Posted by: AndrewMajor
I hate being the harbinger, but anyone here who hasn't noticed the massive archetypal shift this Spring on Fromme and Seymour isn't riding their bikes enough. Sorry. You can't ride up No Quarter on the weekend without being chased by someone's kitchen appliance at some point - WHIRRRRR WHIRrrrrrrr whirrrrRRRRR.
The cat is out of the bag and it's f***ing everywhere. And the thing about cats f***ing is that they multiply exponentially. And there's nothing that's going to slow down that momentum and no enforceable rule or guideline that's going to make things the way they were even a couple of years ago. Anyone thinking of e-mailing their local trail association who wants to know what they can do about it - they can advocate for uni-directional trails and clear signage before there's a serious accident now that trails like Asian Adonis are two-way-possible for more than a tiny minority of riders. That's it. Sorry again.
"But it's a different activity, they should advocate for their own access," you say. Within less than ten years half the board and builders with the NSMBA, and probably every other trail association - even WORCA - will ride offroad more with electric motor assist then solely under their own steam. Sorry.
Recently, Wade Simmons told me that in ten years half the bikes I regularly see on North Shore trails will be Pedelecs. I think he 's wrong. I think it'll be five years. There is a dam holding back purchases right now as the joiners wait for Pedelecs to be mainstream enough. And as my friend Alex says, "taking the easy way out has always been mainstream." The Dam breaks this year. More sorries.
Right now you have friends who are walking back all the venom they've ever spewed about Pedelecs. The machines are already accepted for commuting and all the Armageddon and catastrophe predicted hasn't really occurred (just endless anecdotes about assholes riding way too fast on shared resources). We're well beyond the early adoption stage with mountain Pedelecs and people are buying them right now who were looking to join a lynch mob last year. Yes, Dave Norona called it - wrap your head around that. Yeah, sorry.
North Shore shops will sell 100+ offroad Pedelecs this year. Next year it will be thrice that at least. Being an asshole to one person on a Pedelec is like killing one spider in your kitchen. It would probably be better for everyone if you just let it go. If not this year, then definitely next year, every time you walk into a local shop there'll be a 50/50 chance that someone who works there will bring up Pedelecs unsolicited. Sorry.
It's not doom-and-gloom, it's the reality. You can quit and do something else with all the free time and money you'll suddenly have. You can join and be one in a sea of e~mea culpas. Or, you can just keep pedaling your person-powered-bike in the woods with or without your like-minded friends. Sorry.
If you can't stop thinking about it on the trails then I'd recommend single speeding and harder tech-gnar descents. There's no capacity for bicycle philosophizing when you're eating your own lungs climbing No Quarter and trying to survive down Boundary...
Sorry,
Well said Andrew. Just like all new technologies, e-bikes are only going to become more popular as they become cheaper and lighter. Being an asshole to somebody riding on the trail isn't gonna change anything. Just ride your bike of choice and STFU. If and when the land managers come up with a policy about e-bikes on public trails, then you can refer to that policy if they are not complying with it. It bugs me for a few seconds when someone passes me on their e-bike, and then I return to my own little world, and carry on with hauling my sorry ass up the trail. I still ride a human powered bike, but the time will come (in 5 years at age 60 perhaps) when it just makes sense to make the switch. Lecture me then and all you'll get is me riding away with middle finger held high.
