UK Mountain Biking’s Dirty Secret

Opinion

by ago 0

As you might already know, we had some disappointing news recently. The Welsh government looked like it was about to follow Scotland in opening up access to its amazing countryside for many more potential users. But then it quietly buried any proposals for reform. It’s not known for sure what caused them to get cold feet – some people have assumed that they caved in under strong opposition from pressure groups, while others have pointed to the general post-EU referendum uncertainty that seems to have gripped many branches of government. This isn’t the first time that moves have started to reform Welsh access, only to be quietly dropped. We do know that the government’s consultation generated one of the largest responses ever, mostly from mountain bikers, so I’m going to assume that the problem wasn’t cyclists being shouted down. It’s that many people (including the Welsh government) simply don’t understand why the current rights of way system is bad for anyone on two wheels. The nightclub metaphor For anyone not familiar with the land access...
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