How to Preserve Nature While Cycling

When cycling, you are not only helping reduce your chance of heart disease, but you are reducing your carbon footprint. Unknown to most, you can still damage the environment around you when recklessly cycling. To make sure yourself and others can enjoy these paths and trails for years to come, follow these tips!

Don’t Go Off the Trail – When you go off the trail, you run over different plants and tree roots. This can severely damage or kill the plants and trees. Often, once one goes off the trail others will follow, damaging even more of the vegetation. Plus, you are putting yourself at risk of injury. Trails are often marked for a reason so going off trail may result in injuries.

Watch Your Brakes – Braking too hard can result in a divot or rut cut into the trail. When this happens, erosion occurs. Then as it rains, water will fill the rut and increase the erosion even more, expanding the rut. As other cyclists use the trail, they may get a tire caught and lose control of their bicycle or a runner or walker could twist their ankle on the rut.

Clean Your Bicycle – When your frame and tires have mud and dirt caked on them, seeds are often mixed in. These seeds can fall off your bike and the next location. They then can grow, potentially overtaking the local vegetation. This can cut off food supplies for different animals, disrupting the wildlife. Washing your bicycle go get rid of any dirt and seeds can prevent this.

Pick up Your Trash – Any trash you bring with you or acquire should be held until you reach the proper receptacles to throw it out. If possible, you try to use reusable containers for your snacks and drinks!

Stay Away From Animals – Seeing different animals can be an added bonus on your ride. But even something as small as a squirrel can pose threat for danger. Try to keep your distance. Animals can startle easily. It’s best to just watch from a safe distance away.

Yield to Others – If other walkers or runners are on the same path or trail as you, yield to them as they are passing. Give warning if you are coming up behind someone. If you know others are on the trail, ride at a speed you can control. You don’t want to have to stop fast or lose control of you bicycle. Then, you and others around you may get hurt.

Don’t Ride Through Puddles – As you ride through a puddle, you can deepen and widen it, furthering the erosion to the trail. Instead, try to ride around or on the edge of the puddle. Plus, you then avoid any dangers of sharp objects or cracks at the bottom of the puddle.

This article was created Personal Injury Help (www.personalinjury-law.com), an organization dedicated to providing the public with information about personal injury and safety information. Nothing in this article should be construed as legal advice, and it is intended for informational use only. Be sure to review your local cycling ordinances to ensure you ride safe and legally!