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.

Details

Written by: Tom McFarling

Published: 11 February 2014