In article <[email hidden]>, Mike Vandeman
Quoted message said:Either you haven't read the articles on my web page, or you are incredibly
stupid, because you have managed to COMPLETELY miss the point. The reason for
banning bikes from natral areas has nothing to do with the rotten
personalities of mountain bikers. Start here. If you can't understand this,
there's nothing I can do to help you:
I did read the article - I am not incredibly stupid and I did not miss
your point(s) at all: some are valid for anyone who enjoys wilderness
travel be it true backcountry or trail. I made no mention of the
"rotten personalities of mountain bikers" yet the implication of the
title of your post which summarizes the "typical mountain biker" _does_
indicate that, for you, the "typical mountain biker" has a personality
that displays the use of a simple and vulgar phrase - you say that is
the reaction of "hate mail" that you receive from "a typical mountain
biker". You, not I, brought 'personalities' into my response: my only
observation concerning personalities was that there are unpleasant
people to be found everywhere regardless of their preferred method of
transportation and that there are many who do far more harm than
mountain bikers.
Quoted message said:Please share the following paper with all appropriate and interested parties.
Please restrict bicycles and other vehicles to pavement, where they belong and
where they can't do much harm to wildlife. Mountain biking is a very
destructive
activity, and has no place in natural areas. Anyone who wants to visit nature
can already do so on foot (or via wheelchair). Mountain biking drives out all
other trail users. There is absolutely no reason to allow access by large
pieces of machinery, such as bicycles.
I seldom share trails, period, as my main travel is on overgrown and
neglected trails or, as I said, areas where "no one goes" during times
that the sane do not travel. And yet, in one remote area on the IAT
which is no longer maintained and where I understand I was the first to
travel in over 2 years I did, in the distance, hear the sound of
snowmobiles.
The county in which I live, in Northern Maine, is 80% wooded area and
the outdoor economy relies much more on hunting, fishing, canoeing and
kayaking than the more accessible and snow filled areas to the south
and north. I have learned to live with the roar of ATV's, the roar of
snowmobiles, the sounds of off-road vehicles in National Forests and
paper company owned property 'reclaiming' mining and forest roads and
have learned to live with it. In my mind if there are modes of
transportation that do great harm to wilderness areas I would focus my
attention much more on these motorized vehicles than on mountain bikes.
In several great National Forests of the southeast US I have shared
trails with both mountain bikers and those traveling by horse - the
horse is not, as you term the mountain bike, a machine but I give wide
berth to both yet believe that the horse, and not the behemoth machine
of a mountain bike, does more 'harm' to the areas than the machines.
But some people must have a crusade - yours is a crusade against
mountain bikes (and those who ride them). Fine. Have at it. In reading
what you have posted, however, it reads more of eco-knee-jerking than
science. It's rather like building a backcountry fire - there is a time
and a place for it and when it can be accomplished with little impact
it is as comfortable now as it was to those in pre-historic times. If
you've travelled much in Europe, as an example, you know how little
wilderness is left and how fortunate we are in the U.S. to enjoy
wilderness areas - my particular crusade is to preserve those lands and
to add to those lands when possible (a great debate now rages in Maine
- but that is a different matter). We enjoy the wilderness for
different reasons, and we travel in different ways: in my mind while
the mountain bike may have a slightly greater impact than Vibram soled
boots, it's just not something that keeps me awake at night or disturbs
me to the point where it would become my crusade or, as you did in your
message, resort to saying that the response that you receive from "a
typical mountain biker" concerning your 'research' and opinions is as
simplistic and vulgar as that which you reproduced.
--
manmoose