lol, last time I asked this question I was spoken to like some dolt that "just didn't get it", like there was some sort of objective reality that only a fool couldn't see.
Aaaaanyway, definitely a fine line. More peeps means more trail funding, videos to watch on websites and hopefully cheaper parts. But it also means more crowded trails, potentially more wankers who drop rubbish and cause difficulties and bring greater heat on the sport when they cut trails where they shouldn't (abuse locals, walkers, horse riders and so on).
My local trail has become continually more and more crowded. Just recently I was pelting down a section that I've pelted for 3 years now. A lady of around 50 years was riding up hill, we fronted each other on a bend, I went off track to miss her, washed out and almost collected a tree. Shit happens, I had a laugh, made a comment of being spectacular and all I got back was a look of "Why do you have to ride like that, can't you be more considerate of others who are using the trails?". She said nothing and rode off with an air of indignance about her, even though it was me that went bush for her. She was clearly new to riding trails, which was clear not only by the way she rode her bike but also by the fact she was shocked to find people riding down hills in a frantic manner - unlike her highly measured, nervous and risk averse manner of riding.
And this is what I fear most and which has been touched on above - moderate riders and young kids hitting trails when they would be much more suited to dirt roads and scenic rides. I fear that us more racey types will be forced to accommodate for the lower skilled and less adventurous riders so that "everyone can enjoy the sport". That means gnar'd out sections becoming sanitised so riders of all ability levels can enjoy it, downhill sections of trails being covered with signs saying "reduce speed" and in general the trails being crowded out by people wearing stack hats and elbow pads.
My second greatest fear is the sport being inundated with idiots who start cutting trails where they shouldn't, littering the bush and trying to build crappy north shore shit everywhere, kind of like the way things were in the mid 2000s.
Aaaaanyway, definitely a fine line. More peeps means more trail funding, videos to watch on websites and hopefully cheaper parts. But it also means more crowded trails, potentially more wankers who drop rubbish and cause difficulties and bring greater heat on the sport when they cut trails where they shouldn't (abuse locals, walkers, horse riders and so on).
My local trail has become continually more and more crowded. Just recently I was pelting down a section that I've pelted for 3 years now. A lady of around 50 years was riding up hill, we fronted each other on a bend, I went off track to miss her, washed out and almost collected a tree. Shit happens, I had a laugh, made a comment of being spectacular and all I got back was a look of "Why do you have to ride like that, can't you be more considerate of others who are using the trails?". She said nothing and rode off with an air of indignance about her, even though it was me that went bush for her. She was clearly new to riding trails, which was clear not only by the way she rode her bike but also by the fact she was shocked to find people riding down hills in a frantic manner - unlike her highly measured, nervous and risk averse manner of riding.
And this is what I fear most and which has been touched on above - moderate riders and young kids hitting trails when they would be much more suited to dirt roads and scenic rides. I fear that us more racey types will be forced to accommodate for the lower skilled and less adventurous riders so that "everyone can enjoy the sport". That means gnar'd out sections becoming sanitised so riders of all ability levels can enjoy it, downhill sections of trails being covered with signs saying "reduce speed" and in general the trails being crowded out by people wearing stack hats and elbow pads.
My second greatest fear is the sport being inundated with idiots who start cutting trails where they shouldn't, littering the bush and trying to build crappy north shore shit everywhere, kind of like the way things were in the mid 2000s.
