Maine NEMBA Chapter News

SingleTracks, December 2007

It has been a good summer in Maine for mountain biking. We've had some good response from several land trusts who are interested in having Maine NEMBA and other riders help them take care of their trails and, possibly, build some new ones.

Bradbury Mountain State Park continues to increase in popularity, and this year had three major events in the park: the Bradbury Mountain Enduro, our own Kona Bicycles-Kenda MTB Adventure Series ride, and a Twelve Hour race. Next year we are hoping to finish expansion onto Tryon Mountain which is part of the future to move toward Pine Land Center.

There is also in the discussion for future development Range Pond State Park. The state is looking in to multi-use for part of the new trail system.

We've also been working closely with Cape Elizabeth Land Trust which is allowing the Portland Rage group to keep an eye on the trails, and talks are ongoing with the Camden Land Trust to increase the involvement of mountain bikers on their property. Several people in the Camden-Rockport area are getting involved, and Kevin Davis has been talking about working with the land owners in the area, possibly setting up a local NEMBA chapter to mobilize mountain bikers. Good Luck, Kevin!

On the downside, there is a crisis ongoing at Hinckley Park in South Portland. Land managers were viewing mountain biking as an "active" form of recreation that shouldn't be allowed in a park that focuses on "passive" recreation. We gathered some information about how "passive vs. active recreation" is defined and presented in to the city land manager. Mountain biking is clearly passive recreation since it doesn't require the infrastructure needed for active recreation: ball fields, courts, etc. We also mapped out the trails at Hinckley and will be submitting a proposal that defines the area that we would like to ride in to the manager for his approval. At this time it looks positive for the Mountain bikers. As part of the proposal, mountain bikers will be helping take care of the trails we ride, and will help educate riders on responsible riding and trail etiquette for shared-use trails.

Would also like to thank EMS Store 29 for all of there support that they have given us through the summer.
Also working on our new web site which will be at www.meNEMBA.com

Mark your calendar now: next year's Mountain Bike Adventure ride will be held at Bradbury on the 10th of August 2008.
Hope to see everyone on the trail somewhere! — Calvin Weeks