at kickoff event for Portland Trail Fest.
(Photos © J. Maus)
The kickoff of the first annual Portland Trail Fest last night served as an inspirational kick-in-the-pants for local off-road riding advocates.
It has been nearly three years since the lack of local trails was first brought to the attention of the City’s bicycle advisory committee. Chris Distefano, the man who made an impassioned speech to that committee on May 9, 2007, addressed the crowd last night. Distefano is the marketing director at Chris King Precision Components, a company that allows him paid time away from the office to advocate for more mountain biking in Portland. Before introducing the night’s speakers, Distefano — a former board member of the International Mountain Bicycle Assocation (IMBA) and PR guy for Shimano America — stated the ultimate dream for local mountain bikers:
“Pretty soon, we’ll be able to ride to where we ride.”
If Portlanders hope to ride quality singletrack without getting in their car to do it, Tom Archer will play a role in making it happen. Archer is president of the Northwest Trail Alliance, a non-profit group with a 20-year history in Portland that has completely remade itself in the last 12 months. In addition to a new name (they were formerly known as PUMP), Archer and his expanded board of directors have brought fresh faces, energy and professionalism to the group’s efforts. But those efforts, he warned last night, can’t continue unless more people step up with donations and membership. “We have more projects than we can manage with just volunteers.”
Wearing a cast on his arm to heal a broken wrist, Archer said jokingly, “I’ve been mixing it up with the Parks Bureau trying to get trails in Forest Park.” Archer is a member of the committee trying to hash out a package of recommendations for expanding bike access in Forest Park. That process has gotten mixed reviews from advocates and the meetings have gotten contentious in recent months.
Emily Roth, the Parks planner overseeing that process, was in attendance last night. In a sign of how effective Northwest Trail Alliance has been in cultivating productive relationships with Portland Parks staff, when Archer thanked Roth in his speech she received a rousing ovation from the crowd.
In part because of Archer and the new tact of his organization, International Mountain Bicycling Association executive director Mike Van Abel, said the Northwest Trail Alliance is “in the vanguard” of off-road advocacy groups nationwide. In his keynote speech, Van Abel said mountain bike advocates must shed the “no rules” spirit the sport was born from.
He showed a slide with a bumper sticker proclaiming; “Don’t be the Rangers’ bitch. Ride the illegal trails.” The sticker elicited a “Not in Forest Park!” cry from Parks’ Roth and Van Abel warned that while that sentiment might still exist among some riders, “It just doesn’t get you too far down the trail in terms of advocacy.”
Perhaps because of the complexity of managing shared-trails, Van Abel shared a few of their “model trail” projects like Valmont Bike Park in Colorado and the Allegrippis Trails in Pennsylvania. “Purpose-built” bike trails (meaning made for bikes only), Van Abel said, are a big focus of IMBA these days.
But here in Portland, our issue is how to co-exist on trails where hikers and runners are plentiful. Van Abel had some advice on that front. He shared a statement from a contact “high-up in the Forest Service” who told him, “Until you force the Forest Service to change, we won’t change. We’re hard-wired for the status-quo.”
That change is coming, Van Abel said, thanks to groups like the Northwest Trail Alliance.
Kirt and Lindsey Voreis; passionate advocates from Bend.
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Woody Starr from COTA in Bend came to share their successes.
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After his speech, I asked Van Abel if he had any words of wisdom for how local advocates might move forward on the Forest Park bike access issue. He said it will take “constant, reasonable pressure” on decision makers and that, “This is much bigger than, ‘We want our trails!’. Mountain biking is a way to get kids outside, to tackle obesity. It must be a popular appeal.”
The event last night was a fitting kickoff for the Trail Fest. It was equal parts inspiration and information. For more photos, check out the full gallery.
There’s a lot more coming as the Trail Fest continues through Sunday. Tonight, there’s a guided ride with Mr. Van Abel around the trails on Powell Butte followed by a food and socializing at Hopworks Brewery.
– See NW-Trail.org/trailfest for all the details.