Some believe mountain bikes are too environmentally destructive for off-road use. However, research has shown that the environmental impact of biking is similar to hiking . When cyclists to are permitted to use trails, more people are allowed the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with wild places and to join in the effort to preserve them.
The 1964 Wilderness Act banned mechanical transportation in federally designated wilderness areas. The intention was to limit the use of the land to the least impactful forms of recreation. At the time, the sport of mountain biking didn’t exist, but in 1984, shortly after mountain bikes became commercially available, the U.S. Forest Service broadened its regulations and banned biking in wilderness areas.
Jim Hasenauer, one of the founders of the International Mountain Bicycling Association and of WildBike, says that the restriction on mountain bikes is not supported by research. At the time the ban was passed, “mountain bikes were a new kind of recreation, riders weren't organized and the environmental impacts of mountain biking weren't known.” He goes on, “Now that the facts are in, we deserve a fair hearing.”