Jan. 11, 2017, 3:48 p.m. -  Lee Lau

#!markdown Nat it ain't so easy. And its not naive on your part. How could you know? I've said myself and you're acknowledged that the whole advocacy process for MTB's is politicized, loaded with a lot of baggage and almost always more complicated then it should be for such a minor little activity. Worca or SORCA or the NSMBA or other orgs can't wave their hands in the air and compartmentalize and just say to LMs ebikes are not our problem. Whether we (meaning trail advocates) like it or not e-bikes become the trail systems problem. The LM's look to advocates for guidance there. We cannot compartmentalize and just say to LMs ebikes are not our problem - YOU deal with it.. Fact is ebikes are a trail orgs problem because of their very existence, their use and how they've been introduced as entrants to trail systems with minimal discussion Fact is ebikes are a trail orgs problem because of their very existence, their use and how they've been introduced with zero discussion by manufacturers offloads a large kettle of fish onto trail advocates. Then you get the situation where some (many, all?) manufacturers trying to play the game that its only a pedelec so that an ebike should be treated like a (non-motorized) mountain bike and therefore permitted to run on any trails open to mountain bikes. My contention is that LMs and other trail groups don't buy that argument. The manufacturers should step into the breach and advocate for that point of view on the local level if they want to make that argument. By not doing so, the advocacy load transfers to the local bike advocacy group; no matter how much the local advocacy group tries to compartmentalize and step away from it. For me, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the manufacturers introduce ebikes, introduce the baggage that comes with ebikes into the trail- access conversation and get a free-ride off advocacy efforts. I agree with Todd that the minimal efforts manufacturers have made to date to help with the trail access conversation effort with respect to ebikes are not close to sufficient Btw - you asked the question respectfully and I hope you can see I am trying to answer it the same way