Bob's blog

It's about the community

I went for a mountain bike ride the other morning. There's nothing unusual about that (just ask my wife), but it was a spectacular fall morning here in NJ. This is a great time of year to be on the trails. I live in one of the most densely populated areas of the country, but you'd be surprised how much open space there is. It was great to get out in the cool fall air for a quick ride in the morning.

There's a collection of awesome trails near me in South Mountain Reservation that are closed to mountain bikes. It wasn't always that way and there was a terrific article in the most recent issue of Dirt Rag Magazine that talks about the history and why the trails were closed ten years ago. To simplify, what we had was a failure to communicate. Hikers wanted one thing, county officials wanted something else and there was an old law that they invoked to close the trail. Mountain bikers were locked out.

Fast forward to today: we're participating together. Building the community. Working to open true multi-use trails. My friend Don starting talking to the conservancy that guides the reservation. He and Tim from the local bike shop invited others to work with the hikers and help clean the reservation. It turns out that we have something to offer and so do they. Everyone participating, everyone wins.

I think I'm starting to understand The Participation Age a little bit better.

Posted at 10:08AM Oct 01, 2005 by bs in Cycling  |  Comments[0]