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^wot he said
philxx1975 - Member
Which is awesome if your such a dumb ass you cant actually decide if its banging it down, has been banging it down, or Noahs ark is in attendance due to floods, that it might be stupid to go out on a bike in the peak
It's never stupid to go out on a bike in the Peak, there are stupid places to ride depending upon the prevailing conditions and, perhaps, a decision to made as to whether some form of jacket is in order, but otherwise it's just the weather.
"There's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong type of clothes"
"There's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong type of [s]clothes[/s] tyres"
FTFY
To answer the original question - yes I would happily pay a small % of bike/frame cost as a 'Trail Tax'.
I think mountain biking still has a lot to learn from other organised advocacy groups such as the BMC, but the likes of CTC are doing good work.
I'm conscious that 'payment' often lends itself to a sense of entitlement and I wouldn't want non-payment to be a 'barrier to entry' but that's just down to education:
Many people [thankfully] contribute to MRTs and the RNLI etc not expecting to get 'their money's worth' themselves but in order to help others in their hour of need. I'm not sure if this altruism extends to funding trails, but I'd like to think that the examples set by Lady Cannings could be extended elsewhere.
I would happily pay to ride, be really good to have (for example) a Tweed Valley organisation similar to something like SORCA (Squamish off road cycling association) that I could donate to.
I am less happy about paying parking so the forestry commission can never maintain anything* and build houses over existing trails.
*(Don't exactly know the relationship between the Forestry Commission and GT Trail Fairys so I may be being unfair?)
I always drop a couple of quid in the collection tin at Comrie, as the amount of trails they build there would suggest that's exactly where it goes.
I'd gladly pay an annual rod licence type fee to go toward trail maintenance/construction.