#!markdown
Hi Shirley. Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I'll go against my point about
this not being a good place for this discussion and give you my thoughts
anyway. First, I do see your experience in horticulture as being relevant,
more so than anything I could claim. Nonetheless I have some thoughts. I spent
the first 25 years of my life in Australia (Brisbane) and the geology of that
area contrasts hugely with the coast mountains. While rainfall in quite a few
riding zones there is similar to here (which I think surprises lots of folks
from here), there is much more mineral soil there than here that gives the
ground a very different quality than what I've seen anywhere on the the north
shore. At times riding a bike is essentially impossible because the mud can be
incredibly sticky, so people don't. But equestrians aren't affected, and in
one day large swaths of trail can be turned in a texture akin that of a
crumpet at 100x scale. No exaggeration, and it solidifies and stays that way
once dry (essentially unwalkable by humans, presumably a struggle for horses,
but not too bad for bikes) until it gets really wet again and resets. I do
expect there is considerable erosion that accompanies that process. Anyway,
I'm just trying to illustrate my overall view, I understand this example
doesn't apply here. An example that does is my experience of hiking trails all
over southern BC. I've done quite a lot of hiking here and been shocked at how
eroded almost all of these are. So much so that I don't think the condition of
the bike trails (before the rejuvenation began a few years ago) was any worse
than the state of most hiking trails. I'm curious what your opinion is of the
state of erosion on hiking trails. Maybe I've just been on bad trails.
I guess I remain unconvinced that bikes are the worst offenders, but I do take
your experience and opinion on board.
Feb. 3, 2015, 1:54 p.m. - NatBrown
#!markdown Hi Shirley. Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I'll go against my point about this not being a good place for this discussion and give you my thoughts anyway. First, I do see your experience in horticulture as being relevant, more so than anything I could claim. Nonetheless I have some thoughts. I spent the first 25 years of my life in Australia (Brisbane) and the geology of that area contrasts hugely with the coast mountains. While rainfall in quite a few riding zones there is similar to here (which I think surprises lots of folks from here), there is much more mineral soil there than here that gives the ground a very different quality than what I've seen anywhere on the the north shore. At times riding a bike is essentially impossible because the mud can be incredibly sticky, so people don't. But equestrians aren't affected, and in one day large swaths of trail can be turned in a texture akin that of a crumpet at 100x scale. No exaggeration, and it solidifies and stays that way once dry (essentially unwalkable by humans, presumably a struggle for horses, but not too bad for bikes) until it gets really wet again and resets. I do expect there is considerable erosion that accompanies that process. Anyway, I'm just trying to illustrate my overall view, I understand this example doesn't apply here. An example that does is my experience of hiking trails all over southern BC. I've done quite a lot of hiking here and been shocked at how eroded almost all of these are. So much so that I don't think the condition of the bike trails (before the rejuvenation began a few years ago) was any worse than the state of most hiking trails. I'm curious what your opinion is of the state of erosion on hiking trails. Maybe I've just been on bad trails. I guess I remain unconvinced that bikes are the worst offenders, but I do take your experience and opinion on board.