Bike trail conditions spur action - Little Miami Trail

By Carrie Whitaker

WAYNESVILLE - Unsafe conditions on portions of the Little Miami Scenic Trail are
prompting a new effort to fix up the popular 78-mile bike trail along the Little
Miami River.


Several injuries have been reported in recent years and three miles of
deteriorated trail are closed, said Simeon Copple, owner of The Corwin Peddler,
a restaurant and bike rental in Waynesville.

"The park is progressively collapsing because of lack of funding," Copple said.
"I view the trail as the main trunk of a tree, and piece by piece the trail is
growing, but nobody is paying attention to the basic structure."

The Little Miami State Park is operated by the Ohio Department of Natural
Resources. It includes the river and the trail which runs between Springfield
and Anderson Township.

"I've been told the funds have - over a five-year period - gone to 25 percent of
what they once were," Copple said.

So now, Copple is recruiting members for the Friends Group of the Little Miami
State Park to raise money for improvements the state may no longer cover.

Injuries occur most often on the wooden bridges, Copple said. During warm
weather, a slime mold on the bridges makes them slippery.

Beavercreek resident Ray Monnel knows this all too well. This summer he was
riding in a group of seven cyclists when one of the men in front of him slipped
on a bridge.

"Me and another guy tried to get out of the way, but we went down," Monnel said.

He ended up with a broken shoulder blade, a punctured lung and a bruised ego.

"I was embarrassed," Monnel said. "I felt like I was so unlucky. Then I started
thinking that this is potentially dangerous."

He plans to get involved with the Friends Group.

It will cost about $2,000 to resurface each bridge with blacktop, Copple said.
With 30 bridges, that adds up to $60,000 the group needs to raise for that job
alone.

Martin Schickel, a Loveland resident who runs the Loveland Bike Trail Web site,
said the new group is getting attention from people all along the trail.

"It's a long term issue," Schickel said. "We'll have to provide some sort of
support if we want (the trail) to stay at a level everyone wants to maintain."

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