(Nov. 27, 2014) While bicycling and skateboard enthusiasts continue to lobby the Town of Berlin for a recreation complex, an Ocean Pines resident took matters into his own hands when looking for a place to ride.
Jerome “Tres” Denk, founder of the Eastern Shore chapter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association, used his group to adopt Bainbridge Park in 2012. After cleaning up the park, Denk rounded up volunteers and built several biking trails.
“Our club incorporated in 2012 and at that point we sent letters to all the land managers to find out if there was an area that they could imagine having trails in, to let them know that we were interested in building trails,” he said.
At the same time, Denk joined the Recreation and Parks Advisory Committee in Ocean Pines.
“Once I joined that and eventually became the secretary, because Bainbridge Park was in my neighborhood, I proposed that I could take it over,” he said.
Denk discovered that some of the safety elements in the original trails had become rotten and unsafe.
“At that point, there was landscaping ties with rebar that lined the trail edges, and they were rotted and pretty dangerous,” he said. “The rebar was sticking out on the corner where it had eroded. We basically asked if we could start by cleaning up the area with the intention of making new trails there.”
The association worked with the Ocean Pines Public Works Department, providing volunteer manpower, according to Denk.
“We pulled all of the stuff up and then we cleaned up the edges of the trail, which makes it easier to maintain now because the leaves are easier to blow off,” he said. “And then we started flagging out the trails in the direction that I thought it would be fun to ride.”
The group constructed the new trails in three phases, going to Public Works to make sure they did not encroach on area wetlands or public property.
“We were very polite about keeping it as far from the houses as we could,” Denk said. “The trail might have been bigger, but it might have been more intrusive for the people who lived around Bainbridge Park.”
The association also covered one of the trails with gravel, making it accessible even in times when the pond overflowed. The result is a network of off-road bicycling opportunities through lush woods with a waterfront view.
Denk encouraged others to follow his lead.
“There are two ways to build a trail with IMBA or with any other kind of group: one is to just raise the funds and pay someone to do it, and the other is to raise awareness and have the community do it with you,” he said.
“These days most people feel that kids are losing touch with the outdoors. My goal is to educate kids how to ride their bikes safely and then how to create a place to ride them that’s sustainable, and along the way not only learning about nature itself, but gain an awareness that you wouldn’t get from indoor activity or looking at the internet. You can’t smell the woods by looking at a computer. You can’t make that up – you’ve got to experience it for yourself.
Denk said that kind of interactive experience is often missing from modern education.
“It’s too virtual,” he said. “It’s not making something. When you can take somebody back and show them something and say, ‘I made this,’ that is a form of happiness that’s hard to deliver.”
Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Director Sonya Bounds said three of the community’s parks do not have community groups attached: Huntington, Somerset and Robin Hood.
“Somerset’s a big one,” she said. “That’s our soccer field. If there were a group that came in today and said, ‘We want to take a big park’ that would be my first pick. It’s beautiful. They’ve just redone the fields there so that’s a pretty busy one for us.”
Bounds said Robin Hood Park would be her second choice.
“That’s one of our parks that tends to have more vandalism, so somebody close by keeping an eye on it would help us be aware of what’s going on down there a little bit more,” she said. “If you’ve got a love of nature and an interest in making a difference in your community, it’s a great way to get involved.”
Jerome “Tres” Denk, founder of the Eastern Shore chapter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association, used his group to adopt Bainbridge Park in 2012. After cleaning up the park, Denk rounded up volunteers and built several biking trails.
“Our club incorporated in 2012 and at that point we sent letters to all the land managers to find out if there was an area that they could imagine having trails in, to let them know that we were interested in building trails,” he said.
At the same time, Denk joined the Recreation and Parks Advisory Committee in Ocean Pines.
“Once I joined that and eventually became the secretary, because Bainbridge Park was in my neighborhood, I proposed that I could take it over,” he said.
Denk discovered that some of the safety elements in the original trails had become rotten and unsafe.
“At that point, there was landscaping ties with rebar that lined the trail edges, and they were rotted and pretty dangerous,” he said. “The rebar was sticking out on the corner where it had eroded. We basically asked if we could start by cleaning up the area with the intention of making new trails there.”
The association worked with the Ocean Pines Public Works Department, providing volunteer manpower, according to Denk.
“We pulled all of the stuff up and then we cleaned up the edges of the trail, which makes it easier to maintain now because the leaves are easier to blow off,” he said. “And then we started flagging out the trails in the direction that I thought it would be fun to ride.”
The group constructed the new trails in three phases, going to Public Works to make sure they did not encroach on area wetlands or public property.
“We were very polite about keeping it as far from the houses as we could,” Denk said. “The trail might have been bigger, but it might have been more intrusive for the people who lived around Bainbridge Park.”
The association also covered one of the trails with gravel, making it accessible even in times when the pond overflowed. The result is a network of off-road bicycling opportunities through lush woods with a waterfront view.
Denk encouraged others to follow his lead.
“There are two ways to build a trail with IMBA or with any other kind of group: one is to just raise the funds and pay someone to do it, and the other is to raise awareness and have the community do it with you,” he said.
“These days most people feel that kids are losing touch with the outdoors. My goal is to educate kids how to ride their bikes safely and then how to create a place to ride them that’s sustainable, and along the way not only learning about nature itself, but gain an awareness that you wouldn’t get from indoor activity or looking at the internet. You can’t smell the woods by looking at a computer. You can’t make that up – you’ve got to experience it for yourself.
Denk said that kind of interactive experience is often missing from modern education.
“It’s too virtual,” he said. “It’s not making something. When you can take somebody back and show them something and say, ‘I made this,’ that is a form of happiness that’s hard to deliver.”
Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Director Sonya Bounds said three of the community’s parks do not have community groups attached: Huntington, Somerset and Robin Hood.
“Somerset’s a big one,” she said. “That’s our soccer field. If there were a group that came in today and said, ‘We want to take a big park’ that would be my first pick. It’s beautiful. They’ve just redone the fields there so that’s a pretty busy one for us.”
Bounds said Robin Hood Park would be her second choice.
“That’s one of our parks that tends to have more vandalism, so somebody close by keeping an eye on it would help us be aware of what’s going on down there a little bit more,” she said. “If you’ve got a love of nature and an interest in making a difference in your community, it’s a great way to get involved.”