Does this mean new Strava segments need to be created for “mountain bike” (and “gravel bike”) activities?

Doesnt look like it. Same segments are still showing.

Doesnt look like it. Same segments are still showing.

Good for the off-roading aspect which a vast majority of such bike rides will be, shame for any tarmac rides, as it would exclude riders correctly tagging their ride as a road bike ride. 😉

No, they still come under the general cycling activity, only ebike segments are different as before.

Must admit I Strava and ride lots of paths that are deemed footpaths access laws are daft in this little country I like to think I am leaving a digital bike print to lobby in the future to show usage and that those fps should really be opened up to bikes

This, really – at some point someone may ask for evidence that a particular trail is frequently used by cyclists with a view to upgrading it.

Some of the most interesting, and tricky, single track quickly becomes a ripped straight line once a segment is created.

this happened long before strava and will continue to happen long after strava.

I can’t get excited about strava mtb segment times/KOMs…. when I look at the top times on many of the mtb segments and look at the routes that were actually ridden so many bear no resemblance to the route/shape of the actual segment.

Many off road segemnts anywhere near a road pick up the times of road rides, the same is true of mtb trails running sort of parallel to fire roads.

Mostly meaningless IMO

This thread was started 4 years ago, has anything actually changed in that time? More trails either opened up or shut down because of Strava?

“A bit like Kinder trespass, but trying to keep it a secret, eh?”

We do have a right to be on the land and ride across it, but in this chat there are too many people going on about what they are entitled to do without accepting that they are also responsible for what they do.

The Kinder trespassers wanted the right to access the land responsibly.

If Strava helps to erode the whole twee, pretentious ‘cheeky trails’ ethos, which basically translates to ‘my trails, I’m being naughty, no-one else allowed, especially riders who aren’t local’, then I’m all in favour of it.

Add in the ‘cheeky’ rules which tip-toe around any idea that hey, we might actually have a moral right to ride footpaths, by acting like we’re all naughty little children, sneaking out of school at break time. Shudder.

If Strava means more people ride more, then great. Very few people ime, care if you riding on a footpath these days as long as you do it considerately and, if necessary, take the time to have a friendly chat and explain your thinking.

Here’s a thought, it’s the current rights of way system that’s destroying trails in areas like the Peak, by funnelling the bulk of the bike traffic down a limited number of tracks, which are consequently hammered senseless. YMMV etc.

I like to think I am leaving a digital bike print to lobby in the future to show usage

This is an important point.

Open access laws in E&W prohibit cycling unless there is a pre-existing tradition of access. Things like this can demonstrate that.

Most of what I would ride on OA land down here in SE Wales has been ridden on since MTBs first came about, and probably before.

We can also use it to demonstrate that we have been responsible (if we have been!)

We do have a right to be on the land and ride across it, but in this chat there are too many people going on about what they are entitled to do without accepting that they are also responsible for what they do.

The Kinder trespassers wanted the right to access the land responsibly.

+1

Some people want “open access to the countryside” to ride wherever they like, in the first instance footpaths, other non-ROW paths secondary.

That’s not the same as the right dig every remote hillside into a mini Innerleithen which seems to be the increasingly visible group, and not the “responsible” image the other group would want to portray of access.

Very few people ime, care if you riding on a footpath these days as long as you do it considerately and, if necessary, take the time to have a friendly chat and explain your thinking.

and the ones that do, IME are just as indignant if you actually are on a bridleway.

This thread was started 4 years ago, has anything actually changed in that time? More trails either opened up or shut down because of Strava?

I believe there was something involving Cotic (or at least Cy) that I read about the other day where trails got shut down (they had permission but heatmaps gave them away and led to them being shut down). Can’t remember where I read it, on Insta I think.

We don’t have much of a problem round here as we have loads of little used legal stuff, and hardly any people [Though we did get a bunch of Hipsters on gravel bikes over the Bank holiday, all peering myopically at screens, with not the faintest idea where they actually were]. However one noted You Tuber was recently raving about a strava all day route he was on west off Ludlow that has illegal sections and unwelcoming foresters.
As for riding illegally setting a precedent for upgrades, well I’ve never heard of a successful case, though there must be one or two. This is the sort of Loobby Loo fluff propogated by the clueless CyclingUk. Just because the law allows submissions doesn’t amount to more than a sliver of a chance that a case will be ultimately successful; several decades later. Yes folks it takes that long.

As for riding illegally setting a precedent for upgrades, well I’ve never heard of a successful case,

Surely it misses the point.

It’s not just access that you have to show, it has to be unchallenged. If you ride past a sign saying no cycling, or they’ve told some other cyclist to get off the land then you’re on a hiding to nothing.

e.g. where I used to live has a small sign by the entrance saying “this is not a public right or way and there is no intention to designate it as such. Road open 00:01am 26th December- 23:59pm 24th December.” A whole team of private security didn’t turn up to kick people out on Christmas day, but the sign meant you couldn’t ever have claimed to have had ridden you bike there for years and get it turned into a bridleway.

This is well worth a watch

An interesting point has been made in this video. Strava data has been used to represent to the Welsh government that there is more riding the unofficial trails than all the official trials (trail centres put together)

This is being used as a reason to facilitate resistible management of these trails. If cycle tourism is important for Wales the huge size of the unofficial trails is crucial. Plus presumably they were effectively built for free

Not something I have ever thought about. I have been riding illegally ever since I started using Strava 10 years ago and have recorded every ride since that time. Am I going to end up in prison….

I didn’t go into detail. I tend to do that too much. On top of what’s been mentioned if the landowner gives riders permission that disbars the claim too.
I wonder if the new Laws of Trespass have increased any chance of legal action against Strava?

Has Trespass now moved from Civil to Criminal? I thought I’d seen something a few months ago about this possibly happening so it then ramped up the likelihood of actual problems happening.

Strava is great and truly awful in equal measures…useful for finding trails but also the tricky/challenging ones are being modified to be far easier as those that don’t want to take the time to practice and improve are straightening them/removing the technical bits so they can ride ‘them’.

There are far more people riding these days but many of them haven’t spent time around the outdoors as others have so don’t have the same thinking/respect for it – they don’t like a chat about it all and they keep doing what they want as they think they can. There is an education piece desperately needed, but no-one seems to be able to do it effectively and widely enough. At the same time, it is great the more people are accessing the outdoors and on bikes…

Living in the area of Cannock Chase I have thought about this recently. Especially due to forest works in the last few weeks having removed some superb trails. (Those locals will know which ones I’m on about!) But as has been the case since I started riding “off piste” nearly 10 years ago, we lose 3 or 4 so the trail pixies build 5 or 6 more in the next set of woods.

The F.C must know where they all are, they aren’t idiots, they tend to leave the storm damaged trees down on the odd trail. and I imagine some of them use Strava to keep a check on what’s what.

Will it stop me and the other 100’s of people doing what we are doing? Not yet….

Anyone know if the specific “mountain bike ride” activity type automatically disregards chair lift climbs like their ski activity apparently does?

Ta.