The real problems caused by bikers is almost nil. Horses do more damage to trails than both hikers or bikers combined, but rain does most of the damage by far and the trail itself is the cause of that. You can't even blame the damage done on the rain.

The point is, bikers have had to fight for their right to use trails and I fought hard with them for many years. For the most part there has never been any good reason to ban them in most of the places where that's happened.

There is obviously a balance between use and preservation, but use and access are vital. The real balance lies in maintenance. That necessarily comes with use. It kind of irks me when I see tax paid Park District employees wearing immaculately cleaned and pressed new suits while driving $40,000 brand new and always shiny trucks complaining about having to do some real work cleaning up after people. I don't excuse those who make the messes, but we pay to keep things up, and we pay a lot.

I'm impressed with the City of Knoxville for getting involved with this. Good for them!!!