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Mountain Bikers' Middle name Is "Irresponsible"
http://outside.away.com/outside/dest..._hawaii_3.html
This Mud's for You The Joys of Biking on the Wild Side By Katie Arnold I HAD BEEN WARNED. "It's gonna be wet out there!" Grant Mitchell announced at least four times during the five-minute van ride from the upcountry town of Waimea to the Mud Lane turnoff. After nine years at the helm of Mauna Kea Mountain Bikes, Mitchell had ridden the Big Island's most technical singletrack countless times and could afford the upbeat tone. But where I live in the parched and dusty Southwest, mud is an exotic novelty. I had come with him to reacquaint myself with mud's unlikely charms—the way it splatters off your tires and shellacs every inch of skin and clothing and bike, and brings a sense of grimy triumph to each precarious pedal stroke—and to meditate on one of mountain biking's most sacred mantras: Mud makes you cool. Tucked into a dense swath of rainforest at 2,500 feet, high on the flanks of the lush Kohala Mountains and across a broad saddle from 13,796-foot Mauna Kea, Mud Lane exists in its own biosphere of mist and rain. The day of our ride, Mud Lane did not disappoint. It had been raining steadily all morning, and the trail was a veritable Slip 'n' Slide of muck and mud. After only a few minutes skittering down a washed-out jeep track—over a minefield of branches, rocks, and puddles—the mire was flying and our disc brakes were squealing. By the time we forked onto the three-mile singletrack loop, we were utterly, satisfactorily filthy. Threading our way through Norfolk Island pines and guava, koa, and waiwi trees, we tackled a thrilling series of tight roller-coaster turns, rain-slicked roots, low-slung branches, and gullies thick with mud. Had I not been so intent on staying upright, I would have whooped with delight. If I was a little rusty in the mud, Mitchell was an old hand. Six feet tall with burly quads and forearms, he powered along as though he'd custom-ordered every rock, drop, and root on Mud Lane. Which, in fact, he had. "I helped build this trail," he informed me as we stopped to admire a particularly impressive drop-off that one of us had just ridden flawlessly. Mitchell, 40, moved to Hilo from southern California in the 1970s, got into mountain biking, and teamed up with surfboard innovator and notorious Big Island eccentric Gordon Clark and other locals to help cut Mud Lane in '86. These days, Mitchell leads rides across the Big Island's wildly varied terrain and works a handful of jobs to stay ahead on a Hawaii not yet overrun with tourists. "I lived on Maui once," Mitchell said, "but it was too crowded." Indeed, Mud Lane was our own private trials course that day. We'd had eight miles of epic, technical slime to ourselves—and later, before hosing off in Waimea, I paused to inspect the evidence: a few bruises, a head-to-toe dousing in Mud Lane's finest, and a huge smile. -- 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 |
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#2
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Fake Environmentalists Middle Name Is "Irresponsible"
On Apr 12, 9:53*pm, Mike Vandeman wrote:
Michael J. Vandemans international flights have contributed more to global warming than an average person who owns an automobile contributes in years. Just two of the trips he took by commercial airlines in 2001 and 2003 emitted as much carbon as someone who owns a car emits in 5.4 years! That figure is just for Michael Vandeman ALONE. How many other "environmenalists" flew there? The total global warming emissions emitted by these people traveling by air is MASSIVE. Keep in mind that's just the CO2: the total warming effect of CO2 + H2O + NOx is about 3 times greater! It's amazing that selfish people like Mike refuse to use alternate means of transportation to these conferences. He wants others to stop mountain-biking while he does hundreds of times more damage to our planet. What a selfish hypocrite. |
#3
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Fake Environmentalists Middle Name Is "Irresponsible"
On Apr 13, 2:32 am, Kayak44 wrote:
On Apr 12, 9:53 pm, Mike Vandeman wrote: Michael J. Vandemans international flights have contributed more to global warming than an average person who owns an automobile contributes in years. Just two of the trips he took by commercial airlines in 2001 and 2003 emitted as much carbon as someone who owns a car emits in 5.4 years! That figure is just for Michael Vandeman ALONE. How many other "environmenalists" flew there? The total global warming emissions emitted by these people traveling by air is MASSIVE. Keep in mind that's just the CO2: the total warming effect of CO2 + H2O + NOx is about 3 times greater! It's amazing that selfish people like Mike refuse to use alternate means of transportation to these conferences. He wants others to stop mountain-biking while he does hundreds of times more damage to our planet. What a selfish hypocrite. And both of you are nuts! Mountain biking is not as bad as Mikey makes it out to be. Sometimes you have to fly to get somewhere, especially overseas. I would love to be able to ride my bicycle to my old house in Wahiawa HI, but I live in TX now. If I want to see the old 'hood I have to fly. Both of you get over yourselves! |
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Fake Environmentalists Middle Name Is "Irresponsible"
On Apr 13, 11:35*am, Opus wrote:
On Apr 13, 2:32 am, Kayak44 wrote: On Apr 12, 9:53 pm, Mike Vandeman wrote: Michael J. Vandemans international flights have contributed more to global warming than an average person who owns an automobile contributes in years. Just two of the trips he took by commercial airlines in 2001 and 2003 emitted as much carbon as someone who owns a car emits in 5.4 years! That figure is just for Michael Vandeman ALONE. How many other "environmenalists" flew there? The total global warming emissions emitted by these people traveling by air is MASSIVE. Keep in mind that's just the CO2: the total warming effect of CO2 + H2O + NOx is about 3 times greater! It's amazing that selfish people like Mike refuse to use alternate means of transportation to these conferences. He wants others to stop mountain-biking while he does hundreds of times more damage to our planet. What a selfish hypocrite. And both of you are nuts! Mountain biking is not as bad as Mikey makes it out to be. Mountain-biking is nowhere near as bad as Michael Vandeman makes it out be be, that's common knowledge. Sometimes you have to fly to get somewhere, especially overseas. I don't have a problem with anyone flying anywhere, but I do have a problem with a mental case crying about phony environmental problems when real problems exist. I would love to be able to ride my bicycle to my old house in Wahiawa HI, but I live in TX now. If I want to see the old 'hood I have to fly. Have at it, wouldn't bother me in the least. Both of you get over yourselves! Back at ya! |
#5
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Fake Environmentalists Middle Name Is "Irresponsible"
On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:35:19 -0700 (PDT), Opus
wrote: On Apr 13, 2:32 am, Kayak44 wrote: On Apr 12, 9:53 pm, Mike Vandeman wrote: Michael J. Vandemans international flights have contributed more to global warming than an average person who owns an automobile contributes in years. Just two of the trips he took by commercial airlines in 2001 and 2003 emitted as much carbon as someone who owns a car emits in 5.4 years! That figure is just for Michael Vandeman ALONE. How many other "environmenalists" flew there? The total global warming emissions emitted by these people traveling by air is MASSIVE. Keep in mind that's just the CO2: the total warming effect of CO2 + H2O + NOx is about 3 times greater! It's amazing that selfish people like Mike refuse to use alternate means of transportation to these conferences. He wants others to stop mountain-biking while he does hundreds of times more damage to our planet. What a selfish hypocrite. And both of you are nuts! Mountain biking is not as bad as Mikey makes it out to be. If you have scientific proof (I know you DON'T), show it. Otherwise, shut up about things you know nothing about. -- 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 |
#6
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Fake Environmentalists Middle Name Is "Irresponsible"
On Apr 14, 12:04*am, Mike Vandeman wrote:
On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:35:19 -0700 (PDT), Opus wrote: On Apr 13, 2:32 am, Kayak44 wrote: On Apr 12, 9:53 pm, Mike Vandeman wrote: Michael J. Vandemans international flights have contributed more to global warming than an average person who owns an automobile contributes in years. Just two of the trips he took by commercial airlines in 2001 and 2003 emitted as much carbon as someone who owns a car emits in 5.4 years! That figure is just for Michael Vandeman ALONE. How many other "environmenalists" flew there? The total global warming emissions emitted by these people traveling by air is MASSIVE. Keep in mind that's just the CO2: the total warming effect of CO2 + H2O + NOx is about 3 times greater! It's amazing that selfish people like Mike refuse to use alternate means of transportation to these conferences. He wants others to stop mountain-biking while he does hundreds of times more damage to our planet. What a selfish hypocrite. And both of you are nuts! Mountain biking is not as bad as Mikey makes it out to be. If you have scientific proof (I know you DON'T), show it. Otherwise, shut up about things you know nothing about. Shut up? Oh my, must have hit a nerve. You and I both know the facts and in the words of Michael J. Vandeman, "do your own homework". No spin that you put down is going to change the facts, and those facts are that you, Michael J. Vandeman have traveled a number of times on commercial airlines to environmental conferences and those flights do more to hurt the environment than mountain-biking ever will. You yourself have contributed more to global warming by flying than many car owners will ever contribute. |
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