As soon as Gary Fisher and his friends had invented the mountain bike, the first no-biking signs appeared on the trails between Marin and Munich. Hardly anything has changed since then. To this day, many still see us mountain bikers as a danger. We still have to be stopped with prohibition signs. However, individual tourist destinations, as well as associations and even the Association of All Hikers, now see things differently and are committed to mutual tolerance. Today, they stand up for the amicable coexistence of hikers, mountain bikers, hunters, landowners and farmers. That is commendable. However, between the lines of pithy position papers, the option is always left open to put mountain bikers in their place in the future.

True tolerance would also mean equal treatment and a willingness to compromise on the part of all those involved. Have hikers, hunters, landowners or farmers ever made any noticeable concessions to mountain bikers? Have they ever made any obvious concessions? It is always the mountain bikers who have to make concessions. That has little to do with tolerance. Tourism organizations and municipal authorities will continue to act according to the credo: when in doubt, ban bikes. This "solution" is simple, quick and cheap.

Bike ban signs have a fatal consequence for tourist destinations in particular. They give mountain bikers, who were previously actively courted, the feeling that they are not welcome. Nevertheless, mountain bikers are expected to occupy hotel beds, buy mountain railroad tickets and stop off at mountain inns. They are only tolerated on single trails as long as they don't get in anyone's way. Well thought-out bike bans make perfect sense, as we mountain bikers know. However, in many places it is all too easy to fall for the temptation to resolve conflicts with bike bans. And when bikes are banned, mountain bikers are told to take the forest road. Worthy alternative routes on single trails are almost never an option. In the end, the authorities are astonished that these bans are not observed. But the disregard shows a criminal lack of understanding towards us mountain bikers.

The trendy call for tolerance and equality would mean considering a hiking ban instead of a biking ban. Granting mountain bikers access to the single trail for once, but relegating hikers to the forest road - it would be a historic breach of taboo. What sounds like a utopian demand would be practised equality and the consequence of the demand for tolerance. It would be a clear sign of a region not only accepting and tolerating us mountain bikers as fully-fledged guests in its glossy brochures, but also putting its words into action.

Column published in issue 02/2011 of Ride Magazine.