Due to environmental concerns

Riders at the British Downhill Series will no longer be allowed to use tear offs on their goggles.

Tear offs are thin plastic strips that are put onto goggles before a race run. When a rider’s goggles get too much mud on them during a run they can rip off this strip and have clear vision again. However, the strips are often just discarded on the side of the trail creating a litter problem for the venues and the BDS team – especially as the plastic tear offs are not biodegradable

>>> Three ways to keep clear vision on the trails

Si Paton, BDS organiser, said: “The BDS team has always considered the collection of used tear-offs along the race track and surrounding areas as one of their roles and responsibilities. With increased pressure environmentally, due to the nature of the disposal of tear-offs we can not guarantee 100% pick up of said litter.

Think of venues like Fort William and Moelfre when on a windy day the tear-offs may well end up in the next county.”

There are other ways to clean your goggles, such as the plastic pull-through systems where a roll of plastic can be slid across across the goggles with similar effect to a tear off but the roll remains attached to your goggles.

The BDS team has said it will allow riders to use a single tear off with the plastic tearing strip removed to protect the lenses of riders.