Sure it’s just an ATV road but this is a precedent setting letter. Wilderness Areas require written permission from the Minister of the Environment for “vehicle” use on specific trails. Unfortunately for us a mountain bike is considered a “vehicle”. This letter opens the door to other to Wilderness Areas in Nova Scotia. Portions of Whopper are in Blue Mountain Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness Area for example. A letter is required for each trail but we can hope the next one will be singletrack…all it takes is volunteers to make it happen.
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I certainly hope we can grant MTB access to Blue Mountain Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness Area without also allowing motorized vehicles. There is really no comparison.
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There is a precedent here it is allowing motorised vehicles in a WPA and it continues the stereotype that bicycles are more a kin to motorcycles than hiking as far as environmental impact. Of course they are going to allow bicycles if they are letting motorised vehicles. Now if this was a hiking trail that was now allowing bicycles I’d be singing a totally different tune.
The thing about this trail is that it’s nothing special, hell every dirt road in the province could be considered a “mountain bike facility” and we’re supposed to be thankful that they built this trail for us, when really bikes were an incidental afterthought. Under this line of thinking every new paved road should be considered a new active transportation corridor as well…wow we are so lucky to have thousands of km of cycling facilities right at our doorstep.
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There have been some interesting debates happening on Pinkbike and NSMB about how ebikes will change and potentially threaten human-powered bike access to certain trail systems. I could see that potentially being a concern around the Blue Mountain area.
While I think ebikes will do a great deal to help keep an aging population (somewhat) active, I’m not sure how I feel about seeing them in Whopper for example.
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I like to keep things simple, an ebike has a motor therefore it is a motorized vehicle. Especially when trying to deal with any level of government or the Tilley hat mafia.
There is a difference between pedal assist and throttle types. Personally I don’t have any issue with pedal assist. Throttles are a definite no go in my books.
Was anyone at this ride? Wondering what the “new” trail is like.
I went, it was a fun ride but basically it is an old road. There were a few spots with lots of small rocks. It was very dry, I was able to bike around the few puddles that there were without getting wet at all. Wouldn’t be quite as dry now though. We went 12km to the t-intersection where the road meets the Old St Margaret’s Bay Road and then turned around. My understanding is that that road is quite a bit wetter.
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