Conversations with joggers

markhewitt1978

I was riding along a bit of shared use path here: http://goo.gl/maps/PYwCQ in the direction indicated by the camera.

Ahead of me two female joggers, taking up the entire path. A little way out, I should "Excuse me", no surprise they didn't hear me then, most don't. So try again a few metres later "Excuse Me!", then "Excuse Me!", about 6 more times, until I'm right behind them, admittedly probably sounded exasperated with shouting by this point. One of them leaps to one side in shock, and I make my way past.

To which she shouts "YOU SHOULD BE ON THE ROAD!", normally I would just ride on but I thought I'd have a chat. "It's a cycle path", I said. "You're on the wrong side!", "No, you can use it both ways". "It's a pavement too!", "Yes; a shared use path".

Then "You need to get some manners!", at which point I decided there was no point in continuing the conversation and went on my way.

And now as these things mostly go there will be dozens of posts telling me how I was wrong

farrina

Probably did not hear you, was startled and responded defensively. Perhaps worth flick ing (for some reason the contiguous version of the preceding word is censored) brake levers once upon them or discrete cough. Beyond that would not give it a second thought.

As well as cycling I also run a bit and overtaking (unusual for me!) a husband/ wife couple running side by side early one morning I as usual said "good morning" as I passed to be rewarded by a scream from a startled wife.



Regards

Alan

Velonutter

Looks to me as though Cyclists should be on the road behind the white line and runners on the pavement

chrisaonabike

Velonutter wrote:

Looks to me as though Cyclists should be on the road behind the white line and runners on the pavement

Even in the direction shown? I'd be a bit surprised if I was in what looks like the cycle lane riding with the traffic, and met a cyclist coming towards me.

I realise it's only on one side of the road, I didn't know there were bidrectional cycle lanes!!

markhewitt1978

farrina wrote:

Probably did not hear you, was startled and responded defensively. Perhaps worth flick ing (for some reason the contiguous version of the preceding word is censored) brake levers once upon them or discrete cough. Beyond that would not give it a second thought.

Yep, flicking the brake levers is my usual trick. It's not the first time I'd have someone startled at my approach, about an hour earlier I'd surprised a lady walking in the middle of the road! It was just the aggressive response I wasn't expecting. This particular stretch of path is very popular with cyclists, it's extremely unlikely I was the first bike they'd encountered.

Edit: for some reason f l i c k i n g is starred out!

markhewitt1978

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Velonutter wrote:

Looks to me as though Cyclists should be on the road behind the white line and runners on the pavement

Even in the direction shown? I'd be a bit surprised if I was in what looks like the cycle lane riding with the traffic, and met a cyclist coming towards me.

I realise it's only on one side of the road, I didn't know there were bidrectional cycle lanes!!

It's definitely two way working. To illustrate see the markings here http://goo.gl/maps/xKoA2
And you're right, that's a bus lane, you wouldn't want to be riding against traffic here!

The opposite side of the road is a 70mph dual carriageway with no footpath. Some cyclists do ride there, I'm not quite that brave.

sungod

many people these days are extremely selfish, doesn't matter whether it's a road, cycle path, they are on it, it is theirs, no one else counts

the same type strew the country with litter, presumably because putting it in a bin or simply taking it home would be far too inconvenient for someone so important

pointless trying to reason, they will never accept they are at fault

only way to cure society of their blight is 9mm of high velocity retroactive birth control

peat

I have re-fitted the bell back onto my mountain bike recently.

I found that the shouts of "Hello"/"Good Morning"/"Excuse Me"/"Passing on your right" were never ever heard until i was right on them. A ping of a bell from a way back get's their attention and gives them time to react properly.

Who'd a thunk it?

hipshot

sungod wrote:

only way to cure society of their blight is 9mm of high velocity retroactive birth control

Wow, that escalated quickly.

cougie

They were probably just shocked. You're perfectly right - it is a shared path - I doubt they'd even noticed the sign.

I've never bothered with bells - a cheery greeting seems the best option. I never have any problem.

giant_man

perhaps you should have shouted at them, did they have headphones on?

deaf bitches lol

john1967

A good clear shout of bike with plenty of notice and a cheery thankyou will usually do the trick.

markhewitt1978

john1967 wrote:

A good clear shout of bike with plenty of notice and a cheery thankyou will usually do the trick.

Yes; usually it does. I do this all the time, usually it's "Good Morning!", and they quickly move. It's just that on this occasion they didn't hear me, and I think the fact I was on my 6th or 7th "Excuse me!" means I must have sounded quite abrupt I guess.

Mikey23

Joggers deep in conversation and those with earphones are an absolute pain when approaching from the rear...

me-109

Two jogglers, eh? Get any pics?

sungod

hipshot wrote:

sungod wrote:

only way to cure society of their blight is 9mm of high velocity retroactive birth control

Wow, that escalated quickly.

things like modern healthcare and the internet are enabling the dead-ends to survive and procreate, this is bad for humanity, in the absence of external evolutionary pressure the rest of us need to take firm action*

*may contain less than 100% of serious

redvee

There were a couple of polite 'excuse me' before I flicked the camera on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcEqFQoyWSw

dee4life2005

Clipless pedals also come in handy to try and get folks attention. Some folk on the shared use paths around where I live seem to deliberately ignore bells being dinged on bikes (i.e. they look round and continue as they were, blocking the path) ... but a well timed unclip/re-clip gets them everytime (works especially well with SPD-SL's with the tension dialled up).

Anonymous

You cannot win as a cyclist.

I ride a combination of road and cycle path (there is cycle path option all the way) on my 4 mile commute.
Cars want you on the path and pedestrians on the road.

The trouble with the path is that a lot of car drivers, pedestrians and even other cyclists do not know how to use it so its actually safer on the road.
I generally want to go faster than I could safely on the path anyway.

people who say 'you should be on the road' or 'get on the cycle path' are ignorant tw@ts that should not be allowed out into society.

A very 'clicky' freehub is good at making your presence known too

sloppyschleckonds

redvee wrote:

There were a couple of polite 'excuse me' before I flicked the camera on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcEqFQoyWSw

Oi!

I find it best not to engage in any conversations when out riding, its only going to end up one way....

overlord2

As a runner as well as a cyclist I find pedestrians the most arrogant ignorant ***holes.

9 times out of 10 an excuse me is deliberately ignored whats even worse is peds who see you coming taking up the whole pavement and expect YOU to move. The other 10% either say sorry or move the 90% are human bumholes - probably consistant with the rest of humanity these days.

Same cycling how many times do peds see a cyclist coming then just step out anyway - ^&%ing idiots :roll:

walney

Used to use this stretch quite regularly and it's an example of cycling infrastructure of the worst kind. Originally designed as a pavement it some how becomes multi use with a sign and some white paint.
Not critiscising you using it just the design! It goes straight through bus stops etc. I now just use the chester low road which runs paralell and enjoy cars passing me with a femtometre to spare.

Frank Wilson

A couple of weeks ago I was cycling a shared path (the Wirral readers on here will know it through the sheep to Deeside). There were four all the gear, no idea shiny new road bikes and their jockeys stood right across the path having a chat. Four or five shouts of excuse me as I was cruising up was met with total indifference and they stood their ground causing me to have to serve off the path onto the grass to get by them.

It goes without saying that expletives were used by myself to inform them of their ignorance and bad manners.