The mountain biking community, and all park users, were saddened to hear of the untimely passing of Matt Chaplin, who died suddenly on Thursday April 24 while riding the trails.  Neil Silverman and others on the ride attempted to assist him, but the apparent heart attack that took his life did so immediately.  Matt is survived by his wife and three young children, and PMBA offers its deepest sympathies to them.  PMBA is collecting donations to the Chaplin Childrens' Scholarship Fund - see the box at the top of this page. This special fundraiser will end MAY 10 and we will send all money collected on that date.

This incident has underscored the need for preparedness on bike rides, and PMBA will be addressing these issues in the coming weeks.  Knowledge of first aid, awareness of your location in the park and the nearest emergency access, and having a plan for dealing with accidents and injuries will be important topics of discussion.  Similarly,  the event underscores some of the inadequacies in the ability of emergency responders to enter and navigate through the park, which FOW has addressed in its Sustainable Trails Initiative.  Although this tragedy was apparently not preventable, these initiatives should improve the quality and speed of both public and private responses to similar incidents in the park.

We are very pleased to annouce that 64 people showed up at our March Trail Maintenance Day in the Wissahickon Valley Park, sponsored by FOW. We completed numerous projects along the Yellow Trail between Wises Mill Rd and Janette St on the Roxborough side of the park. 

We logged a massive 291.5 volunteer hours, which is the most since we stared these volunteer days!!! We had 17 Temple students show up and contribute a huge amount of work. We want to offer our special thanks! 29 PMBA members joined forces with volunteers from other organizations like FOW and Wissahickon Wonderers as well as many concerned and dedicated neighborhood volunteers.

Special thanks and props need to go out to the crew leaders: Tom Coyle, Paul Harris, Lou Harris, Dave Dannenberg, Heidi Grunwald, Dmitri Zorine, Dan Mercer, Kevin Groves and Jan Deruiter. These people handled the huge crowd with professionalism and made sure everyone was productive and got involved.

There are so many more people to thank that it is difficult, from Jesse Kelly for making the sign-up tent look professional and handling the crowd, to Nick Fortune for picking up the pizzas, to High Point Coffee in Mt Airy for donating coffee once again, to the FOW for loaning their tools, Kevin and equipment, including the brand new Canycom tracked/motorized dumper.

On Feb 9th, about 15 PMBA members volunteered their Saturday morning to join forces with FOW and FPC staff to make improvements in the Wissahickon Park, near Daisy Field.  Volunteers worked for about four hours picking up trash, removing invasive bamboo, and restoring eroded areas of trail--taking a break for lunch to enjoy tomato pie from T&F Market and High Point Cafe coffee!  

Here's what was accomplished: 

1. PMBA led a crew for a trail project at a section with poor grade and slope that held water and was always muddy. To make a drainage "knick" we excavated the low spot and made a french drain with lots of rocks, covered it back up with dirt and installed some large rocks as anchors to narrow the trail a bit. This section should prove to be sustainable and not be muddy any longer. 
2. Removal of at least 3000 lbs of trash including:  13 tires, a sofa, shopping carts, a 1920's era furnace, and concrete slabs!
3. About 1/4 of a huge patch of invasive bamboo was removed (FOW will return to the site for further clearing)
4. 16 crates of recyclable bottles and cans collected and removed! 
   

PMBA Members help out FOW

Thanks to those who helped out! Please check out these pictures:

Photos

 More Photos

What a way to start off our 2008 Volunteer Trail Maintenance Days, which are sponsored by Friends of the Wissahickon!!!  46 volunteers braved the frigid temperatures and tested the leaders' planning, preparation and execution skills. You see, it is difficult to predict how many people will show up in this cold weather, or how well the frozen ground will cooperate with our tools. Thanks to quick thinking and organizing by those in charge, the day went off without a hitch, and we got lots accomplished. All told, at least 167 hours were donated!!