"Blackblade" wrote in message ...

Edward Dolan wrote:

I have already stated many times in another thread on this
newsgroup that hikers and bikers on trails are NOT doing the same thing at all.

And I have also stated that I don't care what you think, particularly since you are all over the place with your pronouncements. You're happy to permit running ... which is clearly not about "communing with nature" but have a huge issue with bikes.

Not caring what is said and refuting what is said are two different things. Too bad you can’t refute anything except crying like a baby when you can’t have your way.

"Communing with nature" is still recreation. You don't NEED to do it any more than you need to ride a mountainbike. They are both recreations.

The two recreations are entirely different, both with respect to purpose and means.
[...]

See above sentence. This thread is going to contain many
reports about cyclists who have seriously injured themselves doing what you are
doing - riding their bikes on trails. I wish them dead for doing what they are
doing, but you are far more cruel and callous because you encourage them. I want
them to stop; you want them to continue. Who is the real death merchant
here?

How the hell did we get to 'death merchant' and surely even you don't have the sheer effrontery to try and claim that you care about injuries to mountainbikers ? You've written enough times that you like to see them injured and killed in this thread. You don't want them to stop for their own good, you want them to stop so that you can enjoy your recreation in magnificent solitude.

I want them to stop – period. What does the reason matter? You want them to continue – period. What does the reason matter? They will continue to injure and kill themselves because of slobs like you, not because of slobs like me. You are indeed a merchant of death.

I don't want anything other than that I, and they, have the right to choose. I'm in favour of personal choice and personal responsibility. I have no issue with highlighting the real risks associated with activities so that people are participating with their eyes wide open. I support things like the Isle of Man TT despite the fact that there are several fatalities every year. I visit the Nurburgring regularly. As was posted on the epitaph to David Jefferies ... "Those who risk nothing do nothing, achieve nothing, become nothing". We are all going to die one day ... I strongly advise living first rather than worrying about it.

And I have already stated repeatedly that I regard you as a fool for risking life and limb doing stupid things. You are certainly welcome to kill yourself, but you advocate that others go and do what you do. That makes you a merchant of death. You are a form of poison to humanity – and you illustrate perfectly the mountain biker ethos. I don’t want you and your ilk anywhere near hiking trails.

And, were your proposal to be adopted, think of all the other,
more dangerous, sports ... what would happen there ? No more American
Football for a start.

The fact is that most cyclists simply have no idea of how
dangerous it is to bikes on trails. They buy a particular style of bike, see the
trails and assume they are safe to ride. But they are NOT! This is fertile
ground for lawsuits. ALL football players know full well the dangers of playing
that incredibly stupid game. All the protective gear they wear tells the
tale.

The reality is that it's NOT that dangerous; all Vandeman's trolling still shows up, worldwide, hardly any fatalities compared with participants. The British Medical Journal, hardly a byword for supporting risky endeavours, also concludes that it's low risk.

But, by all means, post your foolish rants about the danger levels and let people make up their own minds ...

I do indeed want others to make up their own minds. But let them make up their own minds riding trails designed for wheels and not trails designed for walking. I am not a merchant of death like you are.

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