Advocacy update

Representing mountain bikers interest to preserve or enhance trail access is a key issue for all national mountain bike advocacy groups.  In this issue you’ll find news and updates  from Germany, the UK and Greece.  GermanyAbout a year ago, Nacona shot the short film ‘Tolerance in the woods’ . The video reached a big audience and  endorsed DIMB’s  online petition against the 2-meter rule in Baden-Württemberg. Despite 58.000 signatures and positive reports from neighboring provinces such as Hesse and Bavaria,  the Baden-Württemberg Parliament ultimately rejected the proposed abolition of the 2-meter rule.So, what has happened over the last year?  Well, in the first place, the outrage of mountain bikers increased. They felt and still feel discriminated by this rule. In addition, the mountain biking community emphasized the wasted potential of Baden-Württemberg as mountain bike region.  Some incidents happened during the summer when a number of mountain bike traps where found in the region around Oberkirch.  Roots manipulated with screws and a strained wire over a trail near Heidelberg caused extremely dangerous situations. Fortunately nobody got hurt but no sign of the perpetrators.Meanwhile, Heiko Mittelstädt (project manager DIMB) has been leading most advocacy efforts last year.  Like many other mountain bikers, he holds a pledge for more tolerance and mutual respect between all recreational user groups. It will simply make  the long outdated regulation redundant.  Against all odds, the state government has been working on some legal designated mountain bike trails. The legalization of a few freeride trails could be seen as some small successes but there’s a downside to the government’s approach too.The Giphel trail in the Black Forest for example. A  test project that failed from the perspective of the mountain bike community. The final trail only contained 10% singletrack, most of  it unattractive and of poor quality. Mountain bikers still had to please themselves with mainly boring forest roads. The overall situation is not sufficient because a bureaucratic monster has been created to gain permission to develop new routes.  Although the results in BaWü aren’t as good as we hoped for, DIMB’s petition did brought some positive changes. The mountain bike community is invited to join meetings, to have an opinion.  Or as Heiko Mittelstädt mentioned  “If the dialogue continues, I am confident” (source www.nacona.de)Trails for Wales Throughout September CTC and Open MTB ran the joint campaign, Trails for Wales, and galvanised support of over 4,000 from the off road community and wider cycling industry into what could be a game changer for off road access.Trails for Wales is the rallying cry for the UK’s leading cycle bodies as they responded to the Welsh Government’s consultation “Improving opportunities to access the outdoors for responsible recreation”, which ran until Friday 2 October. The campaign called for open access to the rights of way network in Wales as enjoyed by Scotland (currently only 21% of Wales’ Rights of Way network is open to cycling), and was led by CTC and Open MTB with support from Welsh and British Cycling.The campaign hopes to follow in the footsteps of the greater access rights that have existed in Scotland since 2003. The economic benefits of increased mountain bike access has seen the Scottish economy benefit by £46.5 million a year, with indirect expenditure of up to £119 million, and the generation of over 1,300 jobs. It is hoped that Wales would enjoy similar success and help pave the way for similar open access rights to be considered in England.The support Trails for Wales received from a wide spectrum of the cycling community – under 18s, off road, mountain bikers, celebrities and top cycling brands – as reported in the press was the greatest engagement the Welsh Government had ever had with the cycling community.The cycling voice has definitely been heard. The team in the Welsh Government responsible for the consultation has confirmed to CTC that on the back of such a high level of response, they will look to engage with CTC and the cycling / mountain biking community as the consultation process continues.[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_responsive”,”fid”:”514″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”style”:”max-width: 680px;”,”width”:”100%”}}]]Greece – regained trail accessDirfis is a  beautiful mountain on Evia, the second largest Greek island in population and size, and a favorite mountain bike spot for many Greece riders.  A few months ago the forestry department decided to ban mountain biking in the the aesthetic  forest of Stenis, a designated Natura 2000 site which lies on the southern slope of mount Dirfys. This mountainous area is characterized by varied slopes, ranging from small to steep ones. Due to some social conflicts between hikers and mountain bikers, the forestry department decided to prohibit mountain biking. To end this impasse, the Greek Mountain Bicycling Association (HMBA) took the initiative to meet the forestry department,  discussed possible solutions and started to manage  mountain biking in a more collaborative way. The first outcomes were positive. The overall ban for mountain bikers is undone and  mountain biking is allowed again except  for hiking trails. The 2nd positive result is the permission to start designing new trails and rebuilt the existing  Big Bear trail and making it more sustainable. Next important step for HMBA is to educate local riders and promote responsible and courteous conduct on shared-use trails.[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_responsive”,”fid”:”515″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”style”:”max-width: 680px;”,”width”:”100%”}}]]