“Now a Bavarian district is trying out the 1.5-meter rule,” Ride reported last summer. The district in question is Miesbach in the Bavarian Pre-Alps. There, political and administrative authorities have long been attempting to redefine the nature reserves. Fun Fact: This became necessary because the maps on which the boundaries were marked were lost. 
 
Certain groups have viewed this process as an opportunity to severely restrict mountain biking: to paths at least 1.5 meters wide, as well as single trails and routes specifically designated for mountain bikers.
 
The DIMB and the DAV are jointly opposing this rule, which they view as amounting to a blanket ban on biking. The local gravity sports club, which operates the only two official bike trails, a small trail center, and a skills area—in a district with around 100,000 residents—shares this position.
 
Opposed to the regulation are not only the DIMB and DAV, but also the local restaurant and hotel association, which fears a setback for tourism. 

Attempt to introduce the single-track ban through administrative channels fails

In December 2025, the situation became even more precarious. This is because proponents of the single-track ban had apparently found a way to enforce the 1.5-meter rule even without a parliamentary decision. “The district administration now intends to decide that the administration—together with REO, municipalities, and the agriculture and forestry sectors—will propose zones where cycling will continue to be prohibited on trails less than 1.5 meters wide,” wrote DIMB and DAV at the time. REO stands for Regional Development Oberland, a semi-governmental location promotion organization that, among other things, is developing a new mountain bike trail network. More on this below.

The zoning must be completed by April 1, 2027. The catch was that if no agreement had been reached by this deadline, all paths narrower than 1.5 meters would have been closed, even if the actual goal of establishing the protection zones had not been achieved. DIMB spokesperson Sonja Schreiter explains: “This means that the mountain bike opponents among the district councilors would have a strong interest in ensuring no agreement is reached, which would be easy for them to accomplish.”
 
But then things take a different turn. Because in early April 2026, a new district administrator—the head of the district government—takes office. “He is a lawyer himself, and from his campaign materials, it was clear that he also considers some of the wording in the draft ordinances to be legally shaky,” Schreiter describes. However, mountain biking is not the central issue here, but rather topics such as the management of certain areas or the boundaries of the protected zones. And the previous district administrator had apparently already concluded that some of the wording in the draft ordinances is legally uncertain.

Protection of landscape zones expires at the end of 2026

Introducing the 1.5-meter rule through administrative channels without going through parliament is therefore not as easy as thought. With the election of the cantonal council, roughly one-third of the parliament was also replaced. These members of the legislature must first familiarize themselves with the subject matter—the zoning of protected areas. Now, an expert is to determine how the process can be carried out with the greatest possible legal certainty and while taking into account the justified objections, as the local newspaper “Das Gelbe Blatt” reports. 
 
But things could get even tougher for the landscape conservation areas. Again, according to the local paper: “The re-designation could take time. The landscape conservation areas are still secure until the end of the year.” Sonja Schreiter confirms: “If no new landscape conservation area ordinances are issued by then, these will initially lapse without replacement.”

What would that mean for mountain biking? Schreiter is convinced that landscape protection is also in the interest of mountain bikers, “because they, too, seek the experience of nature.” Legally, however, the possible elimination of landscape protection zones would not change anything for mountain biking. It was not restricted before, and it is not restricted without a protection zone either. 
 
In addition, Regional Development Oberland has been working for years on the “design, development, and implementation of the region’s mountain bike trail network.” The status of the project according to the website: 39 tours without trail sections, 565 kilometers of mountain bike routes on forest roads, and six signposted official trails. Schreiter says of this project that she hasn’t heard anything about it in quite some time: “Experience shows that where MTB planning fails to meet demand, it also fails to have the desired steering effect. We are curious to see if and in what form the new district council will continue with the REO project.”