Victory for MTB'ers: Michael Vandeman arrested

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Impy, Jun 2, 2010.

  1. Impy

    Impy Active Member

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    If you ever lived in the Bay Area (or just been online long enough) you have probably run across this person's postings. His mission in life is to ban all MTBers from trails, as well as other craziness.

    Well he finally lost it and attacked some bikers (on a legal trail mind you), and got arrested.

    Berkeley Police Crime page

    Further discussion here if you are interested.
    MTBR discussion
     
  2. doublewide

    doublewide Ride Life....Ride GIANT

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    Bye bye Trail Boss!

    How can you be outside, on a trail and carry so much hate?

    shitty
     
  3. JoeTruth

    JoeTruth Active Member

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    Nice! Karma is beautiful.

    People like him have completely lost their perspective. More times then not, there are much bigger issues going on in their demented head. The MTB community just happened to be this dip-shits target. What a waste of precious energy.
     
  4. dstepper

    dstepper (R.I.P.) Over the hill

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    I was starting to doubt karma...faith restored.

    He is still preaching his vile attacks on the interweb at alt.mountain-bike. He is a nasty man and I don't normally say things like this about people but I hope he is sent to ass pounding prison.

    http://groups.google.com/group/alt.mountain-bike/topics?lnk=srg

    Dean
     
  5. jeff^d

    jeff^d Active Member

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    From his website, http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/mjv1
    Peeves:
    Air pollution, callousness towards wildlife, drugs, guns, invasion or destruction of wildlife habitat (especially by vehicles, such as ATVs, horses and burros, jetskis, mountain bikes, rafts, snowmobiles, and other ORVs), motor vehicles, road and highway construction, violence, waste (especially time)
    :-k Seriously, coming at someone with a hand saw?
     
  6. KonaDawgDeluxe

    KonaDawgDeluxe REKE/DMC

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    Probably a hippie. :lol: Check out his education. This guy is very, very well educated. What a waste.
     
  7. roach

    roach Full Singletrack Tuck

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    Great story, too bad it’s not unique.

    San Gabe Trail Nazi
    It’s been a few years since I’ve seen him, but there’s another local Trail Nazi who is equally or possibly even crazier who frequents the front country of the Gabes. I’ve run across him three times, and each time was amazing, but my last encounter was the most memorable:

    The San Gabe Trail Nazi was hiking up Castle Canyon Trail with his open trail saw in hand. As soon as he saw us riding down, he started yelling, “This is not a mountain! Stay on the fireroads! Go back!” The trail is super small so he was easily able to block us. We stood there listening to his stream-of-consciousness hate rambling for about a minute. Then we decided we’d had enough and continued towards him at which point he started swinging his handsaw wildly. I was actually hoping that he would touch one of us, because that would be all the excuse needed to give him the beat down he deserved. He kept swinging his saw at my face, but smartly he didn’t actually touch any of us. We could hear his hate cries as we continued our descent.

    Anybody else run into this guy? He’s got some type of European accent and has crazy eyes. If he has seen you riding on any singletrack, you would have remembered him. I actually hope I see him again, just for entertainment purposes.
     
  8. EBasil

    EBasil Member

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    Here's a look at the mug shot for one of the most vile, vitriolic haters on the internet.

    Seems like a nice enough fella... :?:
     

    Attached Files:

  9. Formu1fan

    Formu1fan Slow Down, Slower Up

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    Wow. Those are some pretty impressive credentials.
    Too bad it is wasted.....
     
  10. JoeTruth

    JoeTruth Active Member

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    I know exactly who you're referring to. Although personally I've never had a "crazy" encounter with him, I've had plenty of awkward encounters. I use to ride LSM regularly and ran into him on semi-regular basis. I'd say hello and he'd either give me the look from hell, not say anything at all or mutter something under his breath. I was religious about getting through to him so every time I'd see him, I'd repeat my polite gestures. After many failed attempts, one day I finally broke through and he actually said hello to me and thanked me for wishing him a good day. I know that should be routine and expected from everyone but sometimes, patience and persistence works. He's an old grouchy local who's seen his trails become over-run by mountain bikes so he's a bit defensive and territorial, to say the least. Most of us are considerate and polite but the few that aren't, fock-it up for the rest of us. All that being said, we haven't seen the old guy up there in a while.



     
  11. quazi

    quazi New Member

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    We are all liars and addicts! Gotta love the hypocrisy of his opening quote.

    A sample of his writings.

    http://poormansheli.com/2010/06/02/pmh-douche-of-the-week-michael-j-vandeman/

    The Psychology of Mountain Biking
    Michael J. Vandeman, Ph.D.
    January 24, 2000
    “Violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone: I is necessarily interwoven with falsehood. Between them lies the most intimate, the deepest of natural bonds. Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood. … Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his method must inexorably choose falsehood as his principle.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
    For a psychologist, mountain biking is a fascinating phenomenon.
    Lying
    The first thing one notices about mountain bikers is that they lie continually! For someone from my generation, raised to tell the truth at all times, this is puzzling. Surely, they must know that everyone, at least all those who aren’t mountain bikers, can easily see through them! For example, Oakland Councilwoman Nancy Nadel caught Eric Muhler, President of the Bicycle Trails Council of the East Bay, publicly claiming that mountain biking in Joaquin Miller Park has caused hardly any erosion! One look at Alec Karp’s photographs of the park is all it would take to know that he was lying. Similarly, the vice president of ROMP (“Responsible Organized Mountain Pedalers”), Patty Ciesla, was caught red-handed building an illegal trail.
    Their favorite lie, of course, is that land managers who ban off-road biking are banning mountain bikers. Actually, it is only their bikes that are banned! It would be impossible to ban mountain bikers even if we wanted to, since they don’t look different from anyone else.
    And they aren’t doing their already rotten image much good. Since none of them ever admit lying, we can only guess at their motivation. The best that I have been able to come up with is that they don’t believe that they can justify their selfish, destructive sport except by lying. Well, … yes, of course! Since mountain biking destroys wildlife habitat, drives away wildlife and other trail users, and benefits only the mountain bikers, it is hard to see how anyone can justify allowing mountain biking in any natural area.
    Similarly, it is hard to explain why land managers lie so frequently, when asked why they allow mountain biking. For example, a ranger at China Camp State Park told me that mountain biking is causing “no erosion”. An equestrian familiar with the park then told me that the bikers were “turning the trails into powder”! I guess that the land managers are afraid to admit that they have allowed political pressure — or, in some cases, free trail maintenance provided by the mountain bikers — to cloud their better judgment.
    Mountain Biking as an Addiction
    Recently I suddenly realized why this pattern seemed so familiar: they act exactly like the drug addicts that I knew when I worked with Synanon Foundation! They demonstrate the same willingness to take enormous risks, just to continue their “habit”. They risk their image, their job, their relationships, their freedom, even their life, just to continue seeking the ultimate “high”. Many subscribe to mountain biking mailing lists at work, risking losing their job. Thousands risk arrest and fines for riding illegally or even building illegal trails on public and private land. The “Sedona Five” took advantage of a temporary closure of Grand Canyon National Park to ride down the North Kaibab Trail, which is closed to bikes (and got arrested). Taking serious risks to continue a habit of doubtful value is the best indicator of a true addiction. In mountain biking newsgroups they exchange stories about their latest “high” (riding “sweet singletrack”), with extra points given for experiences that were dangerous, illegal, or both.
    When caught riding on trails closed to bikes, in my experience, they lie (“I didn’t know it is closed” — but they don’t offer to leave!), threaten (“I’m going to bust your head”), and even physically attack whoever tells them to leave the closed area (one biker rode back up the trail, turned around, and then rode into the guy who had told him the trail is closed, as fast as he could, knocking him bloody). That is a lot of risk to take, just in order to ride one trail illegally! And a good sign that they are addicted. Indeed, many of them, in their discussions on the Internet, describe mountain biking as an “addiction”.
     
  12. AtOurGates

    AtOurGates New Member

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    Well - it's hard to argue with that bit :lol:
     
  13. Danimal

    Danimal Gary the Cat

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    Michael Vandeman..
    There is a blast from the past.
    And the surprising thing is he looks exactly like my mental opicture of him.
    My first foray into the internet, and mtb chatting was on Alt.mountian bike. And my first post was a reply to this troll.
    Now mind you this was back in 2001, and there were even cartoons done by a poster bagging on him.
    So, hahahahahaha.......
    I mean really, hahahahahahha...like the jail food...snicker snicker...good blankets too, nice and warm there mike..chuckle chuckle....nice clean privarte toilets...hehehehehe..









    appologies to those that think this is being mean...... chortle snickerhahaha
     
  14. mantaman

    mantaman New Member

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    I just looked at his website and he has some photos of trail destruction and on one he says "Knobby tires on mountain bikes rip up the soil and kill any living organisms." Am I wrong or would hiking on those trails do the same thing? I also saw under hobbies he likes hiking, camping, and bicycling, weird huh?


    http://http://www.imaja.com/as/environment/mvarticles/
     
  15. ManInAShed

    ManInAShed New Member

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    Well now that's what I like to see. MikeV has been a pain in the ass for at least a decade. There's been a 30 year running rational discussion regarding valid pros & cons of mtb trail access. ...but if you're ever made to face crazy raving & drooling anti-mtb propaganda, you'll usually find his name at the bottom of it.

    Guy's a nuisance.
     
  16. gooseaholic

    gooseaholic Active Member

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    Look at this that came off his website
    ]Passions

    ]Art (especially Winslow Homer, Jose Orozco, Diego Rivera, Albert P. Ryder, Utamaro, A. Paul Weber), bicycling, biology.

    This guy is an educated nut job.
     
  17. mantaman

    mantaman New Member

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    Under peeves he also lists "Rafts" why "rafts" how much environmental impact does rafting have?
     
  18. dstepper

    dstepper (R.I.P.) Over the hill

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    He just plane hates humans and looks at us as parasites. It is just a sad waste of an education, he should have been born 3000 years ago. But I am sure he would have been angry about something back then too.

    Dean
     
  19. stuffshredman

    stuffshredman Member

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    Oh, I know the guy... here's a post about one of my encounters with him:

    http://www.socaltrailriders.org/for...il-echo-mtn-road-still-closed.html#post638509
     
  20. 2wheel_lee

    2wheel_lee Active Member

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    I remember this guy posting on that newsgroup way back in 1995-96. He was a nut case back then. I am surprised that it took this long for him to get caught. It was pretty scary what he used to preach and what he proposed.
     

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