"Blackblade" wrote in message ...

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.

Edward Dolan wrote:

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.

Thank you for confirming exactly what I thought you meant all along. As far as you're concerned, you and those nearly exactly like you are the only deserving users of the trails. Sorry, they belong to the public and one tiny minority doesn't get to dictate ... thank goodness.

Serious hikers are NOT a tiny minority. They are the vast majority of hikers.

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.

I'm sure they'll be delighted to hear that their taxes count for nothing and that Ed Dolan will be protecting their interests ....

Anyone hiking a trail for the purpose of connecting with nature is a serious hiker. That includes almost everyone you will see walking a trail. It will not include any mountain bikers who are doing what they are doing for thrills and spills. See what I have had to say in the past on how PURPOSE matters more than anything else on WHO should be permitted on a trail and HOW they should be permitted on a trail (MEANS).

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.

You've provided nothing material to counteract the real risk levels which are, I reiterate, fatailies 0.00123/million miles and injuries 1.54/1,000 exposures. If you think it's higher ... then prove it.

Since those fatality and risk levels are low compared with many daily activities mountainbiking can, quite justifiably, be quantified as relatively safe.

We disagree about the risks. But of course, as you should well know by now, that is not the main reason I am against biking on trails. However, it may be that the risk factor will prove in the end to be the dominating factor.

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.

Yawn. You're going in circles Ed.

The only one going around in circles is you.
[...]

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.

Ed, I'm simply here because I find argument amusing ... but you are becoming tiresome because of the paucity of yours.

I have stated my argument many times as succinctly as possible. It is a consistent argument and a perfectly logical argument. Moreover, it is a REASONABLE argument. All I have ever gotten from you are some ridiculous data and the fact that you want to do what you want to do regardless of how it effects others. I have told you how it effects me and Mr. Vandeman and other serious hikers of which there are many hundreds of thousands. You and your ilk should never have been permitted anywhere near hiking trails, but let’s face it, the land and park managers are not only idiots but gutless. **** ’em all – and you too!

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