WHAS 11 reported last night that a female cyclist was flown by medical helicopter to University Hospital after she went over a cliff.
Rescue workers reached the injured cyclist at around 6:45 pm; she was reported to be alert and responsive during the trip to the hospital.
Unfortunately we now have more negative information that Metro Parks Director of Propaganda can share with our Metro Council: mountain bikers shouldn’t be allowed on any potentially “dangerous” trail sections. (ie- this is the same person who regularly trolls mountain bike sites and reports any unfavorable/unflattering comments about Metro Parks to our elected officials)
Remember that it was at Otter Creek that Metro Parks conducted a secret experiment by opening up the entire trail system to equestrians, without informing the other trails users, namely hikers, trail runners and MOUNTAIN BIKERS. Their (not-so) hidden-agenda was to allow horses to ruin the trail system (think Taylorsville Lake) thereby forcing mountain bikers off another public trail system. (We’ve already been kicked out of Jefferson Memorial Forest and Iroquois Park, for the sole purpose of catering to equestrians.)
When mountain bikers politely tried to educate the equestrians they found riding on what they believed to be hike/bike only trails, more than one equestrian responded angrily and complained to parks staff. And much more recently, our very own Parks Director sent a letter to our Metro Council stating that mountain bikers have been “harassing and denouncing horseback riders” (at Otter Creek). He also went on to say that mountain bikers have been “unwilling to demonstrate their support” of IMBA’s multi-use trail philosophy. (Thanks for the support Mr. Parks Director!)
Last nights wreck and injury will also not set well with local mountain bike leadership; whom we’ll refer to as Ahmadinejad 1 & 2 (they deny the existence of Metro Parks anti-mountain bike policies over the years). Ahmadinejad 2 recently posted that one of the major problems locally has been that mountain bikers have low credibility and can’t be trusted, despite the fact that we’ve invested thousands of hours of sweat equity and dollars into the local trail systems. They fail to mention anything about Metro Parks non-mention of mountain biking during the Bike Summit (which caused the League of American Bicyclists to actually change their application process). Furthermore, you’ll find no disparaging remarks about parks Director of Propaganda who chose not to participate in the Bike Friendly application process, despite repeated requests from a local city agency.
Both Ahmadinejad 1 & 2 speak very highly of Metro Parks generosity and willingly follow in lock-step with their Elitist Trail policies. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this doesn’t lead to any trail closures at Otter Creek (or elsewhere).
i heard about this crash on
i heard about this crash on another site. I hope the girl recoverys quickly. As with all "sports" they have the potential to be dangerous. Any onlooker that says horse back riding on trails is any less dangerous is crazy. We have control of our bikes. You get on a horse and you hope the thing follows the leads. You watch a horse get spooked and the rider is just holding on for dear life. Falling off and getting kicked isn't any fun either i wouldn't think.
I haven't heard of them trying to get horses back on the other trail system at otter. All they would have to do is go look at the section that IMBA put in at otter. It was ment to be a hike and bike trail and when the horses got permission for their "experiment", that imba built trail section turned to shit quickly. It still does have problems now as well. Only a reroute will fix it now after the horse damage. I think most would agree with imba multi use trails if the ignorant equestrian (as well as the ignorant mtber) didn't exist. You put these two on the same trial and add some muddy conditions and they don't know any better. Then if they have the capability to pack more stuff into the woods and litter, it doesn't help either.