"SMS" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Mike Vandeman wrote:
"A Comparative Study of Impacts to Mountain Bike Trails in Five
Common Ecological Regions of the Southwestern U.S." (White et al 2006)

snip

http://www.imba.com/resources/scienc...t_summary.html

Mountain bikes have been around for 25 years or so, and in that time there
has not been a single study that has shown greater impact on trails from
bicycles than from hikers or horses. All users have impact on the
wilderness, but in reality, the impact from mountain bikes is less than
impact from horses, and about the same as impact from hikers.

The opposition to mountain bikes is not based on trail impact or
wilderness impact, it's based on the problem of incompatible users trying
to use the same trails.

I leave the problem of trail impact to Mr. Vandeman who is an expert on the
subject. My objection is as you have noted, the incompatibility of various
users of the trails. I maintain that bikers need separate trails for that
reason alone. It is very strange to me that bikers can't seem to realize how
they destroy the wilderness experience for us hikers.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota