The Access Problem - Where to Ride?

Compared to a lot of places in the United States, it's pretty easy to find a place to ride up here. There are miles of undeveloped ridgelines, logging roads, farm roads and gravel roads. Climb on a bike, start riding, and generally within a few miles you'll find some promising lead that can peter out in yards or take you into a network in which you can get gloriously lost.

However, all is not roses. While the default culture in Vermont has been open access to private lands, sprawl and attendant posted signs are starting to crawl up the hillsides; as I understand it, Vermont is also the only state in the U.S. in which roads and trails on federal park lands are by default off limits to bicycles. There's still no shortage, but the sky is perhaps a little red in the east.

Some of the discussions to follow will concern organizations, events, and political forces that balance each other to shape the future of off-road riding here.