Guppie wrote:CSGA has bandit trails around those two sandpits. I NEVER use them since riding through 4 inches of sand is part of the challenge in mountain biking. Plus, it helps me train for races. The fastest line is not always the popular line.
Never?! Really? The one and only time I rode out there with you, you went around the sand pit at the end of the first section.
How about that climb near the end of the ski area trail? The one where it eroded away leaving a deep trench and then a couple of years ago a bandit line sprang up on the left side of it. Do you go up the trench still or take the easy way now? On one of the legacy downhill sections at the ski area there is an old line that got chowed up with braking bumps and sand, then people started riding off to the right side where it was smoother. I don't see any tracks on that old sand line anymore, just the new line. At the game area just before the creek on the third section, I always go between the tight trees, almost everyone else I see always goes to the right where it's easier, same thing for that old line past the bridge with all the tree roots right after that.. it's gone now.
I can list several more examples but I think it's interesting to note that the bandits remove more trail challenges than all the trail coordinators combined. We had a log in the middle of a corner at the beginning of the new creek section at the ski area. It took a little bit of skill to ride it but evidently it was too hard for someone. Rather than learn to ride it or contact the TC to discuss it, they removed it. It's frustrating to try to include technical challenges on a trail, have them removed by bandits and then be accused of trying to intentionally make things easier.
Cramer