The Seattle P-I, which unfortunately is on the verge of closing its print publication, has a long feature on Seattle’s mountain biking organization, the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. Formerly it was the Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club, but the organization has grown beyond being a club to a liaison with user groups, legislation, government officials and other outlets.
As a lifetime member who joined BBTC in the early 1990s, I share the mixed feelings over the name change of many of us oldtimers. But as an oldtimer, I know that things have to change, and I don’t want to be the kind of oldtimer that I remember them being when I was younger. The BBTC, er, EMBA, seems poised to do some great work, and we wish it well. A number of us are pushing for expanded riding on Tiger Mountain, for example. As individuals we wouldn’t get very far, but the clout of a recognized organization makes our case more viable. And that clout is enhanced by the credibility of articles in local newspapers like the P-I. It’s another reason why we need newspapers, even if they don’t come to us on paper.