Mountain Bikes in the Wilderness, yay or nay?

When fat-tire bikes were growing in popularity in the early 1980s, mountain bikers by and large had little problem with the fact that their favorite activity was taboo in established federally designated Wilderness Areas. After all, cyclists in general have a strong environmental ethic, and a lot of mountain bikers were (and are) also hikers and backpackers. But that same attitude does not always prevail today, especially when we’re talking about the creation of new Wilderness Areas. Mountain biking has been around for 30 years now, and in many instances proposed new Wilderness additions hold trails that have become “traditional” routes for a lot of riders.

On March 30, President Obama signed into law the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. The law designates, among other things, 52 new Wilderness Areas and adds acreage to 26 existing ones, for a total addition to the wilderness system of more than two million acres. The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) says the legislation is “largely positive for the mountain biking community. IMBA and local riders were directly involved in negotiations concerning individual bills that directly affect mountain biking. In most cases, mountain bikers’ proactive approach preserved traditional singletrack experiences. However, important singletrack was lost in two states [West Virginia and California].”

And the story isn’t over yet. For instance, IMBA says mountain bikers in Montana stand to lose 1,000 miles of the best trails in the state if certain roadless areas are designated as official Wilderness Areas. “Wild Bill” Schneider, the outdoors columnist for the Montana-based NewWest.net, has some interesting things to say on the subject. He throws out the idea of wilderness and hiking groups banding together with mountain biking interests to endorse a new “Wilderness Lite” option—areas that would be closed to motorized travel but open to mountain bikes, in addition to hikers and horses and other stock.

What’s your take on this controversial topic?

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Biking Without Borders is written by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling’s field editor. It appears weekly, highlighting a little bit of this or a little bit of that--just about anything, as long as it’s related to traveling by bicycle.