OHIO RIVER TRAIL COUNCIL

Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.

—Charles M. Schulz

I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it's not going to be satisfying. 

—Greg LeMond

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a bike.  

—John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States

The bicycle is the noblest invention of mankind. 

—William Saroyan, Nobel Prize Winner

Whoever invented the bicycle deserves the thanks of humanity.  

—Lord Charles Beresford

Riding a bike is the best antidepressant drug and only has good side effects. 

—Gunnar Rempel

Too often, the advocates of trails and linear parks along rights-of-way come up against officials who recognize only one kind of park–the squared-off kind that comes in chunks; and one kind of recreation–the supervised kind known as ‘organized sweating.’ Such officials refuse to acknowledge that there has been a change in US recreation trends, reflected in the phenomenal growth of hiking, biking, and horseback riding… 

—Constance Stallings

We believe that the place to start … is in our communities. Americans living together and joining in associations across the country–this is where the tremendous strength and vision of our people will be tapped. We recommend a prairie fire of local action to sweep the nation, encouraging investment in outdoor recreation opportunities and rededication to the protection of our great natural heritage.   

— President Ronald Reagan's,Commission on American Outdoors, Americans and the Outdoors, 1987

If there’s one essential ingredient to creating trails and trail systems, it’s people. All the land and financing in the world won’t blaze a trail if there aren’t people championing the project. 

–Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, In Support of Trails: A Guide to Successful Trail Advocacy, 1993

“When modern stables are transformed into sheds or shops with racks for the steel steed – which is the coming horse and a very economical one, because it eats no oats and does not kick or cut up the road – it is absolutely necessary to provide for this new order of things. This is a fad which has come to stay, and the cyclers rightfully demand good roads or paths for their accommodation. We must therefore plan additional facilities and build practicable roads for the exclusive use of the wheel, the same as we have provided bridle paths for questrians in our parks…We must reconstruct our park roads and set aside a portion of the roadway for the exclusive use of bicycles, or make additional paths for them…Good streets  and roads will attract many people to a city or town which has them…If the townships of this island would construct excellent macadamised roads, they would double their population in a short time. The cool summer breezes and fine, level country roads would make them a perfect paradise for cyclers…Brooklyn is now seriously considering a plan for building a  system of good roads and cycling paths…which will give from twenty to thirty miles of excellent paths to the lovers of the wheel, and will prove a great attraction.”

—Charles Schieren, Mayor of Brooklyn