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Opinion
In the past few months, hikers and equestrians in Lake County have encountered a new scare on the local trails in our parks and open space.
The concern is a new phenomena called “Strava.”
Strava is a “social fitness” Web site where mountain bikers upload their performance with a smartphone app. This allows a community of competitive bikers to track their and each other's speeds on any given trail in the local community.
At any time, someone can cycle a trail, track their route, distance and speed, upload it to Strava's Web site and compare their results with that of others who have done the same route.
The holder of the top speed is awarded the title “KOM,” or “King of the Mountain.” This title and record then becomes a challenge for anyone else who wants to better that speed and become KOM themselves.
To quote from strava.com: “We are athletes. We do what we do, no matter what. It's in our blood. It's who we are. We have our own code. Alone, together, we strive. Pushing harder is a source of pleasure. It's how we measure ourselves. It proves we're crazy. It proves a great story. Prove it.”
The concern to anyone who hikes or rides horses on single-track county trails is obvious: a hurtling bike coming downhill at speeds in excess of 20 miles per hour, its rider hell-bent on maximum speed and a possible new record, is a danger that far outstrips the fear of mountain lions, errant hunters, slippery trails, bad weather or an abundance of poison oak.
There are documented instances in other counties in California of hikers being hit and permanently injured and in a few cases, death to the hiker.
Last year a local community hike leader was almost struck by an out-of-control member of a high school mountain bike team at Boggs Mountain.
In the past few years there have been numerous cases of rude riders who have forced people off of trails at both Boggs Forest and Highland Springs Reservoir, popular spots for Strava riders.
Boggs Forest has been the site for many years of sanctioned, organized bike races. These are held on weekends and the public is notified of the event and which trails are to be used.
Unfortunately, now with Strava, every day on any random trail can be a race day. No longer can a hiker wanting a peaceful back-to-nature experience know that they can walk a trail without the threat of meeting a high-speed cyclist on any trail at any time in these two popular venues.
Older people out bird-watching, families out for a stroll or young people learning to ride a horse all are at greater risks now. There has even been documented (through the Strava Web site) evidence of cyclists racing on Mt. Konocti, where bikes are prohibited.
Fortunately there are solutions here.
Right now – with the exception of the rainy season – all trails at Highland Springs and Boggs are open to cyclists and can be traveled at any speed. Public property managers, following the lead of other counties, could designate separate trails for these incompatible user groups.
Even bikers who are not trying to set speed records usually travel three to five times faster than hikers or equestrians on narrow trails. Bikers themselves would feel much safer riding and racing on trails set aside for that activity.
The rest of us could avoid those trails. Volunteer monitor crews could periodically walk or bike trails to encourage compliance and educate the public.
As it stands now, however, it's the wild west on all of the trails in both of these places. Bicycling on narrow single-track trails is considered an extreme sport. The majority of bicyclist ride on fire roads, wide multi-use paths, established bikeways or city or county roads.
We need our county officials along with responsible users from all three groups, hikers, equestrians and cyclists to meet and create solutions to this growing problem.
Tom McFarling lives in Lower Lake, Calif. He leads local hikes for Sierra Club, Tuleyome, Konocti Docents and the Bureau of Land Management, which are all open to the public. The above views are his alone and do not represent any of these organizations.
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- Written by: Tom McFarling
If there is any constant in today’s health care landscape, it is change.
As a new leader of the Adventist Health Northern California Network, a five-hospital network that includes St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, I hope to bring with it positive changes.
I feel privileged and blessed to be given a leadership role in this region and to work on such important initiatives for the Lake County community. I’m looking forward to learning more, getting to know the culture, and the people.
Being new to the area, I want to share with you a little bit about myself and my desire to help make a difference in the way health care is viewed and received in Lake County.
First, I am passionate about people – in fact that is one of the reasons I chose a career in health care. Health care is all about people, relationships and respect.
I believe our physicians, caregivers and staff are devoted to our mission of sharing God’s love by providing physical, mental and spiritual healing.
I know that when it comes to health care, there are many challenges.
When I first started my career with Adventist Health in 1987, the climate and landscape had many similarities to its current state.
Private insurance was becoming more common, changes in how hospitals got paid and how patients were treated and cared for was becoming highly regulated.
It really was not much different from our health care landscape of today, where the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is said to make a sizable impact on around 12,000 of our community members in Lake County alone.
As I look toward the future I can’t help but be optimistic. Despite differences over the ACA and
reductions in reimbursements, I remain committed to the people of Lake County.
In fact, in 2014 St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, under the leadership of interim Chief Executive Officer Steven Herber, MD, and Vice President of Operations David Santos, will be adding physicians and expanding the services offered at our hospital and 10 clinics throughout Lake County.
Together the people of Adventist Health and St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake will provide care for many generations to come.
I wish each of you good health so that you may Live Younger Longer.
Jeff Eller is president of the Northern California Network of Adventist Health.
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- Written by: Jeff Eller
Lake County has a town baseball history that has yet to be fully captured on the www.goodoldsandlotdays.com Web site.
Despite our best efforts we have only been able to track down a few pieces of memorabilia such as Kelseyville’s team schedule in 1941, box scores of games played at Hoberg’s Resort as well as a poster of a special game played at Upper Lake in 1927.
We are hoping that this letter will be read by some former players or family members of players in the Clear Lake area.
There were teams at Lower Lake, Clearlake Highlands, Lakeport, Cobb Mountain (Giants) and Middletown (Blues) among others that played in leagues or hosted traveling teams from San Francisco before and after World War II.
This Web site is a hobby and features more than 1,000 semi-pro/non-pro teams from all over Northern and Central California.
Please contact us if you have any information:
Thank you.
John Ward lives in Burlingame, Calif.
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- Written by: John Ward
I recently attended and presented at a winter workshop for early childhood educators held at Ukiah High School.
The conference was on a Saturday, which meant early childhood educators were giving up a much-needed rest on the weekend.
While at the conference I met the most dedicated administrators and educators of young children. The conference was put on in a very organized way supporting the work of early childhood educators.
In the State of the Union speech, President Obama spoke to the need for more early childhood education and making this education more accessible for families.
After working in the field for 56 years I can tell you any federal funds spent on young children are reflected in the positive outcomes of research looking at the benefits of early education for children and their families.
Let me tell you from firsthand experience, if someone if looking at early childhood education as a career the pay back is in the progress of the children and their families.
Early childhood educators need to be paid equivalent to what elementary school teacher’s make, (which still falls far below the good work done by educators).
Early childhood educators do not get the credit they deserve for the work they do each day.
The truth is as a society we end up putting more money into teen and adult mental health services and the prison system.
If more money was directed towards early childhood education, the payoff is more healthy and productive adults and a better society for all.
Please check out the good work of the Redwood Empire Association for the Education of the Young Child and visit and support child development programs in your area.
Young children are our future and we certainly need to know we as a society have a brighter future for all human beings.
If you can read this article, you have teachers to thank and thank again.
Sue Williams has a master's degree in child development. She lives in Kelseyville, Calif.
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- Written by: Sue Williams