April 9, 2004

John Siwinski sensed danger in my question. Ed Bartunek, on the other hand, launched into his sighting of Resurrection Mary with relish and an impish grin.

Standing at the proposed new staging area for mountain bikers at Pulaski Grove No. 2, I understood Siwinski's reservations. Image was long a problem for mountain bikers in Cook County. It still is in some circles.

That's why Chicago Area Mountain Bikers was born a decade ago. Siwinski, a salesman of food packaging, is president. CAMBr has about 300 paid members and 1,200 on its e-mail list.

Bartunek is officially vice president, unofficially the pot-stirrer. His grin and rotund build suggest his former life as a tavern owner in Berwyn.

Mountain biking around Chicago is many things. But a Mountain Dew commercial it is not.

Oh, there's plenty of wildlife and wild life to experience.

Siwinski and Bartunek attested to that. When I asked about the strangest thing they have seen while mountain biking in the Palos area, they spoke of copulating couples, Chicago's most famous ghost, deer and coyotes.

"I wasn't there, but my friend Bob called right after a Sunday afternoon ride on an established trail,'' Siwinski recounted. "A guy and a girl were doing the act right on the single-track trail. He rode around them, and it didn't faze them a bit.''

Single track is a narrow trail, about the width of one cyclist or a horse rider, designed for low ecological impact.

"I ran down a trail with a big buck one time,'' Siwinski said. "I was heading out at the top of Bullfrog [Lake]. He hit the afterburners and shot across my front tire.''

Both have seen the many coyotes that populate the Palos region.

Bartunek's best tale interested me much. Some of my wife's Slavic and Bohemian kin are buried at Resurrection Cemetery. Her diminutive aunt claimed to have felt Resurrection Mary's prints on the cemetery gate.

"I have seen Resurrection Mary at 3 p.m.,'' Bartunek said. "I checked to make sure it wasn't a deer. It looked like a bride far away. I thought it was these guys playing a trick on me.''

He even conferred with Richard Crowe, Chicago's most publicized ghost hunter.

Siwinski wanted to get back on point: The image of mountain bikers in Cook County. CAMBr has done much to resurrect that image. Some resurrection started at home with the riders themselves.

"The first few years, we were completely unregulated,'' Siwinski said. "We didn't realize we could spook a horse.''

Mountain bikers quickly learned that they needed to respect the environment, respect other trail users, and that they would not be able to ride in all areas. They partnered with equestrians. They sought out the expertise of Carl Birklebach, a LaSalle Street honcho, in organizing cyclists.

"Carl was our mentor,'' Siwinski said. "He told us it must be a grass-roots movement, must have people passionate about the trail system.''

A stack of 25,000 signatures on a petition to save mountain-bike riding was presented to the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. They were allowed to work on a study trail. The first trail workday was held in June 1994.

"We had a lot to learn,'' Siwinski said. "We didn't know what it meant to be a good steward.''

They learned trail maintenance.

"It's like real estate: location, location, location,'' Siwinski said.

Key is having water drain naturally, so the trails don't get rutted. Siwinski calls it "connecting the dots'' between "control points,'' which are areas to be avoided, like marshy areas, and areas everyone wants to reach, like overlooks.

"When designing a trail, you want to find a place with good drainage, a side slope, [and where] the grades are manageable, avoid the wet areas and take people to where they want to go,'' Siwinski said.

In the past year, they have started to include a 25-foot swath on either side of the trail of habitat improvement. They remove non-native species such as honeysuckle and buckthorn. Bartunek is nearing completion of a Master Steward certificate.

With the new administration in the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, CAMBr finds much more cooperation at the official level. Plans are moving forward for a new staging area and more trails.

CAMBr continues educating cyclists on not making illegal trails and respecting rules on legal trails. In particular, not riding when the trails are wet. That's when trails can be damaged and rutted, leading to ecological damage. And a loss of image.

As we talked, a woman took off on a too-wet trail.

"When you are jonesing for some single track,'' Siwinski said, "it is hard to be patient sometimes.''

They hoped she turned around when she realized the muckiness.

DOING IT

CHICAGO AREA MOUNTAIN BIKERS
Aim: Keeping unpaved (primitive) trails open to cycling and having a good time doing it.
Dues: $15.
Contacts: www.cambr.org or Ed Bartunek at (708) 749-8488.
Staging: Bullfrog Lake parking lot, south of 95th Street.
First work: April 24, Palos area.
Volunteering ages: 10-82.
Lake County: Northern Illinois Trailworkers Association is forming in Lake County. Contact Tom Hinman at trailworkers@hotmail.com.