Behavior on trails in autumn & winter
15 October 2021
Christian
Stories News
Stories News
Dear bike community,
The dark and cold season is approaching and so we thought we might recommend a few rules warmly to you to ensure you’re biking safely and with a good conscience into the next spring.
In fact, there is no nightly driving ban for mountain bikes, but deer, wild boar and small reptiles also need their rest to catch their breath and go searching for food without being disturbed by bikes or hiking boots. So please remember biking in the forest only during daylight! As soon as dusk falls, the forest belongs to itself and its inhabitants. If possible, use only wide gravel trails that are frequently used as animals are most accustomed to spatially predictable disturbances there. For your own safety, avoid trails that pass deer stands or feeding grounds.
Not only in the dark you should protect your pretty heads with a reliable helmet, also biking in the daytime on leaf-covered or even frozen trails is a dangerous undertaking. Unfortunately, our online store does not include helmets, but we would still like to recommend them to you not least to be a role model for others and children... and let's be honest, there is no more excuse for getting too hot under the helmet in autumn and winter. Instead, the helmet protects you from rain, falling branches and mud that splashes when crossing through puddles.
Speaking of puddles, always stay on the trail, even if the puddle seems like an ocean and you don't want to get your new pants soaked, please don't go around it! By driving around puddles or supposedly taking shortcuts, you'll ruin long-won trails with lightning speed. Rather dirty up yourselves properly as a filthy bike stands for real riding fun and is sure to attract envious glances.
The golden autumn attracts, in addition to the common hiker, also leaf pickers as well as mushroom or chestnut hunters to come into the forest. One more reason to meet them with respect and understanding. Here, trail sharing clearly applies, that means respect other trail users just as you would like to be treated, remain friendly, be considerate and get off the bike where necessary and thus earn some credits.
In case you see the garbage of other forest tourists lying around lonely and abandoned, please collect it and give it a worthy end in a dustbin together with your own trash.
Thus, you won’t only be respected by Fridays for Future, but it will also help to improve the reputation of all mountain bikers.
If trails are covered with a thick blanket of snow, we would like you to take special care, as now riding cross-country trails may cost scared forest animals their lives. Shy animals must raise so much energy during their escape that they often die from exhaustion in case of recurrence. Even if snow-free areas or forest borders seem especially attractive to us bikers now, it is important to avoid them as both areas offer precious tidbits to the forest animals.
Conclusion: If you bear in mind our advice you can be sure the autumn and winter ride into the forest will not only strengthen you, but your cooperation will help that our nature will also be able to start invigorated into the next spring.
Author:
Christian
Managing Director. Only active on two wheels for a few years at all, preferably with a gravel bike, with and without motor. Not only since Corona more and more often virtually on the road on Zwift.
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