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":  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:  Fat bike on groomed trail. ©Vila, WI For a good section of the country, winter time brings out the hardiest of the hardy: winter bikers. It takes a special type of person to ride their bike in the winter. But it also takes special work to make the trails fun for riders. That special work is known as grooming.
Grooming for winter use is becoming more regular and normal across the snowy north, but still can fall into the “black art” territory. Why groom? What types of grooming are there?  Let's make sure these two can make a better trail proposal “Be a team player.” You probably have heard that phrase from the first years of your schooling. It’s almost always used in conjunction with the idea that doing a project or activity with others will produce a better result. Whether that is always true is debatable.
But the one area where collaboration can produce positive results is in the field of urban mountain biking public meetings and in trail layout. And there is one method that manages to take both those disparate parts of the process and combine them. That method is known as Collaborative Ecological Layout. Why should we consider this method? What is Collaborative Ecological Layout? How does it solve many of the issues common to mountain biking trail proposals in urban areas?  Signs and symbols are a specific part of graphic arts, called iconography. Merriam-Webster defines iconography as:
Trails, just like any other infrastructure conveying human beings, need signage of some kind to help direct users and get them to be aware of various realities on the trail. But bad signage can be as bad (or worse sometimes) then no signage. So how can a trail system do trail signage right? What can help direct users without overloading them? 
Much thanks to Matthew B. of the San Francisco Urban Riders for helping to fill out some great riding locations in and around San Francisco, CA to add to the Trails Inventory.
Much thanks to Matthew for the additional information. If you have a trail system or mountain biking park you think should be included, let us know about it and we will add it. Because every update needs an accompanying song, I think we only have one choice, Jude Garland singing "San Francisco". Yeah, a bit of stereotype there, but as stereotypes go, a pretty harmless one.  Sometimes, life gives you lemons. Sometimes, it backs a truck up to your front door and dumps lemons till your house bursts.
CityMTB is not dead, it just took a back seat for a bit. New content (and some spicey takes) starting Monday. |
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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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