|
 | | |||
Health & Fitness with Bill Hauda The folly of waging war on the Gas Fume Army "To conquer the enemy without resorting to war is the most desirable. The highest form of generalship is to conquer the enemy by strategy." Sun Tzu (544-496 B.C.),
It has even been proposed that we finance this war by imposing taxes on ourselves. That way we could charge headlong into the fight, declaring we have as much money, economic and political power as the Gas Fume Army does. I can assure you that if we ignore Master Sun's astute observation on war and the role of strategy, we will not succeed. We will find our blood continuing to be spilled across the hills and trails. When the smoke clears, we will still be the serfs and slaves to a system that puts noisy sports first. The Gas Fume Army (those who ride ATVs, snowmobiles, 4x4 trucks, dirt bikes, Jet Skis, motorboats, etc.) is huge, diverse, politically and economically wealthy and well connected. They can muster many divisions for the war. Meanwhile, we are small, lightly armed and naοve (tending to believe in what's right, not in reality) and we are pretty impotent politically and economically in the greater scheme of things. We'd be lucky to muster a few squads for a few skirmishes, and our troops would be pretty much unarmed. Before jumping into something doomed to fail, we should reflect on the advice of Chinese Master Sun, "We should avoid trying to mass our feeble forces against a formidable army. We need to defeat, or at least neutralize them by means of reasoned strategy rather than attempting a fixed battle where we will be certainly slaughtered. If we carelessly march off to war, singing songs of how good we are and how bad they are, we might feel good pursuing our cause but we will still be defeated." On our tombstones in the Cemetery of Silent Sports Warriors, there will be written the common inscription: "Acted Dumb, Now Extinct." As Master Sun put it, "A small force obstinately fighting will be captured by a larger force." If Silent Sporters versus Gas Fumers do battle, the latter would have numerical superiority and weaponry. They not only vastly outnumber us, but they're willing to spend much more on their activities compared to the modest amount we spend to engage in our favored sports. Master Sun said, "Prior information enables wise rulers and worthy generals to move and conquer; brings them success beyond that of the multitude." Again Master Sun, "Rashly underestimate your enemy and you will surely be taken captive." No one really knows how much silent sports enthusiasts contribute to the economy. A recent Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin study was very successful in documenting the amount the industry (retail and manufacturing Wisconsin is a leader in manufacturing) contributes, but when it came to those dollars spent by cyclists themselves for tourism the report concluded "undetermined, but considered significant." Well, that's not a very significant statement in the great scheme of things. Contrast that unknown with the $295 million a year spent by ATV'ers in Wisconsin in 2003, according to a study by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. That does not include equipment, just the dollars dropped in local communities. It also does not include the other big Gas Fume activities like snowmobiling (often the winter season activity of ATV'ers). An excellent and very thorough study of ATV'ers in Canada was published just this past December. Hold onto your bike and kayak seats: In 2005, Canadians spent $3.3 billion (yes, that's billion with a big B) on their activities. Divide that by the 975,000 operating Canadian ATVs and you discover that's $3,384.62 per year per ATV'er. The figure includes equipment. I cite the Canadian experience because I could not find a comparable U.S. study, but I'll bet the statistics are similar. If you go to northern Wisconsin in the winter, you can witness thousands of snowmobiles relentlessly rampaging from bar to restaurant to motel to bar on the trails. Parking lots are jammed with SUVs, trucks and snowmobile trailers. In contrast, at the Nordic ski areas, a few dozen cars with ski racks can be seen. We are vastly outnumbered by the Gas Fume Army. The tourism department says the average ATV'er in Wisconsin spends $523 per trip or an average of $163 per day. How often have you spent that going cycling, skiing or paddling? Let's face it. We silent sporters are cheap. We complain that a weeklong bicycle tour (read "vacation") costs a couple hundred bucks. Meanwhile, Gas Fumers like the snowmobilers blow that in a day on one of their sojourns. Gas Fumers crowd the bars and restaurants eating big meals (one of the reasons they're usually bigger than us), while we frugal silent sporters subsist on the food we bring with us granola and sports drinks. Don't think the communities don't notice. Another bit of pre-war intelligence: Gas Fume clubs regularly hold fund-raisers. They hold rallies. They also volunteer to support things (even bicycle events) to raise money for their operations, which may include opposing our interests from time to time. When's the last time your bike, running, skiing or paddling club held such an event? In fact, do you even belong to or support a local or statewide organization that works to protect your sport? A lot of silent sporters are, again, too cheap or too uninvolved. Given our inherent limitations, what can we do? Listen to Master Sun again. He said, "The skillful strategist defeats the enemy without doing battle, captures the city without laying siege, overthrows the enemy state without protracted war." We need to heed his advice. We obviously need to continue the guerilla actions and strike at the Gas Fumers where opportunities arise. When controversies break out over the use of a local trail or area, we can inflict casualties on the enemy then. But trying to launch a frontal assault by trying to create some sort of fund for nonmotorized trails and other facilities to compete with the Gas Fumers is pure folly. We can never hope to challenge Gas Fume dollars that way. We are far too few. Always keep in mind that silent sports folk are basically cheap and will resist paying anything. They won't even pay nominal membership fees to support their clubs and advocacy organizations. We can't even muster up enough strength to get the governor and Legislature to use all of the federal dollars that are available for bicycle projects. We have shown no interest in trying to stop raids on the transportation fund, financed by our vehicle registration fees and gas taxes, to make political payoffs to special interest groups. This fund includes money that should go for projects that include pedestrian and cycling activities. Taxing silent sporters is also not good public policy. We ought not think about taxing the very things that make us healthy. In fact, we ought to reach out to potential allies (such as the medical and health insurance industries) and enlist them in a campaign to provide tax credits to people who buy bicycles, running shoes, skis (both Nordic and downhill), ski boards, canoes, kayaks, fitness equipment and all the things that help get us out the door under our own power. In military terms, think of this as recruitment and forging strategic alliances. The more people we encourage to join our army, the better will be our odds. When we increase our numbers and those new troops speak out by firing their dollars into the economy, then our chances of victory will improve. And we need to reach out and explore possible alliances and treaties with those who we perceive as opponents. I got an e-mail recently titled "Road builders are bicyclists, too." Things are never as black and white as we would like to see them. So, let's follow the way of Master Sun and "conquer the enemy without resorting to war." Bill Hauda is a veteran of some 50 marathons, including 13 in Boston, a former competitive triathlete, founder and first president of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, currently a BFW board member, and former director of Wisconsin's two major cross-state bicycle tours, GRABAAWR and SAGBRAW. We're outorganized, not outnumbered by Joel Patenaude Normally I let my contributing editors' columns stand largely as submitted and let readers decide if they have legs. But Bill Hauda's piece for this issue prompted an e-mail debate between us over whether nonmotorized outdoor enthusiasts are really "vastly outnumbered" by off-road motorists as he posits. I counter that while the economic and political influence of the motorized lobby is undeniable, I believe it disguises the reality: that the number of motorized trail users is greatly overestimated. The numbers actually favor our side. The Wisconsin DNR's 2005-2010 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP), released this past fall, pegs the number of ATV'ers and snowmobilers in the state at 973,000 and 761,000 respectively well below the 2 million who bike or the 1.6 million who visit wilderness areas. The number of "recreational" ATV'ers is likely much inflated, too. The 973,000 figure is more than three times the number of ATVs registered in the state, yet many more people were estimated to have ridden an ATV at least once in the 12 months prior to the survey. Only 210,000 of the 300,000 ATVs in Wisconsin were registered for trail use in 2005. And DNR officials further believe that at least 50 percent of those are used primarily for hunting and ice fishing and otherwise are not ridden on trails recreationally. So, for those keeping track, there are only really about 100,000 "sport" ATV riders in this state. Keep that number in mind as you consider the number of participants in other trail-based activities, according to the SCORP: 35 percent, or 1,455,000, of Wisconsin outdoor recreationalists reported going "day hiking" Hauda argues that these estimates of the nonmotorized folks out there and in particularly the total number of bicyclists (49 percent of all outdoor recreationalists, the SCORP says) are also highly suspect. Maybe, but the SCORP further categorizes all of us outdoor recreationalists into eight groups. Of these, only two contain motorized users ("Water Bugs" and "Motorized Consumptives") which together account for only 15 percent of public land users. The other six groups, or 85 percent, are not inclined toward any off-road motorized activities. Even those who "drive for pleasure" (2.5 million state residents) do not do so off road and are lumped in with nonmotorized "Nature Lovers." Although motorheads are rarely cast as a minority, that's what they are. They are well orgainized and well funded, no doubt, but they are a minority nonetheless. Hauda pointed out Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle has proposed a two-year, $5.3 billion budget for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Of that, just $8 million would go to Safe Routes to School, a program to encourage kids to bike or walk between home and school, and $12 million for Transportation Enhancements, or specific pedestrian and/or bicycle programs and projects. This is evidence, Hauda said, that the governor "knows something about which army is larger." Even token amounts for nonmotorized causes are vulnerable to being cut as the budget process moves forward because lawmakers "know who's got more power, and it's not people who propel themselves aerobically." I say that's all the more reason to get the nonmotorized majority organized. We need a statewide organization and a strategy to counterbalance the disproportionate influence the motorized lobby wields. But let us not forget, they don't need the numbers we have. It takes only one careless ATV'er to do lasting damage to a trail or wetland and clear out every hiker and biker within earshot. It's past time that we were heard, too. Please refer to the "Sounding Alarm," pages 11-13, for opportunities to speak up. Joel Patenaude is the editor of Silent Sports.
| ||||
Back to the top Waupaca Publishing: 717 Tenth Street * P.O. Box 152 * Waupaca, WI 54981 © 1999-2008 Site last updated 07/01/08 Designed by PBW |
||||
|
