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When our friends bring cool new toys to the sandbox they might want to play differently, and over time there will likely be a few entries added to the sandbox rulebook so we can all continue to share happily. Seems reasonable.
I would like to propose a sandbox rule to my friends who ride e-bikes: please do not climb up the DH trails. I have climbed unrideably-steep trails on an e-bike, and I fully get how exhilarating the challenge is. It’s likely the most enjoyable thing to do on a battery bike. The appeal of racing down a lap and turning around to climb the same trail is evident and equally dangerous. I recently learned of this the hard way.
In the city of Turin, Italy, most of our local gravity laps descend from one of two peaks, with roughly 100km of additional hiking and XC-style trail stretched between. My favorite lunch loop option is to ride up a two-way singletrack ribbon called Trail 26, then descend Trail 61, Calcetano Trail, or Tano Hill, all of which are fairly steep and rowdy black-diamond-style fun. When those are wet we head to the south-facing trails of Chiesetta, where a pretzel of braided jump lines descends from a tiny church, or chiesa. The trails are all built by a few gravity enthusiasts, and the variety of jumps ranges from knee-high booters that most of us hit to a five-meter-gap between two overhead ramps that only the trail builders ride.
On one mid-day pedal this winter I decided to climb the asphalt to Chiesetta for a short and sweet workout. With a spirited pace, the peak is 45 minutes from my door, then I slide kneepads up to slide down the trail and back to this keyboard in 75 minutes total. The tracks in the Chieseta pretzel couldn’t be more obviously gravity-oriented. There are a few intentional rock gardens, wooden ramps and drops, and various speed-ready berms between it all. With the drops, some of the trail is actually unrideable uphill, no matter what your motor is powered by.
I was feeling focused on this particular lap, and in a hurry to get home to interview someone over the phone. There are multiple corners you can’t see around on the trail, and jumps where you can’t spot the landing until you’re airborne. Riding with the brakes open has always been safe on these tracks because no one hikes on them and they are too steep ride up. Or, they were.
When I reached the third segment of the descent, called Cretaceo, which sits in a deep gulley, using the walls as berms, I had a little run-in with three e-bike riders who were climbing the segments they could manage. They were lined up like bowling pins mid-trail as I ripped around a corner peering at the next. Fortunately, some cyclocross muscle-memory kicked in and I whipped the bike sideways for a fumbled running dismount. They passed by, smiling as if they hadn’t seen me nearly miss plowing each of them and likely sending us all to the virus-riddled hospital. With the anger that only accompanies a deep animalistic fear, I asked them to please climb the adjacent uphill trail so no one gets hurt. Maybe for the better, given my visible vexation, they rolled on without a word.
The riders didn’t look like newcomers. They all had well-worn knee pads and full-face helmets on. They likely know very well the joys of uninhibited gravity speed.
This sort of negligence is going to cause some real problems. If folks are going to race mountain bikes there have to be a few gravity trails where we can release the brakes and know that the track will be clear of other humans. We need places to practice and improve at speed. If people are climbing those trails on e-bikes, it won’t be long before batteries are not wanted in the sandbox. We’ll have the same division between battery bikers and muscle bikers that many places experience between hikers and bikers.
It makes sense that e-bike riders want to practice steep and technical climbs, and that is a genuinely cool element of the battery-powered racing genre. However, there are far more scrappy walls to climb up than there are gravity trails to ride down. Please hone technical climbing skills where no one has to risk their lives. At the very least, consider climbing those DH tracks at night, when you can see the light of an oncoming rider with enough notice to move safely out of the way. I’m not advocating that all or even most trails be unidirectional, but one or two downhill-only tracks in a system seems like a reasonable and safe request.
With the great pandemic bike-boom, our local trails have experienced some of their first real user conflicts. That’s impressive for an active city of nearly a million residents. Hikers are taking to social media to share their stories of rude riders, signs are being posted and removed at trailheads, and those of us who know where this conflict can go are being over-the-top friendly out on the trail to balance the scale a bit. I hope my e-bike riding friends can see the division that will be created if people get hurt because they choose to climb DH trails.
To be as clear as fresh mountain air, I dig e-bikes, and I have friends who ride them right alongside me. Nearly anything that gets folks off the couch, away from screens, and into the forest is a net positive. Let’s keep it that way.
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Couldn’t have said it better. Maybe a simple criteria could be: don’t ride uphill where there are built features (berms, drops, jumps…)
That seems reasonable for sure.
I think this lends to the argument for more progressive trail systems – i.e., designated climbing and descending trails to separate opposing traffic and make the experience better and safer for everyone, especially on networks that have bike optimized DH trails.
I mean this makes sense, and i ride an eeeb.
Don’t blame the instrument for the tools that sometimes use them…
Otherwise, it’ll just look like you’re stuck in the past.
“Don’t blame the instrument for the tools that sometimes use them.” Haha, that’s a good one! I’m going to have to use that… Works for e-bikes, mountain bikes, electric scooters, and pretty much everything else.
To be clear, I don’t think this piece blames the instrument, it’s just suggesting a way that the instrument can be used responsibly and in harmony with other trail users.
I read the whole article. I didn’t see a single sentence wherein he blamed ebikes. He didn’t even “blame” ebike riders. He simply asked them not to ride up DH trails. A request that is not out of line.
Directional trails work. I have ridden a few directional trails in SoCal and they definitely help avoid conflict. Also, I live near Santa Cruz Demonstration forest. While there are not directional trails with signs there yet, pretty much everyone goes the same direction on the trails. So, you rarely see any other riders or have conflicts much. Roads with cars are directional. Trails should be too.
Soquel riding with no hikers to worry about has spoiled me.
The author and perhaps others should consider more benefits of riding directional trails. and if their favorite trail is not directional, can advocate to start a rotational schedule to allow for directional use. Crazy as it may seem, some people enjoy the challenge and reward of climbing. and can do it without an ebike. just because you need an ebike to clear something doesn’t mean someone else does, especially on some singlespeed whippet that may be be attempting or possibly clearing it themselves.
I understand that many trails are DH intent. but do not take the argument further so that any downhill flow section becomes a downhiller’s right. You might say that is taking it too far or an absurd expansion of the author’s intent, but I would be willing to bet some old chain lube that 1/2 the readers are already thinking about that.
So be aware that many people do climb sections that are tough. If you really want to have more fun while using the benefits of gravity, then get it organized for downhill only every Tues, Thurs, and Sat or something like that. Otherwise, as a trail user, any trail user, you should always ride with the intent that there may be someone around the corner – hiking, biking, or crashed or otherwise. To ride without that knowledge is irresponsible.
Very well said! Most of our local trails multi-directional but there are some descents that are practically un-climbable. It hasn’t occurred to me until lately to watch out for eMTBs on those sections.
Excellent article. I agree with all of it, 100%. For the record, I ride an eMTB and I personally do not and would not ride up such a trail. In fact, I won’t ride up any trail that is generally used for pleasurable downhill riding. Let’s all keep ourselves organized and as safe as possible. Thanks!
It’s funny the trend line before the pandemic was less people coming out into the great outdoors . I visited my home in New jersey maybe 15 years ago and went looking for my old trails that I use to stomp around on and noticed they were all grown in . With all these people coming into nature they are also bringing all their trash and damage to the ecosystem and mountain biking is no exception . I would think people will go back to their old lifestyle when the pandemic ends.
Common sense is NO LONGER REQUIRED in life so we get to hear these lectures through no involvement of our own, go figure!