August 5/99 7:34 am - Ontario 24 Hour, North Shore Festival, Letter, Euro News

Posted by Editor on 08/5/99
 

24 Hour Warmup - Ontario

Are you looking for a warm-up for the 24 hours of adrenaline? A chance to try out team strategies? Test out your equipment? MOC Mountain Bike Centre has the solution...Come and ride our "99 in 1999" event! This is a 99km event in which the competitors will ride 9 laps of an 11km course. You can do this in teams of three, two or solo. The total number of laps is nine per team.

This will take place on Sunday August 15, 1999. Cost is $30 per person plus tax before August 10, or $35 plus tax after. Call or check out our website for more information.

Fred Tustin
Event Promoter
MOC Mountain Bike Centre
Phone: (705) 435 4478
Fax: (705) 435 3370
email: mansfield@sympatico.ca
Website: www.mansfield-outdoors.com


North Shore Mountain Bike Festival - Mt. Seymour, North Vancouver
(courtesy Rodney Hsu)

Pro Elite Women XC
1 SINCLAIR, Patricia Marin Bicycles 1:34:29
2 CHORNEY, Amber Club Ogc-fisher-oakley at 0:01
3 PLATT, Christine General Motors-rocky Mountain 3:52
4 CHORNEY, Eron Club Ogc-fisher-cyclepath 7:25
5 WEBB, Adrienne Giant Bicycles/roach Clothing 11:19

Pro Elite Men XC
1 GREEN, Roland Gt Bicycles 1:53:35
2 KABUSH, Geoff Kona Factory Team at 8:25
3 SCHNYDER, Ruedi Cove Bike Shop 9:33
4 KRESS, Dwayne Trek/schwalbe 11:33
5 LARGE, Geof Coffee On The 12:20

Junior Expert Men XC
1 SNEDDON, Kris 2:19:58
2 CASEY, Glen Cove Bike Shop at 44:53

Senior Men DS Final
1. WALTERS, Kelly
2. ROBERTS, Jesse
3. GILLIAT, Ted

Senior Women DS Final
1. SCORDA, Suzanne
2. BOON, Cassandra
3. IANTORO, Claudia

Junior Men DS Final
1. FARGEY, Matt
2. TURCOTTE, Marc
3. PERRET, Andre

Cadet Men DS Final
1. VANDERHAM, Thomas
2. HILDER, Stuart
3. OSBORNE-PARADIS, Manuel

Veteran Men DS Final
1. STAINTON, Greg
2. LANGE, Robert
3. NEAVE, Ken

Full XC and DS Results can be found on Ten36 Timing Homepage: http://www.myresults.com/

DH race and biker cross race were canceled.

For brief report of the pro XC races, http://mypage.direct.ca/r/rhsu/index.html

Apex Vertical (XC and DH), results can be found at: http://www.apexvertical.com/results.html


Lettter To The Editor

Note : I write this as my personal opinion - not on behalf of the NSMBA

http://www.nsnews.com/issues99/w071999/bikes.html

I refer to a North Shore News story "Mountain bike solutions sought" by Brady Fotheringham on July 16, 1999. This is the latest in a long series of articles (in the North Shore News and otherwise) which have depicted mountain-biking as being (i) dangerous and (ii) environmentally hazardous. Having spoken to some of the land managers in the North Shore, I have found that they agree with this depiction.

What is particularly misleading about this article, are comparisons between hiking and mountain-biking; with hiking being cast as safe, environmentally friendly activity in contrast to mountain-biking. As an avid cyclist, hiker and mountaineer, I disagree.

I have attributed the depiction of mountain-biking and mountain-bikers as adrenaline junkies and (usually) musclebound males to the fact that mountain-biking, as a new sport, is not readily understood by people who don't mountain-bike. This is particularly evident in West Vancouver where many people do not bicycle (whether road or off-road) and are wedded to single occupant vehicles.

However, it is hard to swallow this fiction that mountain-biking is unsafe and unenvironmentally friendly especially when compared to other activities such as hiking. British Pacific Properties ("BPP") chair, Gerald McGavin, for example, is willing to tolerate hiking trails which technically trespass on their property but is unwilling to allow mountain-biking trail structures on the same property.

Let's address the safety aspect. In early July, a women hiker was killed on Mt Seymour. In late July, two male hikers were rescued by North Shore Search and Rescue from trails behind Lynn Valley. Earlier this year, a hiker was killed and several injured on the Grouse Grind. In West Vancouver, countless snowboarders and skiers cross the ropes of Cypress Bowl ski resort and are lost, injured and sometimes killed. West Vancouver itself has been sued by walkers using the Ambleside beach walkway. B.C.'s Ministry of Forests was sued by Barbara Schubert in November of 1997 after she slipped and tripped on a "large exposed tree root". The father of the hiker killed on the Grouse Grind filed suit today, July 29, 1999 against the GVRD, North Vancouver District and Grouse Mountain Resort. Mountain-bikers almost always use helmets and gloves and many times, protective padding. Many in-line skaters, for example, do not use such protective equipment. In a North Shore News article of November 19, 1997, BC Search and Rescue statistics placed mountain-bikers, as a risk category, far behind hikers, skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers and on a par with - mushroom-pickers!

Let me get this straight, mountain-biking is the problem? Compared to what?

Lets address the environmental aspect. Some mountain-biking trails are in poor shape. There is no excuse for this - they are old trails and are heavily used. Some were cut down the fall-line and designed for speed - practices that are now known to cause erosion. However, the "Skyline Trail", the "Grouse Grind", "St. Georges" are in sad condition - they are all hiking trails in the North Shore. They are not in that condition because of mountain-bikers. Organized mountain-biking trail-maintenance days are well-attended. Trail maintenance days put on by North Shore Hikers, Blue Ridge Hikers, or the BCMC are not well-attended. Various independent studies - from Montana, from New Zealand and elsewhere, (citations available on request) show that environmental degradation occurs as soon as a person ventures into virgin terrain - whether by bike, by boot or by horse.

The North Shore News article above states that hikers who also trespass on BPP land in West Vancouver do not cause the environmental damage that biker do. It is hard for me to see BPP (who builds and develops residential property on what was once forested land) and Mr. McGavin as a defender of the environment. It is particularly hard (for myself as a mountain-biker) to be accused of despoiling the environment by a land-developer and not point to the ludicrousness of such accusation.

This acrimony between hikers and mountain-bikers is atributable to a small number of people. A recent Outside magazine article found that "89% of 1,400 hikers interviewed, when pressed, referred to their actual experiences with bikers on the trail as 'polite'." This is especially true in the North Shore, where for the most part, hikers and bikers get along - they should, since many people do both activities. However, a small number of hikers (such as the infamous West Vancouver P**** O******) are stridently anti-bike and some have gone so far as to advocating injuring bikers by sabotaging biking trails.

I don't know what the answers are. I do know that it is particularly unhelpful to start from such polar opposites and such misunderstanding. My opinion is that outdoor recreationists do themselves a disservice with such in-fighting. Our concerns should not be each other - but the encroachment on the North Shore outdoors we all love by condos, houses and roads.

If West Vancouver municipal councillors and BPP is so concerned about environment and liability, perhaps all outdoor recreation activities should be prohibited. Perhaps they could go further and prevent land development in the high alpine.

Lee T. Lau

lau@wedge.com

Editor's Note: This is a very serious issue, which affects all bike riders, not just those on the North Shore. I can remember fallacious 'studies' from California (by stridently anti-technology hiking groups) in the early 80's which almost killed mountain biking, everywhere. Please, do not sit back and let others fight for your right to ride on public lands. Do your bit to support advocacy groups - whether it be writing letters or showing up at trail maintenance days.


Vuelta y Castilla-Leon, Spain

Stage 5 - Valladolid to Grajera 167 km

1. Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) TVM-Farm Frites 3:52:53
2. Jeremy Hunt (Gbr) Banesto
3. Oleg Pankov (Ukr) Ipso Euroclean
4. Scott Sunderland (Aus) Palmans-Ideal
5. Pedro Diaz (Esp) Fuenlabrada

49. Marty Jemison (USA) US Postal
51. Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom all s.t.
75. Jonathan Vaughters (USA) US Postal at 6:43

Final GC

1. Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Banesto 21:43:28
2. Alberto Elli (Ita) Team Deutsche Telekom at 1:25
3. Guiseppe Guerini (Ita) Team Deutsche Telekom 2:34
4. Aitor Osa (Esp) Banesto 2:48
5. Franciso Tomas Garcia (Esp) Vitalicio Seguros 3:07

31. Marty Jemison (Usa) US Postal 15:01
76. Jonathan Vaughters (Usa) US Postal 40:17
86. Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 51:10


Track Worlds For 2001

The UCI Management Committee has announced that the 2001 World Track Championships will be held in Anvers, Belgium. Also, the Masters World Track Championships will be held in Manchester, Great Britain from 2000 to 2003. (Note: I have been told that the mountain bike calendar will be available to me this weekend in Bromont, at the World Cup)