Happy Feet

An old opinion piece written by someone who is obviously biased against them. Example:

It’s true that what mountain biking is is different for everyone who participates in this great sport of ours, but in my mind, these Satan-spawn contraptions will destroy the soul of mountain biking if we let them.

Not balanced and many arguments made are avoided by simply dismissing the premise. Example:

One common argument made for ebikes and how they make the ride easier is that they’ll allow people with handicaps to ride who couldn’t otherwise. I call BS on that argument. Not only do you still need all of your faculties to control the bike, but there are plenty of badasses out there who mountain bike without an arm, with an injured or partially-amputed leg–you name it, a mountain biker has probably overcome that injury.

This, in particular, describes everone who rides Whistler or ferries a bike up an access road, as I have been describing:

Isn’t the desire to skip the difficult challenge of the climbs, so we can enjoy the sweet reward of the descent as soon as possible, so symptomatic of our fast food, instant gratification culture? Perhaps ebikes aren’t the problem, then. Perhaps they’re simply the solution that a bunch of lazy wannabe riders have been begging for because they don’t want to endure the pain of the climb.

He then makes this interesting statement which is false. In my experience mtbs and horses do not mix well regardless. Horses really don't like moving bikes on narrow trails. The "e" is irrelevant.

Arguing that mountain bikes should have access to Wilderness does not carry the risk of removing any current user groups, aka equestrians and pedestrians, from their current use of those wilderness trails.

This however, is probably the best (worst) comment. Basically, he doesn't want any more mountain bikers. He's in, the others can stay out. If you need assistance give up the activity. He should try that schtick at the Paralympics some time. Total selfish dick quote:

One final common argument for ebikes is that these contraptions, since they do make the climb easier, will help our sport to grow and help more people to enjoy mountain biking. I’ve already argued that we don’t need any more mountain bikers, and if we have to cater to laziness and sloth in order to attract more people to the sport, than I would doubly assert that we don’t need those people in our sport or our industry. Let them keep doing whatever they were doing before–not everyone needs to be a mountain biker.

Laziness and sloth... I'm a rehabilitation assistant who works with people who have impairments every day. This "they don't need to be there" attitude is totally reminiscent of the days when people argued you didn't need to create wheelchair access for buildings or graded curbs on sidewalks. He's all for protecting his little patch of heaven, which is ok I guess, if not very self-centered and limiting. Others see the bigger picture and choose to advocate for access for a larger group. That's really where the battle lines are drawn - how wide your world view is.

But thanks for the link. It's easy to see where some people on forums who espouse such sarcastic and inflammatory rhetoric get it from; almost verbatum in some cases.

Last night I went for a ride. At the top of the hill I saw an older guy sitting on a bench with an e-mtb. Because of this discussion I asked him how he liked his bike.
He said: Good enough I guess. I wouldn't be here without it.
I said: Cool and rode on.

It's too bad that some would spend so much time judging whether that guy ought to be riding his bike on that hill and what his motivations or alternatives ought to be. Just like me he was out doing his thing.