Re: Mountain Biker Psychology

On Feb 12, 8:58 am, Mike Vandeman <mjva...@pacbell.net> wrote:
> Biker Psychology
>
> We often hear from those who ride mountain bikes that they are on the
> trail for the same reasons that hikers, walkers and equestrians are.
> Both formal studies and informal sources show that that is not
> generally the case. Do this simple informal study yourself. Go to a
> news stand and look at a copy of Sierra or Backpacker magazine. You
> will find that there are photographs of nature that are devoid of
> people. Now look at a copy of any of the top mountain biking
> magazines. Almost every photograph will have at least one mountain
> biker in it. In the five mountain bike magazines that we looked at for
> the month of September 2002, we could find no photographs without
> mountain bikers in them. That's probably because hikers are on the
> trail to enjoy nature whereas mountain bikers are on the trail to
> enjoy their sport. They are both enjoying the outdoors but they are
> each there for different reasons. Neither way is the only way and
> neither way is 'the' correct way but it does help us to understand the
> source of some of the conflict.
>
> As discussed elsewhere on this site off-road mountain biking is a
> thrill sport comparable to downhill skiing, auto racing, skydiving or
> skateboarding. There is a substantial literature on the psychology of
> those who engage in such risky sports and we will briefly examine
> those findings and how they apply to the current problems of conflicts
> between mountain bikers and hikers on Santa Barbara front country
> single-track trails.
>
> Biochemical Differences Underlying the Personality Differences
>
> In general, practitioners of such thrill sports score much higher on
> indices which measure such things as "sensation seeking" or seeking of
> "arousal" as compared to control groups which pursue less risky sports
> (1, 2, 7, 8, 11-14, 16-19, 22). This difference is also found in
> mountain bikers, in particular as compared to other groups (1). These
> "sensation seekers" as a group have substantially higher rates of
> engagement in a whole range of more risky activities than do
> individuals who are less inclined to seek thrills. These activities
> include drug usage, law breaking, risky driving, heavier alcohol usage
> and risky sex (6, 10, 19, 23). Again downhill riders have these
> correlates as well (1). This does not mean that all members of the
> group engage in these activities but that as a group there is
> generally a higher rate than other populations. There are also
> correlates of this in differences in the amount of the enzyme
> Monoamine Oxidase in blood and tissue of these two groups with the
> high sensation seekers having lower amounts. The mechanism proposed
> has to do with the role of dopamine in the central nervous system (3,
> 20, 21, 23). There are also differences in the genes for dopamine
> receptors between sensation seekers and others. Thus, there are
> biochemical differences underlying the personality differences.
> Participants in high risk sports also repress or underestimate the
> degree of risk associated with their activities (17), clearly a
> serious problem in shared use situations.
>
> It may take a lot to get us hikers going, but once we do....
>
> On an experiential level, the sensation seekers can handle high levels
> of sensation resulting in high levels of arousal from their activities
> without reaching incapacitating levels of anxiety (1, 20, 23) and
> readily become bored in the absence of novelty and sensation. The low
> sensation seekers, in contrast, much more readily experience fear as a
> result of high levels of stimulation. Thus, there are differences in
> the personalities of mountain bikers and hikers that are at the root
> of their conflicts. That is these very different personalities view
> the world differently and respond to it differently. As a result, they
> seek very different experiences in their recreation. This difference
> leads to the asymmetry which is commonly observed that hikers are much
> more upset by the presence of bikers than vice versa (4). It is
> sometimes assumed that those who participate in both sports can speak
> for hikers, however, this is not necessarily so because these dual
> sports participants are almost certainly higher in sensation seeking
> than are hikers. This personality difference may also be related to
> the aggressiveness with which bikers seek access to trails, construct
> illegal trails, and are unwilling to give up trails (5, 15). Because
> of their temperament, hikers are also much more reluctant to press
> their concerns.
>
> The off-road mountain bikers are seeking a highly stimulating
> experience in mountain biking on steep, narrow, rocky single-track
> trails. This sort of thrilling and dangerous experience is
> exhilarating to them and they can get a feeling of "flow" including
> awareness of the natural world. To them, at most, hikers are
> obstructions, like rocks in the trail, that must be avoided and are
> sometimes in awkward places. They probably do not experience high
> levels of additional arousal even from almost hitting a hiker, because
> their level of arousal is already so high. While they are riding,
> their level of arousal is so high and their speed sufficient that
> detailed, fine-grained examination and appreciation of the environment
> is impossible. The feeling of connection and intense awareness, which
> some note, is on a coarse-grained scale resulting from the thrill of
> traveling fast and surviving. This level of awareness is so removed
> from considered reflection upon their environment that they may not
> even notice the trail destruction that they cause on steep trails.
> Because of this personality orientation they find it difficult to
> understand why their presence can be so upsetting to hikers and
> equestrians.
>
> Whatever the hikers are seeking on the trails, it's certainly not
> thrills and danger.
>
> They often are seeking the opposite in fact, an environment with
> solitude, free of the arousing stimuli of our everyday world. Because
> of their physiological difference, the hikers are typically startled
> by the sudden appearance of a mountain bike and take some time to
> recover a non-aroused state. This response is exacerbated in those who
> have had narrow escapes with mountain bikes. This asymmetry of
> responses means that the hikers are much more upset with the presence
> of bicyclists than the bicyclists are with hikers (4). The hikers also
> have good reason to be concerned for their safety, because people have
> been killed by being hit by mountain bikes at speeds less than 10 mph
> (9) and yet 15mph is generally accepted as OK among the bikers and
> that speed is often exceeded by the more skilled.
>
> This conflict between cyclists and hikers is based not on a lack of
> acceptance of differences between people (social values) but rather
> upon actual interference (interpersonal conflict or goal interference)
> with the desired recreational experiences(4). In general separation of
> activities is appropriate to resolve interpersonal conflict among
> users while education is less relevant than it would be if the problem
> were social conflict (4).
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------*-----
>
> Bibliography
>
> 1. Anstiss, B. 1998. The efficacy of sensation seeking as a predictor
> of multiple risk behaviours among a sample of New Zealand mountain
> bikers. Master of Arts. Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.
> 2. Apter, M. J. 1992. The dangerous edge: the psychology of
> excitement. Macmillan, New York.
> 3. Calhoon, L. L. 1988. Explorations into the biochemistry of
> sensation seeking. Personality & Individual Differences 9:941-949.
> 4. Carothers, P., J. J. Vaske, and M. P. Donnelly. 2001. Social Values
> versus Interpersonal Conflict among Hikers and Mountain Bikers.
> Leisure Sciences 23:47-61.
> 5. Chavez, D. J. 1996. Mountain biking: Issues and actions for USDA
> Forest Service managers. Report PSW-RP-226.
> 6. Cooper, M. L., V. B. Agocha, and M. S. Sheldon. 2000. A
> motivational perspective on risky behaviors: The role of personality
> and affect regulatory processes. Journal of Personality 68:1059-1088.
> 7. Duroy, L. C. 2002. A comparison of sensation-seeking and
> personality measures between road cyclists and mountain bikers.
> 8. Durtschi, S. K. 1999. Emotions and cognitions of athletes competing
> in a high-risk sport. (mountain biking).
> 9. Graw, M., and H. G. König. 2002. Fatal pedestrian-bicycle
> collisions. Forensic Science International 126:241-247.
> 10. Jonah, B. A. 1997. Sensation Seeking and risky driving: A review
> and synthesis of the literature. Accid. Anal. and Prev. 29:651-665.
> 11. Laskar, A. H. 2000. Sensation Seeking Tendency in Mountain
> Climbers. iuniverse.com, Lincoln, NE.
> 12. Potgieter, J., and F. Bisschoff. 1990. Sensation seeking among
> medium- and low-risk sports participants. Perceptual & Motor Skills
> 71:1203-1206.
> 13. Rossi, B., and L. Cereatti. 1993. The sensation seeking in
> mountain athletes as assessed by Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale.
> International Journal of Sport Psychology 24:417-431.
> 14. Rowland, G. L., R. E. Franken, and K. Harrison. 1986. Sensation
> seeking and participation in sporting activities. Journal of Sport
> Psychology 30B:12-220.
> 15. Schuett, M. A. 1997. State park directors' perceptions of mountain
> biking. Environmental Management 21:239-246.
> 16. Shoham, A., G. M. Rose, and L. R. Kahle. 1998. Marketing of Risky
> Sports: From Intention to Action. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
> Science 26:307-321.
> 17. Slanger, E., and K. E. Rudestam. 1997. Motivation and
> disinhibition in high risk sports: sensation seeking and
> self-efficacy. Journal of Research in Personality 31:355-374.
> 18. Vealey, R. S. 2002. Individual differences and sport behavior, p.
> 39-82. In T. Horn (ed.), Advances in Sport Psychology, 2nd ed. Human
> Kinetics, Champaign, Il.
> 19. Zuckerman, M. 2000. Are You a Risk Taker? Psychology Today.
> 20. Zuckerman, M. 1994. Behavioral Expressions and Biosocial Bases of
> Sensation Seeking. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
> 21. Zuckerman, M. 1990. The Psychophysiology of Sensation Seeking.
> Journal of Personality ...
>
> read more »

In some areas folks are marking illegal trails as "dangerous" and
backing up
that claim with piano wire stretched across the trial.

gred