Eroding Richmond Park

I went for an off-road workout on my Mountain Bike in Richmond Park(illegal I know)this afternoon to have some fun riding on the snow before it melts.Just near Pembroke Lodge I got verbally abused by a"gentleman" walking his dog accusing me of damaging the park.Surprised at this random abuse I stopped to have a polite discussion with him;I accepted I was in the wrong( riding off the designated cycle path) but he continued giving me shit and suggested I cycle into a large lorry!!!!
Clearly he was having a bad day;hated off road cyclists so I pedaled away before I took his remarks too personally and spent the remainder of my day in Richmond Police station for GBH.
The most disturbing threat this gentleman made was he intended to "wire" some of the tracks on that downhill section between Ham gate and Pembroke Lodge to cause max damage to any unsuspecting off road cyclist who might be enjoying the hills........

maybe he shouldn't walk in his precious park, lest his shoes damage the innocent ground.

Also, setting up trip wires is really going to be good for vegetation and animals. And his dog.

I would have D-Locked his dog.

you get these pricks in the downs too, moaning about bikes "tearing up the countryside" then going and driving their motors all over it and letting their dogs shit everywhere.

People just hate bikes, end of.

just randomly lay a few of these down, near trees.

you get these pricks in the downs too, moaning about bikes "tearing up the countryside" then going and driving their motors all over it and letting their dogs shit everywhere.

People just hate bikes, end of.

It's ironic because there are quite a few studies showing bike do less erosion than walkers and much less than horses.

http://www.americantrails.org/resources/ManageMaintain/WKeenImpacts.html

mind you, I was walking on Blackdown hill on new years day, and there were some fucking mountain bikers getting right in our way, whizzing past us. cunts. why can't they cycle on the road like men?

It's ironic because there are quite a few studies showing bike do less erosion than walkers and much less than horses.

http://www.americantrails.org/resources/ManageMaintain/WKeenImpacts.html

Thanks. Excellent study.
I'll get this printed off and present it to him on my next encounter perhaps he'll be hounding me on the road next time as I struggle up the hills on my fixed.

yeah im familiar with this attitude all over the kentish north downs. its very easy to stray onto peoples land as lot of the wooded areas just merge together with no fencing or obvious border. in this instance i can see why people get pissed off, but alot of the time its just snobbery and the idea that they have innate sovereign ownership over the land.

there is a problem with chavs riding their 125 hairdryers all over which tears the ground to pieces, especially around a lot of my favorite fishing lakes. which is really bad, but bicycles have very little impact and no lasting damage.

its not off road but i especially have a problem with the equestrian inhabitants of the kentish countryside. they say that bicycles scare the horses, i am off the opinion you shouldnt ride a horse on the road if it is scared by a bike because its dangerous. yet i lived in cornwall most of my life and never encountered this over my years of riding, are the horses super hard down west or are horse perverts just wankers around here.

I think it's an unfortunate effect of being near London that a lot of the horse riders are very snobby and trying to Lord it up.

Where abouts in Kent do you go MTBing?

Horses don't like red bikes.

RE: bear trap and D lock comment, even though its a joke, the poor dog didn't have a choice. It may well be a lovely hound that has been unlucky enough to end up with a douche bag.

RE: bear trap and D lock comment, even though its a joke, the poor dog didn't have a choice. It may well be a lovely hound that has been unlucky enough to end up with a douche bag.

Hear, hear! Emancipate the douche bag's dog!

+1

Liberate all douche bag owned dogs.

PS: We of course decide who the douche bags are...

+1

Liberate all douche bag owned dogs.

PS: We of course decide who the douche bags are...

Or the dogs could.

We could do that thing where two people call the dog at the same time, and we see who it goes to. We need to do that to every dog in the country, personally. Then any dogs that want to leave their owners can live at your house. I would have some, but there isn't the room here.

So what did you actually do to him.
Was it a swift crack to his jaw?

Harris, good on you to try and have a polite conversation, rather than a slinging poos at each other, even though it does not go anywhere, least you did try.

PROPERTY IS THEFT.

Seriously though if some nutter's talking about wiring paths maybe you should report it to the police?

Would give you one up on him if nothing else.

I'd have been very rude to him.

PROPERTY IS THEFT.

Seriously though if some nutters talking about wiring paths maybe you should report it to the police?

Would give you one up on him if nothing else.

Even saying that he may wire up paths is terrifying. It's enough to make you stop riding bikes in the park, really.

I'd have been very rude to him.

Why, OP was in the wrong.

Why, OP was in the wrong.

Because being in the wrong and acknowledging it and apologising for it doesn't then deserve a torrent of abuse and threats to physical safety.

In fact, threats against physical safety trump cycling off the designated cycle route. One of these two things can land you in jail, and it happens not to be the cycling one.

so I pedaled away before I took his remarks too personally and spent the remainder of my day in Richmond Police station for GBH.

Explain...

Harris, good on you to try and have a polite conversation, rather than a slinging poos at each other, even though it does not go anywhere, least you did try.

Doesn't sound like either party was overly polite...

So what did you actually do to him.
Was it a swift crack to his jaw?

Yes, so what happened?!

I guess if everyone deviated from the cycle path you'd get a ton of desire lines, you see some cutting accross silly bends on the cycle/baby pram path. Fact is people don't.

Ignore him, you play with pigs you get covered in shit.

Why, OP was in the wrong.

a/ It's none of his business, if he is of the opinion that someone is doing wrong or breaking the law, maybe he should phone the cops and see how much of shit they give?

b/ He started being rude, even though the OP was being polite. To be honest, I would have shouted, sworn, and threatened him. Hopefully this would scare the living fuck out of him, and next time, he might not be such a NOSEY CUNT.