"Blackblade" wrote in message ...

What an unpleasant person you're showing yourself to be Ed.
Is that really your aim. So, now, what you're saying is because you regard
yourself as above everyone else you should get what you want at everyone else's
expense.

I have already told you twice now that I know a superior class
of people when I see it. You don't. That is why you can associate yourself with
thuggish mountain bikers.

Ah, ducking the key point again I see. You DO think that your wishes trump those of others as you are 'superior'.

I certainly know to whom I would ascribe the moniker 'superior' and it assuredly wouldn't be you who, despite your poor understanding of physics, statistics and logic, consider yourself a cut above others.

The English know all about superior classes and inferior classes. Hell Bells, they even speak different languages. See “My Fair Lady”.

You don’t have to know any physics, statistics or logic to know what is what. You are the proof of that!

Superior people, whilst they may not be of the people, are
definitely for the good of the people. You're aligning yourself with
tyrants and dictators who care nothing for others ... or, to put it another way,
you're not even of the common herd as you so perjoratively put it, you're an
inferior; morally and intellectually.

Superior types, like Mr. Vandeman and Myself, know what trails
are good for - and you don't. You are indeed of the masses - inferior, immoral
and stupid.

No, Ed, you know very little because you are completely closed to any external input, erroneously believing that what you think is somehow, axiomatically, true.

Nope, I once thought biking on trails was a good idea – until I learned otherwise.
[...]

You prove with your every post that you are unable to carry
the conversation forward. All you do is cover old ground. That is because you
are stuck in your ways and unable to appreciate an opposite point of
view.

Ed, I understand your position but, since you cannot, despite multiple requests to do so, back it up objectively or logically it's hard to make progress and I am reduced to simply pointing out the flaws in your logic or data. We might move forward if we could agree that 0.00123 fatalities per million miles travelled and 1.54 injuries per 1,000 exposures make mountainbiking, when compared with other activities, relatively safe. But, since you don't want to rely on facts and instead prefer anecdote and prejudice I am just going to keep metaphorically kicking you into touch.

Your statistic has nothing to do with the dangers of biking on alpine trails in the US. But even if it did, I would be against mountain biking for multiple other reasons - mainly those having to do with the irreconcilable conflicts of means and purpose. Mr. Vandeman is opposed to biking on trails for his own very excellent reasons. There is nothing to be said for what you advocate since the world is full of zillions of miles of roads of all descriptions which are ideal for cycling.

Unlike the honorable and civilized Mr. Vandeman, I am an

expert at ad hominem attacks. You have now entered MY territory!

A perfect example of your inferiority ... superior people don't
need profanity and ad hominem to win arguments. Perhaps that's why you
keep losing ... you simply don't have the right skills.

You can call names and I will figure out how to call even
better (worse) names. You can't win because I have decades of bile stored up to
use on the likes of you.

No, Ed, you can't win because your facts and logic are incorrect. You can call me what you like, water off a duck's back, but it won't change that so you will still lose.

Your facts and logic are easily disposed of. But bile goes on forever. I will make sure I win any name calling contest.

Mountain bikers as a class of people are the scum of the

earth, and that is what you are too.

There is no class of mountain bikers ... mountain bikers come from
all walks and classes ... it's a wonderfully egalitarian activity.

It is a sporting life style that they all have in common. None
of them have a clue what trails are for. As a class, they are all woefully
ignorant, risk takers, and dumb jackasses - just like you.

They may, indeed, have a predisposition towards a sporting lifestyle ... which most would say is a very good thing indeed in this age of sedentary lifestyles resulting in premature death. However, to try and characterise 50 million people as all being alike is clear and obvious prejudice and stupidity.

A sporting life style is not for the trails. Find some kind of arena for that!

You encourage biking on trails

designed and meant for hikers, thereby causing many injuries and
deaths.

Deaths from inactivity far outweigh the tiny numbers suffering
death from mountainbiking accicents. 0.00123 per million miles
travelled. If everyone rode a mountainbike then, yes, more would die from
it but there would be a massively greater number who would not die prematurely
from coronary diseases.

Reports from the field in the media say otherwise. Biking on
trails is dangerous.

No, Ed, they don't. If you don't believe my figures then come up with data and logic to produce your own figure and we can discuss it. Simply reposting media reports of occasional incidents proves absolutely nothing. In fact, the paucity of the reports actually suggests that mountainbiking is quite safe.

What paucity is that? It is your figures that prove absolutely nothing.

It's certainly safer than road cycling ... an activity in which you participate. So, who's the risk taker now ?

Road cycling is indeed not entirely safe due to motorists. It is why I never like to see kids riding their bikes on highways. But at least road cycling is not interfering with what anyone else is doing, except maybe motorists – but who gives a damn about them! In any event, road cyclists are not being seriously injured and dying from hitting hazards in the roadway, unlike cyclists who ride trails.
[...]

Without getting into politics, I think Bush II just did his
biking on scrubby desert trails, the kind that nobody ever walks. Even so, it
sets a bad example. Bush I is dumb enough to want to jump out of airplanes
(skydive). It must run in the family.

Ah, avoiding the point again. Bush rides a mountainbike ... so you consider yourself superior to him. I suspect that most would not ... what have you done Ed to suggest that your opinions are worth more than others ?

When it comes to a recreation, I am indeed superior to him just as I am superior to you and to all mountain bikers. Very odd that you unable to follow my simplest thought without me having to spell it out for you.

Mountain bikers are barbarians and have no right to be on any trail used by hikers – unless they want to get off their god damn ****ing bikes and walk like everyone else. When they crash and injure themselves, I rejoice! If and when they manage to kill themselves, I say good riddance to bad rubbish! Death to mountain biking!

“Tread softly! All the earth is holy ground.”
~ Christina Rossetti (Psalm 24),
from "A Later Life: A Double Sonnet of Sonnets"

Mountain bikes have wheels. Wheels are for roads.

Trails are for walking. What’s the matter? Can’t walk?

Ed Dolan the Great
aka
Saint Edward the Great