How Lame It Is

Welcome to one of my pet peeves - a biking related peeve anyway - people who cut corners on trails. Tight twisty singletrack is one of the joys of mountain biking. Cutting the corner to straighten the path is just plain dumb. It widens the trail, causes erosion, and decreases riding skills.

Dude (or Dudette), if you don't have the technical ability to carve the corner, slow down for two seconds and give it a shot. Trust me, its a gas, you'll dig it. The local trails aren't really all that long, why shorten the experience? There's plenty of straighter sections of singletrack, why screw up the fun twisty sections?

Son Ian and I were out in the local woods yesterday on foot, checking some of his Geocaches and doing a little hiking. While out there, we barricaded a few switchbacks with piles of logs and branches to stop corner cutting on one sweet section of singletrack. We've done this before and it sometimes lasts a few days, other times a few weeks. We went overboard this time, hoping the more time it takes to deconstruct 'em, the less of chance of riders wanting to stop and move 'em.

We constructed a few of these, about an hour work in total. I know they'll disappear eventually, just curious to see how long these heavier duty versions last. Spin the wheel, place your bets.

While buzzing the local woods on my 29er the other day, came across a backhoe crunching though the woods. There's been rumors of a new fire station being constructed in the park - a county park - even though there's two fire stations nearby. Once I saw the backhoe figured it was a done deal. Here Ian stands on one of the trails, checking out the backhoe tracks.

Apparently the fire station deal hasn't been fully approved and/or mentioned to the local neighbors. This sign has since appeared. Interesting. I'll try and check out the meeting mentioned to get the full story.

This notice was posted at the trailhead as well. People don't seem too happy about the situation and I'd rather not see the station go in. I've been riding these woods for over 20 years and hate to see any of it disappear. It's a great resource that's close to Seattle. I'm damn lucky to live within riding distance from my house. Would a fire station and parking lot kill it? No, not really - but would still hate to see a chunk of woods torn out.

We'll see what happens. In the meantime, and in the future, family and I will enjoy the woods as usual.