It’s not gatekeeping to suggest people work harder or improve themselves. It’s not gatekeeping to fight to keep hard features that only expert riders can tackle. It’s not gatekeeping to tell new riders that if they feel bad because they can’t ride a feature they can get bent.
But it is absolutely gatekeeping to oppose making trails more accessible in ways that preserve gnarly features. If a ride around for a major feature can be built then it doesn’t hurt you one damn little bit for noobs to keep rolling, enjoy the forest and not almost die.
There are the usual “reasons” this isn’t ok. “Trail builders didn’t intend for the trail to be like that” - well that’s just part of building legally on public land, sometimes you have to accept that the landowners (taxpayers) expect to be able to use their property. “Beginners never contribute to trail work” - see above. And you say that but… “The ridearounds are poorly built and won’t last” - I thought noobs never did trail work? So confused.
Meanwhile there has to be a deeper reason. It’s popular to blame the ego of beginners for this trend, but it seems to me the experts have just as many hurt feelings. Does it bother you that they told their buddies they rode “_________ trail” last weekend? Whether they know how much they skipped or not, you absolutely know what it took last time you went down the trail without skipping any features. And if that’s not enough then you might want to look inward.
Sorry to be a dick, and I get that it’s frustrating to have to fight to keep the best mountain biking in the world from being neutered by people too selfish to recognize the heritage of the sport they just took up. But the answer is to find ways to coexist with less skilled riders while maintaining the interesting features you personally want to ride. Not to turn this into a zero sum battle for resources within the community. Not to shake your fists at the masses screaming “get off my trail you pathetic noobs.”
March 16, 2022, 7:05 p.m. - blackhat
It’s not gatekeeping to suggest people work harder or improve themselves. It’s not gatekeeping to fight to keep hard features that only expert riders can tackle. It’s not gatekeeping to tell new riders that if they feel bad because they can’t ride a feature they can get bent. But it is absolutely gatekeeping to oppose making trails more accessible in ways that preserve gnarly features. If a ride around for a major feature can be built then it doesn’t hurt you one damn little bit for noobs to keep rolling, enjoy the forest and not almost die. There are the usual “reasons” this isn’t ok. “Trail builders didn’t intend for the trail to be like that” - well that’s just part of building legally on public land, sometimes you have to accept that the landowners (taxpayers) expect to be able to use their property. “Beginners never contribute to trail work” - see above. And you say that but… “The ridearounds are poorly built and won’t last” - I thought noobs never did trail work? So confused. Meanwhile there has to be a deeper reason. It’s popular to blame the ego of beginners for this trend, but it seems to me the experts have just as many hurt feelings. Does it bother you that they told their buddies they rode “_________ trail” last weekend? Whether they know how much they skipped or not, you absolutely know what it took last time you went down the trail without skipping any features. And if that’s not enough then you might want to look inward. Sorry to be a dick, and I get that it’s frustrating to have to fight to keep the best mountain biking in the world from being neutered by people too selfish to recognize the heritage of the sport they just took up. But the answer is to find ways to coexist with less skilled riders while maintaining the interesting features you personally want to ride. Not to turn this into a zero sum battle for resources within the community. Not to shake your fists at the masses screaming “get off my trail you pathetic noobs.”