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Old October 30th 14, 09:28 AM posted to rec.bicycles.soc
EdwardDolan
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Posts: 538
Default The Joys & Pleasures of Cycling on Trails

"Blackblade" wrote in message ...

Only a fools do things that are risky. Hiking on a trail is
not risky whereas biking on a hiking trail is risky.


That's not what the media reports say Ed. People suffer

serious injuries and fatalities whilst hiking. If you're that concerned
about risk you should only be walking pavements ... hiking involves accepting a
higher degree of risk than walking on a pavement. Therefore, by your own
axiom, you are a fool.

A higher degree of risk still does not constitute any kind of
serious risk - whereas biking on a hiking trail does.


No, it doesn't constitute that high a risk ... but NEITHER DOES BIKING. That's the whole point. You're trying to use a method to show that biking is dangerous but what it also shows is that hiking is dangerous too. Which proves, given that we both agree that the real risk of hiking is low, that the method is FLAWED.


There is no comparison between hiking a trail and riding a bike on a trail. One is safe and the other is dangerous. Read you own literature (propaganda) to know the truth. Bikers on trails take risks regularly. It is part of the sport. Hikers do no such thing (I do not include climbers in my definition of hikers).

But in order for you to do what you want to do, you distract
from the enjoyment of what others want to do. The conflict is inherent

and is
never going to go away. It will have to be settled by raw politics. I

believe I
belong to the stronger party and will prevail in the end.


Yes, you would prefer me not to be there on my bike. I get

that. However, what you don't get is that, when we are discussing a shared
resource, that one has to accept a reasonable compromise; you cannot have
everything you want.

I'm sure you would prefer to have the trails entirely to yourself;

but that's not feasible nor fair ... you are going to have to share.

Nope, you are going to have to get your own trails far from
any hiking trails - preferably on another planet. I think the moon or Mars would
suit you best.


Is this your attempt at humour ?


Either another planet ... or abandoned city dumps is where you can best enjoy your ****ing sport of mountain biking. Hiking trails on this planet are off limits to Asshole mountain bikers like you. So saith Saint Edward the Great!

There is no such thing as a "right" to bike on a hiking
trail.


Yes, there is. In Scotland and several other countries, for

example, Right to Roam legislation covers hiking and biking.

You are on the wrong side of history.


Hiking and biking don't mix on the same trails. Your law is an
Ass!


So you say ... incessantly. Yet, lo and behold, the world carries on despite your foolish pronouncements.


I note that you fail to acknowledge that I disproved your point though ... there IS a right to bike in certain jurisdictions.


There is no MORAL right to bike on a hiking trail. Only Assholes transgress and despoil natural beauty. The law is frequently an Ass in all jurisdictions.

I have agreed that cyclists can have their own trails if
removed sufficiently from trails used by hikers. What you want is

impossible
since it conflicts with what others want. And those who want to hike

are by far
in the majority - always have been and always will be as long as we

humans are
creatures who walk for locomotion.


What you want, Ed, is magnificent isolation. I'm sure you

have the same visceral objection to trails crowded with picnic'ers. What
you want is impossible given that resources are limited and the population is
large; you are going to have to learn to share.

Bikers are a Johnny come lately to the feast of experiencing
nature.


There are only people Ed. And people own the trails, always have. What activity they wish to undertake is a separate matter. Bikers are not a different species.


Ownership has nothing to do with it. All public land is managed for best use – or have l already said that a couple of dozen times?

They want to horn in on what they have not earned, either by dint of
tradition or being welcomed.


The public owns the resources ... and pay for it ... so we have most definitely earned it to exactly the same degree as you.


“Ownership has nothing to do with it. All public land is managed for best use – or have l already said that a couple of dozen times?” – Ed Dolan

They are going to have to carve out a separate
trail system for themselves. We hikers do not want bikers on our trails.


I already disposed of your 'we hikers' assertion Ed. You do not speak for the vast majority of hikers. Your words and views are your own.


My words and views are those of all serious hikers, the kind of hikers that trails were meant for in the first instance.

We will
not share what can't be shared without destroying what we doing there in the
first place. In fact, hikers will abandon any and all trails that bikers use. If
I were young and wanted to hike I would now only go to the National Parks or the
designated Wilderness Areas where bikes are banned from trails. Hikers cannot
share what can't be shared.


Rewritten so as to be accurate ...


"I will not share what can't be shared without destroying what I am doing there in the first place. In fact, I will abandon any and all trails that bikers use. If I were young and wanted to hike I would now only go to the National Parks or the designated Wilderness Areas where bikes are banned from trails. I won't share with bikers." - what Ed Dolan really meant


It is what all serious hikers want. In fact, I have never even met a hiker who did not object to bikes on trails.

So, Ed, by all means abandon the trails ... I doubt, given your penchant for complete solitude, that anyone will mourn your departure.


There can be no sharing of trails. If and when bikers totally dominate the trails, you will find that you have created a Frankenstein monster. Nope, not even an idiot like you will any longer enjoy your ****ing sport. You will have turned the trails into race tracks. Welcome to your brave new world ... Slob!

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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