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Old October 26th 14, 07:43 AM posted to rec.bicycles.soc
EdwardDolan
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Posts: 538
Default Our wildlands are not outdoor gymnasiums or amusement parks.

"Blackblade" wrote in message ...
[...]

Edward Dolan wrote:

We are doing two entirely separate things when we are using a
trail. You are doing a sport. I am doing an appreciation of nature, which can
only be accomplished by moving slowly on your own two feet. They don't mix.


Yes, we're doing different ... RECREATIONS ! Unless and until you can show that you NEED to be there this is axiomatically the case. Nature doesn't need you to appreciate it ... in fact, your appreciation creates erosion and disturbs nature ... you WANT to go there for your own purposes.


Not all recreations are equal. Until this sinks into your bog of a brain, we are at an impasse.

You
disturb and destroy what I am doing just as a motorcyclist would disturb and
destroy what you are doing, although he is also doing what you are doing -
engaging in a sport - but on a different level.


I agree that, in your case, there is a degree of conflict. So, we need to find a compromise. As I've already said, I'm not at all averse to having some hiker only trails and some biker only trails. However, what I am vehemently against is your attempt to annexe the entire trails network for your recreation only.


Bikers will have to get their own trails. That is the only compromise I am willing to make. There can be no sharing of trails. Walkers and morons on wheels do not mix.

All recreations are NOT
equal. The expert on environmental impacts is Mr. Vandeman. I am the expert on
what trails are for based on philosophical considerations.


I have never said that all recreations are equal ... I think mountainbiking is a better recreation than hiking ... and, yes, I do engage in both.


You keep opining that hiking is better but fail to understand that this is simply your opinion which, therefore, no one else is required to share. You are going to keep flailing around unless and until you accept that different people have different opinions and that, no, you are not axiomatically right anymore than anyone else is ether.


I don’t much care which is better – hiking or biking. But I am stating as clearly as I can that they are DIFFERENT! One is a sport and the other is an appreciation of nature. Like you, I do both.
[...]

You can do what you do in a million different places. I can
only do what I do in a few rare places left on this earth where the natural
scene has not been corrupted by mankind's constructions and practical
usages.


Ed, we are talking about trails ! They are man-made constructions to allow people to get to natural places but, in and of themselves, they are a corruption too.


If you really cared about nature that much then you would eschew hiking too.


No, that would be taking things too far. However, Mr. Vandeman might find some sense in that proposition. He cares more about the wildlife than you or I do.
[...]

I have a mountain bike myself which I ride on the gravel roads
here in Nobles County, Minnesota. The only extremist here is you.


I didn't put the words in your mouth ... it was you who wrote that the presence of a mountainbike on a trail caused you "Mental Torture".


It is “mental torture” and it would be for you too if you had a decent regard for nature relatively undisturbed by mankind.

I call you an extremist because you are. You want to never have to share a trail with a mountainbiker. That's just not feasible. I'm not saying you have to share them all though ... because, unlike you, I'm not an extremist.


I repeat myself endlessly on this, but you are the only extremist here with your rank disregard for the sacredness of trails. You are trespassing in my church. You are a desecrator and a barbarian. Your own grandfather would disown 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

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