[Stewiewin]

I ring my bell well before and during a blind corner. Unfortunately I've encountered way too may close calls, despite having a loud bell.
I've also tried constantly ringing my bell along the sections where it's dangerous (swooping up and down singletrack inside tall grass). It still feels like I'm catching some riders by surprise.

Should I start using a whistle? I don't want to be obnoxious or make people think I'm in distress. What's your strategy?

lol learned to avoid places where hikers animals go and squeaky brakes 😋

 

[ksm]

"Fouuuurrrrrrrr ....." usually does the trick

 

[jeph]

I wonder if you do clock a hiker. What's the liability issue. I am guessing it is like rear ending a car. Is fault cut and dry like that? Might be a big ding on homeowners insurance. Seems like we would hear more about incidents, especially in more urban (crowded) riding areas.
J

 

[fuzz_muffin]

Ride one way trail systems.

 

[noapathy]

That second one doesn't look all that blind...like at all, really.

 

[834905]

I pin the throttle on my ebike so I can throw a sweet rooster tail.

 

[Sidewalk]

If I think there is a risk of running into people, I chill the **** out. Riding with a bell is like driving around with your horn blaring all the time expecting people to move.

I make two stroke dirt bike noises for all my rides. BRAAAAP BRAAAAAAP

Except that is the sound of a four stroke.

#RingDingersForLife

 

[noapathy]

I pin the throttle on my ebike so I can throw a sweet rooster tail.

username checks out

 

[chazpat]

I make two stroke dirt bike noises for all my rides. BRAAAAP BRAAAAAAP

Maybe you should cut out the pre-ride burrito.

 

[Oogie]

Maybe you should cut out the pre-ride burrito.

I put extra cheese and hot sauce on it and then I sound like a harley "poot, poot, pop,"

 

[Dkayak]

If you can't stop within the distance of your sightline, then any trail conflict is 100% on you. Slow down if you can't stop in the distance you can see.

This ^^^, on your bike and in your car. Even on a one way trail you might need to stop for a crash on the trail. On a two way trail, be able to slow in half of your sight distance (to allow oncoming riders to brake) unless there’s space to pass. I try to slow and pull over.

 

[Nat]

If you can't stop within the distance of your sightline, then any trail conflict is 100% on you. Slow down if you can't stop in the distance you can see.

Warning / audible signals do not relieve you of this responsibility.

I don't understand how anyone could see it any other way, even on a one direction bike specific trail, you should be able to avoid a downed/crashed/injured rider.

At risk of starting a sh**show, I have a hypothetical question to pose for everyone (not just brentos):

Say you were descending a trail with an upcoming corner that was partially obscured by brush, and you were traveling at what would normally be a speed at which you could stop before colliding with an oncoming hiker, runner, or mountain biker, but this time the person coming uphill is going much faster than typical (e.g., an equestrian going full gallop, a class 3 ebike at full speed, or an e-dirt bike like a Segway) then are you still at fault just because you were the one descending? Does the person coming the opposite direction at far faster than normal trail speed get absolved of responsibility simply because they were headed uphill?

 

[DtEW]

I slow to safe speeds and literally chant, "blind corner, blind corner, blind corner..." while approaching just-in-case the hiker/biker on the other side is too oblivious to realize that's the situation they're in as well.

This is because I once came around a singletrack blind sharp corner at slow climbing speeds and found there was a group of newbie bikers parked on said singletrack ~5 feet back. Full sudden crush of the levers dislodged a hand and I ended up going down on an elbow that eventually required stitches at the ER that night, which was all at the no-vaccine peak of the pandemic.

While they committed a faux pas, I was obviously at-fault, so I apologized and counted myself lucky that there wasn't a collision. So yeah, I make an extra effort nowadays.

 

[DtEW]

At risk of starting a sh**show, I have a hypothetical question to pose for everyone (not just brentos):

Say you were descending a trail with an upcoming corner that was partially obscured by brush, and you were traveling at what would normally be a speed at which you could stop before colliding with an oncoming hiker, runner, or mountain biker, but this time the person coming uphill is going much faster than typical (e.g., an equestrian going full gallop, a class 3 ebike at full speed, or an e-dirt bike like a Segway) then are you still at fault just because you were the one descending? Does the person coming the opposite direction at far faster than normal trail speed get absolved of responsibility simply because they were headed uphill?

I think like car accidents, they will split the fault into percentages in the police report.

 

[Nat]

I once came around a singletrack blind sharp corner at slow climbing speeds and found there was a group of newbie bikers parked on said singletrack ~5 feet back.

I can't be picturing this right -- in my head you were climbing, the others were stopped 5' off the trail, and you pedaled into them. That's not what happened, is it?

 

[11053]

Relax/slow down and scream/yell.
On multi use/multi directional trails systems I always dial back my speed if blind corners are a concern and make noise.
I yell prior to every blind corner whether I am travelling up or down.
You can mess it up in either direction if corners are blind, so when pedaling up I ride defensively and when heading down I ride expecting to encounter some head down hiker/dog walker/bird watcher/fellow rider with ear buds in every blind turn.

 

[eri]

I came around a blind uphill corner on a quiet rainy weekday, slowed way down because i couldnt see. Three pretty little blonde girls 5-6 years old in pigtails holding a rope like they were climbing a mountain. Mom was panting about 30 yards back

Ill never forget how thankful i was that i was going slow. I stopped and warned every biker i met that day that theres were little kids ahead.

county park, they have as much right to the place as i do.

 

[Nat]

I think like car accidents, they will split the fault into percentages in the police report.

Police!!!

 

[DtEW]

I can't be picturing this right -- in my head you were climbing, the others were stopped 5' off the trail, and you pedaled into them. That's not what happened, is it?

They were stopped and chatting/drinking water on the singletrack. This is a mild ascending singletrack on a steep sidehill wholly defined by 1) an uphill, near-vertical wall of tree roots, and 1) a downhill cliff into a ravine. The uphill near-vertical wall is what made the turn blind. There is no off-trail. The blind turn is very small radius, so you can be 5-feet behind the apex and nobody will see you until 5-feet away.

There is no easy place for them to stop off-trail, but they just means they shouldn't be stopped on the trail right around the blind turn. They should have simply stopped farther away to give people better sightlines. But that's merely a dangerous faux pas on their part. I really should have been yelling (I wasn't doing that then) and slowed to crawling speeds at that corner.

 

[cookieMonster]

Any time you attack a blind corner at full speed you are taking a pretty serious risk. And not just for others, but for yourself. I tend to avoid trails with blind corners. Besides people and animals, there can be fallen trees (actually very often where I live, as we have tons of beetle kill) — and at the very least random baby heads and other debris that aren’t usually there.

I do use a Timberbell, and have been thanked for it probably at least 50 times now. But I still don’t fly around blind corners. A popular trail next to my house has two blind corners on it. Despite it being obviously a mountain bike trail on the descent, marked as directional, and a sign saying “hiking not recommended” — there are hikers nonetheless. And they are wearing earbuds. I have come close to flattening people (and myself) in those two corners— so now I always slow down.

I have also almost t-boned bears in both locations. It was very close.