View Single Post
  #6  
Old September 25th 14, 10:34 AM posted to rec.bicycles.soc
Blackblade[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 214
Default Our wildlands are not outdoor gymnasiums or amusement parks.

My position is that there is an inherent conflict between

hikers and bikers on trails just as there would be between bikers and



motorcyclists on trails. It really has nothing to do with the ease or

difficulty

of a trail (although the danger factor is a good argument to use to

get bikers

off of trails), but to WHY you are on the trail in the first plaice.

Purpose is

everything. Very strange that you can't see it from this


perspective.


Your purpose is recreational ... just as mine is. You don't

NEED to be there any more than I do. We both choose to be there because we
enjoy it. You are presuming that your recreation is superior to mine ...
but you have no logical basis for doing so. Hiking and biking have similar
environmental impacts so there is no objective measure for preferring one over
the other.

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.

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.

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.

Vandeman is an expert on internet trolling ... and nothing else.

Unlike Mr. Vandeman, I am not opposed to bikers having their


own trails. He is more right than I am of course, but that is the only



compromise I am willing to make. Bikers use nature as a playground.

With natural

spaces becoming ever more rare, it is a desecration to use natural

spaces for

playgrounds for adults with toys.


And hiking is what ? A job ? !!! Get off your high

horse and accept that you, too, are pursuing a recreational pastime not doing
anything that benefits nature ... hikers create similar levels of erosion..

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..

The most precious resource in the world are natural spaces


where what you can do and what you can't do is closely regulated. Let

everyone

do whatever he wants and the resource is destroyed. Walking a trail is

the least

harm that can be done. I am far more right than you are. There is

nothing

extreme about my position on how we should use natural spaces. The

only

extremist here is you.




Ed, you froth at the mouth at the mere mention of mountainbikes

and they cause you "mental torture". If that's not extreme I don't know
what is.

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".

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.
Ads
 

Home - Home - Home - Home - Home