Mountain Biking More Popular Than Ever

"SMS" wrote in message
...
On 7/13/2012 10:36 AM, wrote:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/moun...ular-than-ever

New mountain bike sales are doing very well, even in a down economy where
road bike sales have stagnated.

The big increase in mountain biking is from hikers taking up mountain
biking. In California, state parks have been converting some hiking trails
into trails that are also suitable for mountain biking in order to
accommodate the desires of park users. It's a win-win for the park users
and for the financially strapped parks as well.

In our area: Georgian Bay / Blue Mountain, Ontario, Canada. A huge mountain
biking area with a local acceptance that it not only brings mountain bikers
& their families to our area to spend their cash, but justifies the down
hill & cross country ski areas being maintained & offered up in the summer.
Also supporting the busy ski & bike sports stores that otherwise would close
in the summer.
There has been an improvement in our more scenic drives, formerly dirt roads
or poorly maintained roads at best, these roads have been widened,
resurfaced & generally made safer & have now attracted road bikes to our
area more than ever before. Road bikes are selling well in our area & it is
the growing trend here for avid mountain bikers to not only own a mid to
high end mountain bike but to also have a decent road bike, more and more as
mountain bikers are enjoying both worlds the sales in high end road bikes in
our area is increasing rapidly.....all good news for our 4 season resort
areas economy.
I'm in the market for a decent road bike having already done the 'getting my
feet wet' out of the way & love road biking almost as much as mountain
biking.....can I justify having two expensive bikes knowing that of course
you can only ride one at a time. :-)

That is the question ..............

Jon~



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On 8/2/2012 5:50 PM, Lamblies wrote:

snip

I'm in the market for a decent road bike having already done the 'getting my
feet wet' out of the way & love road biking almost as much as mountain
biking.....can I justify having two expensive bikes knowing that of course
you can only ride one at a time. :-)

That is the question ..............

Actually the question is whether a decent road bike is the same as an
expensive road bike. You can still get a decent aluminum road bike for
$1000 or so, and it'll last a lot longer than a carbon fiber bike. If
you want steel, or titanium, or CF, you need to really ante up.

On 8/2/2012 5:50 PM, Lamblies wrote:

In our area: Georgian Bay / Blue Mountain, Ontario, Canada. A huge mountain
biking area with a local acceptance that it not only brings mountain bikers
& their families to our area to spend their cash, but justifies the down
hill & cross country ski areas being maintained & offered up in the summer.
Also supporting the busy ski & bike sports stores that otherwise would close
in the summer.

Well I'm not much into private ski areas being used for mountain biking.
Mountain biking belongs in county, state, and national parks. Rangers
and land managers all agree that mountain biking has no more impact than
hiking, and far less impact than horseback riding. The problem is that
all the activities can't always co-exist on the same trails on the same
days. Now some state parks are looking into alternate usage days, much
like some lakes and reservoirs don't allow power boats on some days.

The big complaint from hikers and mountain bikers in Northern California
is not about each other, it's about equestrians. I was talking to a park
ranger at one of our state parks in Marin County (across the Golden Gate
Bridge from San Francisco) about trail users and sharing trails and I
was complaining about the mess that horses make of the trails in the
park, not just from their wastes but from damaging the trail. He sighed
and said that the state park service is well aware of the problem of
horses and the enormous damage they do, but that the equestrians are too
well-connected politically for anything to be done about it. Every the
subject of banning horses is brought up the idea is shot down because
wealthy equestrians don't want to lose any areas in which to ride.

I

On Wednesday, August 8, 2012 3:30:00 PM UTC-7, SMS wrote:
On 8/2/2012 5:50 PM, Lamblies wrote:



In our area: Georgian Bay / Blue Mountain, Ontario, Canada. A huge mountain

biking area with a local acceptance that it not only brings mountain bikers

& their families to our area to spend their cash, but justifies the down

hill & cross country ski areas being maintained & offered up in the summer.

Also supporting the busy ski & bike sports stores that otherwise would close

in the summer.



Well I'm not much into private ski areas being used for mountain biking.

Mountain biking belongs in county, state, and national parks. Rangers

and land managers all agree that mountain biking has no more impact than

hiking,

Repeating this obvious lie doesn't make it true.

and far less impact than horseback riding. The problem is that

all the activities can't always co-exist on the same trails on the same

days. Now some state parks are looking into alternate usage days, much

like some lakes and reservoirs don't allow power boats on some days.



The big complaint from hikers and mountain bikers in Northern California

is not about each other, it's about equestrians. I was talking to a park

ranger at one of our state parks in Marin County (across the Golden Gate

Bridge from San Francisco) about trail users and sharing trails and I

was complaining about the mess that horses make of the trails in the

park, not just from their wastes but from damaging the trail. He sighed

and said that the state park service is well aware of the problem of

horses and the enormous damage they do, but that the equestrians are too

well-connected politically for anything to be done about it. Every the

subject of banning horses is brought up the idea is shot down because

wealthy equestrians don't want to lose any areas in which to ride.

Horses are alive (DUH!), and have the right to go wherever they want to. Bicycles are MACHINES, and have NO rights (DUH!). Bikes should be restricted to pavement, where they belong. If mountain bikers EVER told the truth, bikes would be banned from trails.