You only nearly knocked a 7-year old girl off her bike

Mike Healey

Scene: Penistone country Park, Haworth, West Yorkshire

Circumstances: BSCA U8 Regional MTB champs

Participants in scene: Three selfish, dangerous idiots and one 7 year old girl in bright yellow

I've been involved in running or helping to run the BSCA regional schools MTB champs at this venue since about 1995 and we've occasionally had complaints from walkers about the event, usually on the basis of the behaviour of mtb'ers at other times. We've even, on one occasion, had some petulant walker interfere with the course markers.

But we've never had anyone endangering the safety of any of the kids until yesterday. They were 3 black clad riders in their late teens/early 20s who ripped, at speed, straight across the path of a young girl racer, forcing her to swerve right off the course and nearly bringing her off. When her grandfather shouted at them (not swearing) he got a mouthful of abuse (obscenities) as they tore off down the track at a speed which was utterly contemptuous of the rights of other people enjoying the area.

I have no idea who you are, or who you think you are, but your behaviour was, potentially, criminally irresponsible, and, actually, selfish, and reckless. A passing walker said that this was typical of a small minority of regular riders which he sees on a frequent basis.

You are, bluntly, stupid, dangerous idiots, without the slightest concern or consideration for others and your indifference to the safety of a little girl was beyond belief. If we are ever banned from riding in that area, - and many walkers want that - it will be the irrresponsibility of morons like you which leads to it.

I've been coaching kids for 16 years and have never seen anyone behave like that round them and I would never, ever, had expected it to be fellow riders.

Anonymous

Are you saying they were not part of the race at all, and just ignorantly tore across the track? That's ignorant whether or not a 7 year old girl is involved. Bloody pillocks.

Tom Barton

ah - I miss mob justice.... Hope the little one hasnt been put off riding!

john74

i think this sh*t attitude is getting more common. i ride a lot during the week and find other mtbers on the trails polite but come the weekend you get all the weekend warriors who are are rude as f*ck and dangerous, its only got to take one of these idiots to kill a walker then we will all suffer, mtbing will die and we will be seen as thugs.

glad the little girl was ok

Mike Healey

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Are you saying they were not part of the race at all, and just ignorantly tore across the track? That's ignorant whether or not a 7 year old girl is involved. Bloody pillocks.

Sorry, thought it was clear. Not part of the race.

blablablacksheep

people tend to break the race limits all the time when i go running at races, i think people think they can carry on using the area even when a race is on, weather be running or bike.

Were there no marshals at event? useally they can stop people getting in the way...mainly dogs :roll:

Briggo

john74 wrote:

i think this sh*t attitude is getting more common. i ride a lot during the week and find other mtbers on the trails polite but come the weekend you get all the weekend warriors who are are rude as f*ck and dangerous, its only got to take one of these idiots to kill a walker then we will all suffer, mtbing will die and we will be seen as thugs.

glad the little girl was ok

Slight exageration, I doubt very much mountain biking will become banned due to one tragic event, people get run over in the streets all the time by cyclists (and killed on the odd occasion) don't see cyclists being banned from the roads/paths do you. :roll:

Not to say thats ok for the eejits to carry on as they are.

Mike Healey

blablablacksheep wrote:

people tend to break the race limits all the time when i go running at races, i think people think they can carry on using the area even when a race is on, weather be running or bike.

Were there no marshals at event? useally they can stop people getting in the way...mainly dogs :roll:

It's an area criss-crossed by many paths and impossible to marshall at all of those points. I can't remember one of the races when there haven't been other mtbers about. However, at no time since my first time as an assistant at this event has any rider put any child at risk or behaved anything other than considerately.

We will be looking at how we run it in the future in the light of the incident and see how we can prevent a repetiton of any such occurrence.

cooldad

Marshalls with shotguns.

cooldad

@john74, please repost that in crudcatcher. As a weekend warrior (some of us actually work for a living) I'd like to tell you what I think of your worthless, ill informed opinion. Moron.

john74

why do you assume i dont work? which i do by the way.

with a post like that, you really need to ask yourself who is the real moron here. :roll:

cooldad

john74 wrote:

why do you assume i dont work? which i do by the way.

with a post like that, you really need to ask yourself who is the real moron here. :roll:

You are a moron because you wrote this:

john74 wrote:

i think this sh*t attitude is getting more common. i ride a lot during the week and find other mtbers on the trails polite but come the weekend you get all the weekend warriors who are are rude as f*ck and dangerous, its only got to take one of these idiots to kill a walker then we will all suffer, mtbing will die and we will be seen as thugs.

glad the little girl was ok

I would say a fair proportion of people here ride on weekends only, you appear to be calling them all dangerous idiots and rude as f*ck with a sh1t attitude.

As I said moron. In fact an arrogant moron.

john74

LOL your funny.

cooldad

john74 wrote:

LOL you're funny.

FTFY
If you are going to try and be a smartarse at least learn to spell. So i can now add illiterate to moron.

scarbs85

Cooldad has a point. When you ride has no impact on how you ride. Mtb'ing at the weekends is the only option for many, and your statement was pretty sweeping. Not everyone who rides at the weekend is dangerous, just as not everyone who rides midweek is safe :roll:

starkee

I ride midweek, as well as riding at weekends.... and i work so god knows where i stand ? :?
Only one way to find out.......FIGHT !!!

On a serious note to the OP there are numpties in all walks of life,( and hobbies you might pursue ) just a shame these had to pop up when the rider concerned is of a young age. Hope it don't put her off ?

BlueAdvocate

john74 wrote:

i think this sh*t attitude is getting more common. i ride a lot during the week and find other mtbers on the trails polite but come the weekend you get all the weekend warriors who are are rude as f*ck and dangerous.

can we meet at the weekend please ..... c@ck

Anonymous

I ride on weekends and weekdays, and I'm an utter asshole. So there.

Anonymous

It doesn't sound like these are weekend warriors. Sounds more like dirt jump / DH kids. Similar experience with the kids at Swinley who hurl obscenities as people and have no regard for anyone but themselves. They're not weekend warriors, they're dickhead kids.

But regardless, whilst there are jerks on bikes in any form, you can't brand all weekend warriors as idiots just because they ride at the weekend (a time a lot of us have the only opportunity to ride).

Yes, I'm a weekend warrior. Most people I ride with are the same. They are thoroughly decent people and almost everyone we meet are the most polite people about (unlike some of the walkers!).

Briggo wrote:

Slight exageration, I doubt very much mountain biking will become banned due to one tragic event, people get run over in the streets all the time by cyclists (and killed on the odd occasion) don't see cyclists being banned from the roads/paths do you. :roll:

Never underestimate the power of the walker / local upstanding retired citizen with a lot of influence.

Roads and paths are one thing (and yes you do see cyclists banned from them under local bylaws if those with power with anti-cycling agendas have their say. Just happened in the centre of Woking in fact, despite zero evidence of any risk). However out in the country, the walker is king. Cyclists are the spawn of the devil, and it's the walkers who are likely to be attending council and parish meetings.

cooldad

I am one of the thoroughly decent people who ride with DK and can verify that he is a thoroughly decent person too.
I won't mention his penchant for mass murder, tattooing small animals, and aversion to bathing.

Thinking about it he is the spawn of the devil.

Anonymous

cooldad wrote:

I am one of the thoroughly decent people who ride with DK and can verify that he is a thoroughly decent person too.

Is that in a similar way to how truly insane people claim they're not insane?

Anonymous

cooldad wrote:

I am one of the thoroughly decent people who ride with DK and can verify that he is a thoroughly decent person too.
I won't mention his penchant for mass murder, tattooing small animals, and aversion to bathing.

Thinking about it he is the spawn of the devil.

And we haven't got onto Popstar yet!

cooldad

@Yeehaa - it's like a mantra. Repeat it enough times....
@DK - even satan wouldn't understand Popstars ramblings. I blame the diesel fumes.

Phillw454

Does just sound like a bunch of stuck up kids who are sad because *their* hill is being used by young riders. If they were real bikers they would stand to the side cheering them on. Best thing to do is just to stand there and laugh at the idiots.

Hope the younger riders were ok and didn't take it to heart. If I had a kid and some clown rider cut them up like that they'd soon find their bike being dropped on them by me

lasty

As an ex-enduro racer/organiser (motocycles doncha know..) i know exactly where you`re coming from ...
There are dicks in every walk of life but seems the `weekend warrior` mentality is crossing the divide . Weeks before the event we`d spend days marking out the course (30 - 40 mile laps :shock: ) and always heard got the usual tossers screaming around on `crossers - never got the intelligence / ability to enter an event and see how good they really are ....
Dalby was a particular problem but one of our crew , ( top expert rider .. ) took great pleasure in chasing them into a crash and giving them a short `lecture` in the error of their ways
Seems that things are getting worse in the mountain bike world as well - `i`ll ride where i like` morons have no concept of organised events or wish to enter such . I know of at least 2 clubs who liase with a local enduro club who are more than willing to provide responsible travelling marshalls , they get a day bimbling around on quiet trail bikes and the organisers get to cover more ground .....
In the OP`s case this MAY have resulted in the idiots being lectured ....

Maybe this is the way forward ??

hope there were no tears and she got back on ...

Anonymous

This attitude against weekend warriors smacks of elitism to me, not liking the fact that people other than those who belong to clubs, enter races, and have ridden there for years, are on "their" land.

And again, doesn't sound like the original poster's problem kids. Where does it say they are weekend warriors?

Weekend warriors is such a wide definition anyway. You can't just blame the whole lot. Many of them do enter such events, and have kids. They would probably be the ones standing cheering their kid in an event such as this. Are they dicks just because they also go riding at the weekend without the family? No.

Are the weekend warriors all unskilled and uncaring morons? No.

But anyway, as for non-event riders on the route during big distance events, do you have exclusive access to the route, is it marked, signs up, taped off, marshalls, etc? If not then you can hardly be surprised if people are riding the route, and if it's not exclusive access then you have to share.

What bugs me sometimes is the clubs who just declare they are doing an event in a particular place with little announcement outside of their club and in some cases no permission sought. This is a problem occurring with more frequency around Hurtwood where they just turn up on mass, clogging up the place, and run an event when they are supposed to get permission. Then they wonder why there's conflict with all the other people using the woods at that time. Not just riders, but runners also. If it's properly arranged it can be advertised, planned and routes marked to avoid these situations.

Doesn't excuse the minority of jerks who do go crashing by some little kids, but still not a reason to brand weekend warriors as jerks.

Eyon

I'm a proud weekend warrior, I simply cannot get to any decent riding locations after work unless I crack out the night lights, then I am too lazy for that. I therefore ride on the weekend and like to believe im not too great an arsehole, so i tend to disagree with this anti-weekend-warrior ethos. I also went to Cannock this weekend for the first time properly, out of my depth for most of the monkey and spent the day being shit scared, but everyone was kind, chatting away giving me advice. Actually, only one heroic man didnt say hello as he passed as he heaved his old-skool looking downhill bike up the climbs, but I'd put this down to lack of breath climbing the thing rather than rudeness.

What bikes were these scrotes riding? At a guess, were they tracksuits riding argos bikes? This wouldn't surprise me. Unfortunately I lie in the "late teens early twenties" bracket, but I can confirm we aren't all inconsiderate pricks.

Mrs Toast

Were there no marshals at event? useally they can stop people getting in the way...mainly dogs Rolling Eyes

You'd hope so, but it's not always so. I helped marshal the Midlands XC at Cannock Chase a few weeks ago, and I was on a point where there was a diversion for Follow the Dog. Most people were great when you said there was a diversion and cheerfully followed it, but there was one tosser who refused to stop (or even slow), rode around me and snorted, "I know what I'm doing" and went straight across the race track - just as the racers were approaching. Fortunately there were no collisions, but I think the aforementioned tosser might have actually been completely oblivious to what was going on around him.

5xcr

cooldad

I work as you put it,12 hours a day(without a break) 5 days a week, on saturdays and sundays too .

so i and many others ride on weekends too , but my weekend(no such thing) is monday tuesday.

I have ridden on sat and sun and do find these riders to be mostly decent human beings, but there are nasty riders as well ( like those that call you a moron).

john 74 keep LOL because you are not a moron.

cooldad you seem to have an opinion about everything and like to insult people and claim to be smart , but smart people do not insult others and like me keep there opinions to themselves.

sorry about the grammer , i am rubbish with computors but great with gt i-drive fives.

supafly1982

a bit of manners goes a long way.

cee

back on topic....

part of the issue is that although the course for these events are marked out, they are by no means closed to the rest of the public, unless they are on private land, reserved for the event on that date. They are generally held in places where we are allowed to ride, e.g. public use rights of way.

Unfortunately, we rely on the good grace and manners of the rest of the public, which in this instance, was sadly lacking.

Bad scene....