Re: The truth about mountain biking in a nutshell

Mike Vandeman wrote:
> Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:02:25 -0700
> Subject: The truth about mountain biking in a nutshell
>
> The best recommended comment from the story about Kelowna's illegal
> mtb courses. The truth. It happens here, too -- not just in the USA
> and California, etc., like the Mayor likes to remind me. This guy,
> "Joe Public", could not have stated it better:
>
> "I was the live-in caretaker on Knox Mountain for two years. This is a
> city park and not a mountain bike course and the problem lies
> completely with the mentality of the mountain bikers. The city parks
> department went to great lengths to allow and accomodate mountain
> bikers within the park by discussing needs with mountain bikers and by
> creating authorised trails for them to use.
>
> The problem is that most mountain bikers want to do what they want and
> go where they want to go. They do not like to follow trails or remain
> is selected areas, they like to create trails and jumps, and they are
> destroying the park in the process.
>
> I have personally spoken to several "leaders" of local mountain bike
> clubs and several owners of local mountain bike stores. Up front they
> claim to be sup****tive of the park rules, yet when they think that no
> one is watching, they lead groups of riders down pristine park fields,
> creating new trails which will continue to erode for decades, or they
> sneak into the park after hours to ride with headlamps.
>
> When approached on unauthorised trails, university educated riders
> claim to have not seen the signs and curiously, the next time you
> catch them on the same unauthorised trails, the signs have all been
> knocked down. These same "leaders" were asked to form work crews to
> repair the destruction of the city parks, yet not one rider cared
> enough to show up. The rampant lack of respect for Kelowna's parks by
> the mountain biking community is the main reason why I did not renew
> my contract within the park.
>
> Over the course of 6 years, the mountain biking community of Kelowna
> has shown no concern for the park itself, and as such and for the sake
> of the park, should be banned completely. It will take 20 years to
> repair the damage of their unauthorised rides.
> --
> I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
> humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
> years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)
>
> Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are
fond of!
>
> http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande

Alas, the true Biker!:

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