Mountain Biker Was Turned into a Quadriplegic after Crashing on His Illegally Built Trail

Maybe he, like other mountain bikers, is afraid to admit how insane
mountain biking is, for fear that the entire mountain biking edifice
will come crashing down from its own weight. Once one of them starts
telling the truth, it will be hard for the others to keep up
appearances....

Mike


From: [a friend]
Subject: More inanity
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 12:13:20 -0700

Would you believe it? This mountain biking father is still touting his
son's illegally built trail in West Vancouver, BC. His son no longer
mountain bikes because he is now a quadriplegic thanks to his dad's
introducing and encouraging him to dangerous free ride mountain
biking and trail building.

North Shore Mountain Biking Forums (http://bb.nsmb.com/index.php)
- The Shore (http://bb.nsmb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3)
- - "3D" view of a North Shore trail
(http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?t=114771)

Johnny 08-31-2008 07:03 PM

"3D" view of a North Shore trail

I've just uploaded a bunch of pics of a shore trail to Photosynth,
which creates a pseudo-3D view of images. Had to break it into 3
pieces, as it choked on all 650 images.

http://photosynth.net/Search.aspx?query=bowsaw

Just click on the image or the title of one of the sections (I suggest
starting at the top, then middle, then lower), and it is like walking
down the trail, stopping to look at each structure, walking around it
to get different viewpoints.

This is a new way of looking a pictures, and I think it will be a
great way to post trail images.

My son John built this between fall 2006 and April 2007.

It takes a bit of fiddling about to get used to how to use Photosynth:
you can zoom in and out on each image (use the mouse scroll wheel if
you have one), but it is the way they are linked that makes it most
interesting. If you use your mouse, as you move it around you will see
frames of different views, just click away. If you get "lost", a
simple way to view is just to hit the space bar to cycle from one
image to the next. Each image comes into focus as you explore, and you
can zoom in and out, and look at some parts from different views (thus
3D). As you click, in some areas you will see a donut in the cent
if you move the mouse over it you will see different segments of the
donut light up in green: as you click on the green segments, you move
to that viewpoint of the object you are centered on. This happens when
there are a lot of images: usually around one of the bridges or
ladders, but a least one is around a stump, mainly to use as a
connector for the synth.

Part of the challenge with Photosynth is including enough images to
allow it to link them properly. The middle section has two pieces that
don't connect: this is more obvious when you use the grid view.

There's a little menu up in the top right when you are looking at a
"synth" which allows you to switch from grid (all the pics) to the 3D
view. There's also help somewhere in there.

Play around, and let me know what you think.

Warning: if you haven't seen a synth before, when you click on one of
the "synths" to view, it will ask you to download the viewer, which
sets up the image viewer on your system. Go ahead: there are all sorts
of fascinating images on the Photosynth website.

...Mike
--
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

Troll post, do not respond

Mike Vandeman wrote:
Maybe he, like other mountain bikers, is afraid to admit how insane

Heya, Mike!

Did I see you in Tilden a couple weeks ago on Seaview Trail? I was just
coming down on the dirt past Vollmer and was riding at a walking pace on
the right edge of the trail as a group of hikers went the other way.
Three out of four of them smiled and said hi when I did the same. But
one of them was a very serious-looking man, indeed. He looked me in the
eye and did not say a word nor crack a smile; hardly typical behavior
for a hiker in those parts.

-Beej

On Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:11:23 +0000 (UTC), Beej Jorgensen
wrote:

Mike Vandeman wrote:
Maybe he, like other mountain bikers, is afraid to admit how insane

Heya, Mike!

Did I see you in Tilden a couple weeks ago on Seaview Trail? I was just
coming down on the dirt past Vollmer and was riding at a walking pace on
the right edge of the trail as a group of hikers went the other way.
Three out of four of them smiled and said hi when I did the same. But
one of them was a very serious-looking man, indeed. He looked me in the
eye and did not say a word nor crack a smile; hardly typical behavior
for a hiker in those parts.

I'm glad at least one of them had some sense. What's to feel good
about, when someone is destroying the environment right in front of
your eyes? You guys are sick!

-Beej
--
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:
I'm glad at least one of them had some sense. What's to feel good
about, when someone is destroying the environment right in front of
your eyes? You guys are sick!

Bah, humbug. I road my bike up there all the way from the flats, Mike,
for perfectly legal mountain biking on a fire road, which I'm pretty
sure EB Parks maintains with some kind of large destructive equipment.

Why not get bikes banned on that fire road if it bothers you so much?

Anyway, it wasn't you, then?

-Beej

On Sep 24, 2:29*am, Beej Jorgensen wrote:
Mike Vandeman wrote:

I'm glad at least one of them had some sense. What's to feel good
about, when someone is destroying the environment right in front of
your eyes? You guys are sick!

Bah, humbug. *I road my bike up there all the way from the flats, Mike,
for perfectly legal mountain biking on a fire road, which I'm pretty
sure EB Parks maintains with some kind of large destructive equipment.

Why not get bikes banned on that fire road if it bothers you so much?

Anyway, it wasn't you, then?

If it was Mike he would have been on a mountain bike or cutting down a
tree to build a fort. These are things he has admitted to doing.

On Sep 24, 12:54*am, Mike Vandeman wrote:
On Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:11:23 +0000 (UTC), Beej Jorgensen

wrote:
Mike Vandeman wrote:
Maybe he, like other mountain bikers, is afraid to admit how insane

Heya, Mike!

Did I see you in Tilden a couple weeks ago on Seaview Trail? *I was just
coming down on the dirt past Vollmer and was riding at a walking pace on
the right edge of the trail as a group of hikers went the other way.
Three out of four of them smiled and said hi when I did the same. *But
one of them was a very serious-looking man, indeed. *He looked me in the
eye and did not say a word nor crack a smile; hardly typical behavior
for a hiker in those parts.

I'm glad at least one of them had some sense. What's to feel good
about, when someone is destroying the environment right in front of
your eyes? You guys are sick!

What is sick is you are a mountain biker and admitted destroyer of
trees.

On Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:29:02 +0000 (UTC), Beej Jorgensen
wrote:

Mike Vandeman wrote:
I'm glad at least one of them had some sense. What's to feel good
about, when someone is destroying the environment right in front of
your eyes? You guys are sick!

Bah, humbug. I road my bike up there all the way from the flats, Mike,
for perfectly legal mountain biking on a fire road,

There are a lot of things that are legal that are immoral. Sane people
can tell the difference. Mountain bikers can't.

which I'm pretty
sure EB Parks maintains with some kind of large destructive equipment.

So if someone else destroys the environment, that makes it okay for
you to do it too?

Why not get bikes banned on that fire road if it bothers you so much?

Anyway, it wasn't you, then?

Of course not. There are plenty of people who hate mountain biking.
--
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:
There are a lot of things that are legal that are immoral.

Like driving, right?

So if someone else destroys the environment, that makes it okay for you
to do it too?

No--what makes it ok for me to do it is the law.

Anyway, it wasn't you, then?

Of course not. There are plenty of people who hate mountain biking.

Well, I just thought you might get out and about from time to time. Is
that so far-fetched?

-Beej

On Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:09:19 +0000 (UTC), Beej Jorgensen
wrote:

Mike Vandeman wrote:
There are a lot of things that are legal that are immoral.

Like driving, right?

Sure.

So if someone else destroys the environment, that makes it okay for you
to do it too?

No--what makes it ok for me to do it is the law.

No, it doesn't. That only makes it not illegal.

Anyway, it wasn't you, then?

Of course not. There are plenty of people who hate mountain biking.

Well, I just thought you might get out and about from time to time. Is
that so far-fetched?

Not where bikes are allowed on trails. That's no fun at all.

-Beej
--
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