We feel like we have a responsibility to educate the public that mtbing is more than us showing up, riding and drinking a beer. There's way more to it than that and with COVID19 producing an influx of people looking to get outside and do something fun and healthy, we need to make sure we are being good stewards of our privilege. In that vain, we'd like to add a few things to those rules spelled out here from SD Mountain Bike skills that newbies should know. PLEASE SHARE!

1. VOLUNTEER-Volunteering a day or two a year to maintain trails helps a ton! Land Manager are strapped for personnel and resources so it falls on us to effect change.

2. DONATE-Volunteer groups like ours run on donations and grants so your donations, again, GO A LONG WAY. We're 100% volunteer so all of your contributions go to buy tools that directly help your trails.

3. KNOW WHERE YOU ARE RIDING- Ignorance of the laws and regs is not an excuse. Know what trails are legitimate and legal and which are unsanctioned.

4. PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY- If you are going to ride unsanctioned trails, please do not post pics and videos. In some cases, land managers will turn a blind eye (for many reasons) to illegal trails UNTIL you start posting pics and videos. Please do not do this. Drawing attention to illegal trails will force their hand and get them closed.

Stick to these fundamentals and our community will be better for it. #respectthesend #goodstewards #bethechange #nodignoride #trailsdontfixthemselves

A few more cool things to check out as it relates to mtb etiquette. Check out Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz's website at mbosc.org!