Dear Editor,
For weeks now Ive been reading the letters regarding the Barbour Rock cycling trail. Ive come to the conclusion that some people just simply hate cyclists. They hate them on the highway, they hate them on the streets and it seems they hate them when they try to custom build some off-road single-track trail system. In Calgary they hate them for having bike lanes. On the highways they hate them for taking up 18 inches (45 centimetres) of terrifying space on the shoulder-less road and occasionally they kill them for daring to use it. On the streets they hate them for riding far enough left to avoid being injured or killed by someone opening their car door. And now it seems they hate them for their dedicated volunteer effort to carve out a thin line of low-impact single-track in a landscape literally covered by forestry roads, highways, power lines, railways, fences, dams, towns, mines and cut-blocks.
Sure there needs to be some discussion, planning and consultation but it seems for some that the issue has gone way beyond that. Theres some people out there using a very thin facade to disguise their pure hatred of people on bikes. Ive given up trying to understand why some people hate cyclists so much. Its irrational. Maybe its their freedom, fitness and fun they envy.
To all the volunteers in the Columbia Valley Cycling Society CHEERS for all your dedicated efforts on behalf of cycling, community, health and recreation in the Columbia Valley.
Chris Conway
Invermere
