MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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We have just enjoyed a fantastic weekend of riding at Afan, we stayed at Brynteg if you are asking.
However i was flabbergasted by the amount of litter on the trails. It looked like alot of energy gel wrappers and even a can of monster chucked in the hedge at windy point!
So just a comment, not expecting big things but if you are about to throw away some wrappers or an empty gel bag then please think again, it is not as if there are little pixies roaming the trails to pick up after you-no, they are too busy shaping the ribbons of dirt that we want to ride. We should all act responsibly and take it home with us.
ta.
Couldn't agree more - take it in, pack it out. Simples as they say.
Just think what their homes are like.
i do a spot of sea fishing, you should see the state of some of the places I go to, proper sh!t tips, dreadful.
I hate litter with a passion but 5 weeks ago at Afan I did not notice that much at all. Whereas the verges of the M11 , A14 and A11 between London and Thetford today were awash with plastic junk. Really depresses me how people can be so uncaring about this. Its the perfect job for community service I think or would people drop even more if they thought cons were going to have to pick it up?
Yes, & this applies to "Zak", who also lovingly left his nicely labelled sandwich bag tucked under a rock at the top the 2nd to last run on Cannocks Monkey trail. Little ****wit.
South wales is full of slag heaps, ie. rubbish. Has been for years. However I'm not saying you should add to the problem. I find it a real shame.
i went to whytes level a coupe of weeks back and took 4 innertubes and some wrappers away with me. the inner tubes had been chucked up into the trees!!!
bring it in, leave with it!
I agree and try to pick up a bit of litter after every ride,just as a way of putting something back into the countryside..
totally agree Jedi..bring it in, leave with it!
Its very disheartening knowing it can only be "people" with mountainbikes throwing litter away at trail centres.. 😥
I hope "proper" mountainbikers dont do this.. 😉
Fully agreed I don't understand it at all!
I live locally to Afan Argoed and Glyncorrwg. I too get hacked off with the plastic and other detritus that people discard. I usually stop and collect wrappers etc from the trailside but not always.
The amount of plastic litter beside the main Afan road is shameful.
South wales is full of slag heaps, ie. rubbish. Has been for years. However I'm not saying you should add to the problem. I find it a real shame.
Thats a bit harsh flatfish !! Slag heaps were a by product of coal mining. They wern't ever rubish tips, just the waste that came up with the coal. There's not much coal mined in S.Wales anymore and most slag heaps have been landscaped. The rubbish at trail centres is just an unfortunate consequence of mtb's increased popularity among some of the more chavy elements out there.
Swinley is the same, especially around the Labyrinth. I picked up 2 shopping bags of rubbish back in Jan, and was back there a couple of weeks ago and it was twice as bad.
Completely agree with take it in carry it out, if it carrys on the way it is we might as well just ride at the local tip.
LEAVE NO TRACE
you should see how much crap has been left all over wharncliffe - it's disgusting!
[i]take only photographs
leave only footprints(tyre tracks)
kill nothing but time[/i]
I wasn't trying to be harsh but if were going to talk about slagheaps, why aren't they moved into opencast mines to fill in the holes, bloody big holes, left by man.
I wasn't having a go at Wales(being an english man), I spend a lot of time riding around Wales.
Rubbish/waste really annoys me, whether it be a tube on a trail centre or a paper coffee cup on the side of the motorway.
Would it be controversial of me to suggest trail centres are partly to blame? Riding natural trails, where a degree of self-sufficiency is required, fosters a respect for the countryside that you just don't get in a trail centre.
Or is it just a general lack of respect??
I was at Afan/ Glyncorrwg this weekend and didn't see any litter at all... apart from a deflated helium balloon which had been put under a rock... 😕
apart from a deflated helium balloon which had been put under a rock...
Wondered where that went? 😉
Seriously though there has been fly tipping on a route our club uses for night riding, now it full of broken glass and industrial waste. Makes you think who's put it there?
People who do that are just pigs and shite. 😡
We brought down a bunch of empty glass beer bottles from the shelter at the top of minch moor a while back... "Ok here we are at the summit of innerleithen red, just about to belt down its famous descent... Let's have a couple of pints to celebrate!"
Do the same as 5AM on occasion at Swinley, take a carrier bag out, fill it and pop in bin at Look out, thanks to 5AM and others for also doing this..
Rode Coed y Brenin this weekend and gained two inner tubes on my travels, all good to repair and use again, just don't get it, they even went to the effort to hang them from a tree, should have used that effort to pocket or put in a bag!
perhaps this is democracy in action? Maybe most people [b]like[/b] having crap scattered everywhere as a way of making their mark, and those few who object to it are just unsociable gits ?
Only sign a mountain bike has been anywhere should be the tyre tracks in the mud.
Picked up an empty "Monster Energy" pop can at Hamsterley on Sat, at teh top of the latest red bit, amazing how someone can carry a full tin of fizzy pop up there but can't take an empty can back down. Must'nt be "gnar" or something
Arseholes, still they'll f off and get a corsa when they are 17
[b]SO[/b] heavy....
This is sad, but not impossible for me to imagine. I've only ridden Afan once and it was the worst place I've been for gangs of obnoxious yuppies. All the gear and no idea etc etc.
Don't get me wrong, I despise littering as well, and never do it myself, but it's important to remember that litter is just a more visible manifestation of what we all do with our rubbish. Landfill is nothing more than a hole in ground that we chuck most of our waste into. It's destructive, disgusting and shameful. Maybe litter nags at so many of us because deep down we know how much crap we produce, and how horrible that is?
It's not just trail centres.
I would have expected better of marathon riders, especially those wearing an easily recognisable team jersey.
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/gel-wrapper-droppers-name-shame
There are a lot of people in society who care so little that they'll happily toss litter wherever they fancy.
Unfortunately some of these people visit trail centres & bring their anti-social habits with them.
The more stupid ones probably think a care-taker comes round after closing time with a vacuum cleaner.
take only photographs
leave only footprints(tyre tracks)
kill nothing but time
Take time to deal with your Rubbish
Leave the place tidier
Kill all litterers.
Dropping energy gels and empty drinks bottles at a trail centre - do people think they're on La Tour.?
It also points to a general chaviness/lack of preparedness (after all you don't see camelbaks and tupperwares strewn around the trails.)
MTBing has changed. Its all about marketing/branding/image/selling stuff, rather than a getting out there and being at one with nature.
This brings with it the hordes of rampant, greedy consumers. They enjoy nothing more than emabarking upon an epic ride on their £4k full suspension bikes round the countryside.
Their incredible greed has turned them into overweight, unfit beasts. So the top of every climb is met with a "refuelling stop" where they unload their Camelback full of fizzy stimulation drinks, tescos sandwiches and snickers bars. In their adrenaline fueled eating frenzy, the wrappers are simple forgotton about and a left strewn across our great countryside.
its such a shame
only one piece of litter on my local route yesterday - can of special brew 😯
Never mind all of us saying how bad it is to drop litter. What about some constructive suggestions to solve the problem.
Some have said they pick it up, which is great, but sadly wont deter the ****s that leave it.
Perhaps the centers can put up a big picture right at the start of the trail, it could show the trail with litter on it and tell everyone that leaving litter is stupid. Make it a big sign with a clear picture and a simple clear slogan - make it ****ing obvious and brutal, the message may get through.
Offer a parking refund for anyone who takes a bag round the trail with them and brings it back full of trail litter.
We did a similar thing when I was a dive guide in Egypt - we cleaned up some of the shite from reefs in the Red Sea using volunteers help.
What about some constructive suggestions to solve the problem.
learn to live with the rubbish.
Did you pick any up?
If you didn't you're as bad as the person who dropped it their!
Actually I think we should do more than just pick it up. That dosent stop the problem, it just makes those dropping it even less likely to change since we clean up after them.
Better to educate them / push them / shame them to change their ways.
Alternatively, just ride a bit faster next time then you'll be concentating too much on the trail to notice the rubbish.
Every time I watch the Tour, or some other pro cycling event (outdoor), I wonder who picks up all the sh*t that they throw on the floor. I know spectators will pick up some of the water bottles, but who clears up the gel wrappers etc that they just wazz on the floor with impunity?
I picked up a pocketful of bar and gel wrappers a couple of weeks ago on Whytes. A lot of it was at the top of the first climb (Windy point) so this wasn't stuff that had fallen out of pockets.
As someone said above though - the amount of [s]plastic[/s] all forms of litter beside the main Afan road is shameful - Katie and I commented on it as we drove up. I kind of suspect that's locals rather than visiting mountain bikers.
It annoys me when people throw banana peel. Yes its biodegradable, but it takes 2 months for it to go and its still ****ING littering!
TRAMPS!
i abandoned an innertube once.
the fourth puncture in as many miles, freezing cold and muddy, it had just started raining, my spare tube already done in (x2) and the most recent self adhesive patch sticking to nothing in particular.
i stopped, ripped the tyre off the rim and yanked the tube out and hurled it towards the nearest hedge, swearing lots.
fortunately by the time i had blagged a tube that holds air from my riding buddy and fitted and inflated it, i had calmed down a bit, so i retrieved the tube and stuffed it in my bag.
what you carry in you carry out.
might be time to adjust that slightly so everyone takes home one more piece of rubbish than they take out.
Somebody on here mentioned the marketing and branding that goes with our pastime these days, and I can't but agree. I also have this feeling that the consumption of all these energy cans and so on is done by the younger generation (that seems to have no issues with littering in the first place. I did it once and only got a few paces before returning to pick it up, racked with guilt) I frequently see young kids on "DH Rigs" obviously returning from Wharncliffe, full facer hanging off the bars, walking! And on a relatively flat piece of road. In my grumpy old mans mind, DH is easier if you do some sort of uplift, drinking cans of energy is marketed as the easy way to be strong, and littering is easy if you are lazy of mind as well as body. Kids today!
It annoys me when people throw banana peel. Yes its biodegradable, but it takes 2 months for it to go and its still ****ING littering!TRAMPS!
Where do you stand on tissue paper after a wild one? That takes a while to break down too, maybe even longer than banana skin. Are you suggesting I should crap my shammy instead?
[i]sh1tforbrains -
Did you pick any up?
If you didn't you're as bad as the person who dropped it their! [/i]
sorry, you've lost me on that one. If i go round a trail and take everything i use back with me how does that create litter on the trail ?
tip - it doesn't
Some people are just ....s (or should I say 'humans are just...?)
I went canoeing at a marine reserve near Koh Samui years ago...nice trip around the islands and through caves and tropical untouched islands
<insert sound of vinyl scratching suddenly>
I collected more empty water bottles floating in the sea than I care to remember...bits of polystyrene....all sorts of crap.
I'm guessing it would have ended up in the Pacific rubbish vortex...
[img] 
[/img]
[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch ]Rubbish Vortex Wiki[/url]
mancjon - Member
sh1tforbrains -Did you pick any up?
If you didn't you're as bad as the person who dropped it their!
sorry, you've lost me on that one. If i go round a trail and take everything i use back with me how does that create litter on the trail ?
tip - it doesn't
Because you are actively deciding to leave rubbish on the trail. You had an opportunity NOT to leave rubbish on the trail but YOU chose to leave it there.
Either pick it up or stop boo hoo'ing about it.
[i]Because you are actively deciding to leave rubbish on the trail. You had an opportunity NOT to leave rubbish on the trail but YOU chose to leave it there.[/i]
Hmmm, weird logic IMO. If what you wrote applied to leaving rubbish yourself then i would totally agree. But applying it to someone else's rubbish, i don't see it.
I'm not saying you shouldn't pick it up if you feel that strongly about it but if no one left rubbish in the first place then you wouldn't have to. So to say those who don't leave rubbish but don't pick up others rubbish are just as bad as people who leave rubbish in the first place is just plain nonsense.
Basically it's that line of argument that allows people to create rubbish in the first place ie. it's okay someone else will tidy up after me.
Where do you stand on tissue paper after a wild one? That takes a while to break down too, maybe even longer than banana skin. Are you suggesting I should crap my shammy instead?
Take it with you?
Where do you stand on tissue paper after a wild one? That takes a while to break down too, maybe even longer than banana skin. Are you suggesting I should crap my shammy instead?
Surely put it in a bag then hang it from a tree 😉
Was there today and surpirse after this thread the lack of rubbish - maybe the trails maintenance crew took this thread to heart 😉
I did collected some that I saw & hope other will as well.
Don't need/expect applause for doing this, just annoyed other people are such idiots & leave it there in the first place.
Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time.
Seems strange that people want to get out in the country to enjoy it, then do their little bit to ruin it. A great shame.
Chuck a banana skin into the sea, and it'll take seven years to degrade. It's quicker on land, but you're still looking at a minimum of six months.
Toilet tisse? Set light to it. In the pit you dug for yer poop. Make sure it's out.
I try to pack out more rubbish than I pack in in the form of packaging. Trail centres seem to have more rubbish on them than the stuff I regularly ride in the Surrey Hills - but I'm seeing plenty of gel sachets and the like here, too. Which makes me sad.
i must say, im amazed by how long a banana skin takes to break down.
thats if an animal doesnt eat it, of course.
however, lets put it into perspective, 2 weeks/6 months/ 7 years is still slightly quicker than 10,000 years for the energy gel wrapper/drink bottle.
still makes my piss boil though, i absolutely cant understand it.
flatfish - Member
I wasn't trying to be harsh but if were going to talk about slagheaps, why aren't they moved into opencast mines to fill in the holes, bloody big holes, left by man.
I wasn't having a go at Wales(being an english man),
That's all right because in general it was the English landowners who left the slag heaps there in the first place. And people wonder why the locals are grumpy at Afan! 😉
bent_udder - Member
Chuck a banana skin into the sea, and it'll take seven years to degrade. It's quicker on land, but you're still looking at a minimum of six months.
Or 3-4 weeks depending on where you look for answers. They seem to decompose in my fruit bowl in about 10 minutes flat, though....
It seems quite remarkable that you'd take a banana skin home with you to put it in your compost bin, but this is somehow a problem when you put it out of sight somewhere in a wood.
Agree with take it home with you. I never litter and if i can i will pick up others litter. It seems strange how people can make the effort to take it with them but cant be bothered to take it home, its just plain lazy
Zippy, what is your (bike) helmet colour?
Was there today and someone was riding round with a backpack full of plastic bottles and rubbish. top job. I did manage to pick up one piece they'd left behind though.
We were at Glyncorrwg today, had a flipping fab ride. Didn't find anything to bloody whinge about at all. :-). Edit.oh except those speed control gates, they are bloody annoying!
green, yep my m8 said I looked like a tramp by the end, lots of plastic bottles and inner tube, he refused to fill my pack up any more by the end (it was kinda stuffed).
Ah zippy, you might have been down the whites level descent at the same time as me and my dad? me - white marin, dad - brown on-one?
If it was you looking like the tramp with the plastic bottles you did a fantastic job, trail was looking really tidy today! I normally try and pick up some of the nasty stuff but you went above and beyond.
Yep I think I know who you were, your dad said he's only been doing it 3 months, fair play to him for doing white's.
Was he the guy that had a fall when he came across the guy how had the face plant ([url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/show-us-your-otb-face-plant-pictures/page/2#post-2347928 ]vid[/url]), my m8 said two ppl had crashed (I only saw one), we believe the 2nd after being told to take care round the next bend had put his foot out to come to a stop but not had any ground under his foot...
Oh and if it is, I hope he's ok.
PS: Proof to one & all, I don't just live behind a keyboard!
Seems strange that people want to get out in the country to enjoy it, then do their little bit to ruin it.
I think this could be the problem.
It's not so much people who use their bike to get out in the country, it's people who want to show of their rad gnarly skilz and find having to drive miles and miles out in to the country to do it a bit of an inconvenience.
Make the wrappers edible too, end of problem. Re innertubes in trees, can you keep doing that, saves me a fortune at the bike shop after collecting them
Throwing food litter in the wild encourages more vermin that then prey upon ground nesting birds and smaller rare/endangered mammals. Pack it all out and take an extra piece or two as well is my usual approach.