Trails must conform to design guidelines, and property managers must be willing to allow mountain bike use at their respective sites. Riders are encouraged to call property offices before hitting the trails. Cyclists can be cited for riding trails not open to mountain biking. Dale Brier, streams and trails specialist with the DNR and chair of the mountain bike committee, says a rollout of trails may take some time. He says the property categories most likely to allow mountain biking include reservoirs, forests and recreation areas, while state parks may develop trails slowly, if at all.
Most parks have about as much traffic as they can manage without attracting a new user group.
Prohibiting mountain bikes on State property actually predates the birth of the mountain bike itself. Since the 1960s, motorized vehicles have been barred from trails. When mountain bikes came along, they were lumped into the same user group as ATVs and four-wheel drive trucks. Permitting mountain biking on State property, therefore, is a sea change in attitudes dating back more than three decades. It is the culmination of years of effort by the Indiana Bicycle Coalition to work with property managers to allow mountain bike use.