Although the sport of mountain biking was invented on the slopes of Mt. Tamalpais over 30 years ago, modern day riders often choose to break the law to access the best trails.

The majority of  the county’s “single track trails,” which are only wide enough for one bike at time are closed to mountain bikers, leaving them with access only to less desirable fire roads, wide enough to fit a couple of bikes side by side.

These single track trails are illegal because they cause damage to the land and are a danger to other trail users, as they are not designed for bikers and feature many blind turns.

According to junior Josh Lawrence, a member of the Redwood mountain biking team, single tracks provide opportunities for riders to perfect technical skills, such as dodging obstacles and navigating around tight turns, that aren’t found on fire roads.

Junior Sarah Odgen, also a member of the mountain biking team, said she sometimes resorts to riding on illegal trails in order to train for races.

“We race on single track, so it’s helpful to actually be riding it,” Ogden said.

According to Ogden, illegal single tracks can even provide a safer experience than the legal fire roads due to the differences in speed.

“You can’t go as fast on a single track – there are narrower corners, there is more technical aspects. You just can’t carry the speed you can going down a wider road,” Ogden said.

Some bikers build their own trails on public space because they don’t find thrills on existing trails.

Senior Ian Stowe said he has built illegal trails, but he refused to disclose their whereabouts.

“It’s fun because you can connect two legal trails and build jumps, and no one else knows about it,” he said.

Though illegal hiking trails are popular among many riders, Lawrence said he prefers legal trails like Tamarancho because they are better designed for bikers.

“I’d rather ride out to Tamarancho—it’s a much better complete, biking single track because it’s designed for bikes,” Lawrence said. “With the illegal trails on Tam, you have to work with what you got. You can’t build on it and you can’t modify it.”

Those who choose to ride on illegal trails  can also face legal consequences.

Stowe was riding on a trail in Marin last year when he was caught by park rangers and fined for illegal trail riding.

“It was dark and we were out riding. We passed a few hikers and we were really kind and courteous to them,” Stowe said.  “We were pretty close to the end of the trail, and then ther was a ranger with a flashlight who was blocking the trail. He told us to get off our bikes and gave us citations.”

Stowe paid $170 for that night’s ride.

Additionally, those who compete for Redwood in the NorCal High School Cycling League can be barred from racing if they are found riding illegal trails.

According to the National Interscholastic Cycling Association Handbook, those discovered riding on illegal trials will be banned from the next race upon the first offense and banned from the rest of the season upon their second offense.

In response to these potential consequences, bikers develop ranger-avoiding skills.

“You don’t go to the ones that are really low on the mountain, that hikers have easy access to,” Lawrence said. “You can go up and there are no hikers, or if there are hikers they’re really dedicated and don’t care if there are bikers.”

Lawrence also said that bikers must be cautious about what time they venture out on illegal trails.

“Weekdays, when everyone is still at work and not many people are out, give you the advantage, while if you go on Sunday at noon there will be a lot of hikers,” he said.

Hikers and bikers have not always had the best relationships, and many a mountain biker has had poor experiences when encountering hikers.

Lawrence said that once while he was considering riding a trail located low on a mountain with a dropout in an area where barely any people go, he encountered a group of unfriendly hikers.

“People came and just started barking at us and yelling us,” Lawrence said. “They weren’t even going to use the trail, they were going off and doing a different trail.”