Moto's Clarified.

They get a bad rap! Real motocrosser's (MX's) go to a track and enjoy a half day of double and triple jumping and berms, hoops, rhythm sections. You can pick them out on the freeway because they have gear bags, and fuel jugs, and no ice chests. And no hand guards.
Offroaders (OR's) like myself. Go to the out back. Real OR's would never go to a MTB friendly area to spend the day. OR's the real ones have special places also much like MTB'rs. Lets be honest, we hit the nasty up and down stuff. I read about Moto's out on Golden Eagle and it breaks my heart. Trust me, you got MX's And OR's that would look down heavily on the beginners out on Golden Eagle type areas. No disrespect, they obviously are clueless. OR'ing is sandwashes high speed, boulders, monster downhill and impossible hill climbs. And if you fail you try again. I got into MTB's because of OR'ing. Both have kept me out of trouble.

 

Motos are fun, but they can ruin a trail with one quick twist of the throttle. I hope and pray they stay off of MtB trails - like Joplin.

 

My point exactly. Who are these guys? Where do they come from? I guess I've been around respectful OR's for so long I just don't see it.

 

@jimbowho Us MX’s carry ice chests. Handguards occasionally depending on track. I’d run them at GH. But, never any bark buster stuff going on.

And, I agree with your whole post. I’ve rode moto most of my life. Desert as a kid with pops and family. Then later became a track rat fir many years. I would never EVER think of riding a moto on the single track trails I pedal on. Motos in the Forest should be limited to fireroads. OR, moto only trails. Keep the rubber side down.

 

GH. he means Glen Helen people. I did the 24 we pulled a 78th oa

 

We use them for bike stands.

 

There is a small subset of each user group that are ignorant douches. Motos are no different. These could be kids who don't know better. Or locals who *should* know better but don't care and just want to ride something close to home. Sounds like a lot of MTBers. The problem with motos, as mentioned, is a single unskilled or aggressive rider can do a lot of damage. A skilled moto rider could ride GE without leaving much more trace than a MTB. That's harder to accomplish on a steep trail like Joplin. I mountain bike on a lot of moto trails in places like Kernville, Downieville, Colorado. Takes a skilled moto rider to ride those trails so they stay in pretty good shape. Trails with low difficulty, easy access, and close to population centers will unfortunately attract more riders and thus see more damage. As with MTB, if these riders had more legal places to ride close to home, they'd be less likely to poach non-motorized trails.

 

That's what I'm putting my money on. Every time I've run into a moto poacher (Santa Anas), they seemed pretty dialed. The group of five of them coming up Joplin (one turned around lower) didn't look new to the sport.

Sidebar: I actually don't care if they ride Joplin. The damage is done, it'll never be the same. It's so pulverized that more of that isn't going to make a tinker's fukking damn of a difference.


Thanks for the post, @jimbowho. Motos certainly are not the enemy. People are.

 

I saw some Moto treads on Deer at Oaks two Sundays ago.

 

There are 3 guys on e-motos poaching the Oaks. If you see them, report it.