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John Parulis
Mountain Bike Speeding Illegal Trail Usage is an Epidemic
Since the recent loss of the Middagh Trail to mountain biking, there has been a re-intensification of the mountain bike problem/debate call it what you will.
A recent report in the MarinIJ about measuring trail speeds, served to re-ignite the issue of unsafe trail speeding by mountain bikers. As with the county's RTMP , the way trail speed data was collected by Open Space officials was poorly designed. Rather than conducting an extensive study based on 100's of trails, both the RTMP and the speed collection report failed to describe the true extent of the problem, relying instead on meager observations and statistical extrapolations.
Technology such as multiple wi-fi enabled trail cams could have been placed to give more accurate results of trail usage. But oddly enough, the mountain bikers themselves have given us that information.
A quick Google search of mountain biking various trails in Marin, pulls up a dearth of fast paced videos of mountain bikers speeding, crashing, night riding, and riding illegally in Marin County. (I reported to Open Space, about 4-5 downhill racer clad mountain bikers riding on an illegal trail near the Osher JCC at night during an intense rain storm on Jan. 11). In the comments section, I posted a bunch of these biker videos on yet another mountain bike apologist's screed in the IJ titled Facts Not Anecdotes Should Guide Trail Policies. There are forensic tools online that can be employed to measure their speed in the videos, like physics tracker.
The county is being swayed by the bullying force of relentless mountain bike lobbies and their hordes of cultish followers. Bad data collection and spotty enforcement only serve to obscure what's really happening to our trails. I would describe that as an epidemic of misuse, poorly understood by those entrusted with protecting this vital, natural resource.
A sample video showing illegal use of a trail behind the Osher JCC, is included below.