On September 23, 2000, a mountain bike race was held in Briones Regional Park,
near Walnut Creek, California (see http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/ebrpd16). A
37-year-old man crashed and ended up in a coma for a long time. I asked the Park
District and the race sponsor what eventually happened to him, but they refused
to tell me. I finally found out yesterday: he ended up brain damaged, and
divorced.
Both the East Bay Regional Park District and the race organizer deny
responsibility, and refuse to talk about this incident, and the utter
irresponsibility of allowing mountain biking RACES in wildlife habitat, in
public parks, and in places not suited and designed for racing. Serious injuries
and deaths from this destructive sport have become an almost weekly occurrence.
Meanwhile, the International Mountain Bicycling Association continues to lobby
hard in Congress for mountain biking, for allowing bikes in Wilderness, and for
promoting mountain biking among CHILDREN (they would like the entire nation to
celebrate a "Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day"😉!
It's high time that we put a halt to this abuse and sacrifice of our natural
areas and of our young people. Mountain biking accelerates erosion, creates
V-shaped ruts in trails, kills small animals and plants on and next to the
trail, and drives wildlife and other trail users off the trails and out of the
parks. What's good about THAT???
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I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"😉. Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)