OP – just out of curiosity, what is your age, biking background, etc? I’m genuinely interested to know because as part of a trails group we want to get people engaged with building sustainable trails that suit their riding without damaging access or causing inadvertent injury to others. The difficulty we have is the appearance of poorly planned or thought out illicit stuff in an area used by MTBs, walkers, horses, kids, etc. (most recent 2 were a 4 ft blind drop onto a busy bridal way and a berm through an ancient SSSI site) and trying to discuss possible options with the makers in a constructive manner (i.e. keep everyone as happy as possible).
I live nowhere near the SE now but have ridden in crowded biking areas over many years (Bristol mainly) with access issues of one sort or another. One of the main gripes that land managers have is the construction of jump/drops/features without their input as they can be unsafe and people may have an accident because their normally familiar trail is suddenly different to how it was yesterday. Another problem is that even if you make world class features others may interpret the appearance of new features as a license to do other stuff. This can lead to some downright dangerous trail modifications happening.
I applaud your desire to get involved and wish more people did but please, particularly in areas with troubled or contentious access, go through the nearest thing there is to an official channel. I know it isn’t quite what you may want but it is the best compromise between getting the trails you want and the risk of having no trails at all.
And while you may not think you have done anything “wrong” or agree with the sentiment or tone of those who have criticized you for your actions I think the abuse you have sent back is rather unwarranted. Engage with them and see if you can understand where they are coming from. They are worried that your actions will jeopardise access by many MTBers to a valuable piece of riding land, and may even have ramifications beyond the immediate area. Calling them chicken for doing so at best shows a lack of care, insight or understanding; at worst it shows a real lack of empathy, total self-absorption or deliberate trolling.
