April 22, 2017, 7:04 a.m. -  Stewart Spooner

This will all end badly. I recall being challenged by a couple of disgruntled dirt-bikers, as to why I was allowed to use motorized transport to maintain the remote and iconic Seven Summits trail, while they were being prevented from riding it. They hadn’t conceived that I might actually walk and carry my chainsaw up the mountain to clear windfall, but when I made it clear that that’s what I do on a regular basis, their sense of fairness and consistency was satisfied, and we’ve had almost no issues with unauthorized dirt bike use since that time. <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Dirt bikers in my area almost uniformly respect the non-motorized status of trails, but ask any of them what they think about allowing electric powered bikes on non-motorized trails, and they’re very clear that an electric motor is a still a motor. The self interest that blinds the e-bike lobby to this is astounding, but Dirt bikers are clear that they won’t stand for being discriminated against if trails are opened for electronic motors.  </span>