Trail riding uk

[savage sausage]

My post seems to have ruffled a few feathers ... and what I said has been blown out of proportion somewhat.
I didnt say that I want to ride everywhere at 200mph killing animals and mowing down innocent people with blatant disregard.

I checked out "the green lane crew" as posted by diggs and it seemed ok like they wanted to have a bit of fun not so stuffy....I then read caravan monsters post and looked on BOTH of those trail riding sites checked out LARF and TRF.

And I was commenting that the TRF seem to be a bit stuffy and had a voluntary 25mph speed limit that seemed well a tad boring.

NOT that I want to ride everywhere flat out in sixth wheeling and pulling endo's......maybe that I'd like to open the throttle a bit with a bit of fast riding 50mph perhaps on some fast flowing hard packed terrain if the conditions are right.

I like the fact my bike is a 2 stroke, I like the noise they make when they hit the powerband...But I dont intend to pass by horses or people having a stroll with the throttle pinned back to the stop trying to deafen or scare them, if we all rode electric bikes then it would be a bit dull wouldn't it??

I do have respect for others, im sure some of those trail riding groups are a fine bunch of people and would probably enjoy riding with them.

[Diggs345]

I wouldn't let it worry you mate , I went out with a guide today and there was a trf member with him , I was keeping an eye out on the speed just for interest , I'd say a good part of the time we didnt go over 20 , but now and again we reached speeds of 40 plus , but as you said In open areas and not around other trail users , we stopped to let horses past and slowed down for others , I'd say the important thing was we didn't stray from the legal trails .
I asked the trf member what the trf groups were like and his words were they are mostly anoraks lol , everyone will have his own idea how things shoul be done , my thinking is just ride safe and have respect for others .

[savage sausage]

Originally Posted by Diggs345

I wouldn't let it worry you mate , I went out with a guide today and there was a trf member with him , I was keeping an eye out on the speed just for interest , I'd say a good part of the time we didnt go over 20 , but now and again we reached speeds of 40 plus , but as you said In open areas and not around other trail users , we stopped to let horses past and slowed down for others , I'd say the important thing was we didn't stray from the legal trails .
I asked the trf member what the trf groups were like and his words were they are mostly anoraks lol , everyone will have his own idea how things shoul be done , my thinking is just ride safe and have respect for others .

I think that you got what I was trying to say fella...sounds like you had fun today riding your gasser without being an 'anorak'

[Diggs345]

Originally Posted by savage sausage

I think that you got what I was trying to say fella...sounds like you had fun today riding your gasser without being an 'anorak'

too true mate , and the best part is we never upset anyone, the will be some vidio links in the video section too look at

[Caravan Monster]

I'll be a proper anarok, and give this thread some historical context:

As motorcycle ownership declined from the 1960's, green laning on motorbikes (often the rider's only form of transport) became a very minority pass time. There were so few people doing it, that no one took much notice. Roll on to the late 1990's, and a more affluent society with money to spend on things like dirtbikes for entirely recreational purposes. People were able to learn about greenlaning from magazines like TBM and then the internet and a booming industry grew up around road legal dirtbikes.

Trouble was, it became a victim of it's own success...

Combine the increased number of bikes on the trail, with the 'move to the country' people who moved from the suburbs to the villages with very fixed ideas about their concept of 'the countryside' being somewhere silent, where you will never see other people, and the scene was set for conflict. Add to that NIMBYism and the particularly British psychosis about property prices, and the end result was inevitable.

Now we are faced with a wide variety of interest groups who want to put an end to not just greenlaning, but also enduro, mx and trials events for perceived reasons of economic self interest, but mostly because they don't like to see or hear other people on bikes in 'their' countryside. Their friends in government closed a large proportion of the greenlane network to us a few years ago, and have also been trying to change planning law to make it virtually impossible to hold motorsport events on farmland.

The various groups that represent the interests of motorcyclists have been fighting long and hard to keep things as they are. The TRF is largely reliant on volunteers who freely give their time and expertise to sit through endless council planning meetings, court cases and so on, to stop the greenlanes from being closed to us. So yes, their website is a bit dull because it is largely concerned with the boring stuff that is part of the bigger picture of keeping greenlaning going.

I just want to go riding too, but without groups like the TRF, there wouldn't be any lanes left to ride. Hence the exasperated reaction to another 'f@ck that, I'll do what I want when I want' approach that ignores the bigger picture. For the record, I'm all for wheelies and stoppies aplenty, but my suggestion would be to think before doing and try not to wind up other people.

[Diggs345]

I think he said that with a bit of tounge in cheak , well thats the way i read it anyway .
I think for the most part most of the people are ok with you trail riding , we never had any problems in the peaks at the weekend , there was one group who turned their nose up at us and gave use dirty looks , we drove past them slowly and said thank you.
The groups you are talking about trying to stop our sports will never be swayed , and i think they are nothing but hypocrits , you only have to look at all the errosion and damage that was caused to the hills in the lake district where no motorised transport go.
And was it not the ramblers who illigally tresspassed on peoples land to begin with, my uncle has a farm in suffolk and he hates ramblers .... On the other hand he lets the local motorcycle club use his land several times a year for motox and enduro.
So no im not going to please everyone , but ill ride safely around others, have respect for all users and above all be legal .