Mountain Biking - Behold... The ENEMY!

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/mtb.htm

just stumbled onto this article and can't believe the false logic and irony that spews out of this guy... I guess they give PHD's to ****in' ******* Mother****in' Idiots?

Mike

Mike Vandeman, the only user banned from this forum before he even knew about it ;) He has been on the newsgroups for ages... what can you say about this guy?

This makes me mad being the environmentally cautious, and responsible mountain biker that I am. And if I wasnt in the middle of a philosophy discussion, I would like to take some time to examine this article more carefully.

The main point this guy is trying to make is that mountain bikers destroy the environment. While in some isolated cases this could be true, but it is my belief that the majority of us out there on the trails take care to respect our surroundings. One of his first arguments has to do with organisms living under the soil. While this is true, those organisms are concentrated in the soil to the sides of the trail. As long as bikers stick to the trails, and dont ride off into non-designated areas, this argument has no grounds.

Then he brings up another ridiculous point in which he claims that "Mud containing seeds and spores sticks to bike tires, thereby often carrying species of plants into areas where they had not existed." This is totall bull$h!T. Hell, hikers could carry these "spores" on the bottoms of there shoes.

Another one of his arguments regaurding the courtesy of mountain bikers is ludicrous. While a small percentage of bikers out there, most likely in their teens, might disrespect other trail users, he is generalizing the whole mb'er community into irresponsible destroyers of peace and nature. I have talked to many hikers, and people on horseback, all of which showed me courtesy. Why, because I showed them courtesy. That is the key, a common courtesy between all users of the trail, and from my observations, the majority of bikers out there practice this.

We should never have to ban bicycles for environmental reasons. Tney dont produce toxic gases that corrode our atmosphere and polute our cities, and they aren't like atvs, or mx bikes that are frequently taken off the trail. For an environmentalist in todays world, their focus should be directed towards issues surrounding clearcutting our forests, minimalizing the use of gasoline in our modes of transportation, and ever-expanding housing developments that require deforestation . That is our real problem today, besides, of course, tree boinging hippies like this.

I read the article.

My conclusion?

The writer is a tosser.

A number of studies suggest that mountain biking is no more harmful than hiking. Check out the links at:

http://got.net/~landauer/mtb/studies.html

I hate the attitude of environmentalists who preach about the beauty and importance of nature and then say that nobody but them should be able to go see it :confused:

Seriously check this out.... http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/overview.htm I think he's telling us not to ANYTHING. And please somebody email him at mjvande@pacbell.net .....I just dont know what to say to that jackass.

I find it funny. Even when I do go trailblazing on my mtb I do much less damage then when I am riding my horse. Being that the total weight of my bike and I are just about 310#.
The total weight of my horse and I are some where near 2100#'s.
But it seems to just fine to tear up the ground when on my horse but not my bike.
I also do more damage when I go hiking because my footprint is much wider then my tires and can destroy shrubs and bush with each step and when I am on my bike I try to avoid running over plants whereas when I go hicking I just walk through what ever is infront of me. I notice that other hikers do the same.

Slainte
:beer:

I think you have to put what he is saying in perspective. California has some serious problems and reading this (http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/mtb55.htm) article I'd have to say I can see his point. I can head out on the trails near my home and never see another mountain biker - I'd reckon his nature hikes can be rather unpleasant in multi-use areas. I've also lived in areas where they were building new trails every weekend ... why? Spend some time improving the ones we have, sheesh. He does have a big ego, read his bio.

By the way - Winslow Homer was infatuated with sailing, isn't that naughty? And guess what the good doc's number two passion is ...... cycling.
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/mjv1.htm

Im just thinking here...
If you are riding on the road, which this wanker would think is environMENTALy helpful.... what if you drove through a swarm of gnats... the horror...

Im sure he's equally concerned about grazing cattle's flatulance affecting the increacing greenhouse gas problem too...

This crap almost pisses me off as much as this: http://www.nofishing.net/pain.html

Hold on guys... this man is obviously smarter than any of us. We should listen to him. I mean, look at the way he skillfully used so many big words.....like... acceleration. IN FACT, he has inspired me. I feel so bad about all of the damage I've done to the environment by just breathing that I now know the only possible solution is for us to go hand feed ourselves to the wolves and alameda whipsnakes (at a rate which won't upset the natural equlibrium, of course).

A few random thoughts:
He almost stepped on an alameda whipsnake, so it obviously can't survive bikes...If it's that vulnerable it's screwed anyways

Plants live off of C02, I better go take a drive to help the trees.

Save an alameda whipsnake, mtB over an environmentalist.

Survival of the fittest...Hamburgers are better suited to current evolutionary trends than cows.

Given enough time I'm sure I could come up with better, but that's enough for now. Go ride responsibly and make this guy look stupid before he is naturally de-selected.

The guy is an idiot and a disgrace of mathematicians. I am an expert mathematician myself and i am disgusted that people such as himself are into mathematics..... idiooooooooooooooot!
I bet his wife is cheating him while he lectures about all this horse****.....
MTB is nature friendly ...its not a tank! its a god damn bike...
What about bombs etc dropped in yugoslavia or other countries? are they nature friendly?
Piss off...
Hail MTBers worldwide.!

This seems to be an obvious case of an individual who has already formed an opinion (bikes are bad!), and then subsequently attempted to create a case that affirms this opinion.

Unfortunately, his faulty logic and absolute bias is apparent to anyone with eyes and a brain. :rolleyes:

Good lord. What is this world coming too?

Talk about the end-all-be-all tree-hugger. Good lord. I bet cha that 95% or more of us bikers take care of the trails, and try to follow the rules as best as possible.

Maybe we should just go get the guy that wrote that, put his face in the DIRT (it's JUST DIRT... ok *cough cough*) and ask him how much he's friends with it now?


*somehow I get the feeling that some fat old guy wrote this... someone that's never ever been out on the trail..... *


It figures.

:crash:

Originally posted by Rotifer
He does have a big ego, read his bio.

By the way - Winslow Homer was infatuated with sailing, isn't that naughty? And guess what the good doc's number two passion is ...... cycling.
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/mjv1.htm

my favorite:


As a Junior at U.C. Berkeley, I ranked 37 1/2th out of 1300 college math students in the nation in the annual mathematics contest sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America.

He was obviously the bottom half of the 37 1/2th; he's talking out his butt! :rolleyes:

thirty-seventh-and-a-halfth? Just wanted to write that out and look at it for a while... HALFTH, a Halfth?, Halvefth, Halvphth? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... that ****in' idiot!

This person is a jerk.

What a w*nker, I used to ride horses and on them I tend too go across grass whilst onbike I stick too dirt track which is already vegitation free, also on horses I'd jump the odd hedge, well anyone who knows about horseriding will know that the horse take a fare portion of the hedge with it quite often, whereas on my bike I tend too look for a gate, although on a motor-x bike I did crash into a hedge, but that was due too the throttle cable being snapped and me having to wrap it around my hand and steer one handed.