Mountain bikers are out to "experience nature"? Not on your life!

NOTE to mountain bikers: you needn't read this; it's over your head.

Mike


August 15, 2002

Board of Directors
East Bay Regional Park District
2950 Peralta Oaks Court
P.O. Box 5381
Oakland, California 94605-0381

Mountain Biking in the East Bay Regional Parks

Gentlepersons:

In July I was in England to give a paper at the Society for
Conservation Biology meeting in Canterbury. I allowed myself two more
days after the conference for seeing two of the most famous
repositories of nature and human artifacts in the world -- Kew
(botanical) Gardens and the British Museum. I also saw the National
Gallery of Art, which holds European art.

Kew Gardens is gorgeous. The minute you enter, you feel your
whole body relax. I was reminded of the discussion in Stephen Kellert
and E.O. Wilson's The Biophilia Hypothesis of savannah as the
landscape most attractive to humans (presumably because it is where we
evolved). Kew consists of huge trees and small specialized gardens,
separated by large expanses of grass. Paved paths lead the visitor
throughout the garden. My favorite "garden" was "Evolution House", a
glass-encased building depicting the evolution of plants, starting
with the creation of life on the Earth. As you slowly follow the path
through the displays, trying to soak up every fascinating detail and
concept, your presence is detected at certain points along the path,
and a recording is played from speakers overhead, describing and
explaining what you are seeing.

Mountain bikers claim to be mountain biking in order to "enjoy
nature". So everywhere I went, I tried to imagine what it would be
like to be on a mountain bike. Instead of pristine expanses of grass,
the park would be crisscrossed by rutted dirt trails created by bikers
who aren't satisfied riding on the "boring" paved trails that everyone
else uses. In addition, to avoid being arrested, many of them would
have started scaling the wall and sneaking into the park at night, so
that they could ride as they wish, without getting caught. They would
also bring in shovels, hoes, and other tools to construct illegal
trails, jumps, and other obstacles to make biking more fun.

Because the park is so dense with botanic diversity and
information, a person on a bike (there were none, by the way -- of
course!) would miss 99% of the experience and learning that are
available in this most famous of all botanical gardens. And, of
course, it would be very hazardous and unpleasant for other park
visitors, all of whom are on foot, to suddenly try to share narrow
paths with large, fast-moving pieces of machinery!

Well, guess what? Parks are repositories of diversity and
information just like Kew Gardens! It makes no more sense to "see" a
park from the top of a bike, than it does to "see" Kew Gardens on a
mountain bike.

Now take the British Museum. It contains some of the most
priceless artifacts ever discovered, such as the Rosetta Stone -- the
key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. Just to stand in front of
the Rosetta Stone is an awesome experience! There seem to be three
kinds of visitors. Some people carefully examine each exhibit, read
the inscriptions, and also listen to a tape-recorded guide (or a human
guide). Some people wander through haphazardly, often with friends and
family, paying more attention to them than to the exhibits, at which
they give only a cursory glance (after all, it is a huge museum!). And
then there are those who fall somewhere between those extremes.

Now imagine someone on a mountain bike trying to "see" the
British Museum! We would have to create a fourth category for
"visitors" like that. There is no way they could learn much of
anything (except how to maneuver between randomly placed glass cases
and people on foot, without crashing into them) while speeding through
the museum on a mountain bike! (A recent email on a mountain biker
listserv admitted that they ride at 6-10 miles per hour.)

I am quite familiar with European painting, from having toured
Europe when I was 19, so I didn't learn that much that was new in the
National Gallery. However there was a special exhibit of drawings,
including some Rembrandts. The Rembrandts weren't specially marked, so
I had to carefully examine every drawing in the exhibit, in order to
find them. There were two self-portraits, one in his thirties and one
in his fifties. The latter brought me to tears. I don't think I can
really explain why. But of all the hundreds of works in the museum, it
is the only one that really "moved" me.

Of course, if I were "touring" the museum on a mountain bike,
I would have had a totally superficial experience, and probably never
would have noticed that one small drawing out of all the hundreds of
paintings in dozens of rooms.

I think you get the point. Mountain bikes have no more place
in parks and other wildlife sanctuaries than they have in Kew Gardens,
the British Museum, the National Gallery, or the Sistine Chapel.
Bicycles are a wonderful invention, and completely appropriate
transportation tools on paved roads, which is where they should stay.
That is the law in Yosemite National Park, and it should be the law in
every other park, as well.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Vandeman, Ph.D.

References:

Foreman, Dave Confessions of an Eco-Warrior, New York: Harmony Books,
c. 1991

Kellert, Stephen R. and Edward O. Wilson, The Biophilia Hypothesis.
Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1993.

Knight, Richard L. and Kevin J. Gutzwiller, eds. Wildlife and
Recreationists. Covelo, California: Island Press, c.1995.

Liddle, Michael, Recreation Ecology. London: Chapman & Hall, c.1997.

Noss, Reed F., "The Ecological Effects of Roads", in "Killing Roads",
Earth First!

Noss, Reed F. and Allen Y. Cooperrider, Saving Nature's Legacy:
Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity. Island Press, Covelo,
California, 1994.

Vandeman, Michael J., http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande, especially "The
Effects of Mountain Biking on Wildlife and People -
- Why Off-Road Bicycling Should be Prohibited" and "Equal Access to
Our Parks".
===
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)

Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of!

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande

Mike Vandeman wrote:
NOTE to mountain bikers: you needn't read this

DONE!

LOL

Mike Vandeman wrote:

Mountain Biking in the East Bay Regional Parks

Gentlepersons:

In July I was in England to give a paper at the Society for
Conservation Biology meeting in Canterbury.
Bicycles are a wonderful invention, and completely appropriate
transportation tools on paved roads, which is where they should stay.

How did you get to England?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...2-2383135.html

Shame on you.

You know they make paved roads with open-cast quarried aggregate, and
tar derived from the oil industry, right?

Mike Vandeman wrote:

In July I was in England to give a paper at the Society for
Conservation Biology meeting in Canterbury.

Here is the abstract for Mike's paper:
http://www.conbio.org/Activities/Mee...nday/cpone.cfm

And here is the full paper in all its glory:
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/scb4.htm

How long did that take to deliver, Mike? Carbon well spent, I'd say.

"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message
...
NOTE to mountain bikers: you needn't read this; it's over your head.

Mike

Then why post it here dumb****!! You really should have sid "You
needn't read this because it's nothing but a long worthless rant about
nothing"


August 15, 2002

Board of Directors
East Bay Regional Park District
2950 Peralta Oaks Court
P.O. Box 5381
Oakland, California 94605-0381

Mountain Biking in the East Bay Regional Parks

Gentlepersons:



"Gentlepersons" Oh how sweet!

Mike Vandeman wrote:

In July I was in England to give a paper at the Society for
Conservation Biology meeting in Canterbury.

Here is the abstract for Mike's paper:
http://www.conbio.org/Activities/Mee...nday/cpone.cfm

And here is the full paper in all its glory:
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/scb4.htm


I've read and re-read the paper you gave in Canterbury. It'd be
funny if it wasn't so pitiful. You were the first lecture on the
first day, a filler when most people were probably still getting over
the previous evening's hangover. Some of the papers delivered at that
conference clearly have scientific and/or practical merit. Yours,
however, is anything but the objective paper it claims to be; it's
just an opinion, cobbled together from research carried out by other
people. You anthropomorphise not only animals, but even planets:

"It is utterly inexcusable that we continue extending our hegemony
into every square inch of the Earth -- and soon, other *defenceless*
planets as well." Defenceless planets...?

I picture a wild eyed loony, pounding his fist on a lectern while the
(tiny) audience sneak sidelong glances at each other and twirl their
fingers next to their temples. Did they laugh while you were speaking?

I know some people here live in California - how about popping round
to Mike's house:

http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q...on,+CA+945 83

Take a picture and post it up, so we can put a face to the name.

More rigorous scientific commentary from Dr Vandeman he
http://www.imaja.com/as/environment/...BobIsDead.html

Loads of conjecture and extrapolation using your opinion as a basis to form
a conclusion on what mountain bikers may experience. Your own comments show
your lack of ability to grasp the concept that other people can, and do,
enjoy the natural surroundings while cycling.
By commenting on a mountain bike in the British Museum or the Kew Gardens,
you are merely accomplishing an absurd comparison as an attempt to show what
you can not prove.
Why not put a mountain bike in a nuclear submarine...? Or on an iceberg...?
Or on a cell phone tower...? As long as you are making stupid comparisons,
you might as well go all out and blame war, global warming and cell phone
cancer on the use of mountain bikes.

BTW... I just built a rock wall in my yard. Can you come bang your head on
it so I know it is sturdy?

Once again I fail to see your point here - other than perhaps that you
have a vivid imagination and are a poor judge of your audience.




Mike Vandeman wrote:
NOTE to mountain bikers: you needn't read this; it's over your head.

Mike


August 15, 2002

Board of Directors
East Bay Regional Park District
2950 Peralta Oaks Court
P.O. Box 5381
Oakland, California 94605-0381

Mountain Biking in the East Bay Regional Parks

Gentlepersons:

In July I was in England to give a paper at the Society for
Conservation Biology meeting in Canterbury. I allowed myself two more
days after the conference for seeing two of the most famous
repositories of nature and human artifacts in the world -- Kew
(botanical) Gardens and the British Museum. I also saw the National
Gallery of Art, which holds European art.

Kew Gardens is gorgeous. The minute you enter, you feel your
whole body relax. I was reminded of the discussion in Stephen Kellert
and E.O. Wilson's The Biophilia Hypothesis of savannah as the
landscape most attractive to humans (presumably because it is where we
evolved). Kew consists of huge trees and small specialized gardens,
separated by large expanses of grass. Paved paths lead the visitor
throughout the garden. My favorite "garden" was "Evolution House", a
glass-encased building depicting the evolution of plants, starting
with the creation of life on the Earth. As you slowly follow the path
through the displays, trying to soak up every fascinating detail and
concept, your presence is detected at certain points along the path,
and a recording is played from speakers overhead, describing and
explaining what you are seeing.

Mountain bikers claim to be mountain biking in order to "enjoy
nature". So everywhere I went, I tried to imagine what it would be
like to be on a mountain bike. Instead of pristine expanses of grass,
the park would be crisscrossed by rutted dirt trails created by bikers
who aren't satisfied riding on the "boring" paved trails that everyone
else uses. In addition, to avoid being arrested, many of them would
have started scaling the wall and sneaking into the park at night, so
that they could ride as they wish, without getting caught. They would
also bring in shovels, hoes, and other tools to construct illegal
trails, jumps, and other obstacles to make biking more fun.

Because the park is so dense with botanic diversity and
information, a person on a bike (there were none, by the way -- of
course!) would miss 99% of the experience and learning that are
available in this most famous of all botanical gardens. And, of
course, it would be very hazardous and unpleasant for other park
visitors, all of whom are on foot, to suddenly try to share narrow
paths with large, fast-moving pieces of machinery!

Well, guess what? Parks are repositories of diversity and
information just like Kew Gardens! It makes no more sense to "see" a
park from the top of a bike, than it does to "see" Kew Gardens on a
mountain bike.

Now take the British Museum. It contains some of the most
priceless artifacts ever discovered, such as the Rosetta Stone -- the
key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. Just to stand in front of
the Rosetta Stone is an awesome experience! There seem to be three
kinds of visitors. Some people carefully examine each exhibit, read
the inscriptions, and also listen to a tape-recorded guide (or a human
guide). Some people wander through haphazardly, often with friends and
family, paying more attention to them than to the exhibits, at which
they give only a cursory glance (after all, it is a huge museum!). And
then there are those who fall somewhere between those extremes.

Now imagine someone on a mountain bike trying to "see" the
British Museum! We would have to create a fourth category for
"visitors" like that. There is no way they could learn much of
anything (except how to maneuver between randomly placed glass cases
and people on foot, without crashing into them) while speeding through
the museum on a mountain bike! (A recent email on a mountain biker
listserv admitted that they ride at 6-10 miles per hour.)

I am quite familiar with European painting, from having toured
Europe when I was 19, so I didn't learn that much that was new in the
National Gallery. However there was a special exhibit of drawings,
including some Rembrandts. The Rembrandts weren't specially marked, so
I had to carefully examine every drawing in the exhibit, in order to
find them. There were two self-portraits, one in his thirties and one
in his fifties. The latter brought me to tears. I don't think I can
really explain why. But of all the hundreds of works in the museum, it
is the only one that really "moved" me.

Of course, if I were "touring" the museum on a mountain bike,
I would have had a totally superficial experience, and probably never
would have noticed that one small drawing out of all the hundreds of
paintings in dozens of rooms.

I think you get the point. Mountain bikes have no more place
in parks and other wildlife sanctuaries than they have in Kew Gardens,
the British Museum, the National Gallery, or the Sistine Chapel.
Bicycles are a wonderful invention, and completely appropriate
transportation tools on paved roads, which is where they should stay.
That is the law in Yosemite National Park, and it should be the law in
every other park, as well.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Vandeman, Ph.D.

References:

Foreman, Dave Confessions of an Eco-Warrior, New York: Harmony Books,
c. 1991

Kellert, Stephen R. and Edward O. Wilson, The Biophilia Hypothesis.
Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1993.

Knight, Richard L. and Kevin J. Gutzwiller, eds. Wildlife and
Recreationists. Covelo, California: Island Press, c.1995.

Liddle, Michael, Recreation Ecology. London: Chapman & Hall, c.1997.

Noss, Reed F., "The Ecological Effects of Roads", in "Killing Roads",
Earth First!

Noss, Reed F. and Allen Y. Cooperrider, Saving Nature's Legacy:
Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity. Island Press, Covelo,
California, 1994.

Vandeman, Michael J., http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande, especially "The
Effects of Mountain Biking on Wildlife and People -
- Why Off-Road Bicycling Should be Prohibited" and "Equal Access to
Our Parks".
===
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)

Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of!

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande

wrote:
Mike Vandeman wrote:

Mountain Biking in the East Bay Regional Parks

Gentlepersons:

In July I was in England to give a paper at the Society for
Conservation Biology meeting in Canterbury.
Bicycles are a wonderful invention, and completely appropriate
transportation tools on paved roads, which is where they should stay.

How did you get to England?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...2-2383135.html

Shame on you.

You know they make paved roads with open-cast quarried aggregate, and
tar derived from the oil industry, right?


Remember this ?


Think before you belittle us with words such as 'WARNING: It is probably impossible to understand my web page, if you own a car.
Or a mountain bike.' (just a thought - I guess you either own a car or use some form of transport that uses the internal combustion engine ?)


MV Obviously NOT.

.... I guess you walked from the airport ?

wrote:
Mike Vandeman wrote:

Bicycles are a wonderful invention, and completely appropriate
transportation tools on paved roads, which is where they should stay.

Bicycles antedate paved roads by a fair bit.


How did you get to England?


He's so pure he was probably wafted by flights of angels.