Some very funny comments on here from the anti-mountainbike brigade. Sense prevails in then end though…
http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/forum/2014/019.html

The bloke has a valid point.

And good work Grum!

This bloke?

Many a time I have been walking my dog on well used paths and bridleways and these so called ‘bikers’ have literally ridden past me dinging their bells and sent my poor dog mad. One time my dog was mid ‘business’ on the footpath and the ‘biker’ distressed him so much he was still shaking when I got home.

I’ve even had ‘bikers’ telling my to pick up my dogs poo, but what business is it of theirs? They say it sticks to their wheels and flys up in their faces, but they should look where their going. I can leave my poo out in the country if I want.
😀

I think THAT bloke may be trolling.
Good isn’t he?

I’ve read the first 20 or so posts and no one has disagreed with the OP, contributed a “rolls eyes” smiley or said anything about the tories.

What kind of sick forum is this?

I did find myself applauding Peter and his dog poo trolling tactics. Excellent work.

LOL at the dude with the lamp and the shotgun. Reciprocal fear!

Their OP was only reminding us of what most us know anyway:

Don’t bugger up wet trails and don’t be a dick on well used footpaths.
Not rocket science is it?

Locals are benefitting from visiting bikers, but we need people like that CROW rep on our side.

If Hebbers turns into the new Ladybower, with 70% of people doing the same loop around the most well used (by locals as well as visitors) trails every weekend we’re all going to have friction.

Turn the whole valley into a bike park, it’s the only sensible option.

Turn the whole valley into a bike park, it’s the only sensible option

I agree to this however we would need pubs to be part of the downhill section.

I read that a month or two back. Makes for interesting reading…

Personally, I ride Hebden a lot and if I’m riding footpaths (which I do regularly on every ride) then its a case of doing the ‘right’ ones which aren’t going to cause friction with walkers etc. Stuff thats a bit away from the centre or the obviously popular stuff. And if I am doing the popular stuff then I’ll generally wait until an evening to do it. In 10 years of riding there I’ve been very politely told that I was riding on a footpath.

There aren’t going to be any RoW changes like Scotlands free access down here anytime (soon) so we may as well try and be sensible until then. Unfortunately, you’re doing to get moronic bikers, much the same as the moronic walkers on http://www.hebdennimbys.co.uk.

Thats where I was pushed and shoved by a ‘local’. He was walking two dogs. I respectfully slowed and stopped and waited. Because of this maybe he thought I was ‘weak’ (worthwhile venting against?). This is when he told me about the ’17’ night riders up there in the evenings with their lights etc coming down.

He was shoving and pushing me backwards (bit of a drop behind me). I asked him to stop.

He then told me he was a local/lived at the bottom. Transpires he isn’t a local, he’d moved there (from London) and I pointed that I was born/grew up alot closer than he did but it was a mute point (as he’d been shouting he was a local earlier at me).

Anyway, it was 9.30am on a Sunday am.

Does anybody have more details about the Council of Countryside Knowledge?

You’re going to get knobbers wherever you go and there may be times when it’s easy to be perceived as a knobber yourself however considerate you might be. That’s the reality of it, unfortunately but we’re all out to enjoy the countryside and a smile and cheery wave tend to defuse most situations.

I live in rural Kent, the routes here aren’t teeming with cyclists and or walkers but occasionally you’ll meet some idiot on a bridleway who objects to your presence. One lady in her late fifties actually drove her Vauxhall Corsa onto a bridleway to jump out and remonstrate with me about where I might decide to ride my bike, just in case I ventured off the legal route.

Last weekend there was a group hike along a bridleway route so I went out of my way to call out warnings to walkers that I was passing through (“Hello there! Am passing by on your left…no, the OTHER left”). Everyone was great, there were smiles and greetings all round. However, a mile further on I called out to two walkers on a public road, letting them know that I was passing by. They weren’t at all pleased to have to give way to a bloke on a bike and told me so. The arrogance was staggering…I remembered the old adage about arguing with idiots, shrugged my shoulders and left them to it, they were obviously walking away from everyone else for a reason.

Not just on HebWeb, this is from the letters page of the HB Times…

http://www.hebdenbridgetimes.co.uk/news/letters/keep-mountain-bikers-off-our-footpaths-1-6558134

There’s mass of inaccuracies in there, but…

This has resulted (especially after the 2012 cloudbursts) in some very badly damaged footpaths around Hebden Bridge.

I was there in the August 2012 ‘cloud burst’ as we camped on the tops that weekend. Chipps birthday present was a knee deep torrent.

Is this writer saying it wasn’t the fault of that mass of water that utterly changed Chipps in one fell swoop?

Thanks Rusty – not sure it was worthwhile but I thought I’d have a go. Tempted to reply to that letter too…

I did hear there was a group of around 40 mountain bikers setting off for a ride in Hebden recently – a local biker asked them what route they were doing and they were pretty rude in response. If you get big groups like that being arseholes and riding the sensitive paths you can see why people are going to get annoyed.

Most locals know what trails are in good condition and won’t get too damaged.

I tend to avoid the busier bits at weekends and I’m self-employed so can nip out when it’s quiet fairly often. I walk round here at least as much as I bike and I’ve never had a problem either way – most people are fairly cheery and friendly when out and about as long as you are too.

That letter is ridiculous. She got angry because someone thought about riding a footpath but didn’t, and then ‘This is an unsurfaced path through deciduous woodland – and I hardly need to tell you what kind of damage was being done’.

What damage was being done? A narrow path through the woods to go along with the other dozens of narrow paths through the woods made by/for walkers?

Its pointless. Certain walkers will complain about anything as they have the ‘its my land’ mentality. Like the Peaks, over the course of a year thousands of people will have walked each metre of track but they are too short-sighted in life to see that. Shoes that have grip, slip, slide and I doubt each walker avoids a track when its damp..

Hence why I never rise or bite if a walker on a trail has a go. I smile. Rare – like I said above, I’ve been physically pushed and shoved and not reacted. The fella wanted me to slap him. That’d make him a martyr for him to get the authorities and Police to be allover that trail and get rid of the riders for good.

Thank **** Im a relaxed guy.

Does anybody have more details about the Council of Countryside Knowledge?

Googled them but not to any great length, no hard data around, maybe they are a little soft on getting an internet image, perhaps if they tried to penetrate social media they would swell public opinion.

It was masterful trolling by the dog shit guy – certainly got me!

Can I just add I don’t believe in the word ‘local’.

If a rider or person says they are local as if to imply they have more rights I’d say you are wrong.

We are in England, its everyones path or trail. Just because someone rents a house 500m’s away doesn’t mean they also rent a 1/2mile radius around their house. Same with someone who has a mortgage. LLoyds bank, your provider didn’t also include acres of land in the deeds/mortgage did they.

So if a rider or person on foot says ‘dont ride here/its my trails/im a local you know’ I’d ask you too have a long hard at yourself then walk/ride away.

As the same near where I live. Weird when you go into a pub where people see it as their territory. You’ve drank there for 10yrs inside a business not owned by you. you exchange a paragraph of conversation with an employee there say twice a week yet its ‘your place’?

Nothing as queer as folk.

Mid rant a dog walker once blurted out to me that his dog was able to poo on command – I could never work out if this was a threat or a boast 😀

Can I just add I don’t believe in the word ‘local’.

If a rider or person says they are local as if to imply they have more rights I’d say you are wrong.

It’s not really about that though hora – I can see why it might come across like that.

The issue is that there are people who might only come here every couple of months and don’t really care about messing up the trails and pissing off walkers/residents etc because they don’t see the fallout from it.

Can I just add I don’t believe in the word ‘local’.

If a rider or person says they are local as if to imply they have more rights I’d say you are wrong. unless you are riding a 29er obviously

What a disappointing thread.

No CAPS LOCK, no one banned, not a single flounce. One slightly amusing dog poo troll… I mean it looks like everyone is nearly agreeing at the end.

:rolls eyes:

Googled them but not to any great length, no hard data around, maybe they are a little soft on getting an internet image, perhaps if they tried to penetrate social media they would swell public opinion.
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You have to turn off safe search to get an internet image

DONK a 29’er rider wouldn’t even need to go on such trails. Just riding the Hebden bridge canal paths brings the trail alive to excite.

My absolute favorite incident happened to me a few years ago, when I was happily trundling along a canal towpath.

I had to jam on the brakes suddenly, because some daft bint threw a stick for her dog and it came charging out of a hedge straight for my front wheel.

“I nearly hit your dog, you should be more careful” said I

She replied with an epic “This is NOT a cycle path!”

I just pointed to the sign six feet away that advertised otherwise, looked at the bloke she had in tow, shrugged and said “You poor sod, mate” before merrily heading off on my way.

Never argue with idiots.

Footpath + biker = walker angst.

At the end of the day, bikers shouldn’t ride on footpaths. BUT… with a look at the laws and legislation around riding on footpaths, bikers have seen a kind of loophole based on the fact that they can only be asked to leave officially by the landowner. With the chances in most places of bumping into the landowner being slim, bikers see this as being the opportunity to ride where they want, when they want.

This is exaggerated in Hebden because we’re constantly being reminded how good Hebden’s cheeky tech footpaths are to ride. And so it becomes a honeypot – further exaggerated by the fact that a great many of these footpaths (which are ace to ride) are within spitting distance of the town centre and the walkers that walk from there.

Going back to my comment above, thinking about Hebden inparticular, if you’re going to ride some of the trails nearer the town, its maybe best to do them on an evening or midweek. We took a picnic up to the bridge at the start of Mmmbop on BH Monday and there was a constant flow of people walking up and down the valley. You’re asking for trouble if you ride footpaths when its like that. I rode it one night the week before and it was deserted and as such, brilliant.

Hora – since you said about that nutter confronting you on the bottom of midgets pit, I don’t think I’ve ridden it! Come down Beechnuts a few times and then the little bit on the wall next to the school which drops onto the road but never the bit under Heptonstall. Last time I did ride it there were rock ‘walls’ all the way down it.

Oh, and remember everyone, walkers in Calderdale don’t cause erosion:

I should add, my comment above isn’t anti riding on footpaths. I love riding footpaths but until the law changes and Englanders are given right to roam, I’ll continue to be sensible about it.

DaveyBoyWonder someone had placed a rock in the middle which meant podge (from here) went over it and immediately hit his head square on to the low thick branch across the trail. That huge rock was skillfully placed…

I only ride Hebden early am. People walking there are more at risk of me mithering their dog and boring them with conversation…..I’m known for stopping and chatting..

Finally as with Peaks cheeky, its not illegal. You are more at risk of the berks on motorbikes who ride up and down Snake pass holding the wrong gear.

People walking there are more at risk of me mithering their dog and boring them with conversation…..I’m known for stopping and chatting..

Post that on the OP’s link. Word with spread around the Hebden NIMBYs and we’ll have trails free from them forever more, fearful of being stopped and engaged in conversation by Hora!

That Peter P troll guy is genius!

Oh, and remember everyone, walkers in Calderdale don’t cause erosion:

To be fair, that’s a packhorse trail…

Bikes have no rights to be on footpaths is the oft quoted part of the access laws you poor lot have to suffer from. It doesn’t specifically say that you don’t have the right to be there though, and as pointed out, you only commit and offence (which is reasonably unenforceable) if the landowner has made it clear that bikes aren’t welcome.

Carry on riding footpaths, carry on being overly nice to walkers, don’t ride really wet muddy trails. Sounds grand to me 🙂

To be fair, that’s a packhorse trail…

Ssssssh Dave. You’re helping ‘their’ cause 😉

I think the Internet exaggerates this a bit. In the 15 yrs or so I’ve been routinely riding my local spot ( the Chilterns) I’ve had maybe 2-3 confrontations with other users ( walkers or horse riders) and both of those were laughably daft. the reality of my experience is that:

A) the vast majority of folk couldn’t give a rat’s arse where you ride
B) the vast majority don’t know about access rights and where you can or can’t ride
C) time it right, and you’ll have the entire place to yourself anyway

what happens near me [ Rammy ] is that you can be out on the trails most of the year, see seasoned walkers, horseriders etc and the vast majority of folk are fine and friendly, get a lick of sunshine and the trails are full of people getting argey bargey and territorial, ride about 3 miles from the town and you’ve left them behind .it always sees to be ones who are within spitting distance of the car parks and they are the bothersome ones.