 This article is a lot longer than the average article. This is due to the number of quotations contained within. Its well worth the read and important for those wanting to create urban mountain biking experiences. -- City MTB On the About page for City MTB this description is given under the “What we promote” tab: We can do this while talking to our fellow citizens and finding how to make the best thing we can for everyone, even if we don't understand or agree with the activities those persons might enjoy. Instead of thinking of that other user group as "those people", why not listen to them and use their concerns and opinions as a way to make your activity of choice that much better? The fact is, however, there is a group of very dedicated people across the United States that view mountain biking as the devil and mountain bikers as “those people”. It’s easy to dismiss them as Hateful Old Hikers. These kinds of blanket dismissive attitudes aren’t respectful, nor are they helpful. It also shows a real lack of wisdom to dismiss statements because of the person making the statements. A broken clock is right twice a day after all. Let’s not fall into the trap that many anti-mountain bikers find themselves: hating the activity so much they dismiss facts that destroy their arguments. We should have the wisdom to think critically about ourselves. We need to understand and process people’s concerns. That may mean we work to change a proposal or find a solution to a problem they have highlighted.  An artists depiction of what some believe mountain bike will cause. There is a bit of defensive strategy to this too. Anti-mountain bikers will be talking to local officials and writing op-eds in the local paper saying a Hellmouth will open if mountain biking comes to a local park. If you can’t show with facts that the ground won’t split open and imps and demons won’t come skipping out, you are ceding the conversation to the antis. So instead of waiting for your local anti group to get in front of the town council with garlic and holy water, use your proposal to the town council for urban mountain biking trails as a way to strangle their arguments in the crib. To know what the arguments are, of course, will require you to read, digest and understand anti-mountain biking arguments and what lessons can be learned. This entire article will be built around examining an argument, disassembling it and learning the lesson that will allow you to make your proposal better. The discussion will be broken up by subject matter. You will need to know three things:
|
Knobbies in the Neighborhood cross country use iconography
|
Knobbies in the Neighborhood all mountain use iconography
|
Knobbies in the Neighborhood downhill use iconography
|
Use examples to help make your case
Mr. Miller makes statements that seem concrete, as if the state of urban mountain biking is just so. Here are some examples:
Ride to your Ride is good, in concept. Mountain bikers want more sites and trails to satisfy their goal of riding to their ride, and to disperse load. This is an ideal (fantasy) not attainable in practice, or at least is not shown with data matching potential sites, population, and demographics.
Or this:
MTBiking can be done in urban areas like Boulder, Colorado with different soil on nearby blank hillsides, or places in Portland that have a good run that's not dedicated to protect wildlife and water resources.
And this one:
Mountain Biking, by definition requires the elevation drop provided by hillsides. Portland hills are mostly covered with houses and streets, with streams under-grounded. The steepest hillsides have been left undeveloped, carved by natural streams. A few of those hillsides have been protected against development. The question for many is whether these native hillsides should be carved up by downhill runs for wheels.
There is a lot going on in these statements. But the basic gist of each is the same: we can’t do it here because we need very special circumstances. That can be a compelling argument if the target audience doesn’t know better. It’s likely that elected officials know so little about urban mountain biking that they too might believe that it requires something special they don’t have. Google and other search engines are no help, dominated by the ramblings of the small number of anti-mountain biking propagandists. The advertising world certainly doesn’t help the perception of mountain biking, choosing to create ads and videos filled with very damaging optics that look nothing like what real mountain biking looks like.
The only way to show that “alternative facts” are flat out falsehoods is to call upon examples.
If you can show that ride to your ride is a real thing and works in cities of all types, that disarms that argument. If you can show that plenty of other cities have urban mountain biking that aren’t Boulder, CO, that begs the question of why Portland (in this case) is so different. If you can show that mountain biking takes place on lands with less elevation change than Mr. Miller’s driveway than that is a great example of the normal-ness of creating fun mountain biking trails in all types of terrain. If you can show trails in terrain steeper than River View that have successfully shared between user groups, you have disarmed the very idea that only in special circumstances does sharing work.
The only way to show that “alternative facts” are flat out falsehoods is to call upon examples.
If you can show that ride to your ride is a real thing and works in cities of all types, that disarms that argument. If you can show that plenty of other cities have urban mountain biking that aren’t Boulder, CO, that begs the question of why Portland (in this case) is so different. If you can show that mountain biking takes place on lands with less elevation change than Mr. Miller’s driveway than that is a great example of the normal-ness of creating fun mountain biking trails in all types of terrain. If you can show trails in terrain steeper than River View that have successfully shared between user groups, you have disarmed the very idea that only in special circumstances does sharing work.
Lesson
You need to have examples. A lot of them. And you to need spell out what the example is, where it’s from and why you think it should apply to your area. Saying something like, "We want to build something like XYZ has," tells your audience nothing, other than XYZ has something you like. What about that place is unique? How does it apply here? What does the city need to do to make something like that? It’s likely there will not be an example that perfectly fits your intended location. For instance, you might need to choose one example of trail design, one for user management, another for funding and still another for long term maintenance. This need for multiple examples is a good thing, not a negative one. Why? With each example you not only give concrete information, you build the case that urban mountain biking is not something that requires unique and special circumstances.
Perception is reality
Of course, it’s all giant conspiracy as Mr. Miller has discovered:
An MTB parts supplier has offered to bankroll building and maintaining all trails in RVNA. Will we allow a commercial sponsor to freely use this public space? Organized groups of MTBs are standing by, eager to build new trails, free of charge. What will City Council do when banned MTBs storm City Hall en masse on January 14th demanding access on the day of the Hearing for the RVNA Management Plan? Will Portland let MTBs and their commercial interests dig up our natural areas?
And:
Beware of the Mountain Biking Industrial Complex… the mountain bike industry and culture has mobilized and is being very aggressive pushing this through locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. The Public is not so vigilant.
The Public is concerned that private sponsorship is creeping into city programs under budgetary stress:
• Corporations are offering to convert public property into purpose-built playgrounds.
• At a River View Natural Area [RVNA] Management Plan open house, an mountain bike parts wholesaler offered to bankroll the construction and maintenance of all trails in RVNA!
• Some staff and land managers are mountain bikers. Without policy-level protections, staff actions (in offices and in the field) may be influenced by their riding and digging friends. For example, a trail manager suddenly left the parks department after being caught leading unauthorized mountain bike trail work in RVNA.
• Portland Public Schools is establishing sport clubs for mountain biking, with industry sponsorship. These mountain bike teams do not need to shred our protected natural areas, or Forest Park.
It’s likely we all wish the "mountain biking industrial complex" was half as powerful as Mr. Miller believes it is. Then we might get some things done around here!
While we can have an interesting discussion on hypocrisy and how a collection of fellow mountain bikers in a town suddenly become “lobbyists” but a collection of other users is not, the fact is that perception is reality. If your neighbors or your local officials perceive that you are acting in the interests of corporate masters, that becomes their truth.
Corporations are legal entities that exist for the management of various activities. There is a real debate on how much power they should have in governmental and personal affairs, we shouldn’t pretend otherwise. But the fact of the matter is that corporations are necessary to organize and perform functions as a collective. (Your church, club or local co-op grocery are all structured as some form of a corporation.) Mr. Miller would likely not be upset if Merrell boots wanted to pay for hiking only trails in River View. It’s in Merrell’s interests and it would align with Mr. Miller’s interests. There would be nothing wrong with the Collins View neighborhood taking Merrell’s money to restore River View for the benefit of the public if that aligns their respective interests and the land owners. Just as there is nothing wrong with taking corporate money as a mountain biking club to build or restore trails for the benefit of the public and the land manager. But before you do so, you might want to think about how that will be perceived and if the corporation in question would appear to be interfering with the policies of the land manager.
This “perception is reality” can also occur with the images used to promote the trail proposal. For photos of trails, it’s important to look at the message that others see in those images. Do they show a bunch of young “white” dudes? If you are wanting to propose trails in a natural area, Red Bull ads aren’t the photos you want to use as it will only be the types of mountain biking that are passive use that can go in those properties.
But what if the perception isn’t wrong? In a discussion between Mr. Miller and another Collins View neighbor, Ms. Alexandra P. Clarke, who runs a Facebook page entitled River View Natural Area Conservation Project, there was a discussion on the race, age and perceived income of the persons who have spearheaded mountain biking in and around Portland. (See photo gallery below.) There are likely three reasons for this:
While we can have an interesting discussion on hypocrisy and how a collection of fellow mountain bikers in a town suddenly become “lobbyists” but a collection of other users is not, the fact is that perception is reality. If your neighbors or your local officials perceive that you are acting in the interests of corporate masters, that becomes their truth.
Corporations are legal entities that exist for the management of various activities. There is a real debate on how much power they should have in governmental and personal affairs, we shouldn’t pretend otherwise. But the fact of the matter is that corporations are necessary to organize and perform functions as a collective. (Your church, club or local co-op grocery are all structured as some form of a corporation.) Mr. Miller would likely not be upset if Merrell boots wanted to pay for hiking only trails in River View. It’s in Merrell’s interests and it would align with Mr. Miller’s interests. There would be nothing wrong with the Collins View neighborhood taking Merrell’s money to restore River View for the benefit of the public if that aligns their respective interests and the land owners. Just as there is nothing wrong with taking corporate money as a mountain biking club to build or restore trails for the benefit of the public and the land manager. But before you do so, you might want to think about how that will be perceived and if the corporation in question would appear to be interfering with the policies of the land manager.
This “perception is reality” can also occur with the images used to promote the trail proposal. For photos of trails, it’s important to look at the message that others see in those images. Do they show a bunch of young “white” dudes? If you are wanting to propose trails in a natural area, Red Bull ads aren’t the photos you want to use as it will only be the types of mountain biking that are passive use that can go in those properties.
But what if the perception isn’t wrong? In a discussion between Mr. Miller and another Collins View neighbor, Ms. Alexandra P. Clarke, who runs a Facebook page entitled River View Natural Area Conservation Project, there was a discussion on the race, age and perceived income of the persons who have spearheaded mountain biking in and around Portland. (See photo gallery below.) There are likely three reasons for this:
- Portland, and Oregon as a state, has had a… let’s call it… troubled history in regard to racial integration.
- Portland’s neighborhood associations have long been on the front lines of red lining. While that practice is largely in the past, the result has been that most of the nature based experiences are in the parts of town that have been historically “white”. It should be noted that many of the natural areas in Portland are roughly based on the original Olmsted park plan for Portland. However, please remember, that for what ever their positives, the Olmsted's worked hand-in-glove with segregationists.
- Portland’s long-standing animosity toward urban mountain biking self-sorted mountain bikers into the types people who were financially able, with fewer attachments at home and who were motivated enough to drive the distances required (i.e. “white” males, ages 20-50, with decent incomes).
|
|
|
|
While all of the above may be true, the bikers of Portland may not be off the hook totally on this one. Even a cursory search of cycling outreach in various cities shows Portland to be less than proactive in reaching out to persons of non-Euro-North Asian heritages. That, combined with the factors above, may create a feedback loop where the people who do a thing look the same because they live near natural areas or make enough money to drive to them. Then those people tended to only think about people like themselves when doing outreach for that thing.
Lesson
Think of the perception you are creating. Before you make a decision, think about the optics to the public (who don't know much about mountain biking) or the skeptics (who hate mountain biking). When it comes to financing the work to create urban trails, maybe look for non-corporate and non-business funding sources first. Work with local entities that might have a vested interest in your proposals make sure they are on board with the messaging and don’t say something stupid (“If the city does this, my company will pay for it”). Look at the images, social media posts and way your club comes across. Do you defend or promote illegal riding or trail building? Do you share videos and photos that show skidding and other trail and environment damaging activities? Are the images you are displaying to the world look like a group of people who would care about a natural area? Do your images show the full rainbow of humanity or is everyone same shade? What about your mountain biking club? What backgrounds and heritages do you have? Do you all make about the same money? Are most of you the same sex/gender? If so, maybe some more robust outreach is needed.
In conclusion
As mountain bikers, and ones interested in urban mountain biking, we should be happy with the amount of work we have put into building a positive history for ourselves. Those opposed to mountain biking must misrepresent, obscure, use the Chewbacca defense, rely on FUD and often, flat out lie to create any sort of negative narrative. But as recent events in the United States have shown, we are dangerously close to living in a post-fact world.
“Mountain biking wrecks natural areas,” like a lot of post-fact statements, fits on a bumper sticker. You could try fighting that one after it gets said. Or you could think of ways to remove its power before its said. Thinking ahead and formulating how to make the facts of urban mountain biking accessible will do far more than dueling op-eds in the local paper. Take the lessons mentioned above and apply them to your work making urban mountain biking trails. Next time you go online, instead of rolling your eyes at an anti-mountain biking scree, look at it and ask yourself, “Could I use this to make my urban mountain biking proposal better?”
“Mountain biking wrecks natural areas,” like a lot of post-fact statements, fits on a bumper sticker. You could try fighting that one after it gets said. Or you could think of ways to remove its power before its said. Thinking ahead and formulating how to make the facts of urban mountain biking accessible will do far more than dueling op-eds in the local paper. Take the lessons mentioned above and apply them to your work making urban mountain biking trails. Next time you go online, instead of rolling your eyes at an anti-mountain biking scree, look at it and ask yourself, “Could I use this to make my urban mountain biking proposal better?”
Author
Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.
Archives
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
Categories
All
Active Use
Anti Mountain Bike
Anti-mountain Bike
Diversity
E-mtbs
Gnomewood
How To
How-to
Kiosk
Local
Memorandum Of Understanding
New Jersey
New York
Off Road Cycling
Passive Use
Questions
Ride To Your Ride
Schedule
Skills Park
Technical Difficulties
Terminology
Urban Mountain Biking
User Management Techniques
RSS Feed
