Look what was awaiting me in my email inbox this morning:

To the Editor:

Since the Park District is revising its Master Plan, now is the perfect time (by 10/31 at http://ebrpdmasterplan.org/) to ask them to get mountain biking out of the parks! Mountain bikes, with their "aggressive" knobby tires and high speed, grind the trails into powder, which washes away in the first rain, leaving V-shaped ruts and degraded creeks and other habitat. Even the mountain bikers themselves, with rare candor, use the term "shredding the trails" to refer to mountain biking.

Countless insects, lizards, snakes, and other small plants and animals are killed by these "wheeled locusts". Hikers and equestrians are abandoning the trails and the parks, because it is unpleasant and dangerous to have to constantly be on the alert to avoid being hit by a biker coming around a blind turn at high speed. Illegal biking and even illegal trail-building are common in the parks.

It's beyond me to understand why mountain bikers insist on biking in the parks, when walking provides the best way to actually see the parks. Careening through them at high speed -- or even low speed -- doesn't allow one to actually see anything, since you have to give all of your attention to controlling your bike on unpredictable terrain.

It's high time that we restricted bikes to paved roads, where they can't do much harm!

Sincerely yours,

Fed up with mountain biking

--
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://mjvande.nfshost.com

Not sure why I got this, except that I was visiting the Share the PCT Facebook page last night. It makes me a little nervous that this kook has my email address.

_________________
A bicycle is a splendid thing.
~Ernest Hemingway

I thought this clown died, or was put in prison a few years ago, or somethling like that...

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"New York City is a mismanaged carnival of stupidity that is desperate for revenue and anxious to criminalize behavior once thought benign."
--Alex Baldwin, unknowingly describing his socialist utopia.

I think you're safe from this kook. Since he doesn't believe in automobiles or guns the only real danger is him hiking all the way down from Berkeley to stab you with a sharpened granola bar.

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http://chainlinebikes.com/
http://instagram.com/noble_willingham

Actually it would be a pruning saw made out of a granola bar . . . .

Shoot me your email addy and I'll ask Mike to include you on future missives [insert smiley here].

_________________
A bicycle is a splendid thing.
~Ernest Hemingway

e-mail Vandeman back and watch what happens. A nice email, even.