So – there I was on Sunday monring, enjoying a cheeky local ride. Where I ride (in Harogate) the access is, at best, useless. There is the Beryl Burton Cycleway (a dedicated cyclepath) which, in order to get to the next bit of bridleway and the next dedicated cyclepath/dog toilet, means using a mile or so of footpath.
Normally I get absolutely no problems with walkers as I always slow down/stop and make sure I am very polite and friendly. On Sunday I was riding a quite narrow raised ‘northshore’ section and a couple were walking towards me. One person moved over and I slowed to almost a stop and we passed each other perfectly easily. As I approached the second person, he deliberately moved across at the last minute and pushed me off – with the inevitable ‘excuse’ that it is a footpath.
I shouted a really lame comeback but have been left feeling wound up about it since – I have tried (unsuccessfully) in the past to get the council/Woodland Trust to look at joining up this particular piece of access upgraded as it would be very simple to make a separate cycle path so we can all enjoy the area and I know I was in the wrong to be riding it, but it is almost impossble (without using more roads) to get a decent ride around my area without using the odd bit of footpath. I was just left feeling realy annoyed that someone could act like that – there really was no need, other than to satisfy himself that he taught a cyclist a ‘lesson’.