To the editor:

Once the idea of converting our rail corridor into a bike trail began to take shape, my husband and I took up a new hobby. We started exploring other recreation trails around the country and basing our travels, at least in part, on biking opportunities elsewhere.

Having just returned from such a trip to Cape Cod, it’s worth mentioning an important (but often unnoted) benefit of these trails – that is, health benefits.

We hear mostly about economic benefits from attractions like the Cape Cod Rail Trail, which tends to draw large numbers of cyclists, walkers and joggers, especially in the summer season.

So it was good to see, on the Provincelands Trail at the tip of the Cape, a sign that called attention to health benefits. This biking and hiking route runs 7 miles through a vast dune system near Provincetown, connecting with National Seashore beaches and skirting salt marshes, kettle ponds, cranberry bogs and a beech forest.

This is what the sign told us:

“Dr. Paul Dudley White dedicated this bike trail on Sept. 17, 1967. It was created to promote a healthy means of exploring the diverse natural and cultural landscape of the Province Lands. Dr. White served as President Eisenhower’s personal physician, and he promoted a national program to improve heart health through physical exercise.”

Obesity and a related diabetes epidemic are now plaguing our country. It would seem that giving people an opportunity to enjoy physical activity in a superb natural setting is even more important today than when Dr. White dedicated this bike trail half a century ago.

So here’s yet another reason for the state to stop its foot-dragging and get on with creating the 34-mile Adirondack Rail Trail linking Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake. To judge by other bike trails we’ve experienced in recent years, this will be one of the best. It will also be a boon to the health and physical well-being of Tri-Lakes residents.

Respectfully submitted,

Rachel Rice

Saranac Lake