I get that this article is largely about an attitude shift, one that I personally think is an inevitable consequence of our sport going mainstream and official resources actually coming in line. There’s benefits to these changes, but increased entitlement is inevitable.
But to get specific: “Ride don’t slide”, back when it was the mantra, never seemed that relevant to the trails I rode at the time. Descents (and many climbs) were largely fall line as routes were based on deer trail or existing hiking, hunting and skidder lines, not “proper” slopes with grade reversals and other speed control features and trails were ridden in, not “built”. Getting down something without skidding your 1.8” Ground Control was basically impossible. “Ride don’t slide” then seemed to me to apply to lower angle, smoother trails along the lines of what you’d find in California - which, predictably was starting to have to address trail design and user conflict while we were essentially doing whatever we could get away with and being largely left alone.
March 8, 2019, 9:27 a.m. - tashi
I get that this article is largely about an attitude shift, one that I personally think is an inevitable consequence of our sport going mainstream and official resources actually coming in line. There’s benefits to these changes, but increased entitlement is inevitable. But to get specific: “Ride don’t slide”, back when it was the mantra, never seemed that relevant to the trails I rode at the time. Descents (and many climbs) were largely fall line as routes were based on deer trail or existing hiking, hunting and skidder lines, not “proper” slopes with grade reversals and other speed control features and trails were ridden in, not “built”. Getting down something without skidding your 1.8” Ground Control was basically impossible. “Ride don’t slide” then seemed to me to apply to lower angle, smoother trails along the lines of what you’d find in California - which, predictably was starting to have to address trail design and user conflict while we were essentially doing whatever we could get away with and being largely left alone.