Front Lines

Inside the access battlegrounds

- Nicole Formosa

IT’S NOT OFTEN THAT WE AT BIKE SELECT a cover image that doesn’t showcase a rider, or several riders, photographed on a dreamy stretch of single track set against a stunning alpine backdrop, pedaling through a vast backcountry landscape or cornering around a patch of loam deep in a dark forest. It is after all—and has always been—about the ride, and little else articulates the feelings of freedom and pure joy that mountain bikes evoke than images such as these.

But we would have no ride at all if it weren’t for all the tireless warriors on the ground fighting to preserve access to our favorite trails, or lobbying for new single track and bike parks to be built in their respective towns and communities.