Everyone is fighting for scraps. Dirtbike riders are to mountain bike riders like mountain bike riders are to hikers. I've been on both sides of this argument and I can tell you, we all want the same thing. Except horse riders - they are above everyone else it seems.
Mountain bikers are no better than dirtbike riders. We are just as guilty as anyone for riding where we shouldn't be (umm... Darkside?), so let's not pretend we are above them. As a former dirtbike rider, I can tell you that their fight for land is a lot more of a struggle than ours because everybody hates dirtbike riders. Even in more remote areas like in the interior, official dirtbike riding zones are getting pushed further into the backcountry.
Funny story, on a recent trip to one of my favourite places in the Cariboo, I was stopped on (what I thought was a public road) by a representative of the local First Nations band. He asked what I was doing and that I needed permission to be there. I was driving, but I have also ridden my gravel bike there many times. After a friendly chat, he saw that I was not threatening and gave me one of his band's hats as "a pass". That was nice. He went on to tell me that gravel bike riders are illegally riding there and that the band has taken steps to shut it down. They've even installed locked gates on this road. Apparently this area has blown up so much that it's now a victim of its own popularity. Even bike brands are using it in their advertising. Every single outsider to this area needs special permission to be there. And while most probably don't know this, there are some gravel cyclists who do know, yet are still riding there anyway.
March 13, 2024, 8:04 a.m. - Lowcard
Everyone is fighting for scraps. Dirtbike riders are to mountain bike riders like mountain bike riders are to hikers. I've been on both sides of this argument and I can tell you, we all want the same thing. Except horse riders - they are above everyone else it seems. Mountain bikers are no better than dirtbike riders. We are just as guilty as anyone for riding where we shouldn't be (umm... Darkside?), so let's not pretend we are above them. As a former dirtbike rider, I can tell you that their fight for land is a lot more of a struggle than ours because everybody hates dirtbike riders. Even in more remote areas like in the interior, official dirtbike riding zones are getting pushed further into the backcountry. Funny story, on a recent trip to one of my favourite places in the Cariboo, I was stopped on (what I thought was a public road) by a representative of the local First Nations band. He asked what I was doing and that I needed permission to be there. I was driving, but I have also ridden my gravel bike there many times. After a friendly chat, he saw that I was not threatening and gave me one of his band's hats as "a pass". That was nice. He went on to tell me that gravel bike riders are illegally riding there and that the band has taken steps to shut it down. They've even installed locked gates on this road. Apparently this area has blown up so much that it's now a victim of its own popularity. Even bike brands are using it in their advertising. Every single outsider to this area needs special permission to be there. And while most probably don't know this, there are some gravel cyclists who do know, yet are still riding there anyway.