Comment on FR Doc # E8-29892

My comment upon proposed changes to bicycle use in National Parks is as follows: NO BICYCLE SHOULD BE ALLOWED ON ANY TRAIL IN ANY NATIONAL PARK ON WHICH BICYCLES ARE NOT ALLOWED NOW (DEC. 18, 2008). Bicycles are inconsistent with park values in many places. They effectively open backcountry areas to users whose abuse, through ignorance of proper treatment of wild land, can now be visited, through the additional mobility that wheels provide, on many more acres than the ignorant can reach now. (Another thing the ignorant would now be able to do in much greater numbers: get lost, and injured, through their ignorance, farther and farther away from trailheads, greatly increasing search and rescue costs, which will be drawn from areas of the NPS budget that cannot afford the drain.) It is bad enough now that too many trail users of all stripes do not educate themselves on proper use of the resources that are protected for them with my - and your - tax dollars. To expand this potential impact, exponentially, through the "warhead effect" of wide-open access to people on wheels is contrary to the original purposes of the National Parks, and is sure to impoverish the resource our grandchildren - if not our children - inherit. If a bike cannot go on it now, a bike should not be allowed to go on it - ever. There are many, many more than enough places for people to ride. We don't let them ride in restaurants, grocery stores, churches or synagogues. We don't let them ride off-road through cemeteries. We don't let them ride in hospitals. Our public lands deserve at least as much respect as those off-limits places listed above receive. And this comment comes from a cyclist.