"Blackblade" wrote in message ...

Edward Dolan wrote:

Riding your bicycle on a hiking trail is an ultimate evil.

I’ll let Stalin, Pol Pot, Ceaucescu, Amin, Mugabe and co know :-). What a silly overdramatisation.

Everything is in a context. We not discussing politics, but bicycles on trails.
[...]

The laws will have to be changed because of scofflaws like
you.

Now you’ve really lost it. You want to CHANGE the laws so that what I’m doing now, perfectly legally, becomes illegal so that, then, you can call me a scofflaw ? Fantastic logic there Ed.

The only logic that is flawed is yours. Cycling on trails was not done until recently with the advent of the mountain bike. We now need laws to ban such usage on hiking trails. Such laws (rules) are already in place for Wilderness Areas.
[...]

You have entered an arena where you are not wanted. You are
doing something new under the sun. And you can’t come up with any good reasons
for doing any of it other than a childish pleasure in destroying something
sacred (what’s the matter – can’t walk?). You have incurred the hatred of hikers
and you will reap the whirlwind.

Ed, I’ve provided loads of good reasons why; I listed them earlier in this thread so I’m not going to repeat them yet again. I know you don’t accept them but I think they’re valid and I leave it to the netizens to decide for themselves.

Every use was, once, new. Recreational hiking was a new use of trails originally created for transport and trade. Things move on ... perhaps you should too. Nothing is being destroyed and there is no need for hatred.

There are zillions of miles of roads and streets for you to ride your bike on. Hiking trails are for walkers. This was always the case until recently. What is new is often very bad indeed. We hikers HATE bikers on our trails. Get your own trails! What’s the matter – can’t walk?

Leave if you want. There are plenty of other idiots to take
your place. In the meantime, Mr. Vandeman and I will continue to work quietly
behind the scenes to get the present disgusting and immoral situation changed
back to the way it was in the good old days.

I shall; we’re going around in circles here. You won’t see what you don’t want to see. You saw the report I added to the thread; the ‘problems’ that you are perceiving are not real ... they’re perceptual and will disappear when you change your mind. Unfortunately, for your own serenity, I don’t think you can do that.

The only one who has to change one’s mind is you. Things will get worse before they get better. We hikers will have the last word. Why? Common sense – something that you and all mountain bikers totally lack. All you have got going for you is testosterone, a hormone that is only good for sex and doing other risky things like cycling on hiking trails.

But, I and others will stand absolutely firm about our right to use a public resource and not to be denied it just because it happens to not suit a small number of reactionaries who won’t even consider compromise.

You and your ilk are already banned from Wilderness Areas. Those bans just need to be extended to include all natural areas.

I'm pretty sure that, whilst you ally yourself with Vandeman, you will continue to be spectacularly unsuccessful in any attempt to create further restrictions.

You do not know the hiking community at all. Restrictions are on the way everywhere. Europeans like you should be used to restrictions. It is here in America where we have a problem with them.

Ed Dolan the Great
aka
Saint Edward the Great