In response to the letter “Marauding mountain bikes,” I would like to challenge Mr. Erik Werner’s suggestion that mountain bikers are careless individuals who only take part in volunteer workdays to gain “leverage” for increased use of the trails.
The Wissahickon Valley Park contains a highly trafficked trail system. Mountain bikers make up a significant portion of those park users, and like any group, occasionally a bad apple can be found among them. I apologize for your bad experience with a mountain biker on the trails Mr. Werner, but it is unfair to categorize all mountain bikers as if we are a “marauding” motorcycle gang.
It is true that mountain bikers take on a lot of volunteer work to help preserve and maintain the fragile trail system of the park. However, to think we do it clearly for our own gain is naïveté. As a member of the Philadelphia Mountain Biker’s Association, I know that mountain bikers have made incredible sacrifices in order to make the trails more sustainable and usable for all park users. We have done it not to gain any advantage, but because we enjoy the beauty and essence of the park just as much as any hiker, equestrian or trail runner. Embracing the natural beauty of the park is the very reason many of us have picked up this sport.
I understand you ran into a rude mountain biker Mr. Werner. I have come across my own problems with park users. I have witnessed hikers throw candy wrappers on the side of trails. I have seen teenagers leave an empty thirty pack of beer scattered along a hill leading to one of the streams that feeds the creek. All park users make an impact regardless of how they use the trail system.
Since forming in 2006, the Philadelphia Mountain Bikers Association has made it one of their goals to teach proper trail etiquette. It is up to volunteers like us to teach new and inexperienced users the proper way to take care of the park. I invite anyone who is skeptical about mountain bikers to join in a volunteer workday. See what we are like and why we have put in well over 2000 hours of service in less than three years. I believe you will learn a lot about the character of mountain bikers, and that one rude mountain biker does not represent all of us.
