"Blackblade" wrote in message ...

Mr. Vandeman and I have never yet heard a good argument for
permitting mountain biking on hiking trails. Until we do, we shall remain
steadfast in our opposition to this inappropriate use of hiking trails.

And, in your mind, you never will. Your mind is closed on the subject, don't know if quite as irretrievably as the criminal Vandeman, but you will discount any argument advanced to support the proposition.

There are several valid propositions to support it;

1. People are entitled to use a public resource; it does not belong to any one activity group

All public resources must be managed. They cannot be managed to please everyone. Hiking trails are best managed to please just one group – hikers! What’s the matter? Can’t walk?

2. Environmental impact, whilst hotly contested by some, is broadly equivalent to other low-impact uses so the activity cannot be banned on that basis

We have all seen trails that have been ruined by mountain bikers. Mr. Vandeman is the expert on that subject.

3. It is a low risk (0.000123 fatalities per million miles travelled [US figures estimated]) activity and highly beneficial to cardiovascular health

ERs are being flooded with injuries and fatalities from mountain biking on hiking trails. If you had even an ounce of common sense you would know how dangerous it is. Some extreme jerks are even encouraging children to take up the sport.

4. It cannot be tenable to ban it simply because it is a 'new' use and will discomfort some existing users. On that basis, as has already been pointed out, slavery, misogyny, racism and homophobia would all be justifiable.

Mountain biking has been around long enough to come to some conclusions about it. It is not that new!

5. Sensible and equitable trail sharing IS possible ... despite assertions to the contrary. Not on all trails ... but on most.

Even if it were possible, I would be against it on esthetic grounds. Mountain biking is a sport, hiking is a religion. The two things don’t go together.

6. Getting people off their backsides and exercising in the countryside is good for their health and good for their appreciation of, and thus consideration for, nature.

I have a mountain bike myself which I ride on the gravel roads hereabouts. Minnesota has thousands of miles of such roads and are ideal for mountain bikes. Mountain bikers are hardly ever are in a position to appreciate nature. They are always going too fast. You have to go slow to appreciate and to consider nature.

I rejoice every time a mountain biker is killed or injured while biking on a
hiking trail. Good riddance to bad rubbish !

"No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine own were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee." - John Donne

To rejoice in another's death or injury, when that person has not wronged you, is to become rather less human.

It is brute reality. Get used to it. We hikers hate mountain bikers on our sacred trails. Get your own trails and stay off of ours!

Ed Dolan the Great
aka
Saint Edward the Great