Road trips are great opportunities to stare out the window and watch the scenery unfold. The same is true for mountain biking, gravel riding, or bikepacking. Although to be fair, I'm not too keen on the unfurling landscape while bombing a hill on my bike. My eyes are fixated on the trail looking for rocks, roots, and unexpected drops. But I do think about land use a good bit.
Talking about land is a fascinating and fun conversation. We also know that it is not the same kind of conversation worldwide as laws vary from country to country. As I'm driving, I sometimes wonder who's land I am seeing, who has access to it, and most importantly to me … how we build trails on it. Maybe the bigger question is whether we should or not?
On a road trip through California this summer, we were getting rather bored driving up I-5, so we peeled off and headed towards the coast and the 101. Along the drive from I-5 to the 101, I drove by and around many nameless small mountains (or hills). All I could think of was how do we build a fantastic world-class mountain bike network on it??? I figured it'd better be served for that than cattle ranching … or so I joked to myself.
Regardless of who owns the land, that's why so much about mountain biking is advocacy work. It's working with land managers and creating access to the backcountry for mountain bikers. Too often, we get fixated on riding itself (how can we not?), but that is only one small part of it. I've been in Portland for ten years, and I'm amazed how much has changed as far as trail access and new trails.
The unsung heroes in mountain bike are trail stewards, trail builders, and trail advocacy groups. Where would we be without you all?