Eagle Creek Mountain Biking

[gt ss]

Ask to build a horse trail and see how fast they get the bulldozers and gravel trucks in there.

[mtbikernate]

"Anti-biker wakadoo" alert on the RTV6 news site.

no kidding.  he's going to find himself arrested again one of these days.  attacking the rider with a saw was the best ammunition he ever could have given us, though.

[Tim Carmichael]

While I no longer ride MTB's, I do trail run on the west side of EC Park.  The 'birders' can be somewhat petulant. 


As has been mentioned, the trails are random, follow fall lines (causing accelerated erosion) and certainly are in need of careful and consistent tending.


Another argument in favor of these trails should be the economic impact this would have on the Brownsburg, Trader's Point, Pike area.  Having run in the Fayetteville, WV area, and having relatives in nearby Beckley, I can attest to the positive impact adventure sports have on an area.  From bike shops springing up to restaurants thriving to hotel occupancy to improved property values, adventure sport participants have money and we spend it--and the local economy benefits.


5 birdwatchers a day on this parcel of land adds exactly ZIP to the local economy.


Thanks, Paul, for making this push.


Tim C.

[gt ss]

5 birdwatchers a day on this parcel of land adds exactly ZIP to the local economy.

Right on!

And 5 is probably a generous number.

[chuckdlou]

well, i've stayed out of this so far...mostly because i don't want to give my fellow mtber's a bad name due to my lack of filter between brain and mouth (or keyboard), and no tolerance for dipferds...but here goes...and i hope by chance that there are a few birders lurking on this thread...but it's perfectly reasonable to be a mountain biker and a birder...AT THE SAME TIME!...i have an expensive pair of binoculars and a life list...i prefer peterson guides over sibley's just like i prefer sram over shimano...i've experienced some of my best birding moments EVER while straddling my bike on the edge of a multi-use trail...never would have seen a clark's nutcracker if it weren't for the bike...i also got to witness a gatling of red-headed woodpeckers in Brown County, at least 50 individuals strong...again, while on the bike...and yes i used the term gatling, look it up...i am proud to announce myself as a birder/biker and they are definitely not mutually exclusive...oh yeah, check out land between the lakes down in Kentucky...look at numbers of nesting pairs of eagles and their locations relative to the bike trail...see anything interesting?

[mastertim]

I saw an interesting argument on the counter petition.

 "I live right by the park on the west side of Eagle Creek Res. I enjoy bird watching on this side, walking my dog on this side and just having a nice quite time with nature."

Am I the only one that thinks a dog's presence would disturb birds long before a quiet mountain biker would?

[Tim Carmichael]

Not if you're the one walking the dog.


Lots of "I've got mine" in the opposition group.


TC

[KevinG]

can someone post a meeting summary for those of us who couldn't make it?

[ScottC]

can someone post a meeting summary for those of us who couldn't make it?

It was pretty calm and civil.  HMBA was very well represented.  It basically consisted of 2 hours of 2 minute speaches by whoever wanted to sign up to speak on the way in.  I did not sense a negative stance toward mountain biking.  The main argument seemed to be against the location.  I thought the mountain biking community presented their position very well.  I think it will boil down to whether or not we can convince Indy Parks that no damage will be done to the wildlife/birds.  The nature of the meeting made it impossible to get a read on what Indy Parks thought of the input.

[ScottC]

I notice my first post on this site says "training wheels on".  Not sure how this is possible since I am not even a newbie.  I am just a wannabe at this point.  I don't even own a bike yet.  The key word there is YET.  The urge has become extremely strong and riding will be happening this summer.  I am just clueless on where to start at this point and will need to figure things out.  Thank you to the guy that was willing to give me a few minutes of his time after the meeting to answer some questions about trying to find my first bike.

[Paul_Arlinghaus]

Thanks to all that came out.  The turn out was much larger than Indy Parks expected,  they had us in a 100 seat room and it was standing room only 15 minutes before the meeting started.  So they had to move us to a bigger room.

Both sides spoke very well, it seemed about 50/50 between attendees and speakers.  Most of the opposition was based around the location of the trails on the West Side. 

They City and Parks Department are very neutral on this, but they are listening and the mtb turn out showed the need for more mountain biking and the many good characteristics of the mountain bike community. 

I think the next steps are to organize the comments in to categories and work through them based on science.

Thanks, again  Paul

[Catrin]

There did seem to be some misconception about what mountain biking looks like in Indiana, at least that is what I picked up. A couple of comments seemed to indicate that a few have seen some videos on YouTube that were perhaps not on cross-country mtb, but that is simply a matter of education. I had to leave about halfway through but I hope someone suggested in their comments that those interested should search for some of the many videos available on riding in BCSP, and I think there are now a couple of videos of Ft. Ben. Even still, as Paul said, the resistance was more to the location than the activity.

[mastertim]

What kind of summary doesn't include the underlying theme of golf bashing?  Or the wacky lady who seemed to get applause from everybody.  She rambled something about the 60s and 70s and drugs, and a bunch of guys golfing at Eagle Creek with one lady who was selling them hot dogs.  I had to leave 30 minutes early, hopefully I didn't miss anything else good.

[Indiana Dave]

I am not educated enough on the ecology of that area, therefore I only wanted to dispell misconceptions on what mountainbiking is all about, and point out that I have actually seen no difference in the wildlife at other areas I've ridden.
Many picture mountainbiking as the X-games, and Mountain Dew commercials portray it. I pointed out that most mountainbiking in this area is just a fun ride thru the woods.
I also pointed out that I've seen the same wildlife in other areas on my bike that I see when hiking.
I do think that if, in fact, there is a scientific study on the area done, and it finds that there are rare birds, etc that might suffer, that maybe we should find another area in the park.
I used to live in that area about 15 years ago, and hiked, fished, mushroom-hunted and yes, rode my bike, in that area (before I knew better). I only remember that area as a trash-ridden, maze of criss-crossing trails, that mostly led to fishing spots that were littered with beer cans, styrofoam worm containers, etc.
I've actually been on a couple of those Sunday morning bird-watching walks also, and those people are against anyone besides them being in that area, period. I've seen them yell at a fisherman for walking to loudly thru the woods. I've also had them yell at me for walking my dogs in those woods.

[flyinbrian]

I have not been on my M.T. bike yet this year but I felt that it was important to go to this meeting last night. I think it went pretty well, even though there was just as many of them as there was us. Like others have said, I do not think the bird watcher know what a properly built trail looks like nor have a clue of what most M.T. bikers are about. Hopefully the park staff saw that and will give us a chance to educate them. All the M.T. bikers I herd that stood up and spoke did us proud! I would like to send the park staff a brief message, but I did not get the parks email contacts last night. So if someone could post them or send me a PM I would appreciate it.