"Blackblade" wrote in message ...

So, Arsehole, you AREN'T presenting the "overall big picture" then are you ? You don't know and are trying to pass off your opinions as fact. Go and get a clue before you make yourself look even more stupid.

I am presenting more of a picture than you are. You drag some stupid numbers into the discussion which mean absolutely nothing whereas I present a few real facts based on real stories. But to repeat myself, no one is presenting the big picture because it is not available. It is just that I am presenting a BETTER picture than you are with your ****ed-up data.

Way to go. Earlier, in this very thread, you claimed to be presenting the overall picture. Now it's simply a 'better' picture is it ? Who knows, if you work at it you might finally realise that it's a misleading picture because you fail to compare the small number of reports you have collated against the millions of rides that they represent.

My reports are as numerous as the stars in the sky - and your data is ****ed-up!

You clearly don't understand that, as I keep saying, I don't care one iota about your opinions and what anything means to you. Unless you can justify your position objectively you might as well save your energy.

My opinion is that of all serious hikers. As for not giving a damn, I care absolutely nothing about your opinions since I consider they come from a scofflaw who is criminally promoting mountain biking and getting other poor innocent slobs killed as a result. You sir are beneath contempt.

A short while ago you were representing all hikers. Now it's just the 'serious' ones. What, precisely, is your definition of 'serious' ? I'm willing to bet it's anyone who happens to agree with you :-). What a joke.

The only joke here is you and your defense of mountain biking on trails. Occasional hikers don’t count. The only group that counts in this discussion are serious hikers. If you had the brains you were born with you would have known that from day one.

Your mental attitude is not of the slightest concern to me and you have, so far, failed to provide me with any data that this view is anything other than a minority, fanatical sub-set of nutcases.

My mental attitude is that of all serious hikers.

Prove it. Stop pontificating and prove it. There are millions of hikers, as a report which you posted recently on outdoor recreation confirmed. Of those, how many are 'serious' and how many agree with you ? I'm willing to bet that you don't know ... so, if you don't know, stop asserting that you do and admit that it's YOUR OPINION.

Lone individuals and couples hiking various trails many times a year are serious hikers. Occasional hikers, youth groups, idiots walking their dogs and once a year family groups don’t count.

Your mental attitude is that of a small minority of extreme bikers who think nothing of risking life and limb. If only it were your own life and limb who would care, bur your promotion of mountain biking borders on being criminal because of how it effects others who do not know better. A man or woman in the prime of their lives goes mountain biking and ends up dead. They thought it was a safe thing to be doing. How do you explain that? Accidents will happen? You sir are beneath contempt.

I'm not promoting anything other than free choice. As you concede, if I wish to 'risk' my own life and limb that is solely my concern.

Yes, indeed, who cares about your life and limb, but your defense of mountain biking on trails encourages others to think it is safe, when it clearly Is not safe. It is why I hold you culpable.
[...]

As to your fragile mental equilibrium you, yourself, stated that the mere appearance of a bike on a trail, irrespective of any conflict or risk to you, was sufficient to cause you 'mental torture'. I think you have validated my statement from your own words. You have an irrational fear of mountain bikes.

Just the opposite of that. What I have is something you can only dream about - strong opinions on what is right and proper unaffected by what Asshole mountain bikers want. You don't care if you destroy the enjoyment of others and you don't care if other bikers injure or kill themselves doing what is inherently stupid. You sir are beneath contempt.

Or, to paraphrase, you have strong opinions that your activity, and your activity alone, should be permitted on public land. I fundamentally disagree with that premise.

I do care about others on the trail which is why I moderate both my behaviour on the trail and my desire for access in the first place.

However, since YOU and your minority of fellow travellers are completely unwilling to compromise then, no, I don't give a damn about you anymore. You would happily see me banned from all trails so that you could enjoy them in splendid isolation whilst requiring me to pay for them through my taxes.

This is what I mean about extremism begetting extremism.

As a biker on a trail, you are an interloper and a usurper. The trails were there for the use and enjoyment of hikers long before mountain bikes were ever invented. You need to get your own trails far removed from hiking trails. There can be no sharing of trails because it is a conflict of both means and purpose.

Or is all this too much for you ... and you would far prefer to
collude with the other monomaniacs and believe that mountainbikers are a major
issue afflicting the world ?

Mountain bikers on trails are a major issue effecting only
hikers and equestrians. If looks could kill, they would all be dead as soon as
encountered.

But, in the real world, they can't. All you've managed to show, in your many posts, is that you and a small cohort of fanatics don't like it. You've not posted anything that would lead a rational individual to conclude that it's the majority view.

The only minority view I know about is that of Asshole mountain bikers like you who think it is OK to transgress on hiking trails. Your ignorance is unconquerable. But it is your ****ing self-righteousness that really offends. You should strive to be humble and self-effacing like ME! Arrogance goeth before a fall!

Now you're arguing against your own earlier statements. You said 'democracy doesn't work' and 'mountainbikers are like locusts'. So, one second, when it suits your argument we're as numerous as locusts and seeking to oppress the poor minority of 'serious' hikers. Now, when it suits you to make the opposite argument you want to argue that we're a minority.

The reason it appears so to you is that you never take anything in the context in which it is said. I could do the same to you, but it is too tiresome to even think about doing. I like to move on.

I think I'm about done with this ... you're going around in circles and just posting nonsense without, clearly, even bothering to consider if it's consistent with your earlier positions.

I am consistent about what matters and do not get hung up on details like you do. Half the time, my details are provided for your amusement, but like all Englishmen you do not take notice of amusement. My first duty here is to enjoy myself. Nothing will ever stand in the way of that.

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