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last night I went out on one of my local loops. On one section, there's a kicker over a stream - well, there was. It was never very good, off the line and as a result was never used - it had washed away to about a 2" high bump. People would go round it and just hop over the stream, making it muddy and wide.
Last night I found some rocks, a bit of old piping and two big slabs and built a tidy little drain and crossing. As a result, you can keep up momentum and it flows more nicely into the next corner.
But what is the rule about changing what is effectively someone else's trail feature? I'm intending to use the slab to build a new kicker down the line
There are no rules....
As a rule id say there was now if you been riding this track for a long time and you can see that no one is looking after it then fair play your making it better and safe. 😀
<tongue in cheek>
Kid in school hollidays; how dare they interfear with other peoples trails making them unrideable for middle aged IT mangers.
Middle aged IT managers; you are a national treasure for spending your valuable time maintaing trails and making them rideable for other middle aged IT managers.
</tonue in cheek>
That's just sensible maintenance.
Only downside I've experienced is that fixing trails led to increased use by people not so keen on maintenance which led to trails being trashed.
So you built a brigde instead of rebuilding and imporving the kicker..
Damn grown ups.
only so you can get a faster run into the next bit....
Changing a trail because you don't ride it - bad
Changing a trail because nobody rides it- good
Knowing the difference- very very difficult.
I don't think there's any rules, I just do what seems right... I cut drains where drains are useful (most of the local downhill guys are hopeless at drainage, sometimes it's easily fixed, sometimes not- beautiful berms that turn into swimming pools then never dry out, and fall apart) I knock things down when they're particularly moronic, sometimes I rebuild things back up to original spec when they're worn. Don't really build new things much except to address an obvious need (like, I added extra stepping stones to a local bog crossing as it had grown wider than the existing ones)
First, do no harm 😉