Are you a MTB rider or a trespasser?

MOST people who know me as a mountain biker, also know that I have quite a bit to do with organising the Compendium Hill 2 Hill mountain bike race which takes place next weekend.

As I told you last week, we have changed the route for a variety of reasons, mostly based on safety and policing issues as the race goes through Pietermaritzburg and on to Shongweni just outside Durban.

What I did not tell you last week was another major issue that is causing us as race organisers (and probably just about every race organiser in the country) a major problem: Trespassing.

While discussing the route recently with our course designer Nick Floros, he mentioned that a lot of landowners were hesitant to give us access to some of their land. The reason, and you cannot blame them, is because just before and just after the races there is an upsurge of riders wanting to train on the race route.

For the top guys aiming at the prizemoney, it is a big help to know the route well so they can gain an advantage that could be crucial, while the back markers are just trying to get to know the course so they can finish a bit easier.

This is not a new issue. I have been writing about mountain biking for 14 years now and for 14 years I have been calling for riders to be responsible. I saw how the Tongaat Hullett issues spiralled out of control and MTB riders were very close to being banned completely from using the vast expanses of cane, until thankfully some responsible people managed to get some sort of agreement in place.

That was a relatively easy negotiation because one corporate owned large tracts of land which was good for a lot of mountain bikers.

Holla and Giba also had, and continues to have, issues with riders sneaking onto their trails without paying the fees (basically stealing the work they do to create magnificent riding).

Both have told me bizarre stories about how riders go out of their way to duck the system – including one guy who used to sneak into the park via a back road (so his car was safe) and then park behind some trees and head off to ride and then sneak back to his car and out.

But the current issue is more widespread, with landowners obviously getting upset with the scale of trespassing.

At Hill 2 Hill this year we will not released the route until Monday so riders cannot pre-ride the course. For a long time we have not made the GPS route available for the same reason, and it has now got to the point where we have to promise the landowners we will ban riders from the race if they are caught riding on private land before the event.

The problem does not stop after the race however, because there is no way to stop rides from recording the route during the race and then posting it on Strava or other route-tracking apps. All we can do is to ask riders to make those rides private when putting them online, so other people cannot access them. But even that is not foolproof.

We are not the only organisers to have this problem. I know the Epic, Sani2c, joBerg2c and others also struggle with the same issue and I believe KZN MTB and CSA are considering introducing lifetime bans for anybody reported to them for trespassing.

As a rider it is so tempting to head onto some private land and ride that perfect trail. Often you just have to continue on a path and there are no gates.

The problem is, the person who owns that land does not want you to cross their land. And, because it is their land, they have every right to not want you to cross their land.

By carrying on along the path you are trespassing. Simple.

In probably 99% of the cases a simple phone call to the farmer involved to ask for permission would prevent the problem but we all know that is not going to happen in 99% of the cases.

So, the only answer is: Do not ride on private land without permission.