CX on MTB trail? Heaven forbid!
03-19-15, 07:16 AM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
CX on MTB trail? Heaven forbid!
Sometimes value systems collide.
In CX riding mud is good.
In MTB riding mud is bad.
...Or maybe with both mud is only good during events and with both maybe mud as a way of life is known to not be sustainable.
When I first started doing CX I wondered how events could be held in parks. Doesn't it trash the place? I did a race on a college campus, around its sports fields. It rained torrentially. And the mud stripe was 10 feet wide and 6" deep. ...How can a place look normal after this, I wondered. I still don't exactly know. But I've done races in parks, seen the mud, then noticed that the mud was gone a week later, so it didn't seem so bad to me.
Then there was the CX Nat'ls this year in Austin, TX, that got delayed and revised due to rain and mud. Apparently stakeholders weren't all on the same page. Doh! Those who ran the park apparently had said OK without knowing about the mud that CX can make.
So... late last fall I was enjoying slipping and sliding my way around our local CX course. Then I joined some friends on a ride around town. We detoured to some singletrack and I was trying to stay upright while slewing around there as well when I suddenly thought Wait a minute! It's after the riding season here! If we leave a mark in the trail then we're not supposed to ride. So we bailed off of the trail.
But it made me wonder. In one place it was fine to slew in the mud but in the other it wasn't. Both are well-used multi-user trails. That is, neither are 'dedicated,' signed for either MTB or CX. The CX course does include both main trail (that hikers and other bikers use) and special side-loops that nobody but CXers and XC skiers (in winter snow) use.
Well, I don't have it sorted out yet, but I sure don't want to mess up anything.
Is there some basic rule to make it easy to keep things straight? Like when is it CX and when is it MTB and what's the diff? Esp in terms of trail erosion, in this case. (I do like pondering the differences generally. Biggest diff I can tell, off the bat, is CX has to be 9 ft wide. But not all CX is done to sanctioned specs, and yet it's still CX.
In CX riding mud is good.
In MTB riding mud is bad.
...Or maybe with both mud is only good during events and with both maybe mud as a way of life is known to not be sustainable.
When I first started doing CX I wondered how events could be held in parks. Doesn't it trash the place? I did a race on a college campus, around its sports fields. It rained torrentially. And the mud stripe was 10 feet wide and 6" deep. ...How can a place look normal after this, I wondered. I still don't exactly know. But I've done races in parks, seen the mud, then noticed that the mud was gone a week later, so it didn't seem so bad to me.
Then there was the CX Nat'ls this year in Austin, TX, that got delayed and revised due to rain and mud. Apparently stakeholders weren't all on the same page. Doh! Those who ran the park apparently had said OK without knowing about the mud that CX can make.
So... late last fall I was enjoying slipping and sliding my way around our local CX course. Then I joined some friends on a ride around town. We detoured to some singletrack and I was trying to stay upright while slewing around there as well when I suddenly thought Wait a minute! It's after the riding season here! If we leave a mark in the trail then we're not supposed to ride. So we bailed off of the trail.
But it made me wonder. In one place it was fine to slew in the mud but in the other it wasn't. Both are well-used multi-user trails. That is, neither are 'dedicated,' signed for either MTB or CX. The CX course does include both main trail (that hikers and other bikers use) and special side-loops that nobody but CXers and XC skiers (in winter snow) use.
Well, I don't have it sorted out yet, but I sure don't want to mess up anything.
Is there some basic rule to make it easy to keep things straight? Like when is it CX and when is it MTB and what's the diff? Esp in terms of trail erosion, in this case. (I do like pondering the differences generally. Biggest diff I can tell, off the bat, is CX has to be 9 ft wide. But not all CX is done to sanctioned specs, and yet it's still CX.
03-19-15, 07:32 AM
#2
Rides Majestic
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Westfield, MA
Posts: 1,357
Bikes: 1983 Univega Gran Turismo, 1970 Schwinn Super Sport, 2001 Univega Modo Vincere, Self-Built Nashbar Touring, 1974 Peugeot U08, 1974 Atala Grand Prix, 1986 Ross Mt. Hood, 80's Maruishi MT-18
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 6 Times
in
5 Posts
All I know is that rutted up MTB trails are dangerous. It irks me when I see quads tearing up the trails this time of year. The ruts that they leave suck your tires into them. It's easy to loose control, especially on the downhill.
03-19-15, 07:48 AM
#3
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Our local MTB group rules are not to ride trails in early spring, or also, I think, late fall. But that's CX season! So we need to stay off the 'real' trails with our CX bikes. I do see the point. And our CX courses are in dedicated areas. So that's where we ride and slide and make mud. But there is some crossover in trails and training. And the values do seem to be a little different.
03-22-15, 02:04 PM
#4
Banned
I think the issue is Erosion.. Here clear cut logging has the effect of Big Mudslides ..one took out a Bunch of houses in WA state a year Ago. Killed a Bunch .
Its March the Pros are back on the road. The CX worlds was a While ago so the Next Season Is fall to january , maybe february
Its March the Pros are back on the road. The CX worlds was a While ago so the Next Season Is fall to january , maybe february
03-25-15, 11:13 PM
#5
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 14,272
Bikes: Yes
Mentioned: 491 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2911 Post(s)
Liked 2,799 Times
in
1,124 Posts
CX races that have a lot of participants pay a fee to use the lands the race is on. The destruction brought on by the race is offset by the fee, which can be used for restoration if necessary.
I think your sense of not riding when the trail is muddy is correct, whether you're on a MTB or a CX bike. It just isn't OK to degrade public trails.
Incidentally, one of the Cross Crusade races is on my route to work, and I've been taking photos over the last five months to get a time lapse sense of how the course recovers if left to nature. This race was on a county fairground lot that has terrible drainage. I haven't put them all together yet, but here is a picture from a few weeks ago -- a little over four months since the race.
Follow the dirt through the bend where there is still a standing pool of water (definitely "still" ... it hasn't been dry since the race) and you can see the sweeping 'S' curve of the course. This recovery is probably worse than most, but you can see that the grass is starting to come back.
I think your sense of not riding when the trail is muddy is correct, whether you're on a MTB or a CX bike. It just isn't OK to degrade public trails.
Incidentally, one of the Cross Crusade races is on my route to work, and I've been taking photos over the last five months to get a time lapse sense of how the course recovers if left to nature. This race was on a county fairground lot that has terrible drainage. I haven't put them all together yet, but here is a picture from a few weeks ago -- a little over four months since the race.
Follow the dirt through the bend where there is still a standing pool of water (definitely "still" ... it hasn't been dry since the race) and you can see the sweeping 'S' curve of the course. This recovery is probably worse than most, but you can see that the grass is starting to come back.
__________________
My Bikes
My Bikes
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
glockenspieler
Texas
1
06-25-14 09:17 PM
dnfcx
Cyclocross and Gravelbiking (Recreational)
16
11-26-10 01:45 AM
