[rfields4013]

I was reading the 'Poser' thread, and as I watched it crumble into a "I'm cooler than you" thread, I started thinking about something a little more relevant to most riders. Seeing someone that you consider a poser on the trail will not effect your quality of ride, but an a$$%*!e possibly can.

I live on Colorado's front range and there are a lot of extremely cool people that live and ride here. But, there are a lot of jerks out here too. My latest example:

Today I was riding a popular trail close to my house and I needed to pass a guy. I alerted him that I was behind him, and when the trail was wide enough, I went around. As I went by, I said hi, as I always do. No response. OK, maybe he didn't hear me I thought to myself. A little while later, I was taking a break at the side of a doubletrack section of the trail. The same guy comes climbing up the trail behind me. As he approaches, I say hello again. He says nothing as he passes by me so close that he actually bumped me with his handlebar. Keep in mind that this is a section of trail that is about 10' wide and is about a 4% grade. Plenty of room to pass and a very easy little climb. No "excuse me", "sorry", or anything. To me, now this guy is an a$$.

A while later, I was huffing it up one of the steeper singletrack climbs, and saw a rider decsending toward me. I thought that he would surely stop and yield the trail. After all, he was decked out in what appeared to be full xc racing attire, and was riding a VERY expensive bike of the titanium persuasion, so I guess I assumed that he knew etiquette. I was wrong. As he literally ran me off the trail, he very sarcastically said "Jesus! Excuuuse me!" Yeah, this guy is an a$$ too.

I did respond to both of these individuals, but I will not get into that.

What kind of experiences have you all had that constitutes labeling someone and
a$$%*!e?

 

[pimpbot]

I would add...

... knuckleheads who power slide around singletrack or fireroad turns.

I see it on the trails all the time. Narrow skid marks turning into wide ones around the turn at the apex. There is no need for this nasty trail damage at all. It's actually faster to keep both wheels on the ground and spinning around the turns. This does nothing but cause major erosion and stutter bumps.

 

[neveride]

Some examples

Several years ago, a couple of us were doing a ride and stopped for a break after climbing a long hill. Some hikers came along, and we got into a friendly chat about hiking versus biking, the good and bad points of each, etc. Now these hikers were not anti-bike, and us being pleasant and friend towards them probably made them see biking in a good way.

Where we were stopped was the top of a longish fire road climb, that turned into a singletrack, that if we continued would be a slight climb and the a fast rolling descent. So someone coming in the other direction would climb the singletrack and do a quick descent and then come the area we were standing, which was about 20 feet of flat and wide trail. We were all off to the side talkng when a helmet-less, shirtless rider (helmets, and some type of noisemaker, are required at this park) crests the singletrack, and comes blazing down the short descent, and proceeds to try and hit a large root as a jump, but instead wipes out spectacularly at our feet. He is immediately followed by two similarly clad friends, one who tries to bunny hop the fallen riders bike but just rides over it, and the other who does a massive power skid kicking up dirt all over his buddies and us. They then proceed to high five and curse it up (I've got nothing against cursing in the company of those I know, but a pet peeve of mine is strangers cursing around people they don't know--that's just rude). Talk about giving biking a bad image. To many non-bikers, there's pretty much no difference between those guys and me.

The other examples are at this same park. It gets relatively crowded on weekends, yet mountain biking is encouraged. The only rules the park has are helmets, noisemaker (like a bell or the like), one dismount area at the very beginning, and of course bikers yield to everyone else. I can't count how many times I've been hiking there and an otherwise friendly biker refuses to yield to me. I've actually been riding there, stopped to let hikers go by, only to have another bike come from the other direction and try and pass all of us. And at the dismount area, I've watch too many bikers speed around the barricade and ride through this flat, boring, 40 foot square section. There's no need for that at all. Its this kind of nonsense that gets places closed to riding.

 

[dsully575]

Unfortunately, the trails are no different than life in general: Sometimes you come across nice people, sometimes you come across a-holes. Always will be that way. The only thing you can control is which one are you going to be in the eyes of others.

 

[fred3]

I try and concentrate on the positive experiences and let nature take it's course with the turds that infest our small ball of O2. I already stress out about too many things I have no control over so why compound the problem with getting pissed all over again with bad memories. Must be a masochist. ;-)

 

[billybobzia]

To the OP i feel your pain as a fellow front ranger...i can't believe that people will not resond to a simple hello at times, but don't let it get to you...my philosophy is to kill em with kindness.....as far as not yielding to the uphill rider, now that pisses me off, sometimes it can be a legitamite lack of knowing whats going on around them or a blind corner is excusable, but otherwise i will speak up and let the rider know the rules of the trail (in a nice way usually)

 

[notrelatedtoted]

Unfortunately, the trails are no different than life in general: Sometimes you come across nice people, sometimes you come across a-holes. Always will be that way. The only thing you can control is which one are you going to be in the eyes of others.

Well said. While I get severely aggravated by sphicteresque behavior, it also aggravates me when people expect that this sort of thing will never happen or these people aren't all over the place. That's not to say you shouldn't be annoyed or upset or whatever. I'm just saying that it bugs me when people fail to accept this reality and start trying to change access, policy, etc. as a result. One bad apple SHOULD NOT spoil the barrel....

 

[Burpee]

My thing...

What kind of experiences have you all had that constitutes labeling someone and a$$%*!e?

OK, I know it's not right to differentiate between roadies and mtbers - we're all just people. I am a cyclist, not a roadie or mtber. I do training rides with the lbs on the road, and I do MTB rides with my friends.

Here's where it gets weird for me.

Training rides on the road tend to be competitve. People cranking up the tempo, blocking, passing, attacking, etc. MTB rides are more relaxed. Even when the heat is turned up on MTB rides (all the ones I do anyway), folks are much more laid back. If you're following someone, you don'r breath down their neck. If someone is on your wheel, you offer to let them pass. Whatever just be cool, right?

It when people bring that roadie training ride mentality into the woods that bugs me. We went out on MTBs one time and this guy came out treating the ride like a race. Trying to beat people to the hole-shot where the trail narrows. Breathing down peoples necks and berating them for not yielding. Banging bars with people. Just being a general assh0le. I guess I expect the competitiveness to come out one the road. I just don't expect that kind of behavior in the woods.

Never mind that road vs mtb stuff - that's not really fair. I guess the long and short of it is we all know an assh0le when we see one. This guy was one of them.

 

[@dam]

My only experience with an MTBing trail A$$hole was at Ceaser's Creek, Ohio. I was recovering fron an injury and this was my first time on the bike in a long time, so I was a bit rusty. This was also one of my first times riding in Ohio.

There was a gulley with a small stream crossing (really more of a cirque). 3 or 4 riders were lounging by the stream. I nodded and said "hey", and proceeded to climb the hill on the other side of the stream. This hill was doubletrack, but it was pretty steep, and I was weaving a little, as well as really huffing and puffing. About 15 seconds later, I weave left a little and I wear "WATCH IT- Share the trail you ****ing *******!" One of the riders at the creek must've scuried over to his bike the instant I passed and started hammering, because he was passing me, with no warning, only a few inches away even though the trail was plenty wide. I was SO pissed. How was I supposed to know somebody was passing when they didn't say anything and they were lounging by the creek 15 seconds before!? And to call ME the *******! I just didn't even know how to respond to the guy.

Other than that, I've never really had any negative experience with other riders. Maybe that is what happens when you live somewhere with far more riders than trail.

 

[xcdemon]

ooh, ooh, me too!

My peeve: judging me on the bike I'm riding, rather than the trail. I don't have tons of money, and I'd rather pay entry fees. Get over it.

 

[RidgeRunner]

The only problems I've had were fast riders coming down a hill that didn't appear to want to attempt to stop. Rather than cause a close encounter of the collision kind, I stopped my ascent, since I was barely moving anyway.

Otherwise, I have been most impressed by the courteousness of most of the riders I encounter.

 

[zon]

One thing that really bakes my biscuit is seeing dogon empty gel packs scattered all over the trail. There especially thick at the top of climbs where riders stop, take a break and sugar up for the next section. If you pack it in, pack it out for crying out loud!

 

[Jersey Devil]

If you've got one of those in your eye, you're probably riding too close!

 

[GirchyGirchy]

The only problems I've had were fast riders coming down a hill that didn't appear to want to attempt to stop. Rather than cause a close encounter of the collision kind, I stopped my ascent, since I was barely moving anyway.

Some guy did that with me once. He ended up losing it in the brush...it was pretty funny.

 

[azwxman]

Maybe I was the trail a$$%*!e this time

I was out for an unusual (for me) early morning ride in Tucson Mountain Park, enjoying the cool before the heat kicked in. The trail is winding, narrow singletrack with few places to pull over, but up comes this guy from behind, wanting to pass. I told him I'd pull over a little farther up the trail since there was nowhere for me to go. Not good enough -- I was slowing him down and he couldn't wait for a wide spot in the trail. I even tried going faster to get to the end of this narrow section and out of his way as quick as I could. He tried to pass once and couldn't -- the trail was too narrow.
Well, we finally got to the end of the single track and as he passed me, he said (and I remember it almost word for word, cause I've never had anyone act that way on the trail before or since) "Thanks for TOTALLY slowing me down. Suck my A S S."
This happened two years ago and I still wonder if I did the wrong thing or if I was the real jerk here -- or at least more than half of the jerkiness in the situation. I felt bad, but I didn't feel I had anywhere to go to get out of his way, so I don't know.
Funny thing is, since then, I go out of my way to be more polite to other trail users -- maybe trying to make up for my lost karma from that ride.

 

[imridingmybike]

I was out for an unusual (for me) early morning ride in Tucson Mountain Park, enjoying the cool before the heat kicked in. The trail is winding, narrow singletrack with few places to pull over, but up comes this guy from behind, wanting to pass. I told him I'd pull over a little farther up the trail since there was nowhere for me to go. Not good enough -- I was slowing him down and he couldn't wait for a wide spot in the trail. I even tried going faster to get to the end of this narrow section and out of his way as quick as I could. He tried to pass once and couldn't -- the trail was too narrow.
Well, we finally got to the end of the single track and as he passed me, he said (and I remember it almost word for word, cause I've never had anyone act that way on the trail before or since) "Thanks for TOTALLY slowing me down. Suck my A S S."
This happened two years ago and I still wonder if I did the wrong thing or if I was the real jerk here -- or at least more than half of the jerkiness in the situation. I felt bad, but I didn't feel I had anywhere to go to get out of his way, so I don't know.
Funny thing is, since then, I go out of my way to be more polite to other trail users -- maybe trying to make up for my lost karma from that ride.

F That guy!

Unless it's an actual race, there's no reason for that kinda behavior...

 

[too40sx]

i gotta say that the thing that pisses me off the most is riders that don't yield at all when someone else is on a climb. it happened to me the other day, i decided to be brave and take a huge climb and another rider, that saw me from afar since the hills a straight shot, just kept barreling down the hill at top speed and runs me off the trail.

as far as the not talking thing goes, i always try and say hi too. but sometimes i'm too winded to verbaly communicate, i still try and throw out a head-nod tho.

 

[rfields4013]

Hey everyone, I wanted to clarify that I don't believe someone to be an a$$ if they don't say hello. I know that sometimes it is all you can do to breathe when you are really winded, let alone speak. In my original post, the thing that I thought made the first guy an a$$ was that he actually hit me with his handlebar on a wide section of trail, and didn't say a word or act as though he was sorry.

I know that some people just won't speak for one reason or another. It is more the actions of others (not yielding is a huge one) that bugs me. Especially since I always make it a point to yield.

 

[rfields4013]

How long is TOO long?

I was out for an unusual (for me) early morning ride in Tucson Mountain Park, enjoying the cool before the heat kicked in. The trail is winding, narrow singletrack with few places to pull over, but up comes this guy from behind, wanting to pass. I told him I'd pull over a little farther up the trail since there was nowhere for me to go. Not good enough -- I was slowing him down and he couldn't wait for a wide spot in the trail. I even tried going faster to get to the end of this narrow section and out of his way as quick as I could. He tried to pass once and couldn't -- the trail was too narrow.
Well, we finally got to the end of the single track and as he passed me, he said (and I remember it almost word for word, cause I've never had anyone act that way on the trail before or since) "Thanks for TOTALLY slowing me down. Suck my A S S."
This happened two years ago and I still wonder if I did the wrong thing or if I was the real jerk here -- or at least more than half of the jerkiness in the situation. I felt bad, but I didn't feel I had anywhere to go to get out of his way, so I don't know.
Funny thing is, since then, I go out of my way to be more polite to other trail users -- maybe trying to make up for my lost karma from that ride.

I think that azwxman touched on a very good point. I don't see anything wrong with that if you don't hold someone up for an unreasonable amount of time, do any of you? What would you consider an unreasonable amount of time to wait for a wider section, or finally stopping and moving to the side? Do you think that the slower rider should have to come to a complete stop, interupting his/her ride, to let a faster rider pass every time?

I personally think that if you acknowledge the faster rider, a couple of minutes isn't going to kill them to wait for you to reach a wide spot, or to stop looking for one and just pull off. I have been on both sides of this situation before and never had a problem.

 

[Lumbee1]

I have never experienced any azzholes on the trails. I always yield except when I see hikers yielding to me first. I even yielded to a bunch of kids on the trails riding K-Mart bikes. I try to nod to others or at least say "Hi". The only drawback to this kindness is yielding on an uphill section usually results in severe difficulty getting the momentum back.