May 28 2014

Social Trails & Social Media

What are Social Trails?

The Trailsnet “trail phrase of the day” is Social Trails. Social trails are unofficial trails that often branch off of “official trails.” Social trails are often used by locals to get from one trail to another, from a neighborhood to a trail or from a trail to a business. Social trails are not always legal, but still quite prevalent out there in the trail kingdom. Therefore, you won’t find most social trails on trail maps or websites such as Trailsnet.com. Dog walkers love social trails as a place to take their best friend on a walk and, not that I would ever do this, but such walks often entail off-leash time for Fido.

Trailsnet has 4,000 Twitter Followers

Speaking of dog walkers and trail enthusiasts, congratulations to outdoor enthusiast Arlen Leeming was the 4,000th Trailsnet follower on Twitter. Thanks for joining the Trailsnet community, Arlen. Hopefully you’ll find a chance to add your favorite trail to Trailsnet.com. We’d love to know where that beautiful dog of yours likes going for walks… or where you like hiking or bike riding. I promise, we’ll get Canada in our system soon.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2014/05/28/social-trails-social-media/

May 21 2014

City of Trails?

German City to Eliminate Roads

Imagine a world without cars? If you’re having trouble with that, let’s scale it back to a city without cars. Hamburg, Germany has ambitious plans to replace roads with greenways and gradually eliminate the need for automobiles within 20 years. It’s already in my calendar to visit there when it’s done. A city of trails, open spaces & parks would be a beautiful place to live and to visit.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2014/05/21/city-trails/

May 19 2014

Trail Comments Working Already

Trail information on Trailsnet.com

Trail Entry Screen Shot

New Directions To Trailhead

Thanks to Larry, an astute Trailsnet user, the new comments option located directly below each trail information area is being put to good use. Actually Larry sent an email about some potential misdirections on one of the Trailsnet trail listings for the Hawthorne Trail in Florida. Larry pointed out that the trail map may have an error. Thanks Larry!! That’s exactly the kind of user interaction we’re looking for at Trailsnet. Since we rely on volunteer trail submissions, we realize that all of our trail entries may not be 100% accurate or up-to-date. So we appreciate users who take the time to correct errors and provide updates. That’s why we added the comments option to our new trail information format on Trailsnet.com. Hopefully other Trailsnet fans will send in comments (preferably using the comments option at the bottom of each page.) to keep our network of trails accurate, up-to-date and interactive.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2014/05/19/trail-comments-working-already/

May 18 2014

New Trail Post Features for Active Travel & Trail Travel

New Trail Submission Features on Trailsnet.com

What makes Trailsnet unique? We are one of the only trail websites that cater to active travelers and trail travel. As

active travel & trail travel information

Post Trail Travel Info

promised in yesterday’s post, today we’ll take at some of the new features on the Trailsnet Add a New Trail page. These new trail submission features are unique, helpful and a huge improvement over our previous trail submission form:

  • Trail uses – This is the place that allows you to list the PTVs (Personal Transportation Vehicles) that can be used on each trail. Actually, this section isn’t new, but starting later this week, some of the trail vehicle options will be new. As some of you know, the most popular trail blog post that we’ve ever had (based upon comments) was the one about electric bikes on trails. So it only makes sense that we add an option to let people know if electric bikes are allowed on the trails. It also makes sense to add Stand-Up-Vehicles (Trikke, Me-Mover, Elliptigo) to the list of trail vehicles.
  • Trail Lodging – Since Trailsnet is a site that encourages trail travel, it only makes sense that we offer the option to add suggested lodging to our trail information entries. We hope people will add hotel names, addresses & contact information so that other trail travelers can find camp grounds and hotels near the trails.
  • Trail Dining – Likewise, we’re hoping trail users will suggest dining options near the trail including restaurants, delis, grocery stores and farmers markets. The more information you give, the better, so please include location, hours, reviews, menu information and whatever else you have available.
  • Suggested Bike Rental/Repair – Trail travelers need to know where they can rent a trail bike, repair their own bike or maybe even buy a new bike. Keep in mind, we don’t mind if shop owners submit information about their own bike store, as long as it’s fairly close to the trail.
  • Active Travel Tour Companies – As mentioned before, Trailsnet is for trail lovers and active travelers. So if you own an active travel tour company or know of a company that provide adventure travel options on a particular trail, be sure to include it in the section titled “Companies That Provide Tours on This Trail.”

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2014/05/18/new-trail-post-features-active-travel-trail-travel/

May 17 2014

Add a Trail to Trailsnet.com

New Add-a-Trail Feature Debuts on Trailsnet.com

Finally, after months in the making, the new Add-a-Trail format is up and running on Trailsnet, and it’s fantastic. Old features have been improved and new features have been added. These new trail features make Trailsnet a truly unique trail website and one of the best trail-finding websites on the internet. I will explain a couple of the new features in today’s post and explain other features in upcoming posts. But most importantly, I hope you visit our new trail submission web page and add one of your favorite trails.

Improved Trail Submission Features

new form for adding trails to Trailsnet.com

new trail submission form

Let’s start with the features we already had on our old Add a Trail web page that we improved on the new trail submission web page:

  • Trail pictures – The new trail photo submission process is much easier for trail information contributors and for this website administrator. The old trail picture submission process was nearly impossible for most Trailsnet users to navigate and required most pictures to be submitted to the site administrator then added later. The new process is just like adding pictures on other major websites. It’s familiar, intuitive and easy.
  • Trail weather – It’s nice to see the weather forecast for the trail you’re planning to visit. Our old trail information pages initially had this capability, but it stopped working correctly. Hallelujah, the trail weather feature is back and working like a charm. All you, the trail information contributor, have to do is enter a nearby city/town and state (two letter abbreviation is best) and the WordPress widget does the rest. Like magic, the trail weather appears on the trail listing.
  • Trail comments – This may seem like an insubstantial addition to Trailsnet, but it’s actually a valuable tool for trail lovers. It allows constant communication and updates for trails. The perfect example of why this feature is important is happening behind my house right now. After years of work, a major regional trail was finally finished in August of 2014. In September of 2014 90% of that trail was wiped out in a flood. So now work has begun to repair the trail. Initially, the plan was to close the entire trail from early spring until early fall completely wiping out summer use of the trail. Concerned citizens convinced trail administrators to leave some sections open and incrementally open other sections as they’re completed. So now, trail users can get on Trailsnet and update each other about which sections are open. Trail administrators often don’t have the time or resources to continually update websites. A community of trail users are the perfect folks to provide trail information and trail construction updates. This trail forum is also a good place for trail users to communicate about trail additions, trail damage, trail legislation, trail rules and much more.
  • Trail submission form layout – Finally, the layout for the entire Add-a-Trail process is much smoother, easier and more intuitive. It just makes more sense and is compatible with similar trail information websites. In fact, it’s much simpler to enter trail information on Trailsnet than on most of the trail websites. Not only is the layout much cleaner than before, but the instructions are more simple and helpful.

I hope you get a chance to try out our Add-a-New-Trail feature soon. If you tried it before, you’ll be surprised and pleased at how much easier it is now. You’ll also be a valuable part in the trail information update process with our new trail comments feature.

New Trail Information

Tomorrow, I’ll provide information about some of the brand new trail features on the improved trail submission form. Some of these new features are totally unique to Trailsnet and are helpful for both local trail users and active travelers who enjoy visiting trails all over the world. So please check back tomorrow and feel free to add comments right here on our blog and on our individual trail pages. Let’s talk trails!!

 

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2014/05/17/add-trail-trailsnet-com/

May 08 2014

Do Bicycle Helmets Make Us Safer?

Are Bike Helmets Safe?

bicycle helmet safety

bike helmets

Thanks to Caley for forwarding me an article entitled Why It Makes Sense to Bike Without a Helmet. It is from Howie Chong’s blog and makes a good argument that bicycle helmets may actually make bike riders less safe. It cites interesting studies and makes a good case for biking without a helmet. But more than anything else, it causes readers to think about an issue that, for most is at least a foregone conclusion and at most, sacred. I’m a huge fan of questioning the status quo. And personally, I wear a helmet about 90% of the time. I always wear a helmet when I’m riding a mountain bike or a road bike. That is because, when I’m riding those two bikes, I’m either on a mountain bike trail or on the open road. When I ride my cruiser bike, I seldom wear a helmet. To be honest, until I read the Why It Makes Sense to Bike Without a Helmet article, I wasn’t totally sure why I chose this course of action. Now, however, the article seems to justify my actions. When I’m riding my cruiser, I’m either on a bike path (remember, these are not the same as mountain bike trails) or on local 25 mph roads or on sidewalks.

Biking Wisdom

As today’s selected blog post, Why It Makes Sense to Bike Without a Helmet, suggests, bike helmets are not always the best option. It would make just as much sense to require pedestrians and automobile drivers to wear helmets as it would to make duly cautious recreational bike riders to wear protective head gear. In other words, if there’s good reason to believe that you may crash your bike, then a helmet is probably a good idea. But if you are a safe bike rider operating in generally safe conditions, then a helmet may not be necessary. As with most situations, common sense should prevail over over-encompassing rules. It is similar to the ridiculous rules that ban bicycles from sidewalks in many places. Dangerous bicycle riders (fast, reckless) should not be on sidewalks whereas slow, cautious and careful riders have just as much right on the sidewalks as pedestrians. Punishing good people for the actions of bad ones is never a good idea. Discouraging bike transportation is not a good idea either.

Your Opinion About Bicycle Helmet Requirements

As always, your comments, opinions & rebuttals are welcome in the comments section below. And, on a final note, you may have noticed the new banner for Trailsnet.com. That’s small potatoes compared with what is coming up next. A huge change is just around the corner, so stay tuned. Hopefully, it was money well-spent.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2014/05/08/bicycle-helmets-make-us-safer/