I”d like to add a bit to the conversation about multiple-use trails, a story to flesh out the concerns and statistics we”ve been reading lately in letters to the editor. I”m an avid hiker. I have a sullied reputation for taking family and friends on hikes that last way longer than expected. Consequently, I often hike by myself, or, in the past, with my dog, Kila.
She and I were running our morning route, a 10K multi-use trail, when I heard a biker behind me on a rise. I looked back and saw a man heading down hill toward me. He was hefty and going at a fair clip, but not outrageously fast, and he was a good fifty yards away, with nothing to obscure the view between us, just short grass all around.
The trail was plenty wide for him to pass, but just to be extra considerate, and because the terrain made it easy, I turned left and jogged a couple yards off the trial. Kila was on a leash and she wasn”t vicious, but she was big, and part wolf, so some people were afraid of her on sight. No one who knew her was, in fact, she kept me company under the seminar table at school, and had made a number of visits to elementary school assemblies to introduce herself to the kids and lick faces. So she moved easily at a loose heel, five or six feet to my left, ignoring the biker. We paralleled the trail.
I was running with my back to the biker, when he bashed into me from behind, knocking me to the ground and riding over my right leg. My inconvenient leg evidently knocked him off balance because the bike fell over, spilling the him onto the grass.
He stood up, red in the face, and yelling at me! (Maybe I should mention that dogs on leashes are allowed on this trail.)
I got up and balanced there, foot and toe, listening to this angry man as he remounted his bike and took off. He was big, and angry, so I was glad he was gone, but he left me in a pickle.
The force of his weight and speed, focused down through the bike”s wheel, crushed my ankle against my foot at a severe angle. I couldn”t stand on my right foot, or walk on it, and I was three miles from home.
I bring up this story to illustrate that even given very safe circumstances ? a dry, wide trail with excellent traction, plenty of visual distance, a very moderate grade ? bikers” speed and force are still subject to their judgment and skill, and that can make them a hazard to hikers. If we mix fast bikes and slow hikers here on narrow trails with short visual distances (and, in places, reduced traction due to loose dry soil or gravel), what can we expect? And I ask this as the mother of two avid mountain bikers.
Lake County is producing amazing athletes in diverse sports. Let”s do the work to keep everybody safe. If that means evaluating trails and developing separate biking and hiking/riding systems, it can only make our county better for us and more attractive to visitors.
Carol Maxwell
Lakeport
