Funny, it seems like we all value singletrack so much more than wide trails, then we get some great singletrack and proceed to widen it...
Take a hike on one of your favorite riding trails and look at it and do a little trail work on your own now and then, instead of waiting for a trail work day. I know, the majority of riders do neither, but I think this forum may be different.
This morning I was at Denk Mtn (La Costa). I'm sick and on meds, so wasn't riding , but meeting friends for coffee after their ride. Started hiking up the trail that dumps onto the sidewalk to meet them, and noticed how a former 18" wide section with a breadloaf or smaller size rock in it was now almost four feet wide from people avoiding the rock. Go-arounds on both sides! Crap, I thought we went there cuz we liked the rocks! No need at all to avoid it going downhill, and just laziness going uphill, cuz it wasn't even steep there. Anyhow, I closed off one go-around but left the other, and did some edging at other parts of the trail where the margins were expanding needlessly. Just asking folks to hold a tighter line, get off their bikes to do a repair once in a while, or even throw in a fix-it hike now and then. Thanks.

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Thus, if we are to understand the world, we should live somewhere between judgement and amazement — Alfredo Lopez Austin

Yeah, I've been noticing it too, especially up top on VDM. I closed off a cut thru(cheater line) on one of the switchbacks.

Amen, OldDog!

This has been one of my pet peeves for a while. On my local drop-in to PQ, Little Waimea, I've been covering up sections of trail with brush and rocks quite a bit this year to get ride of lazy lines that are slowly widening the trail.

And I've been continually working on Shits, trying to block off the short cut lines with rocks and old brush. But they get bulldozed by bikers every few days, sometimes within a few hours. Please, if you see/know anyone that is bombing straight down the revamped switchbacks, tell 'em to use the trail instead. It takes very little skill to shoot straight down it, but requires some handling to float around the corners in the loose stuff. It's a little slower, but it's also twisting, and isn't that what we really want? If you want to bomb straight down stuff, there's tons of steep rutted and rocky fireroads that you can knock yourself out on all over SD.

Those shooting straight down are making us look like fools to the rangers who allowed bikers themselves to revamp the trail in the first place. Yes, it's not ideal, but hopefully it can be cleaned up this winter. What we want is a narrow trail we can both descend AND climb, which I do on the new reroute. But people who short cut it spray the sand and rocks all over the trail, messing up the good lines and making it harder and less fun for everyone.

Keep it narrow!

I will admit that I have been guilty of taking the easier route, but I will also state that I do not bushwhack to find that easier line.

Very good points about the technical sections on certain trails. They are exactly why we ride them. Nonetheless I will make more of an effort to slow it down and take the hard road. If I wanted an easy ride I'd mountain bike on my Wii.

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Team Chode!

Someone riding around a rock doesn't stop you from riding over the rock.

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DFL > DNF

No, it doesn't. And riding on a 10-foot wide road doesn't stop you from threading back and forth on it like it was still the singletrack it used to be, either.

I highly recommend walking trails you love on a bike, especially if you're looking to participate in preservation or maintenance activism. You will see things that other pedestrians cannot understand, but that you don't necessarily notice while riding. Traffic patterns and widening are top among these(as are little pieces of trash from other visitors).

Who among us hasn't swung wide to avoid a mud puddle or pile of steaming dung?

Does this mean we can blame equestrians for widening of trails?

'Cuz horse doo is everywhere!

But seriously, this sounds like a legitimate argument we can counter with when they accuse cyclists of being the main source of damage to trails.

I hope this rain will help. Some of the trail widening is simply from no rain for too long. Anything on the side of the trail is so dry that if it gets hit a couple times it's gone and then dirt.

Now is also the time to get out and hit some of that tread that is still rutted with tire marks from last winter. If we get just moderate rain a hit with a McLeod or shovel can smooth it out for weeks.

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SDMBA Liaison: Sycamore Canyon/Goodan Ranch Open Space Preserves

I'm so guilty of not doing much trail maintenance. I need to take a shovel & hit the Southbay trails.

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