Stress and invasion by mountain bikers?

The Rundschau takes a somewhat tendentious, ten-minute report on how mountain bikers are encroaching on hikers' habitats. There is even lurid talk of "density stress on hiking trails" due to the mountain bike boom or an "invasion of bikers". As an introduction, a gamekeeper and a mayor brand the descent of ride publisher Thomas Giger over a ridge as a risky, almost life-threatening venture. Giger counters this and describes himself as a nature fan. He denies that he is an adrenaline junkie looking for the thrill of the abyss.

Shortly afterwards, a man is walking slowly up a path with his wife when he suddenly has to take a step to the side. A biker rides close and fast past him downhill. Is it a coincidence that the cameramen were able to promptly capture such a scene? The fact that conflicts between hikers and bikers occur time and again is well documented in the report. Hikers talk about reckless bikers who have harassed or even endangered them. Bikers talk about how hikers have insulted them or how sticks have obviously been put in their way.

Off the hiking trail - that's not right either

But how can the conflict be resolved? Hundreds of thousands of mountain bikers are now involved in Swiss mountain summer tourism, and they have become an important economic factor. For structurally weak mountain villages, this has long since become an important and growing market in which they place their hopes. Lenzerheide is shown as a hotspot for the movement. An attempt is being made there to attract mountain bikers to designated routes away from the hiking trails by offering a bike park. But a nature conservationist opposes this. This separation does not seem right either, as the nature on the trails would be damaged. She fears that there could be such parks on many Swiss mountains in the future. The article comments on Lenzerheide's commitment to the trails as if it were the world championships for digger riders.

Bad mountain bikers as filler in the summer slump

So only a clear ban will help? Should the bad bikers simply no longer be allowed to ride on hiking trails? What the article completely ignores is that in reality, there are many bikers and hikers who are very considerate of each other. Bikers and hikers generally coexist peacefully in everyday life. Trail tolerance - as it exists and works in Davos or Laax, for example - is nowhere to be seen. Other concrete and constructive approaches are not mentioned either.

Report of the Rundschau in the stream on SRF:

Comment by Thomas Giger on the Rundschau report

Alpine mountain biking is similar to mountaineering: If you don't do it yourself, you can't imagine what's possible. For this reason, we mountain bikers are always seen as being tired of life and death-defying. This has nothing to do with reality. The descent from Augstmatt to Lake Brienz is challenging, but no mean feat. I am by no means the only mountain biker who can ride such descents. On the contrary: routes like this are now part of the standard repertoire of a sporty mountain biker. I'm not extreme, I'm normal. It's a travesty that a person like the mayor Markus Karlen judges my actions. He has obviously never seriously considered the sport of mountain biking, but has nevertheless formed a solid opinion.

The claim that there is a ban on bikes at Augstmatt is his personal opinion with no legal basis. If there really was a ban on biking here, there wouldn't be a homemade plaque at the start of the trail, but an official sign based on the official guideline plan. It is not mountain biking that is illegal here, but rather the erection of homemade signs.

The pity about the Rundschau report is the lack of reference to reality. And in my case, this is largely conflict-free. It was also the case during the filming that the many hikers we encountered were asked for critical opinions - to no avail. Not a single hiker was bothered by the mountain bikers in general during the day of filming. Most of them were even pleased with our performance. The unanimous opinion was that the coexistence worked quite well. That is exactly the reality that I experience. And this side is unfortunately not shown to its best advantage in the round-up report.

You may be annoyed by the somewhat sensationalist style of the report, but the fact is: this is the first time that mountain biking has been featured in a political magazine on Swiss television. And in a ten-minute report. In other words: Mountain biking is no longer a marginal phenomenon. Mountain bikers have become important and are now a central element of summer tourism.