The Red Bull Rampage

My wife likes to turn on the Today show in the morning while we have breakfast. The trivia that passes for news is usually only mildly annoying, but one story today set me on fire. Reporter Jenna Wolfe covered the “Red Bull Rampage,” an extreme mountain biking competition in what I suspect used to be a pristine Utah landscape. I am not sure which turns my stomach more: the event itself, or the fact that NBC is glorifying this destructive spectacle.

Here in Colorado Springs I see firsthand the deep gullies and gashes eroded by mountain bikes. While most of the riders are courteous and careful when it comes to sharing trails with pedestrian hikers, the damage done to the soil is appalling. I will still grant them the right to ride on trails in an urban or suburban setting, but to carry out their freewheeling in wilderness (officially designated or not)? No way. I have another solution, which I will discuss later.

Back in the day we used to call extreme sports participants “daredevils.” We could still call them that today, but the emphasis should be on “devil.” We could also call it “wreckreation,” because that is what is happening to the environment in the wake of tire treads, litter, and other negative impacts. Erosion, siltation of streams and other water courses, and destruction of wildlife habitat is what you get out of repeated abuse by trail bikes, motorized or pedaled.

In any event, you are defacing something beautiful. There is no other word to describe this competition except “vandalism.”

Then there is the scenic aspect. What was once something sculpted completely by wind, water, and geologic upheaval is now scarred permanently in the name of “sport.” I find it ironic that this is billed as a dangerous sport, yet people with pick-axes and shovels carve out “routes” for the bikers to use in the Red Bull Rampage. In any event, you are defacing something beautiful. There is no other word to describe this competition except “vandalism.” You might as well ride over the paintings in the Louvre. It is just as disrespectful an act, if not moreso, to scribble permanent tracks over a landscape eons in the making.

What would I do instead? I would hold events like this in landscapes already compromised by human enterprise. Abandoned open pit mines come to mind. I can think of one in Bisbee, Arizona that would be ideal. Think about all the upsides to this. You can make a course as difficult as you like. You can have emergency medical personnel and transportation standing close by in the event of a horrible accident. Your closer proximity to a city or town would generate revenue for that municipality. Abandoned mines, old landfills, and other parcels of land already scarred by human activity abound on this planet. There is absolutely no need to exploit pristine wilderness.

I plan to write to NBC News to protest both the story on this morning’s Today show and their plan to air the Red Bull Rampage event in its ugly entirety next month. This is not sport, and we have to stop glorifying it as such. Push for alternative locations for such things. Take a piece of land that is beyond repair and hold such competitions there. Everyone can be happy if we put our minds to it. We conquered Nature long ago. What we are doing now is tantamount to torture. There are international agreements against torturing human beings. Maybe we need that kind of accord to protect Mother Nature, too.

Outdoor Wreck-reation

I had an interesting conversation the other day with an old friend who lives in an exceptionally scenic part of Oregon that is a Mecca for outdoor recreation, especially at this time of year. As she put it, many people want to be outdoors for “exercise,” while she simply likes to be outdoors. I’m reminded of how often different forms of outdoor recreation conflict with one another.

Why has our American culture not outgrown its need to conquer nature? That desire has, if anything, actually increased in the last two decades with the obsession of “extreme sports,” many of which are winter pursuits such as snowboarding. So popular are these activities that they have spawned events like the Winter X-Games, telecast on ESPN. It is arguably the celebration of what I call “stupid risk,” situations we create needlessly that make us appear superior to others. The stock market may be another manifestation of this, but I digress.

Mount Airy Forest, a large city park in Cincinnati, Ohio, was like an eden I could escape to when I lived there, but once in awhile I found the peace and solitude interrupted by someone on a mountain bike tearing down the trail. While I am not opposed to trail riding, be it two-wheeled or equestrian, the two should be separated. I would not go snowshoeing on a downhill ski run, for example.

One traveling at a pedestrian pace is usually interested in the journey, while those careening over hill and dale are, at least to my mind, destination-oriented, fitness-driven, or speed-obsessed. When I’m afield, I want to see wildlife, and anyone making excessive noise and moving at the speed of a predator is going to frighten most birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians into beating a hasty retreat.

There is also the question of what is appropriate recreation in sensitive habitats such as wetlands and sand dunes. Marshes, bogs, swamps, and dunes are no place for off-road vehicles, except in emergencies. ATVs continue to destroy these wildlife habitats, however.

We already have skate parks for skateboarders, so why not turn open pit mines, closed land fills, and other real estate already severely compromised by human activities into playgrounds for motorcycles and ATVs? Confining recreational traffic to such areas would allow for supervision of users, on-site first aid for those involved in spills, and emergency transportation on stand-by in the event of a more catastrophic accident.

There really is room for everyone to recreate, but we need to be more considerate of each other, and more understanding of each other’s expectations of an outdoor experience. Please, share your own ideas and experiences here.