I want to reiterate some of dgaddis’ points and give the view of someone who doesn’t race.
First – you MUST follow the land manager’s rules.
====This is both short-run and long-run thinking. In the short-run, if land management says no, then stay off. Long-run, if land management says yes, it might be important to explain to them the potential costs involved in all-weather riding. Land managers not from the MTB scene may not understand the, uh, re-sculpting about to occur.
Next, it depends on who is hosting the race, and for what purpose.
====This goes to the dirt jump philosophy. If you case a DJ and ruin the landing, you fix that landing. People who damage the trails should hold themselves accountable to repair those trails. A handsome donation to land management or actually providing physical labor.
The kind of race is important too. Are people riding the trail one time, or over and over again?
====This points to why races can worse be on wet trails than recreational riders. If the no wet weather riding is a utilitarian ethic, then how are we judging those consequences. The stability of the trials, or the image of mountain bikers.
But if it’s a company trying to make money for personal profit, who’s going to leave a destroyed trail for others to fix – no, that’s not cool.
====If the company is counting trail repairs and upgrades as input cost isn’t that exactly what we want?
Planning for a rain date is a hassle.
====What about recreational riders who have traveled to a destination to ride. Should they be held to a different standard than racers?