Ebike news.

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2019/08/feds-open-all-national-park-bike-trails-to-e-bikes/

Don't know if I'm happy or sad about this. It could be a stepping stone on getting more trails open in federal lands.

 

Thank the Lord above I am moving where there are less idiots like Secretary David Bernhardt in the world.

Trail Advocacy just became more complicated. But I knew this would happen.

 

The precedent seems dangerous, but otherwise this is a good idea. "Bike trails" in NPs are paved or otherwise pseudo ADA compliant trails that are not destinations for MTB enthusiasts. (Correct me if you know of one that is.) Car traffic in NPs is at critical mass. In isolation, this is a reasonable application for motorized bye-cycles.

If it was National Forests or BLM land, then that itself would be a tragedy, and that's the scary thing with this news.


Pedaling is fun and good for you!

 

Start your wave goodbye to the advancement of pure pedal power.

 

Don't know how i feel about this, however if we're just talking paved, signed and controlled bike ways... then I am all for it. If there can be one positive from e-bikes... getting people out of their cars and reducing greenhouse gasses being poured into these national park habitats, would be the silver lining. Letting them on multiuse wilderness trails? Nah, no thanks. That's something that should have a cost of entry, a slow methodical process of self awareness to handle and an understanding of why the access to those areas is so precarious.

However getting rid of automotive lines and needless carbon dioxide created by 3-4 hour gridlock heading into places like yosemite, yellowstone etc... all, freekin for it.

 

If it's not a mt bike trail, I have no problem with it for the reasons others have stated.

 

Earlier articles I’ve read and a posting on Over The Edge’s (Hurricane-Gooseberry Mesa) FB page is all BLM stuff will be open as well.....up to and including Class III’s “with speed limits of up to 28 mph”. Get that throttle ready!!

 

Ebike or motorcycle?

 

That's intense!!!!

 

abomination

 

Now we need motors to go downhill...?

 

I have to agree. I can't imagine having to pedal around something this big. May as well have a throttle and call it a day.

 

Yesterday out at Aliso I only saw 3 other mountain bikes. However, I did see 6-8 ebikes. The two that I thought were the biggest jokes were the 20 something year old on BMC emachines rigged for downhill. Fullface helmets and goggles hanging from their handlebars as they climbed the ridge. I passed them dropping into Rock-it and never saw them again. The majority of people I've seen riding ebikes recently appear to all be in good shape and decent mtbers.

 

Fugly....

 

Great looking bike!!!

 

Just an observation...

I had to run a lot of errands this morning. When turning off of Empresa onto Santa Margarita Parkway, I saw 3 bikers getting ready to cross the intersection. At least 1 was an e-bike. There's a paved path behind In-n-Out that goes to O'Neill. Ebikes are not legal in O'Neill. I will add that I've seen this group in O'Neill before, and they belong to the demographic that should have e-bikes. Real riders who are trying to keep going... Sighting #1.

A short while later I was in Foothill Ranch on Portola Parkway. Guess what popped out of Whiting onto the road? A trio of e-bikes. Probably headed for a second or third lap. Maybe the same guys I saw last week maintaining at least a 15mph pace up Borrego through the hikers. Sighting #2.

After my errands in Foothill, I decided to take the canyon back to RSM. As I was cresting the hill at the exit of the Luge, guess what popped out onto the road? Yep. Two more e-bikes. I may be wrong, but this looked like the same healthy duo that I saw in Whiting awhile back. They climbed Dreaded hill in 6 minutes. Twice. The fastest pros are closer to 8 minutes, and I bet the pros would slow down on ascent #2. I think I've done 14 and I consider myself a decent climber for my age. Sighting #3.

There was a sighting #4, but I was on a bike at that time...

 

For a place that does NOT want to talk about or relate to eBikes, you people sure talk a bunch about them! How about moving on?

 

They are hard to avoid in the OC...

 

So, there's a visceral dislike of e-bikes here. Do people here feel the same about motorcycles? Is my avatar a trigger?

 

Motorcycle riders don't pretend to be mountain bikers. And motorcycle manufacturers didn't show up on scene one day and say "hey, we're the same as mountain bikes, we should have access to the same trails" without putting in any advocacy effort of their own. Motorcycle riders put in their own advocacy because they have lost much access and could lose more. E-bikers and e-bike makers don't seem to get it.

 

Doesn’t anybody in OC have a job?

 

I don’t like Motocycles, but my trigger is the exhaust. I’d rather inhale cannabis or my own farts, and even somebody else’s depending on what they ate.

 

Exactly.

 

You don't follow the threads closely, so you probably missed this the 10,000 times it came up... There is a visceral dislike for e-bikers who ride where they are not allowed. Having a visceral dislike for an object is silly, but that is inevitably the argument that the e-bike rider proffers. If my home is broken into, I don't get mad at the hammer that the thief used to smash the lock. I'm a little more concerned with the behavior and the consequence.

It's so flagrant here, that the local bike shop owners and pros ride them without a care. San Juan Trail? No problem for the owner of Rock-n-Road. Also no problem for Hans Rey... They are so obviously entitled that mere rules do not apply.

 

As human powered bikers aren’t some of our favorite trails also illegal trails? I know that I’ve ridden Golden Eagle (parts of which the USFS says are not system trails) and I’ve ridden a well known hiking trail with several members on this forum and I suspect many of us here have ridden sidewinder and g-out. All of those illegal. Are our positions on illegal riding consistent and without hypocrisy?

As for the advocacy point relative to motorcycles, I do see that point.
Tony

 

No! But but I feel that there are people here that follow THAT law? I have made it clear I have no say so on that particular subject.

 

Reading and writing about e-MTB must be a guilty pleasure since the threads proliferate, but I agree with Mikie that there's no other reason for them. Doubt anything positive has happened or changed from all the verbiage proffered.

 

I have ridden Golden Eagle with Mikie... That is the only illegal trail I've ever ridden (that I know of). I don't ride through fire closures, either... Although I can see my favorite (closed) trails from my bedroom window, and I know that they have been ridden.

I also have ridden over 10 mph in the county parks, but when I slow down, I'm legal again. Presto! The e-biker is illegal from the moment his wheels touch the dirt to the moment he leaves the dirt. No way to rectify the behavior (note that I said behavior...) at any point in his ride.

 

Thanks Faust29! I've ridden Golden Eagle, a certain hiking trail, Sidewinder and G-out at tapia and probably others that aren't legal trails. Though I do have an e-bike, I never take it to OC for the reason you've stated--almost nothing is legal there. I have also ridden a rented regular bike on well known moto trails in Montana in the USFS that were illegal trails. Anyway that makes it hard for me to be consistent or as credible when I see respectful e-bikers riding on trails that aren't level for e-bikes. That said, I know this is an emotional topic and we sometimes see it from different perspectives.

Not that anyone cares, but I have an ebike for a few reasons:
1. I can't keep up with the fastest riders on our NICA team and there probably aren't more than 1 or 2 on this forum that can, but they have to have two coaches with them at all times for risk/safety. I don't know how else to do that.
2. Great for exploring large swaths of land to scout, flag and begin building new trails more efficiently. Yes, this can be done on a regular bike, but it's more efficient and more fun on an e-bike.
3. It's darn fun. I'm not arguing it's the same as a bike--it's not, but it's really fun in that it makes flat sections of trail much more interesting and in the summer when it's 100º I stay cooler.

 

Bottom line for me is that the purity of the act of mountain biking has been lost, and it is directly due to the sport getting way to big and branching off into many different directions, I still love what I get out of it! I liken it to the cowboy and the automobile driver. Cars outnumber horses. I imagine there were some cowboys freaking out when the car came along with most saying I want one of those! And others not so thrilled but eventually had to cave and own a car also, fast forward to now there are but a few who still love riding that horse.
When I started riding again in my late 40’s it was all about fun! But now that I am almost 60, fitness has become a bigger factor by a small margin so it’s why I prefer it to be pure. So I am a peace with what I can not control. I love my slice of back country peace. Ride what makes you comfortable and happy. Sorry Mikie but this subject is to big to ever go away.