to restrict access to trails for MTBers, perhaps the hardest in many ways to overcome is the often held belief that all MTBers are going to run over all other trail users; the issue of perceived risk vs real world reality.

With the guidelines and practises offered in the two IMBA publications, along with the growing amount of practical evidence gathered both here in Australia and Overseas, more and more peer reviewed, fact based research is becoming available about the way MTB use actually impacts the trails used, we seem to be getting to the real last doubt that is cast by other, anti-MTB trail users; risk.

Most of this perceived risk centres on the apparent fear that all MTBers will always be meet on singeltrail, with the rider(s) descending at Mach 10 and unable to use their brakes to stop, causing horrendous pain to the poor, innocent walker they hit. It seems despite all the real world experience we all have from encountering other trail users, that this perception is one that holds great sway with policy makers and land managers.

On the one hand, long sight lines and wide trails – such as fire roads or maintenance vehicle tracks – make all users highly visible to each other. However, these traits are invariably coupled up with firm surfaces and low to no technical challenge, encouraging riders to stay off the brakes. So if when we feel we are doing the right thing and scrubbing a bit of speed as we pass others, our relative speed is viewed to be considerably higher than theirs. I guess if you see this on a regular basis, it would be easy to presume that such speeds are the norm.

On singletrail, although the speed is generally lower, due to the nature of such trails twisting, turning, providing more challenge and shorter sightlines, there is, perhaps, more chance of startling other users due to those same traits. That said, it is a remarkably overstated ‘argument’ and one that conveniently overlloks the fact that all users should be looking out on the trail – be it for other users, an 8-foot tall Skip or one of our wonderfully poisonous, wriggly friends basking on the trail ahead. We so often seem to spot these things whichever user group we are from; why would we not be able to see each other? And frankly, I have more worry about snakebites or self harm from falling over the trail than other users.
However, I feel that a fair chunk of the reason this issue lingers on, is our community love affair with the moving image.

Whilst I – and I guess most of you – would personally love to see a bit more MTB on the TV rather than the 10th game of footy for the weekend (although as long as it is not dubbed “reality” and doesn’t involve cooking, singing or “talent”, I’m grateful!!) the fact is that for a lot of folks who don’t ride, i.e. Pollies, Land Managers, Risk Assessors… seemingly everyone we have to convince, they only generally see the extreme ends of MTB; flat out racing, excessively large freeriding or home video style comedy crashes. So really, nothing much resembling an average ride of grinding up a trail, stopping for a chat, look at the view, lolly snake, maybe fix a flat, followed by a descent where you feel like Sam Hill, but are dabbing your brake before every corner to remove any chance of it even remotely happening. The fact that the online or TV footage took place on a closed race lap or in some obscure location rarely visited by anyone, let alone the Sunday Arvo Over 70’s Flat Trails Only Walking group that could otherwise be mown down, is by the by.

So how do we change such perceptions ? Are we to push for less coverage of our sport in mainstream media? Are we only to ride uphill firetrails? Should we just all go away afterall?

Obviously none of these are realistic options and actually all of them would regress our calls for more trails, but we can all try to keep our patience and do a little more to make our encounters with others positive. The easiest is to drag that brake just a little more when passing, if not stop completely. Sure you can pass without doing that, but a second or two – an extra pedal stroke – is not going to totally ruin your ride, especially if you are planning on being out for a few hours or so anyway. The cheery greeting in first always sets the tone for the interaction too. If you just passed a big group of other users on trail, or there was a Koala in the big tree earlier or whatever, let them know; show we are more than just ‘foot out, flat out’. It takes little to change perceptions – then the real risks can sort themselves out.