IMBA President responds to Mountain Bike criticism
IMBA Trail News
Volume 11, Number 5
November 1998
By Ashley Korenblat
In the November issue of Mountain Bike magaine, Dan Koeppel raised some important questions about mountain bike advocacy. He was concerned that IMBA represents too few riders; that IMBA members are against racing and the thrills of fast, technical riding; and that IMBA is not creative or aggressive enough in fighting to keep trails open. He offered two alternatives - join a more radical organization with motorcycle folks, or screw the rules and just go ride.
We're always discussing tactics and strategies and we welcome new ideas and constructive criticism. After the shock, what struck us most was that we must not be doing a very good job of getting out information about what's going on at IMBA. We thought and talked a lot about Dan's column. President Ashley Korenblat wrote the official response to Mountain Bike, reprinted here. What really encouraged us was the response from the cycling activist community. The IMBA listserve of national advocates was blazing. Here is a sampling of some of the comments.
"So, does that skirt cover all of your tattoos?"
A hiker approached me with this question after the monthly meeting of the Metropolitan District Commission. I'd been attending these meetings for more than a year in an effort to save some of the best singletrack on public land in the Boston area.
The hiker's assumption was that all mountain bikers have tattoos, and that I must be carefully hiding mine during these access meetings. My response to him was, "Does it matter?" The interchange is a glance into the world of mountain bike advocacy, where mountain bike advocates around the country find themselves in all kinds of situations in their efforts to maintain and increase mountain bike access to public lands.
And while my exchange with the hiker is a better part of the anecdote, the most important part of that little story is the year of meetings. That's what will open trails (and minds). Substance over flash. It's always that way in advocacy, something that disappoints Dan Koeppel, who criticized the International Mountain Bicycling Association in his "Hug the Bunny" column in the November '98 Mountain Bike.
Dan expresses concern that IMBA is "tepid." He worries that IMBA members don't really understand the true thrills of off-road riding-at speed. Dan is worried that the right to shred is not being protected. Perhaps we should skip these meetings altogether and just go riding, he says. Simply setting the shredding precedent might be more effective. Dan is not alone in these concerns. He represents those mountain bikers who don't really know what IMBA does, or how we do it.
Mountain bikers pay taxes, right? And public land belongs to everyone, so why shouldn't we be able to ride wherever we want?
Public land does belong to everyone, but everyone has a different idea of how it should be used. A land manager's job is to balance the competing interests of the public. These interests include not just recreational uses but resource extraction, habitat protection and pure conservation. Mountain bikers need to be at the table when land managers make these decisions, or we'll be left out. It's that simple. That's where policy is made-not at the high-publicity protests Dan would like to see. And the mountain bikers who have been there for those decisions are members of IMBA and its affiliated clubs.
IMBA and all its affiliated clubs are made up of people who are passionate about the sport and do, by the way, like to ride fast. But more than riding fast, what unites them is that evil chill that comes over you the moment you learn your favorite singletrack may be closed.
The most successful strategy for keeping trails open is to prove the value of our constituency. The mountain bike community has done this through volunteer trail work, mountain bike patrols and increased support for open space. In an era of shrinking budgets and increased recreational demands, land managers need help. IMBA and its affiliated clubs have been there in every possible way. We have been to public hearings to protest budget cuts. We have done trail clean ups. We have gone to endless planning meetings. This work is rarely exciting, and hardly ever cool, but it is valuable and effective.
IMBA's strategy is one of collaboration, not confrontation. Our techniques evolved from the trial-and-error efforts of our member clubs throughout the country and the world. We've rarely been involved in protests. These policies aren't handed down by the board, but are strategies that have evolved through the successful efforts of our local clubs. If you've ridden singletrack in the Santa Monica Mountains of California, the hills of Chicago, the parks of Dallas-Ft. Worth, or dozens of other places, it is because an IMBA club saved those trails with meetings and diplomacy-not protests and cool images.
Dan suggests that IMBA should be more innovative, but I just don't think he has been reading his newsletter. IMBA has two full-time Trail Care Crews traveling throughout North America and Europe. Subaru gave us the cars and our Trail Care Crews are living the dream. They cruise into town, meet with local land managers, work with them to develop new and improved trail building techniques, talk with local riders and clubs, and then they go for a ride.
You should see the Trail Care Crew slide show. The trails they have worked on from coast to coast will make you want to quit your job right now and hit the road-just to have a prayer of riding in all these places before you're 70.
IMBA's agenda also includes a National Park Service initiative. We just opened a new segment of singletrack in the Grand Canyon and projects in other parks are being worked on. Our Hot Spot program focuses resources on problem areas such as Atlanta's urban trails and New Jersey's South Mountain. Our National Mountain Bike Patrol (a joint project with NORBA) is establishing mountain bikers as land stewards-a huge help to overworked, underbudgeted land managers who are overwhelmed by recreational demands. And more exciting still is the possibility of working with land trusts around the country to buy land. While protesting has its allure, there's nothing like owning the trail.
Dan was also wondering if IMBA really represents him. IMBA's membership has tripled in the last year. Individual members and the members of our affiliated clubs total more than 70,000. (That would be 1 in 100 out of 7 million estimated mountain bikers.)
IMBA asks every mountain biker to join IMBA, join your local club, do some trail work and speak up. Use your head as well as your quads. Consider the importance of that moment when you pass someone on the trail. For most people it is their only contact with a real live mountain biker. Use this opportunity to make a favorable impression. Don't give them an excuse to treat mountain bikers as the enemy.
Other trail users need us and we need them, to help protect the green spaces we all care about. There is a balance between the grace and joy and freedom we all feel from gliding through the woods on our bikes, and the responsibility we have to the land. That is what IMBA is all about.
