You guys remind me of the 80's when snowboarding first come onto the scene and all of the skiers were up in arms.

Wow! I never knew snowboards in 80s had motors.

 

Maybe you have a power to weight ratio issue, like most that ride them LOL
AI Overview
"E-bikes significantly improve climbing speed compared to regular bikes, often achieving speeds 2-3 times faster, especially on moderate to steep hills. A regular bike might struggle to maintain 4 mph uphill, while an e-bike with pedal assist could comfortably cruise at 12 mph or more. This is due to the motor providing significant assistance, allowing riders to maintain higher speeds with less effort. "

I didn't say that, I pointed out that weight has a big effect on watts need to move a bike uphill.

you didn’t?

 

At this point, I just want to know what the OP was listening to on his earbuds....


.

 

People here would absolutely lose their **** if an e-biker held up a regular rider on the trail for 4-5min

 

(...) or are e-bikers just starting to act like spoiled brats more and more?

They are not 'starting', they <well, at least many of them> have never been anything but that.

 

In the last week I've been called a d-bag, an asshat and a brat by anti-ebikers on this forum.

Classy.


Yeah, we're the histrionic ones...

On an unrelated note, the wannabe racer guy probably thinks I'm a commie 🙄

 

Is it really that difficult to be a decent person on the trail?

Some people make their own lives more dramatic than it needs to be.

I always enjoy pointing this out to the those individuals.


“If everyone around you is an asshole then you’re the asshole”

They don't like that one little bit. No they don't.
hehehe ahahaha ehehehehehe

 

Riding up a steep trail in Whistler today, I hear behind me, “hey, mind if I pass in a wide spot?”. I pull over very soon where there’s some space. Guy on e-bike passes by and thanks me. Damn. I appreciated that.

 

See, that's how it's supposed to work and that's how it usually works until some Bozo fouls it all up.

 

I think the guy behind you would have been rude even if he wasn't on an e-bike. It seems to me that the etiquette is the guy behind you on a climb needs to wait for a safe place to pass. It's not really fair to ask someone working hard on a climb to stop and lose all momentum and then be unable to start again.

I also don't think slower people should have to yield. If you're faster on a trail uphill or downhill, it's rude to come right up on someone's wheel and demand to be let by. Wait your turn. They were there first. If they are nice enough to pull over for you, it's an act of kindness not obligation. If they don't let you by, maybe you should stop, smell the roses, and learn some fucking patience.

 

I think the guy behind you would have been rude even if he wasn't on an e-bike.

Well, maybe, but kind of a mute point because the OP made it pretty clear that the only reason the e-guy was able to come up behind them is because he had a MOTOR.

 

blah blah blah.

This person had it right and it's the only concise, direction that anyone needs to follow to not be a self-absorbed weirdo.

"1) Nicely state that you are present
2) Ask them if and when they are comfortable with you passing them
3) or if you can see down the trail and there is a section with multiple lines, you ask if it’s ok for you to pass on the right or left. "

This is appropriate, safe and reasonable in any situation.

Absolutely no need to complicate it with the bizarre scenarios being dissected here.

 

i didn’t read all the posts. My take: if it’s a technical climb and I’m cleaning it, there’s no way I’m risking a dab for an e-bike. That’s common sense, not e-bike hate.

 

To the OP, your problem is that you ride on trails that allow e-bikes. I ride almost exclusively on trials with e-bike restrictions. When I do encounter them, I inform them of the restrictions.

 

Good luck with that.

 

I voted yes before even reading the OP's post. After reading it, the vote stands.

Dude is legal on the trial, yet the OP seems to think that riding it in the manner that he prefers gives him special rights and privilege over others? No, that's not how it works. I ride motorcycle legal trails all the time, on my analog and on my E, and you know what I do when a moto comes up behind me? I GTFO of the way, maybe give them a wave or a thumbs up if I have the chance. That's what a normal considerate person does.

For all we know, the ebiker said something in a pleasant tone, and the OP didn't hear it, leading to "behind you!!!" in an effort to make himself known, but then received questions about his bike in return? I'll bet if the ebiker just chilled and rode behind the OP without saying anything, the OP would be complaining about "being tailgated", or "stalked" or something like that. The problem here is with the OP being an entitled D-bag.

.

 

lol! I was riding a dirt bike trail and several came up behind me. We ended up talking for about 10 or 15 minutes. It was a great conversation.

 

...e-biker apologist a*hats...
...group of old kooks (mtbr)...
... they are basically in a cult.

Modesty, kindness, tolerance, respectfulness is a cult.

...I decided to avoid the ignore button so I could hear different perspectives.

Your prejudice detracts you from being open-minded.

 

Am I the only one here who thinks that the words and tone matter when you're dealing with trail interactions?

This is why I DO NOT like "On your left!" on open, public trails. Makes it sound like the rider approaching is in the "I'm going to pass whether you like it or not" territory without actually yielding. When you call this out to people who are unused to bicycles, it often results in them jumping out of the way (towards the left, into your path). It also doesn't allow the person (who has the actual right-of-way) to tell you what is safer for them. Since they're ahead of you, they have a better idea of that than you do. It's just not a good way to comport yourself on open, public trails. Perfectly fine in a race situation, though.

"Behind you!" is not too dissimilar. It's not going so far as to outright announce that you're passing, but loudly calling out your presence that way just doesn't exactly invite a polite response.

I use "Hello!" with as cheerful a tone as I can muster to announce my presence some distance back if they haven't already noticed me. Might repeat myself if they didn't hear the first time. And then something along the lines of "Excuse me" or "Mind if I pass?" Things like that dial back tension and give them ample opportunity to tell me to hold off if they aren't comfortable with me passing yet. If someone is polite, I'm a LOT more likely to go out of my way to let them by. If they're rude, nah.

 

Yes! When I overtake hikers, I ask, “hey, do you mind if I sneak past you?”. Followed by, “thank you, have a great hike!”. Is it really that difficult to be a decent person on the trail?

 

These threads are great because I can quickly scan and see who the e-biker apologist a*hats are and click the ignore button to make this forum a more enjoyable and productive place for me. When I first joined this group of old kooks (mtbr) I decided to avoid the ignore button so I could hear different perspectives. However, I’ve come to realize that I don’t give a s** about anything ebiker apologists think or say because they are basically in a cult.

 

Do you promise??? BYE!!!

 

Couple of points: I expect everyone here has had experiences where it’s hard to get the attention of someone you would like to pass. The fact that the approaching rider yelled out “behind you” does not indicate that they were rude or aggressive. All we know is that they were alerting the OP to their presence and that they desired to pass.

I’m wondering if this had been a fast hiker (maybe the fastest hiker of this trail) in front, approached from behind by a (non-e-) bike rider, and the hiker did not let the rider pass for five minutes, would we have so many people here siding with the hiker? The hiker actually has right of way, whereas the OP did not. But right of way is for managing safety and crossings. It doesn’t give one user the right to impede others.

IMO this is just a shared trail etiquette situation. If you’re the person behind and the person in front is navigating a tech section, you don’t bother them there. If you’re the person in front, you find a reasonable opportunity to let them by, and per the OP there should have been plenty of them.

 

Motors fault, without the motor the incident would have never happened. The guy would have never caught up to him if he actually had to pedal and probably would have been content to climb at the same pace if he was close enough to catch up to him.

 

Motors fault, without the motor the incident would have never happened. The guy would have never caught up to him if he actually had to pedal and probably would have been content to climb at the same pace if he was close enough to catch up to him.
View attachment 2154130

Wouldn't have happened without a bicycle either, so I suppose we can blame wheels too while we're at it.

 

Really has nothing to do with e-bikes. It is completely normal for anyone that rides to get annoyed from time to time with other trail users, especially in high use areas. I have always preferred riding in the evening because there's almost always less hikers, runners, other bikers. Just remember you're out to have a good time... don't let other people's antics keep you from a good ride. Ignore things that annoy you and move on. And this is advice from someone that has gotten into trailside yelling matches with many people 😔

 

Yep, like a hiker. If they don't yield and are taking up the trail, it doesn't give you the right to pass them. To not be a **** the hiker should meet you halfway and step off the trail obviously, but they do have right of way and if they choose to exert it, that's the rules of the trail. Like a skier below you has right of way, no matter how badass of a skier you think you are.

 

If we are going for skier analogies, this would be more like a skier vs. snowboarder pissing contest. Where a snowboarder was at a choke point on a snake course or a narrow chute, and telling a skier above them to wait 4-5 minutes just because they are a skier (or vice-versa).

Nobody needs that stuff.

 

I'm going to put it this way: On a technical climb, I would not try to pass someone who is successfully riding that technical climb. It doesn't matter what is making me faster, legs, motor, whatever. As a fellow MTBer, I can appreciate how you want to clean those climbs. I would pass if the person stopped, of course, but I would not want to do anything to derail someone from cleaning a tech climb. Yelling "Behind you!!" is not consistent with my goals in this case.

I really don't care about rules or what they ought to be in this case, what matters to me is to behave on such a way that both I and other riders around me have a good time. The ebiker in this story did not do that IMO.

 

Agreed but a lot of negative assumptions are being made here. The coincidence of the run-in may have just exasperated the experience with the OP. I doubt the ebiker would expect someone to pull over on a narrow/steep/technical climb. Informing someone they’re coming from behind does not suggest an immediate pull-over. It was just a vocal gesture to inform him someone was behind.
What is the intent of asking another rider what type of bike they’re on?
What would have happened if it was a singlespeeder who needed the speed and momentum to clear the same area but was stuck behind the OP?
What would have happened if OP just kindly told the ebiker he’ll move over once he’s in the clear?

 

Let's break down the arguments one by one:

1) He got startled -- You WILL get startled by traffic on multi-user trails. This is a known, expected, normal part of sharing the trail with other trail users. Be prepared to calmly accept being startled by traffic if you choose to ride a public multi-user trail.

2) The trail user behind him yelled "Behind you!!!" -- Announcing you are behind another user is normal and expected. Be prepared for users to announce they are behind you. They do NOT know if you are wearing headphones. It is entirely normal and reasonable for someone to announce their presence at a volume that other users wearing headphones will be able to hear over their headphones.

3) He has a motor -- Share the Trail means sharing with all other users, regardless of whether they have a motor or not.

4) He may have slowed my forward progress -- Yes, it is entirely common that other trail users will slow each other's forward progress. This is normal and expected. In some cases, users may have to even REVERSE their forward progress, and back down trails due to traffic on a shared trail. Be prepared to have to calmly slow, stop, or even reverse your forward progress as a normal part of sharing a public multi-user trail.

If anyone cannot calmly accept these realities, and it makes you feel like stabbing someone, or throwing their bike off a bridge, or block traffic, you are free to choose to ride elsewhere besides public multi-user trails.

 

Context- Riding a known, techie climb in the area. E-bikes aren't disallowed or anything, and it's a trail on public BLM land. The section of trail in the story is all uphill, and without a lot alternate lines to take. If you stop, it can be hard to get your rhythm back.

Ok, this morning I'm riding up said trail. Probably one of the more famous ones in the area with plenty of youtubers, etc. riding it. Objectively, I climb very fast, and I happen to be the fastest time on this trail- Not that that means anything whatsoever, but objectively if someone comes flying up behind me, they're probably either a legit pro, or on an e-bike. (ETA- I mention this to clarify that it's not just some kook riding slowly who would be annoying to anyone, e-bike or not. Without his e-bike, it's not very likely this dude is flying up my ass. Wanted to clarify since people are getting butt-hurt.)

Some dude comes flying up behind me (I didn't hear him) and yells, "Behind you!!!" loud enough that it startled me.

-I pause for a few seconds. "Are you on an e-bike?" I've never asked that before, but for some reason the way he screamed "Behind you!" just pissed me off.

-He pauses for a few seconds. "Yeah."

"Well, then you can find a way around me."

-He mumbles something that I can hear.

We proceed up for about 4-5 minutes, me dropping him on every feature, then him zooming back up behind me when the trail was tame. Finally there was a wider section and he zoomed by while mumbling something.

Am I the jerk here, or are e-bikers just starting to act like spoiled brats more and more?

motor bike YIELDS to EVERYONE!

 

People need to reset their minds and relax. Just realize that there will be those NEW to mountain biking and they basically start on ebikes. Can it be annoying- yeah but reset the mind or you let them ruin the vibe.

 

Ah yes, the classic "STRAVA!!!" guy meets the stereotypical ebiker of yore... simultaneously faster than any uphill traffic while incapable of navigating the downs. Which ego will win out?

What could/should have been a "hey when you get a spot I'll slide by" followed by a "yep let me get through this this tech" followed by a mutual "enjoy the ride" instead turns into jostling elbows, bruised egos, and a ruined ride.

I just wanna ride bikes man. How y'all find a way to bring conflict to the trails is beyond me, but I do know that two assholes rarely make for a better experience.

 

…two assholes rarely make for a better experience.

True but often times I question the legitimacy of these often so called “screaming/yelling/howling e-bikers.” Half the time I yell out “behind you” and have never had a bad experience with other riders or hikers moving over. It appears that riders with prejudice towards e-bikes will dramatize an experience to confirm their dispositions. Riders of all kind don’t go out on a multi-use trails looking for issues or trying to create one; these wannabe pros/KOM chasers are the temperamental and sensitive ones out there.

 

You probably should have yielded. And if you came up upon the eMTB rider again on the climb, then it's game on and a fair fight.