[Closed] Bogtrotters ride the Ben on a bank holiday!

.....nor a person who thinks traffic signals and national speed limits are a matter for personal interpretation

isn't that everybody ?

WTF were those idiots thinking???!!!!

Evening all, I've missed all this, quick summary? I saw a bit of a boring video of folk riding down a path, then someone offered crisps (salt and vinegar please), then the argulympians descended (faster than the stars of aforementioned vid, I might add) and I switched off.

Who's winning?

simonfbarnes - Member
.....nor a person who thinks traffic signals and national speed limits are a matter for personal interpretation

isn't that everybody ?

Well I think you either follow all rules/codes to the letter or take them all as "guidlines" it's a matter for your own philosophy/morality.
I just find it somewhat hypocritical to quote some codes of conduct as :the law: whilst treating others as flexible

well, I have to say that I'm far more disapproving of people drinking and driving after the ride than any infracted rights of way...

well, I have to say that I'm far more disapproving of people drinking and driving after the ride than any infracted rights of way..

I bet you don't object too much when you get discounted travel for you and your bike.

he doesn't own a car so that's all ok.

Duggie Style - Member

There are quite a few people on this thread that seem to be hard of understanding.

Worth quoting.

looks like BMW dash at start of film....

no need to watch further....

decision taken...

Land issues aside, that trail looked insanely crap.

That steep steppy narrow stuff with large penalties for failure is too difficult for me. Thought they rode it very well.

Tomhoward argualympians should be marked ©CaptainFlasheart when in use.

Beer with hose crisps? I have homebrew Wherry if you're interested.

Cheers sandwich, but I'm just polishing off the last of a box of wyld wood cider, be rude to mix drinks. I'll come knocking next time the 'lympics are on 🙂

All seems to have gone quiet now though.

Here we go, its wrong , its right, my view is correct, yours is wrong blah blah blah.
Did they behave sensibly....yes
Were they in control........yes
Did they hammer it down"forcing walkers off the track".......no
Was it a bright idea.......probably not
Did they break any laws........no

Looks like a good run on a quiet day, the sheer amount of other users would put me off straight away, but did they know at the time how busy it would get as they must have started out pretty early.

So before you rush off condemning people for not fitting with your idea's of whats wrong and right, sit back , wind your neck in and have a little think.
God bless you all.

Here we go, its wrong , its right, my view is correct, yours is wrong blah blah blah.
Did they behave sensibly....yes
Were they in control........yes
Did they hammer it down"forcing walkers off the track".......no
Was it a bright idea.......probably not
Did they break any laws........no

So before you rush off condemning people for not fitting with your idea's of whats wrong and right, sit back , wind your neck in* and have a little think.

* Given as advice to someone you you'd like to sit down and shut up, whilst also pointing out that they are wrong.

The vehicle with the mass and the speed and the greater capability of causing an accident is expected to be able to control itself

If we're doing access - [url= http://www.hodology.com/resources/Notes_Materials_Law_Byways.pdf ]some reading[/url] on rights of way and cycling. Mostly from law as it applies to England and Wales. Has this one beaten the aftermath of the bogtrotters ride Stanage thread yet?

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY pages ??? You can read it, I'm not 🙁

[i]I'm more worried about the "myself and Alex" subtitle, me. [/i]
Why worried? It serves an important purpose - identifies the author as a numpty straight away.

[i]Which is why we all give way to horses, isn't it?[/i]
yes.

[i]Here we go, its wrong , its right, my view is correct, yours is wrong blah blah blah.
Did they behave sensibly....yes
Were they in control........yes
Did they hammer it down"forcing walkers off the track".......no
Was it a bright idea.......probably not
Did they break any laws........no

Looks like a good run on a quiet day, the sheer amount of other users would put me off straight away, but did they know at the time how busy it would get as they must have started out pretty early.

So before you rush off condemning people for not fitting with your idea's of whats wrong and right, sit back , wind your neck in and have a little think.
God bless you all. [/i]
Why carry on after the first line? The rest of your post was precisely that.

It is neither reasonable nor resposible to continue this thread, nothing new is going to be introduced and it is simply becoming a bit of bickering.
We should be spared anymore of this...

evilsea +1 more or less what I was thinking
Rode with one of the guys in the film on sunday never having met him before - seemed like a decent bloke to me
only error they made was under estimating how busy it was going to be
and even then started early to try to avoid the hoards
wish a few more riders were as polite as the guy filming G

Didn't Singletrack do I ride guide in te cairngorns not so long ago, I thought that was a Area of outstanding natural beauty? Bit hypocritical don't you think

simonfbarnes - Member

[i].....nor a person who thinks traffic signals and national speed limits are a matter for personal interpretation
[/i]
isn't that everybody ?

[i].....nor a person who thinks traffic signals and national speed limits are a matter for personal interpretation

isn't that everybody ?[/i]

well, it's not me, for a start. It could be everybody else, but I reckon it's a bit of a sweeping generalisation.

Those queues of climbers on everest are insane

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

that reminds me of something...

[img] [/img]

Did they behave sensibly....yes
Were they in control........yes
Did they hammer it down"forcing walkers off the track".......no
Was it a bright idea.......probably not
Did they break any laws........no

To be honest, I'm with evilsea on this. There were a few slightly dodgy looking passes but when you're passing that number of people, you're almost certain to have a couple of near misses regardless of "rights of way" and the law and possibly not even your fault - it may be that a walker moves one way then back again, I'm sure we've all had incidents like that.

Naive to ride it on a B/H but even so at least all the walkers were on their way up so could see the riders coming down. Some of the comments on the video are a bit daft (eg "if he hadn't of moved I'd have killed him instantly"), even if they are intended to be ironic. Other than that, the whole nearly 400 posts on here seems mostly to be a storm in a teacup, a lot of people getting het up because it's the Bogtrotters.

STW = [b]S[/b]torm in a [b]T[/b]eacup [b]W[/b]orld.

What's new.

a [s]lot[/s] couple of people getting het up because [s]it's the Bogtrotters[/s] they hit big

😆

Personally I think it is highly irresponsible of all these walkers to head up the Ben on a Bank Holiday when they know it is going to be busy. Bloody idiots, didn't they realise there could be bikers coming down the path and if they ascended in numbers then there are all sorts of potential accidents waiting to happen. Should I add the smilie or not?

[img] [/img]

Still, it's nice to have SFB back, whether you like him or not.
I think we need to consider all views in the access debate, even the extreme ones.

Personally I think it is highly irresponsible of all these walkers to head up the Ben on a Bank Holiday when they know it is going to be busy

Climbing the ben on a bank holiday looks about as much fun as root canal surgery 😕

Sauchiehall Street is quieter than that.

STW = the Statler and Waldorf of the MTB world :o)
Ironic considering that I'm older than nearly all of you!

however, I'm not back, I just jumped in when Crazy Legs told me some Bog Trotters were being slagged off 🙂

Anyone care to count the walkers in the video to see how many were almost killed to death or passed..?

Maybe there should be a walker per path metre index ratio including gearing and leverage to show go or no go optimum inconvenience interface sustainability coefficient, obviously subject to certain path declination statistical parameters..

Or something...

*just been reading about mgmt consultants on the Claire Smiff and Paxo thread... slipped into Consultantbollox...

This thread is ridiculous. As is the fact that the vid was put in midweek movies. The biggest mistake those riders made was to video it and upload it to the Internet, where people such as STWers can rip them apart.

I haven't bothered reading the whole thread as I have other, more important things to do. I go out and ride my bike. I want to ride Ben Nevis. It sounds like a challenge, and the scenery looks breathtaking! However, I'm not sure when I would have an opportunity to ride it because I don't have the luxury of time or money to go whenever I feel like it. So maybe it would have to be one weekend or bank holiday. And yeah there might be walkers, but I'd be sensible and courteous, like the riders seemed to be in the majority of the vid. Unless of course, the people on this thread could give me the money I need to go on a quieter day that fits in with their acceptable schedule (but why should you?).

It's a nice day. Go out and get on your bike

i agree with mr barnes whole heartedly

pot kettle & black springs to mind stw towers are you listening

i live in hebden & next time i see you riding trails you know you shouldnt be ill remmember to video it & post it on here -you know who you are i see you often enough riding where you shouldnt be .

friggin double standards

tyred biker =could not agree more 🙂

The biggest mistake those riders made was to video it and upload it to the Internet, where people such as STWers can rip them apart.

no, I think it aptly demonstrates why it's a bad idea to ride the Ben on a BH but that well intentioned riders can still share a trail with throngs of walkers reasonably harmoniously. Also that STW is infested with grumpy gits which is why I abandoned it. The riders seem quite unscathed by the fullsome criticism 🙂

Big Bud, you are misrepresenting our stance. The bog Trotters rode perfectly legally but they chose an inappropriate time to do it. Plus the way they, at times, passed walkers was not, in our opinion, done in a way that is conducive to promoting the shared use of all paths by all trail users, be they walkers, horse riders or cyclists.

For the record, we (Singletrack) support the use of all suitable trails, paths and tracks by all user groups on the basis of respect for the trail and other trail users at all times - That puts our stance in conflict with the legal framework on many occasions but we think the access laws in England are outdated and need to be changed.

We fully accept that this standpoint will not be to everyone's liking but then here we are debating it and allowing all opinions to be aired - this one is ours.

you're almost certain to have a couple of near misses regardless of "rights of way" and the law and possibly not even your fault - it may be that a walker moves one way then back again, I'm sure we've all had incidents like that.

Imagine driving your car and you come across a pedestrian in the road [ ie you have to give way to them] - DRIVER: yes I saw the pedsestrian but I did not stop or give way instead i went to drive round them and they dodged my car by running the way I was going so its their fault really.
Whilst I understand your argument what it requires is for you to ignore the rules of who has to give way. That law is there to make it safer for everyone as we know who has to stop and give way[ if less fun for us on the downhill]
If we all took this attitude we could have walkers blocking our path and just kicking us of our bikes as we pass...sfb thinks its fine for them to decisde what is reasonable as after all the law could not be enforced [ In all honesty I think he wants to ignore it when it favours him and for others to repect it when it favours him]

a lot of people getting het up because it's the Bogtrotters.

What Mark said...everyone like a Brown noser

Problem with the Boggies, as expemplified by SFB is there desire to just do as they please. We need to respect walkers if we wish for them to respect us on the trail and there are more of them than us and they have a greater political voice.
Ther eis little to be gained by annoying them even if the access laws are an anachronism that no one can defend

Yes in reality walkers often do give way quite happily to bikes, but a little bit of awareness/appreciation that actually they don't have to do this would be nice.

So maybe it would have to be one weekend or bank holiday

Fine to do it on a weekend or bank holiday if you did the descent late in the day when no-one will be coming up IMO.

Mark - Resident Grumpy
Big Bud, you are misrepresenting our stance. The bog Trotters rode perfectly legally

You might not like the land access & use laws in England and Wales but most folk like them the way they are in Scotland. We'd like to keep it that way and behaving like a knob isn't going to help

if you did the descent late in the day when no-one will be coming up IMO.

I think being overtaken from behind is far more annoying and disruptive that having someone visibly approaching from the front!

I think being overtaken from behind is far more annoying and disruptive that having someone visibly approaching from the front!

I rode Ben Lomond on a gorgeous sunny day, and we set off down not long before sunset - we only saw maybe 3 people left on the mountain apart from us by that time.

I rode Ben Lomond on a gorgeous sunny day, and we set off down not long before sunset

having arrived at the summit at 9am in the hope of missing the crowds that would have been a dull day, particularly in the snow!