Getting back to the original post, most "mountain bikers" in my area are really just "dirt pathers" or "roadies on dirt". All they want are smooth trails through the trees. They buy full-suspension bikes, then complain about and dodge around any roots and rocks that might be on the trail. We have but one designated mountain bike trail in our county. Just one! The focus of all the trail work these past few years has been to smooth out the trail and eliminate bumps, roots, rocks, and any technical sections.
The sad truth is, that one trail needs to be smoothed out. I've come to agree with that focus on smoothing for various reasons that I won't bother getting into, but that I agree with and feel are valid. If we're to ever have a technical trail in our county, we need to build one, but there really aren't enough people interested in such a trail. See my preceding paragraph.