The Herald-Sun
Mar 9, 2005
DURHAM — If he sees one or two fresh sets of tire tracks on a wet, muddy trail, Stewart Bryan of the Durham-Orange Mountain Bike Organization gets frustrated. Three or four sets and he’s angry.
“Five or more,” Bryan jokes, “and I heat up the branding iron.”
As DOMBO’s trail construction coordinator, Bryan knows that even the best-designed trails are more delicate when wet. Keeping the flow of a well-designed trail depends on riders respecting the trail by taking a minimal-impact approach to their rides.
But recently, conscientious mountain bikers have noticed more and more ruts in the trails. Whether this is due to inexperience or to riders who just aren’t watching the weather, the local mountain bike community is now paying more attention to this issue.
The International Mountain Bike Association recommends waiting at least 24 hours for every inch of rain before hitting your local trails.
But these are just rough guidelines, since drying times might be longer depending on other factors. Freezing temperatures, for example, can extend a trail’s drying time to a week or more.
It’s taken many years of volunteer organizing and thousands of hours in meetings with politicians and land managers for mountain bikers to shake loose the “Mountain Dew” image of the sport’s youth. Repainting our bikes (and ourselves) with mud “reinforces the negative stereotype that we are destructive and unconcerned for the environment,” Bryan said.
That’s why DOMBO is more than a mountain bike club — it’s an environmental organization “dedicated to building and maintaining low-impact sustainable” trails.
Triangle cyclists bent on proving that you don’t need mountains for mountain biking still have to admit that trails in the area don’t have the benefit of steep slopes. As a result, water drains more slowly from local trails than from trails in the western part of the state. Each rut carved into a trail is a pocket where rainwater pools, and every puddle extends the drying time of the trail.
Since fewer than half of the trails in the area are managed by park officials, mountain bikers need to develop their own awareness of trail conditions. If the dirt singletrack is too wet to ride, cyclists can still ride their knobby tires on the gravel trails in Duke Forest or at Umstead State Park.
There’s always asphalt too. Yes, some mountain bikers are also roadies. “Better yet,” says Bryan, “take up another form of recreation like weight training, yoga, or table tennis, and watch [your] riding improve.”
So, the next time you’re tempted to steal a few laps in or soon after a rain and you come out muddy on the other end, remember that you’re sharing this trail with others, including your future self.