The effects of mountain biking on bulk desity and terrain cover.

EFFECTS OF MOUNTAIN BIKING ON BULK DENSITY AND TERRAIN COVER.

INTRODUCTION

The sport of mountain biking originated around 1974 and the first production bike was commercially produced around 1984, the mountain bike was different from the previous cycles because of the construction of the frame, sturdier, wider tyres with improved knobbly grip and sealed bearing so dirt could not effect them. Managers of natural areas consider recreational impacts along trails and on campsites to be their most common management problem (Godin and Leonard 1979, Washburne and Cole 1983). The field of recreation ecology, which developed to address this problem, initially focused largely on the impacts of hikers (Cole, 1987). Impacts of recreation on trails can vary between activity types (e.g., hikers, horses, and motorcycles) (Weaver and Dale 1978), it is because of this that it is important to know the impacts of new forms of recreational activity, such as mountain biking.

A cross country mountain bike race.

English: Mountain biking in Julian Alps, view from...

A cross-country mountain biker climbs on an unpave...

The addition of mountain biking to trails in recreation areas has caused considerable concern. Some hikers feel that bikers should be excluded from existing trails because of the potential damaging effect of moving wheels (Cessford 1995).

Many factors may add to the factor of degradation of vegetation and trails because of the mountain bike being introduced, additional reasons are the behavior of the mountain biker and the physical impact that this has.

This study aims to find out the impact mountain biking has on the bulk density and terrain cover of an area and report on the severity and speed of the process.

PELIMANARY CONCLUSION

IMPACT ON SOIL AND VEGETATION WILL BE INCREASED

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study area: The study was conducted on the campus grounds of University College Worcester at the rear of Woodbury building. The site satisfied two main criteria 1- that it had little to no...