Vancouver Roadies and Snobbery

I'm from the Sunshine Coast have the privilege to ride into Vancouver and often around UBC. In the last 5 years I've seen a ground swell of road cyclists hitting the pavement in the wee hours in the morning, many in groups or pairs or as individuals. Riding on the Sunshine Coast, there are so few of us roadies, when I see one I always make the effort to nod or wave to let the other know that we share the same passion. Lots of smiles and even a hello on occasion. When riding in Vancouver, smiles or a wave seem to few and far between. Its not like there are few riders in Vancouver, in fact there are as many as a couple of hundred I see on my ride. Maybe, its because if others waved, they would be always riding with one hand on the bar or a smile would cause severe facial cramps. The other day I did a little survey - wave to every rider and see if I get a response - anything goes, hell I excepted a nod or glance. 2 out 10 is what I got - terrible really. Whats going on Vancouver roadie's? Are you so into your Strava workout that you've forgot to acknowledge the other people that share your passion? That only a $5000 bike and Zip wheels could ever turn your head? I just think that you're all snobs!

I'll tell you what, take your snobby attitude and shove it in your chamois. And when you come to the coast you check that snob out and bring your smiles and waves to other cyclists on the road. You'll enjoy the ride and share your love for cycling. Okay?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

We Build Trails to Ride not Protest

What bugs me with the recent events from Elphinstone Logging Focus is their new trail called the Community Health Trail. Lets call this what it is - this is a protest trail under a veil of "promoting community health, focusing on biodiversity and nature". On their website, ELF describes the role of the trail to

"guides us through a key part of the Mt. Elphinstone Prov. Park expansion proposal area. This new protected zone would protect vital resources, such as forest wildlife habitat, wildcrafting and treasured recreational opportunities for future generations." 

This trail is built to protest logging development plain and simple.  You'll see that ELF avoided all the other trails - mostly mountain bike trails - to leave their own mark on the hillside.  I'm a trail builder whether building my own or helping others and one common attitude that mountain bikers share is that we build to ride for fun and connect interesting features together such as log bridges, old skid roads and rocky ridges.  We don't as a matter of course, find out where all the future logging blocks will be and put a trail through it. Certainly a different mindset than the MTB'ers, ELF's idea of trail is to  build trails to push their agenda of protectionism and possibly at the exclusion of other users; then try to spindoctor the trail as a "community health trail". Its no secret that the ELF's agenda is to protect Robert Creek Forest from logging and its so paramount that if exclusion of mountain biking, motocross, horse riding is required in order to protect it, then so be it.

What part of the community does this trail serve?  Does it bring in races such as the BC Bike Race; will it support economic generation of tourist dollars such as  the equestrian or mountain bike events and will it support current services such as bed and breakfast's and our local shops?  We are a community and to do so, we need all local economy working together including logging, motorized sports, horse riding, hiking and mountain biking. 

So I propose that we need to welcome and support ELF's Community Trail.  We, as a community of mountain bikers, motocross/ATV riders and horse riders, need to acknowledge this great trail and RIDE IT! I rode it the other day and its a fantastic, challenging trail to ride!  Thanks ELF for all your efforts in bringing us a trail for the rest of the community to enjoy!

---WAB1234----