Ashton & Trail Ettiquette

Roastie

So, yesterday I had a lovely blast around the trails at Ashton court - the first time I've ridden there in ages.

Apart from one idiot who held me up while, I can only assume, trying to show me how well he could handle the technical bits, every single rider I came across politely and promptly let me by with a minimum of bother. Was I just lucky or have things improved at Ashton?

Chunkers1980

You're so fast.

chez_m356

impressive, were you riding this too ?

cooldad

Perhaps he just missed your aura of magnificence.

compo

Surely good ettiquette isnot to badger this chap and let him ride at his own pace. just drop bacl and wait if you want space to go faster.

Roastie

LOL guys.

Not so fast at all, in pretty poor shape. When the properly fast XC riders catch up with me, I try to get out of their way proto. That way everybody is happy.

p.s. I sometimes take my cross bike there, but not this time - seemed more sensible to be on my Kona Kula.

cooldad

I don't think you get it.

Roastie

Probably not it would seem.

bennett_346

To be fair it does annoy me when slow people won't pull over. Some people are just inconsiderate.

The Northern Monkey

It depends on the bit of trail though. If it was fairly open, with lots of suitable places to pass and pedally, then maybe.
But if it was a fun descent and the chap was going as fast as he could at his skill level, then I would say back off.

I caught up with a guy on the final descent at Cwmcarn today. Its relatively fast and steep and stopping can really lose your focus. Took me less than 10 seconds to figure out that he was either a) not a regular on the trail or a noob.
So I backed off and followed him down at a reasonable distance.

At the bottom he apologised and said what for... had a quick chat (found out he'd picked up MBT'ing after xmas) and off I went.

cooldad

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If there's space, fine, then you will find a place to overtake, but otherwise tough sh1t. Or ask nicely and see what can be arranged. But sit on my back wheel and I'll go out of my way to make sure you won'y get past.
I hate Audi drivers.

Northwind

You know what you can do if you're stuck behind someone? You can stop, and make a gap.

Stu Coops

The Northern Monkey wrote:

It depends on the bit of trail though. If it was fairly open, with lots of suitable places to pass and pedally, then maybe.
But if it was a fun descent and the chap was going as fast as he could at his skill level, then I would say back off.

I caught up with a guy on the final descent at Cwmcarn today. Its relatively fast and steep and stopping can really lose your focus. Took me less than 10 seconds to figure out that he was either a) not a regular on the trail or a noob.
So I backed off and followed him down at a reasonable distance.

At the bottom he apologised and said what for... had a quick chat (found out he'd picked up MBT'ing after xmas) and off I went.

This is exactly how it should be

Roastie

Perhaps I do have something to learn about trail etiquette then (although the incident described in the OP was just idiocy - the dude chose to get in my way.

That said, wilfully holding up other riders does seem unnecessarily bloody minded to me. While I don't advocate bully tactics of some, it really does not seem unreasonable for quicker riders to expect that slower riders will make some room to let them by when appropriate. The trail is there for all of us to enjoy, so we should share. Expecting faster riders to stop and wait for a gap is simply not reasonable. I'm not the fastest rider out there, but I find I'd need to do a lot of waiting for that to work!

Anyhow, I suspect we are debating a very minor issue. As in my original post, the vast majority of trail users are considerate to one another, it is just a small minority of stubborn trail hogs who seem intent on holding others up.

cooldad

Roastie wrote:

Perhaps I do have something to learn about trail etiquette then (although the incident described in the OP was just idiocy - the dude chose to get in my way.

it is just a small minority of stubborn trail hogs who seem intent on holding others up.

As we have gone full circle.

cooldad wrote:

Perhaps he just missed your aura of magnificence.

DodgeT

I regularly get held up around the lanes in cheshire due to groups of lycra clad types on strange narrow tyred bikes riding 3, 4 abreast.
Never felt the need to go over to the road section and start a thread to whinge about it.

rockmonkeysc

Most of the Ashton Court trails are narrow single track with no room for passing but all in short trail sections. You can't expect people to stom and move out of your way in the middle of a section, just wait patiently at a polite distance behind (not right on their back wheel).
Did you ask this person if you could pass at the next suitable spot? Or did you just sit there on their back wheel saying nothing?

jimothy78

As one of the slower riders, I'd always much rather get out of the way to let someone past, and will always pull over to allow this as soon as I reach a sensible place to do so. However, I've found that when traveling quickly I don't always hear people coming up behind me, so please don't assume that someone is deliberately or even knowingly holding you up.

Give a polite call to let them know you're there and then be patient while they find somewhere they feel comfortable to let you past.

Roastie

Just to clarify, my original post was not a whinge, but a comment that, apart from one person, the vast majority seemed to be far more considerate than I'd remembered.

FWIW:
Rockmonkey: The dude saw me coming up behind him, at the time a lot quicker than he was going. As soon as he saw me, he accelerated to make it impossible for me to pass him where there was room. Had he kept his pace, I could have passed him with no issue at all. This was annoying. But he is just one dude, and I have no idea what was going through his mind. And the "incident" was so inconsequential it really isn't worth talking about.

What really matters, as I said before, is that the vast majority of riders were the complete opposite, very considerate indeed. This was a pleasant surprise compared to my previous experiences.

I always try to be polite - annouce that I'd like to pass when it is OK and always say thanks. I don't get aggro with other dudes, and I've never had aggro back.

But I'm a little surprised by the anti-roadie prejudice on this forum. It makes me sad.

rockmonkeysc

Roastie wrote:

But I'm a little surprised by the anti-roadie prejudice on this forum. It makes me sad.

Lycra makes me sad

Chunkers1980

Big reason. This is an MTB forum, and road riding for sport/'pleasure' is homo.

andymc06

Lack of sunlight makes me S.A.D.

The Rookie

Roastie wrote:

But I'm a little surprised by the anti-roadie prejudice on this forum. It makes me sad.

There is no anti-roadie prejudice, we know they are all leg shaving closet homosexuals - it can't be a prejudice when it's known fact!

cooldad

The Beginner wrote:

Roastie wrote:

But I'm a little surprised by the anti-roadie prejudice on this forum. It makes me sad.

There is no anti-roadie prejudice, we know they are all leg shaving closet homosexuals - it can't be a prejudice when it's known fact!

Your statement is widely inaccurate. A large number have actually come out of the closet, and only return to take drugs in private.

fyldesmurf

everyone should be more like this 'gnarly dude' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9WXp_vf6Mw

harrybarfield

As soon as he saw me, he accelerated to make it impossible for me to pass him where there was room.

If he was going too fast for you to pass him how can he have been holding you up?

I am a mediocre rider and there are a lot of guys I am able to pass on the trails, but if they decide not to pull over I don't get wet about it. Sometimes I think it's good to have a better rider behind you as it helps you push yourself to your limits.

Only one way to get better and that it to ride harder!

Northwind

The thing people seem to forget is that if someone's going slow and erratically, it's because they've got their hands full riding the trail- they have less attention for what's behind them, they'll be less happy stopping and starting and they'll not neccesarily be in the best frame of mind either.

On the occasions I do get caught, I pull over (*), but it doesn't mean you can expect or demand it of everyone... But as the faster more skilled rider you always have the option to stop and create a gap.

(*- the exception being when bellends wait at the start/side of a trail then follow you as you pass- they can be stuck behind me all day. Though it's more fun to just leave them behind)

rockmonkeysc

This thread is confusing me now.
I'm quite fast on descents and through flowing berms, jumps & rollers but slow on climbs.
Should I let lycra clad racing snakes past me on the climbs and the re-pass them on the next descent? Or should I sit behind them on the fun bits so I don't hold them up on the climb? Or should I stay ahead of them on the climbs so I can blast the fun bits?
I just don't know what to do

bennett_346

Let them past on the climbs would be sensible. Unless you're one of these people who does 69.7mph in the fast lane of a motorway.

On a side note i think good trail and trail centre design should accomodate for these issues by having crawler lanes on climbs and passing points on the downs/section breaks.

craigw99

^^^ great idea for the climbs - im always last up the hill !

Chinley Churner

RockmonkeySC wrote:

This thread is confusing me now.
I'm quite fast on descents and through flowing berms, jumps & rollers but slow on climbs.
Should I let lycra clad racing snakes past me on the climbs and the re-pass them on the next descent? Or should I sit behind them on the fun bits so I don't hold them up on the climb? Or should I stay ahead of them on the climbs so I can blast the fun bits?
I just don't know what to do

work on your fitness and eat fewer pies?