I went on my normal 3 hour plus ride over 65km. There are simply loads of small trails like this all over Port Elizabeth. I ride from my home and have about a 50/50 mix of road and off road, with 90% away from cars. However, it is selfish to have so much choice. Simply put, mountain biking cannot grow unless there are marked trails with interpretive information. This was a lesson we learnt in the 1990's. We have loads of trails, but few use them. Mark one trail and have information available on it, and you suddenly double the amount of mountain bikes being used. As Eco Mtb we tried to communicate this simple fact to bike shops, but, they still continued to focus only on racing. A dedicated core of people (a Stumpjumper Trail Crew) is required to identify trails, design them and publicise them. That's what I did in the past and thats whats needed for the future. We simply have to much choice, but, few riding opportunities for new entrants to the sport. You cannot play rugby without a rugby field and you cannot mountain bike without mountain bike trails. Get the latter right and growth will be explosive. With the trail crew, I can help with that.
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