So why are we such pariahs ?

Perhaps it is the people who ride trail centres who are the middle class

You've never been to Llandegla then? 😉

nudge

I'm not convinced I should care about the opinions of people who know nothing of me or my sport.

Two points:

1) I do think you should care about the opinions of other people in general. There is a name for people who cannot understand the opinions of other people – autistic.

2) Is it a sport? Are you racing? If you are generally just ride around enjoying the countryside isn't it really just a hobby?

I do not feel like a pariah, ever. I have access to an extensive network of rights of way; whole areas of country which are maintained for access and where riding is encouraged as long as it doesn't get silly; spots specifically provided in which it can get as silly as it wants; entire settlements taken over for enormous occasional mass-participation rides and dozens of races held on private land. In my regular riding spots there are pubs, cafes and shops that are happy to serve me food and youth hostels, inns and B&Bs that are happy to deal with my dripping gear and muddy tyre-prints.

In about 12 years of riding I've had just the slightest hint of hassle on just a couple of occasions. Mostly other people, out and about enjoying the same countryside in different ways have been no worse than indifferent and often kind and friendly. Perhaps it's just that I'm a particularly lovely human being, but that doesn't seem to explain someone building the trail centres… 🙂

There is a name for people who cannot understand the opinions of other people

wrong, autism is the inability to understand that others can have different mental states. My contention is that those mental states may be of no interest to me

Is it a sport? Are you racing? If you are generally just ride around enjoying the countryside isn't it really just a hobby?

does competition define sport? But really I don't care what you call it.

The bloke at the Hood Inn in Kilve is a star. We were touring through that area last year and he opened up on a Monday afternoon just to serve us ice cream and beer. 🙂

My contention is that those mental states may be of no interest to me

You are correct. I was was simplifying for the sake of argument. But it is interesting that you seem not to care what other people think – or is it just the people that have a different opinion to you?

How far do you take 'not caring'? Are you more nihilist or sociopath?

And FWIW I think that ultimately competition does define sport. But since you don't care what I think or what I call it…

Nihilists! **** me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.

But it is interesting that you seem not to care what other people think

essentially, what other people think is a private matter, and calls for fruitless speculation. It's only what they do that matters, and in the case of biking that's "not a lot". If I had no interest at all in other people's thoughts I'd not be posting on here trying to influence them…

And FWIW I think that ultimately competition does define sport.

OK, I'm doing something else. FWIW I think competition is the worst part of sport as it puts many off from ever taking part

Samuri I think you can remove the British from your statement 😉

Funnily enough I've noticed that as more poeple MTB the less people say hi on the trails, conversely it appears like more roadies say hi to MTB'ers now.

Was up on the SDW yesterday and saw Lewes road club who were friendly whilst the trail riders (dunno what trail ride) were less so.

Have faith Old Git we rode Cut Gate yesterday and as we descended from top of the trail a red sock opened the gate for us all and waited patiently for all 14 riders to go through, naturally we thanked him and carried on.

Rare event but hey made me smile.

One guy later on told a friend he looked comparatively clean so naturally I told him he didn't scrub up to bad either! 😀

All healthy banter and top riding to boot if a little boggy in parts!