Oh boy. I will preface this post by saying that I do not believe this person is representative of the fat bike community. He’s obviously a one-off and a bit unhinged. I’ve had good relations and interactions with the fat bike crowd except for the one recent incident where they were illegally on Blueberry Hill and causing a dangerous situation.
A disgruntled fat biker named Tristan Thomson sent emails to all the advertisers on my blog, saying that I was harassing fat bikers and that they(the businesses) shouldn’t be advertising on my blog. Dasha Gaiazova from Space Dogs ski club who got an email, sent it to me to make me aware. I contacted Tristan Thomson and threatened him with legal action if he didn’t immediately send a retraction to all my advertisers.
I said it had to be done by 10 pm on Nov 28 and that I wanted copies of all the emails to prove that he sent them. He met the deadline and I’ve had feedback this a.m. from two businesses who said they received his retraction.
Click for a larger image
If you are one of my valued advertisers I’m sorry you had to be inconvenienced by this guy. This blog would not exist without your support.
Below is the letter I received from Dasha Gaiazova from Space Dogs ski club to make me aware:
“Hey Bob,
I got this email today, and I just want to say that I am so grateful for all that you do for the skiing community. I feel insulted getting harassment emails from Mr. Thomson and I just want to show you my upmost support.
I completely agree that those bike guys should have never been on the trail, and I think you are doing the most courageous thing, sticking your neck out for the skiers.
The ski community is 100% behind you.
If you need anything / any help, please let me know.
Dasha and Space Dogs Ski Club”
The funny thing about this is that Tristan Thomson lives in Ontario and attends the Royal Military College in Kingston.
Young people are so naïve about the consequences of their actions on social media. An incident like this could follow Tristan Thomson around for the remainder of his life.
100 % support from me also. Your website is the best resource the local x-c community has. Sorry that one misguided individual is causing you so much grief.
Hi Bob:
No question that you exposed yourself courageously in behalf of every skier and unanimously you have everyone support and appreciation: I tried to do the same thing 4 years ago in Canmore and I got a cold shoulder from Michael Raycroft as well as an injury from a fat biker.
At this point I think it would be just right to send a letter to Shannon Phillips with all the evidence that you gathered from this last episode and express the urgency of some action to mitigate encounters like this last one once and for all.
I did send my own letter a few days ago and soon will receive a reply, this story will not fizzle out in nothing, the same problem is occurring in Lake Louise and in Banff and heavy words have been flying among users of the trails, including hikers with their dog defecating on the trails.
I hope you can still enjoy skiing even if ignorance and violence is spreading fast but let’s not forget that this situation is a result of a typical lack of protectiveness from both levels of government and they have to come up with the solution ultimately, we just have to keep the pressure on them.
Have a great day: Paolo
I think you have been very fair in how you have handled this whole issue. The general response from the fatbike community seems to back that up. Skiers and fatbikers really should be allies. We definitely can’t always share trails but we absolutely share an interest in preserving and enhancing recreational opportunities.
Well said. Each special interest group has a few extremists and they really come to the fore on social media.
Totally support you in defending yourself from this attack, but I’m not sure that linking to his online profile is really necessary, unless maybe he continues to harass. We have all made mistakes, hopefully he can learn from this.
Steve, I’m taking your sage advice and I’ve deleted the links. It irks me when a person with an axe to grind threatens my livelihood. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that he has learned his lesson.
I believe you may have started the battle by going on his facebook account and copying one of his facebook pictures and posting it in one of your blogs. I am glad technology allows for Print Screen options, etc.
You mean this picture which I deleted at his request? http://skierbob.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Tristan-Thomson3.png
I think Tristan would prefer that the whole issue goes away so he probably isn’t thrilled that you’re keeping it in the forefront. I didn’t know this guy existed until he started making derogatory and false statements about me on Facebook. I replied by posting the above picture. He was a brave man while insulting me, but now that he had to take his own medicine, he wasn’t too happy, and he actually threatened me with legal action if I didn’t remove his photo within 24 hours.
He said he’s a photographer and wants to protect his photos. Fine. He should put a watermark on photos which he doesn’t want people to use if he’s serious. It’s a horrible photo of his face which has no value to anyone. You can see it on his Facebook page. I removed it with 18 hours to spare and the incident could have simply died at that point, but before I saw his threat, he went ahead and started contacting my advertisers and was making false and defamatory statements and accusations about me.
I decided I’d give him an opportunity to gracefully back out of his predicament without suing him. I contacted him, and told him to send out retractions. It could have been handled so much more constructively, but he chose the most destructive way possible. After trying to cause harm to me, do you think he appreciates that I let him off the hook so easily? There’s one person in this whole affair who he hasn’t apologized to. -Bob
Nobody wins in a situation like this.
Hear, hear!
Keep up with protecting XC skiers Bob. You have my 100% support!