Same but still different – Advocacy blog

Our cycling advocacy colleagues of the European Cyclist Federation recently published its second Cycling Barometer, a benchmark report which provides a multi dimensional view on cycling in the EU. ECF’s ranking is based on 5 different data sets: road safety, cycling usage, cycling tourism, market size and cycling advocacy. All countries were given points in each category according to their ranks  among the 28 countries. The points were then added to the final result.ECF’s Cycling Barometer[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_responsive”,”fid”:”452″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”style”:”max-width: 680px;”,”width”:”100%”}}]]Like any report, there are some limitations on the analysis but it in general, the report provides a great self assessment tool for national governments and policy makers in the field of mobility, transportation, road safety and tourism. Rankings are always interesting and it’s not that surprising that Denmark and Netherlands are on top of the list again, although the Netherlands lost their number one position to Denmark.  Enough said, what has this to do with mountain biking? Well, it’s interesting to take a look at this ranking and then ask yourself, what if we change cycling for mountain biking? Would we still have the same ranking or would it be totally different? Pretty sure it would look different in many ways.One problem, we haven’t done the exact same study so  it’s not possible to come to a 1 on 1 comparison. The reason we do believe the ranking would be different for mountain biking is based on the preliminary results of a recent MTB access survey. This particular survey  was  executed in collaboration with Peter Zajc of the Slovenian mountain bike consortium odprimopoti.si. Mountain bike advocates from 18 different EU countries have been questioned about legal regulations for mountain bike access in their country, funding schemes for trail development and maintenance, existing strategies for fostering mountain bike development and more.MTB Access index (regulations+strategies+funding) [[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_responsive”,”fid”:”454″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”style”:”max-width: 680px;”,”width”:”100%”}}]]Countries like Denmark and the Netherlands that were on top of the ECF cycling barometer are not as successful in the MTB access index. Same for Germany, Slovenia and Austria . Top 10 ranking in the ECF barometer, at the bottom of the MTB access index.  On the other – positive-  side of the scale, we were not surprised by the number 1 position of Scotland, the first EU country that  adopted a national strategic framework for mountain biking. Newcomer and upcoming market Poland is doing quite well, same as the UK and Czech Republic. Although funding for trail maintenance is a challenge in each country. Of course, there’s a clear need to do a lot more research  and data collection in the field of mountain biking. Still, this small survey gives us a first indication that there’s a lot to win in terms of legal access for mountain biking, lobby for funding schemes and policies that foster mountain biking. What does this mean for us mountain bikers, what do we need to change? We love to play, hang around and eat as much trail as possible but at the same time we need to become mature and work in a more professional way to protect and enhance trail access.  Let’s work on that  transition, be proactive instead of reactive and represent our interest in both the public and private domain. Ask yourself, isn’t strange that a lot of national cycling policies, frameworks or ‘cycling for all’ strategies totally forget about mountain biking. We’re the same (ok, we might look and smell a bit different than a regular cyclist) but treated differently.  Let’s change that paradigm and strive for ‘mountain bike inclusiveness’ in all national cycling strategies!