The ethics of Mountain Biking

Mountain biking is a sport like very few others. You can achieve blazing speeds zig zagging through trees all while being surrounded by nature. This sport helps more people get outdoors that normally wouldn't and connects them to their own back yard. However, is this sport ethical? The bikes disturb the soil when they ride by, often time shooting it back and into the air. The process of making trails involves moving leaves, packing the soil, and sometimes even bringing to soil in to add features the the trail. As we learned in this class and I will practice religiously on the AT this summer is leave no trace. Mountain biking does not follow this idea because it is obvious when there are mountain bike trails around. However, I feel as if the benefits of connecting more people to nature out weight the cost on this instance. So bike on and use leave no trace standards next time you do anything outside.

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