On a gray New Years Day we went to ride our cruiser bicycles along the path at Deas Island. We passed about 5 people and a couple of dogs who all said "Hello, Happy New Years." Then we came across a park ranger, who was on a bicycle, and asked us to get off our bikes and walk them back to the parking lot. We thought it was a joke and we got ready to ride away, but no, he was serious. We talked about it for a few minutes and his excuse was the the park board didn't want to get sued if a cyclist spooked a horse and the city decided in the 80s that bikes are not allowed. We were pretty choked. The park ranger then RODE his bicycle away and as we exited the park, we saw multiple signs saying no horse-riding, so there should be no horses to be spooked by cyclists. We loaded up the bikes and drove over to the dike trails on the north side of the Fraser River in Richmond. We rode our bikes along a trail half the width, with more people and unleashed dogs. Everyone said hello and Happy New Year and we were able to have the pleasant experience that we were unable to have at Deas Island. We've ridden these slow, friendly cruiser bikes from Spanish Banks all the way around the Sea Wall to Stanley Park in the middle of summer riding past untold numbers of people and we've never seen or heard someone getting injured. This city needs to update their archaic bylaws and get with the times. And how much is the city paying this park ranger on a stat holiday with our tax dollars to prevent people from having a pleasant experience?