TimesLeader.com

Budget puts brakes on mountain bikers’ plans

Park shutdown makes plans for local mountain biking "Mecca” an uphill climb.

By Rory Sweeney rsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

PLYMOUTH TWP. – Very few things will stop the members of the Northeast Pennsylvania Mountain Bike Association – they’ll ride in the cold, the snow and the rain if they have to.

But they can’t ride if they can’t get in, and that’s one thing that’ll stop them on Jan. 1 from completing their plans at Moon Lake Park. Under the county’s 2009 budget signed two weeks ago, the park will be shut down until April, and with it, the bikers’ hopes to create a local “Mecca for mountain biking,” according to NEPMTBA member Chuck Kovach.

Kovach doesn’t ride as much as his son, Tyler, but he’s just as excited about the park’s trail system. He’d like to promote the trails internationally by bringing in major racing competitions and equipment vendors.

“Bicycle racers are gluttons for punishment. … Any time there’s something new, people flock to it,” he said.

For the past few years, he, Lee Curry and other NEPMTBA members have been mapping out paths, installing obstacles and clearing away brush to create 20 miles of trails throughout the park. They have many more designed, including a plan to connect Moon Lake via trails to Ricketts Glen State Park and the Susquehanna Trail along the river. “It’s really kind of a hub for areas around it,” said Nikki Banfield, the park’s naturalist and an advocate for the bike trails. “It makes sense to happen.”

The shutdown will cut deeply into their riding and maintenance schedule at the park, though not completely. Working with county Recreation Director Andy Gegaris and Moon Lake’s manager Clif Madrack, the group negotiated through March for the park to be open on weekends during the day for biking and cross-country skiing. Hours will be expanded when the park reopens in April, but the campground, pool and marina will remain closed.

While the shutdown might cut back the group’s access to the park, it won’t hinder their riding. Rides are already regularly planned for Frances Slocum State Park, the Nature Conservancy’s Moosic Mountain preserve and the Seven Tubs Nature Area.

But it might reduce the park’s attraction for non-residents. Madrack said the park had been bringing in about 150,000 per year.

“That’s going to be drastically affected because people aren’t going to be able to swim; they’re not going to be able to camp,” he said.

“The thing that hurts us most is the out-of-towners won’t come because they spend entire weekends,” Kovach said. “Does it put a damper on this? I don’t even have to tell you; it does.”

He said he hoped to secure other options, such as camping at other parks nearby.

“It’s not like we’re totally shut down. We just had a dream for the county.”