 An informational illustration of an Iron Crossing Your and your local club are scouting locations for future trails to create in your park. However, you have a problem. There is great terrain over here and over there, but between those two areas is a popular regional trail or hiking only trail. How do you cross said trail and not turn the crossing into a source of concern for yourselves, the land manager and (most importantly) the public? The answer: an Iron Crossing.
Look at all the racers! The start line from the Oremageddon in Cuyuna, MN
The day comes when your city has its first trails open for mountain biking at a local park. Its been a lot of work, but the dream is finally realized. But now that you have this resource, can you have events on these trails? If so, how can you? What issues or items should you be aware of?
All this and more will be answered as we discuss mountain biking events at urban parks. 
The Blackhand Gorge in the Blackhand Natural Area.
The state of Ohio's urban trails have been added to the trails inventory.
Much like its Midwest brethren, Ohio is one of those places that has way more and way better mountain biking than people imagine. The geography of Ohio gets pigeonholed as flat, but the southern half of the state is dominated by the Ohio River Valley. Most of the major cities in Ohio are located near rivers and therefore come with elevation changes that create the type of riding Ohio is known for: tight singletrack with punchy climbs. In the last few years, Ohio has been piling on the urban mileage as cities across the state have begun to see the benefits of having an involved user group in their parks. One of the really interesting things about these newer trails is that many are built on some type of post-industrial or abandoned lands. Ohio is firmly in the Rust Belt and many industrial users once had vast amounts of land, now lost to them via bankruptcies and reclaimed by nature. In honor of the adding of Ohio state trails, lets showcase some Ohio locals, The End of the Ocean, and their post-rock instrumental anthem "Redemption": 
What no one wants to see.
While mountain biking isn’t as likely to injure riders as some believe, the fact is, sometimes there are boo-boos on the trail. And some of those boos-boos require the calling of emergency personnel. How can land managers and clubs create a system to benefit those that need to call in emergency services? What systems are the easiest for users and still work for those personnel?
Let’s talk about an Emergency Location Marker (ELM) system. 
Telling your users about these trail conditions shouldn't be hard.
Social media has become a fact of life now. It has inspired positive in the world around us, brought us closer to lost friends and brought a stream of great cat videos. It also has inspired negatives in the world around us, enabling genocides, given rise to fringe politics and letting your parents (or grandparents) to share all sorts of fake news.
The British sitcom The IT Crowd hilariously lampooned social media in a faux commercial for a social media site called “Friendface” from the episode with the same name:
But can social media be a boon for mountain biking clubs and land managers who what to let users know about trail conditions and other trail updates?
Sunrise on a North Dakota Winter
The state of North Dakota's urban trails have been added to the trails inventory.
For a place that gets lots of jokes involving flat land made about it, North Dakota proves you don't need to have much elevation to have urban mountain biking. While clustered in and around rivers and other water bodies where some elevation exists, its there. Some of these trails are unique in the country due to their use of every gopher hole and ridge to maximize elevation. They also tend to be connected directly to city paved paths and sidewalks, making them some best town-to-trail rides in the country. In honor of the adding of North Dakota state trails, lets have showcase some musicians that travel like the wind in North Dakota, namely everywhere, Phish:  City MTB will be spending the next few days in Grand Rapids, MI at the MTB State Summit.
Jointly hosted by three mountain biking organizations: Jersey Off-Road Bicycling Association (JORBA), Vermont Mountain Bike Association (VMBA) and the Michigan Mountain Bike Association (MMBA), the State Summit will bring mountain bikers from all over to learn about making mountain biking stronger and more diverse. We hope to see you there! 
A rock berm at Coller MTB park. © Singletracks
Seth’s Bike Hacks, one of the most popular YouTube channels, recently produced a video about Bentonville, AR and its many trails. It was a great way to spotlight Bentonville, AR and urban mountain biking.
There is a lot to love in the video, if you haven’t seen it yet, watch it below. 
A Siemens-Schuckert D.IV on display. One of best late WW1 fighters, even better than the Fokkers.
Editors Note:
This story has been in outline form for some time. However, it lacked a seemingly complicated (and easy enough) example to access and research. Then a little plane accident happened and it appeared a complicated and fraught enough example had (literally) fallen from the sky. It was quickly added to the article. Outwardly, it seemed like the perfect example: easy to discuss, emotional, but not related to current controversies. Fate is a weird thing. On the day before this article was to be published, here in the United States an horrible and cruel example of Antisemitism tragically cost 11 innocent and beautiful souls their lives. The story was to auto-publish that next evening. Clearly it was held up. The question became whether it would ever be published and if so, in what form. However, in the end, it was decided it should go forward. This article is about complicated subjects. Whether we are talking about urban mountain biking, iconography or the stupidity of bigotry, we should be able to talk about complicated things and do so without others reducing those subjects to a cartoon. So this article is presented in its full, original, form. The best thing we can all do is promote love and acceptance. The second best thing we can do is talk about hard topics, like Antisemitism, with the better angels of our nature. In the spirit of the best of what humanity can be, please take the time to donate to organizations like HIAS because, seriously, those assholes can't be allowed to win. City MTB
A lot of the parts of creating urban mountain biking experiences are hard. Whether it is discussing environmental impacts, trail management, volunteering or funding of trails, a lot of little things can add up. Additionally, some things are subjective to the time, location or usage. In other words, it can get complicated.
So how do we, as advocates, talk about complicated things without confusing or upsetting our audiences? How can we get the context right in the simplest manner possible? Let’s find that out. But first, let’s talk about an airplane crash in California to see how the lesson there can teach us why understanding complicated things is important to what we are trying to do. Let’s also use that understanding to figure out how to talk about the complicated things of mountain biking to an audience. 
The state of North Carolina urban trails have been added to the trails inventory.
If you are regular viewer of Seth's Bike Hacks, you probably know that North Carolina is no slouch in the mountain biking department. What you may not know is that North Carolina is blessed with a decent amount of urban mountain biking too. From the coast to the mountains, North Carolina comes equipment with trails that are everything you wouldn't expect in an urban environment. In honor of adding of North Carolina state trails, we have to have The Carolina Chocolate Drops who, much like urban riding in North Carolina, are an underappreciated gem: |
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Photographs used on City MTB are copyrighted by Aaron Hautala/RedHouseMedia, Hansi Johnson & TouchtheSkyBlue. Used with permission. All photos used on this page that are not contained within a article posting where taken on urban trails with local riders as subjects.
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