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eBike Havoc in National Parks



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 7th 21, 12:35 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
SMS
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Posts: 9,477
Default eBike Havoc in National Parks

We were in Zion, Grand Canyon, Grand Staircase, and Bryce last week.
Zion was crazy crowded, in fact supposedly it was the most visitors in
the history of the park.
https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/6/2/22465555/utahs-national-parks-monuments-full-busy-traffic-memorial-day-tourism-arches-zion.

We brought bicycles mainly because the shuttle in Zion required advanced
reservations and there were none available but you could try at exactly
5 p.m. the day before to get a "walk-in." But then they dropped the
shuttle reservation system on the day we arrived (5/28). I had built
special "pole holders" for my bike
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GvcGmrS4QYfWokEfA so we could take
"canyoneering poles" for The Narrows hike (trekking poles are not
recommended and we saw why this is the case multiple times!). Many of
the rental bikes included similar pole holders.

Despite the shuttle being available, I still biked the scenic drive road
in Zion, which is closed to private cars unless you're staying at the
lodge inside the park or have a handicapped placard. It was mostly
uphill into the park, but not difficult with proper gearing.

What was dangerous was not the shuttle vehicles on the road, it was the
multitudes of eBike riders on powerful rental eBikes. Many of them
probably hadn't been on a bike of any kind in a long time.

Bryce has a wonderful multi-use path with almost no pedestrians. It goes
from Bryce Canyon City into the park and also goes a long way outside
the park. A lot of eBikes on that path too.

You can put regular bikes on the shuttles but not eBikes.

There was a big Backroads Bicycle Touring company group that we saw
inside Bryce as well as at the hotel next to ours; they paid $3,399 -
$3,599 for 6 days/5 nights
https://www.backroads.com/trips/BBZQ/bryce-zion-biking-tour. We spent
about $700 per person, including hotels and food, for 8 nights/9 days.
The hotels all included breakfast and we made our own lunches. We ate
dinner out, which was difficult in Kanab due to the lack of open
restaurants. Kanab has a severe labor shortage so even fast food
restaurants were doing drive-thru only and there were long lines.
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  #2  
Old June 8th 21, 01:38 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
pH
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 33
Default eBike Havoc in National Parks

On 2021-06-06, sms wrote:
We were in Zion, Grand Canyon, Grand Staircase, and Bryce last week.
Zion was crazy crowded, in fact supposedly it was the most visitors in
the history of the park.
https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/6/2/22465555/utahs-national-parks-monuments-full-busy-traffic-memorial-day-tourism-arches-zion.

We brought bicycles mainly because the shuttle in Zion required advanced
reservations and there were none available but you could try at exactly
5 p.m. the day before to get a "walk-in." But then they dropped the
shuttle reservation system on the day we arrived (5/28). I had built
special "pole holders" for my bike
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GvcGmrS4QYfWokEfA so we could take
"canyoneering poles" for The Narrows hike (trekking poles are not
recommended and we saw why this is the case multiple times!). Many of
the rental bikes included similar pole holders.

Despite the shuttle being available, I still biked the scenic drive road
in Zion, which is closed to private cars unless you're staying at the
lodge inside the park or have a handicapped placard. It was mostly
uphill into the park, but not difficult with proper gearing.

What was dangerous was not the shuttle vehicles on the road, it was the
multitudes of eBike riders on powerful rental eBikes. Many of them
probably hadn't been on a bike of any kind in a long time.

Bryce has a wonderful multi-use path with almost no pedestrians. It goes
from Bryce Canyon City into the park and also goes a long way outside
the park. A lot of eBikes on that path too.

You can put regular bikes on the shuttles but not eBikes.

There was a big Backroads Bicycle Touring company group that we saw
inside Bryce as well as at the hotel next to ours; they paid $3,399 -
$3,599 for 6 days/5 nights
https://www.backroads.com/trips/BBZQ/bryce-zion-biking-tour. We spent
about $700 per person, including hotels and food, for 8 nights/9 days.
The hotels all included breakfast and we made our own lunches. We ate
dinner out, which was difficult in Kanab due to the lack of open
restaurants. Kanab has a severe labor shortage so even fast food
restaurants were doing drive-thru only and there were long lines.


Be vewy vewy careful (no...we're not hunting wabbits). This sort of talk
might attract Mike Vandeman (sp?) Is he still around?


Those were sure interesting posts!

pH in Aptos
 




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