USFS engaging mountain bikers in trail design
The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit has hired professional trail and bike park designers Hilride to work with trail users to create a plan for improving the Corral Trail. The Corral Trail is a popular multi-use trail on Lake Tahoe’s South Shore that is popular with mountain bikers and open to dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles as well.
The first opportunity to participate in the redesign will be a workshop facilitated by Hilride on April 28, from 6-8pm at 35 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe. This meeting will be an information-gathering session at which trail users will be able to describe their interests and identify what types of experiences they are seeking.
On June 11, National Get Outdoors Day, Hilride will lead a design workshop on the trail after a brief session at the Forest Supervisor’s Office. More details on the on-site workshop will follow.
Ban motorcycles!!!
Steven, didn’t your mother ever teach you that you have to share?
There are very few places motorcycles are allowed in the basin and that’s one of them. Don’t be piggy.
Ban Steven! Everybody is responsible for thier own foot print, and as long as the user of a motorcycle is being responsible, you have no need to ban them. I have plenty of hardcore mountain bike friends that leave more damage to the soil than my,(personal), typical ride on my dirtbike. Actually the tread desiegn on the true mountain bike is much more agressive than the everyday dual sport motorcycle, our treads need to meet D.O.T. requirments, mountain bikes don’t, they run tires that chew the dirt like nothing. I understand that not everyone rides like I do, not everyone rides a dual sport for that matter, but to up and say ban the motorcycle is foolish, we also have the desire to enjoy our back yard as anyone else would… and the right!
I am trying to figure out how a motorcycle + rider, which weighs twice as much as the mtn bike + rider, plus has enough torque to go up steep hills, can do less damage…
Anyway, on a related note I want a dual sport 350 DR sooooo bad. If I am going to pay $4k+ for something with 2 wheels, might as well have an engine.
PS Don’t tell my mom.
There is no comparison between mt bikes and off road motorcycles and atvs. Powered vehicles tear up the earth like paper through a shredder. Add a little rain and snow melt and all the erosion ends up in the lake. There is no reason to spends 100’s of millions of dollars on erosion control to keep the lake clean and then turn around and allow motorized vehicles off road. Ban them from the basin!!
Share the trail, Dude.
It’s very easy to figure out the power to weight ratio on a motorcycle vs the mountain bike and even any other vehicle… throttle control. I can come and go on just about any soil at just about anytime of year and leave very little disturbance, sure if you want to talk wet mud, any type of surface vehicle motorized or not will leave a rut. On the issue with your basic motorcycle , the amount of torque or the overall weight is only a partial concern, it’s how the rider applies the power. Example, if you watch expert martial artit’s walk along rice paper with the intent of motion without detection, this individual will not tear any part of the paper… if you take the same person and tell them to go run along that paper and have no concern about your noise, that rice paper will be done. (yes, you saw that long ago on t.v.’s “Kung-Fu” depending on your age). If you ride with the intent to explore and camp and travel, you wont hardly disturb anything, if you ride as fast as you want and don’t care, well!!! Also, I hope Steven will attend the meetings, erosion control has many more heavy hitters to consider rather than a three mile loop with a motorcycle on it, the up side to your statement is that you seem to at least care to some extent, (no matter the reason), sounds to me that you might be the type of person that would be excellent to have well informed and working in the field. Maybe we can compare data as to the amount of dirt displaced by 100 mtn. Bikes vs a motorcycle, because that’s about the number of motorized vehicles on the trails up here compared to the amount of Mtn. Bikes… You didn’t really think I was making a stand alone comparison between the Two??? Anyhow, with respect, see you there.
Motorcycles were on the Corral trail long before mountain bikes.
Hikers and equestrians have easy access all over the Tahoe Basin. Mountain bikers are excluded from wilderness, the PCT, and Meiss. Motorcyclists have precious few miles of trails.
If a trail user doesn’t like motorcycles on Corral, there are plenty of other places to go. But motorcyclists don’t have many other options.
I think everyone can get along out there. Give each other a little respect. But no one has mentioned that the atv and motorcycles pay a registration green sticker fees for trail development and maintenance. Do the mountain bikers pay to play?