Why Is the Supply of IDIOT Mountain Bikers ENDLESS?

Mike Vandeman

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From: George May <georgemay1985@hotmail.com>
To: <mjvande@pacbell.net>
Subject: An Interested Response From a Fellow Ph.D
Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 19:50:45 +0100
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Dear Michael,

First of all I would like to ask where you obtained your Ph.D? As I am
currently studying for one myself under the tutelage of Professor
Rudolf K. Allemann at the Chemistry department of Cardiff University.
You can view our group (including myself) or learn about our research
here: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/chemy/staf...ann/People.html

I will say at this point that I am a keen mountainbiker myself and
hold a national championship level gold medal here in the UK. I am
emailing you in response to your work entitled "Mountain Bike Races in
Briones Regional Park", amongst other pieces I have read in your
literature.

You seem to be particularly anti-cycling in your arguments, yet you
claim to have borrowed a bike in order to traverse a greater distance
in a single day; I believe you referred to this in a seperate piece
when you claimed "mountain bikers are lazy". How can you justify such
plainly hypocritical actions? Next up you refer to your experience as
"no fun at all" and that you were subject to "violent jarring" and
that "there are bikes with a so-called "suspension", but there is no
way to make a ride like that "smooth" or enjoyable", putting aside for
a moment that your level of enjoyment of our sport is entirely
irrelevant as to whether it should be allowed or not, do you not think
that perhaps your bad experience was caused almost entirely by your
lack of skill and fitness (muscular and aerobic) to participate? I can
tell you that I very much enjoy riding my bicycle, and despite what
you say have learned the necessary skills and obtained the correct
physical fitness to become proficient at it.

This leads on to your next point that "Not only was the ride
physically very unpleasant, but having to continually watch the trail
and try to control the bike meant that it was impossible to enjoy the
scenery or listen to the subtle sounds of nature", again were you
equipped with the correct skill base to ride the bicycle over such
terrain you would not have experienced these problems, I find it
decidedly easy to ride my bicycle under these conditions without a
second thought, I am free to enjoy the surroundings without thinking
about controlling the bike - again, something I have learned to do.

The following paragraph has a most ridiculous claim (especially to a
chemist!), "eroded and destroyed soil is not coming back", now come
on, on your website you claim to have an interest in chemistry, you
should surely know that matter is neither created nor destroyed. I
believe this holds true to your argument, this "destroyed" soil has
merely been displaced, it has not vanished into some form of 19th
century ether.

You go on to claim that you particularly enjoyed hiking the bear creek
trail, stating that you caused a large buck to flush from the bush in
front of you, I don't feel you have the right to berate a community
about causing wildlife to feel comfortable in this area when you
yourself cause disturbances such as this.

Lastly I would like to address an issue you bring up several times in
another piece, that mountain bikers are not being banned, simply the
bikes themselves that are. Now, as a man who has a doctorate and calls
himself a specialist in a number of fields, I would imagine you would
have the sense to see that this is a ridiculous argument playing on
semantics rather than making a constructive point. That aside, I would
like to offer you the view that perhaps if mountain bikers are allowed
without bikes, perhaps hikers should only be allowed without hiking
equipment (boots, bags, clothes etc). I am sure that the rubber
treaded sole on your hiking boots is much more damaging to the trail
than the naked foot, if you believe that man's influence should be
kept out of the wilds, then perhaps man should go back as he came out,
with nothing more.

I don't expect to receive a response from this but I would appreciate
it if you could take time to word an adequate response.

Regards,

George May
Cardiff University Chemistry Department
Wales
United Kingdom


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