As a recent transplant from the San Francisco Bay Area to Bayfield, and an e-bike aficionado, I’ve read with interest about ongoing controversy with respect to allowing e-bikes on the Animas River Trail or not.
E-bikes represent a great innovation in bicycle technology altogether. They are quiet, non-polluting, and usually set not to exceed 20 mph in speed. They allow for people who are older, and likely not as physically fit as they once were (like me at 76 years old) to continue to enjoy bicycling in its many forms.
Europe has embraced them big time with e-bike tours available in many countries. There are even networks of charging stations in the Alps, allowing people who are less than Tour-de- France-fit to ride mountainous terrain.
In my experience, on many pedestrian and bicycle-only trails in California, it wasn’t the e-bikers who represented any threat whatsoever. It was usually the spandex-clad expensive road bike riders who regularly exceeded speed limits in their youthful zest for better performance and speed.
And in the many hills surrounding San Francisco, it was regular pedal-powered mountain bikers riding out of control that caused threat and injury to hikers and other cyclist alike.
Personally, I’ve never heard of (or read about) an e-biker injuring others anywhere, but I’m not saying it hasn’t happened.
I suggest that opposition to the use of e-bikes anywhere, including the Animas River Trail, is misplaced. Purist pedal-power-only thinking promotes denying access to elders and others who could enjoy the same pleasure from bicycling wherever allowed, and who could not or would not if they are banned from doing so.
Robert “Han” Bishop
Bayfield
