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Old September 23rd 14, 11:10 AM posted to rec.bicycles.soc
Blackblade[_2_]
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Posts: 214
Default Our wildlands are not outdoor gymnasiums or amusement parks.

Blackblade and his ilk are trespassers and despoilers of

nature. Here is an article I pulled out of my stream of such articles

expressly

for him to read. Will it do any good? Probably not, but the truths

stated in

this missive will be apparent to anyone with a functioning brain in

his head. It

also assumes a heart and a soul, things which mountain bikers have

ever shown to

lack. God Damn their rotten souls all the way to Hell and back!




You keep forgetting that I, too, am also a hiker and, perhaps

surprisingly to you, I agree with quite a lot of what is written in the
article. I have never advocated for universal access ... I've simply
pointed out how ridiculous your ubiquitous assertions are. You don't want
mountainbikers on ANY trails ... irrespective of wilderness designation.



And, since you take that view, you do exactly what I warned you

about; you create extremism to counter it.



If you were prepared to concede that some of the trails where,

clearly, you would prefer that there were no mountainbikers were open then, I
suspect, the mountainbikers might be rather more open to accepting that other
trails were off limits such as wilderness trails.



Of course, this all presupposes that people don't, as has been the

case in the past, mis-use wilderness designation simply to try and get
mountainbikers off historic trails. If all could agree a 10-year
grandfathered rights clause I think that would resolve that one.



But, no, you take an absolutist position which means that even

reasonable mountainbikers like me, who do enjoy hiking and do accept the
'cathedral of nature' proposition, find ourselves resolutely opposed to your
selfish and irrational response to anything to do with mountainbikes.



If you want mountainbikers to act reasonably then you have to

too. Fight us and, guess what, we fight back. Compromise and you
will achieve far more of what you want.



My position is that there is an inherent conflict between
hikers and bikers on trails just as there would be between bikers and
motorcyclists on trails. It really has nothing to do with the ease or difficulty
of a trail (although the danger factor is a good argument to use to get bikers
off of trails), but to WHY you are on the trail in the first plaice. Purpose is
everything. Very strange that you can't see it from this
perspective.


Your purpose is recreational ... just as mine is. You don't NEED to be there any more than I do. We both choose to be there because we enjoy it. You are presuming that your recreation is superior to mine ... but you have no logical basis for doing so. Hiking and biking have similar environmental impacts so there is no objective measure for preferring one over the other..

Unlike Mr. Vandeman, I am not opposed to bikers having their
own trails. He is more right than I am of course, but that is the only
compromise I am willing to make. Bikers use nature as a playground. With natural
spaces becoming ever more rare, it is a desecration to use natural spaces for
playgrounds for adults with toys.


An hiking is what ? A job ? !!! Get off your high horse and accept that you, too, are pursuing a recreational pastime not doing anything that benefits nature ... hikers create similar levels of erosion.

The most precious resource in the world are natural spaces
where what you can do and what you can't do is closely regulated. Let everyone
do whatever he wants and the resource is destroyed. Walking a trail is the least
harm that can be done. I am far more right than you are. There is nothing
extreme about my position on how we should use natural spaces. The only
extremist here is you.


Ed, you froth at the mouth at the mere mention of mountainbikes and they cause you "mental torture". If that's not extreme I don't know what is.
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