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There’s a woman who rants and raves at anyone riding a bike, this is on the tarmac stretch of the ‘Peak Forest canal near Disley’.
Ooh I haven't met her, I shall look forward to it. I did have words last year with a bloke who observed me riding towards him on the tow path, stepped to one side, then berated me for not ringing my bell.
Don’t rise to it, present them with the facts and just get on with your day.
Agree with this. It’s only happened rarely to me too. It’s always been someone with an axe to grind or just a bit misguided. The last one, about 5 years ago, the first thing the chap said as he turned round as I approached him was “you shouldn’t be here, it’s a footpath”. I pointed out it was a bridleway, check the definitive map on the council website, the OS map, and the bridleway signs, and he said it wasn’t - “look there’s a style, it’s a footpath!”. There was indeed a style, next to a gate…
We get a bit of it here in Surrey. That’s why I like night rides. There is no one else around and you can have a lovely chilled ride..
I do remember one occasion riding up to a couple, dinging our bells, a cheery “Hello can we come past” and the guy stepped into the middle of the quite wide track. We stopped and got the full “you can’t ride here” BS. I was stopped holding onto a Bridleway finger post. The guys wife at least had the good grace to look embarrassed
One of the weirder ones I had was descending a stepped trail (yes, it is a bridleway!) in the Peak District and a woman said (not unpleasantly) "you shouldn;t be riding here".
I stopped and pointed out that it was a bridleway and that bikes were allowed to ride it and she said "oh no, that's not what I meant, just that...well, it's very dangerous. You must be [b]very[/b] good!"
Why yes. Yes I am*
*disclaimer - I am not at all!
It's quite a unique thing on bikes how concerned for your safety everyone else becomes.
You should wear a helmet!
You should have a bell!
None of them would ever think to flag down a car and tell the driver that they shouldn't be on a phone, none of them would ever say to a horse rider "oh you should be wearing a helmet".
Bikes, it's fair game.
Strange.
"I pointed out it was a bridleway, check the definitive map on the council website, the OS map, and the bridleway signs, and he said it wasn’t – “look there’s a style, it’s a footpath!”. There was indeed a style, next to a gate…"
It's important to fashion your argument correctly in these circumstances.
@fazzini that's quite superb
If someone is apopleptic with rage / clearly unhinged there really is no point trying to reason with them. You might aswell have some fun with it and enjoy it. Blowing kisses, asking if they need a hug etc. is all good.
I have had some reasonable debates with people who aren't unhinged but have challenged me (usually fair enough when I have been technically in the wrong). We've never ended up agreeing though so it's still basically pointless. A bit like arguing on here eh?
Interesting point made by Ton re:not being challenged due to being a bit scary looking.....Now you mention it...as I have got older, more haggard and scary-looking (just a bit big and bald not really that scary) it is true I am challenged less compared to my younger more fragile waifish self.
In fact I can't really remember that last time I was challenged. Must have been years ago and I do ride quite a bit of cheek.
@crazy-legs loads of walkers stand at the side and pull out the metaphorical popcorn every time I’ve been down Jacob’s Ladder.
Blow them a kiss and ride off ..
Shout “suck my winky” and keep on riding.
I'm still laughing.
I've been riding off road since 1997.
I've had one lady have a right shout (there were 20 of us on a foot path- you shouldn't be here- which was true).
And that's it.
I moved to Nottingham in 2004 and have been itching to get my Scottish accent hammed up and claim I didn't know about England's weird and backward laws but I've never needed to.
Maybe I'm lucky. Maybe I'm 6"4 and shouting cheerily good mornings ( up to 3pm) and that helps.
I find - "good morning, can I please come past on your right side, thank you" works well as people jump, look, hear the please and thank you, and have time to move. A bell did not work at all. Occasionally I get a "you should have a bell" but those people would just shout something else If I had a bell
Yeah, bells have never worked for me neither.
It’s important to fashion your argument correctly in these circumstances.
Indeed, do it with style.
Genuine one from a group night ride many years ago (Hebden Bridge way IIRC):
You shouldn't be riding here!
Umm...this is a bridleway...
Not at night it isn't!
Indeed, do it with stile.
FTFY 😉
Indeed, it’s been a long week 😊
Only ever had a couple of mad ranters around local routes in Macclesfield but it is rare. I’m not generally in a rush and will stop to shoot the breeze with people out on the trail. Had trouble with angry dickheads on the road though. I’ll either laugh at them or resort to behaviour that will likely get me arrested one day. All depends what mood I’m in 😂
We had it once near the Hayfield Campsite descent - we knew the last bit towards the car park by the river was a footpath, but it's a road width, and we'd be doing a big diversion to get round to where we were going. We rode it slowly, no pedestrians at all. Got to the bloody car park at the end and there was this mad old lady telling us how terrible we were, screaming at us - she was blocking the car park. We just told her to 'chill' and carried on.
Rarely happens to me, but my favourite is the ones that say something just as you're going out of earshot.
I just ride on, but what I really want to do (never would!) when it's a group is slam the brakes on, put the bike down, and walk back ...
A moment later she turned around, saw me (still stationary, unclipped) and said “DON’T YOU HAVE A BELL?!” As I started to reply, I noticed she had wireless earbuds in…
I did once reply with "ding dong"in the style of Leslie Phillips.
A group of us were riding along a bridleway once when some random walker felt the need to challenge our right to be there."Ah, don't YOU start" says one of our number, which seemed to do the trick. (Has to be said with real psychotic intonation for maximum effect.)
Rarely happens to me, but my favourite is the ones that say something just as you’re going out of earshot.
I just ride on, but what I really want to do (never would!) when it’s a group is slam the brakes on, put the bike down, and walk back …
and in Gunnery Sgt Hartman style, "who said that?"
(apologies for the sweary video embed which mods removed)
Generally ok riding out in the proper hills of the Peak District. Even when on footpaths most people are fine.
Best one was cycling along a canal which is a cycle path and part of the national cycle network. Came up behind some guy, did the polite "afternoon, can I just squeeze past you there". He went into a full on rant about how I needed a bell and it was illegal not to have one.
I did think for a nanosecond about discussing how a bike needs to be sold with a bell but you don't have to have one legally.
Instead I just said "Calm down darling" went "ding-dong" and blew him a kiss and cycled off. Seemed to confuse him a bit 😁
For the OP... My reaction is to make a fuss of the dawgie whilst asking it whether his owner was always such a dickhead, and that he could come live with me for a better life if he just follows my back wheel for a few miles.
@fazzini that’s quite superb
I wish I could take the credit for it, but it was someone else on here that posted it and I pinched it!
Only ever get problems on the road, or the cycle lane at the business park where work is.
Only real issue I've had off road was a woman with her smashed-face dog. Rising Sun Country Park. Just got up the hill and this dog is yapping, snarly, jumpy, bitey at my ankle. Woman screams at me to stop. If I stop it will stop. I did, it didn't so go a squirt from the water bottle. Confused it for a moment. Apparently, as it turns out, the dog doesn't like bikes; or other people; or other dogs, or anything...
I did suggest if it was that bad then she should maybe keep it on a lead in public places, especially public places known for having other people, dogs, bikes etc. Cue torrent of the foulest language and threats that hubby is on his way to kill me. Not sure I helped matters when I suggested to her companion that, rather than the dog being on a lead and muzzled, maybe the companion could put the woman on a lead and muzzle her. (Companion tried not to smirk!) I was annoyed I let it bother me in the moment, however, within 2 minutes I'd passed 3 or 4 other folks with dogs who were lovely, said hi, dogs were lovely etc.
I got shouted at this summer "YOU NEED A LOUDER ****ING BELL!!!" I just replied **** off you ****...really cannot be arsed with these tossers that want to have a go at someone who is doing nothing wrong....they usually get both barrels back
A few of us got shouted at for having lights on our bikes on the road the other week by a woman walking her dog on the pavement.
"You're f*** blinding me"
We weren't, they were all on low
My responses on bridleways range from a pleasant engagement to 'oh just f off' depending on my mood and the initial comment
On footpaths I'm obviously a little more diplomatic, always slow down, don't try and hustle past and if told I shouldn't be riding there, usually respond with 'that's a shame we can't all enjoy this space, eh?'
Had one the other week that replied with, "well you wouldn't ride your bike on the M1 would you?" Idiot
For years I've been an 'excuse me please' rider, but have recently started using a bell and do seem to get better responses in general. Even had a bloke the other day who I though was ranting, but he was actually saying "bloody hell, a bike with a bell" and gave me a thumbs up
My favourite is riding up behind a group of walkers, ringing my bell. No one moves and I then do the “excuse me could we come past”. If I get the “you should have a bell”, I reply “and you should get a hearing aid” and I ring my bell a few times as I ride off
My latest reply is to tell them that since our government pay very little regard to rules then why should I. They soon shut up!
My stock reply to this is to yell - "Call the cops" while not even breaking my stride before disappearing into the distance. What would be odds of the cops showing up for this heinous act? Slim to none!
Smile and wave, smile and wave.
Occasionally get this on Woodbury common.
A year or so back on the bridleway that borders the East side I came up behind a couple with many, many dogs.
I called out excuse me a few times, but they were blatantly ignoring me, so I dismounted and tried to walk past them.
Cue much shouting at me that I wasn't allowed to ride there, etc. I pointed out it was a BW, but they carried on shouting, which set the dogs off, so they then accused me of upsetting the (until then unconcerned) dogs.
I just rode off with a cheery "**** off".
.
.
Another one that sticks in my mind is a woman's dog properly going for me, so much so that I had to put the bike in-between me and it.
She was shouting that I had to get off my bike - which I already was!!
I then squirted the dog with my bottle, and she got right up in my face accusing me if assaulting her dog 😆 so I squirted her in the face as well.
I've never been called a c*** by an middle-aged, middle class women before!
Initially I was very dubious about this one, but I've used it a few times and the results were phenomenal.
" Yes, I know, it's ridiculous isn't it"
YES, I know, IT'S RIDICULOUS,isn't it"
"YES I KNOW, ITS UTTERLY RIDICULOUS ISNT IT"
Was riding with the wife and small kids ( maybe 8 & 10 yo) on a section of footpath between Ambleside and Coniston.
I asked the kids to be extra courteous and stop early for a pair of ramblers coming the other way. MrRambler took that as a sign of weakness and started telling us we shouldn't be cycling there.
We explained gently why we deemed it a better overall solution than braving the busy A-road. We then argued the merits and demerits of it back and forth for a while.
Naturally he ran out of arguements pretty soon and so reverted to the usual
" but it's a footpath you're not allowed"
" Yes, I know, it's ridiculous isn't it"
" it's illegal"
" Yes, I know, it's ridiculous isn't it"
He'd try again to find some genuine reasons why it was actually wrong. These would fail and at some point he'd come back to:
" there is no legal right for you to..."
" Yes, I know, it's ridiculous isn't it"
But it's wrong, YOURE BREAKING THE LAW"
YES, I know, IT'S RIDICULOUS,isn't it"
" The lAWS OF THIS SOVEREIGN NATION DECREE THAT WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS A CIVIL CRIME"
"YES I KNOW, ITS UTTERLY RIDICULOUS ISNT IT"
Round and round and round. He'd divert occasionally to some newly thought up actual reason, but of course they were flimsy as **** so he'd always return the vehemently telling us it was against the law.
And I'd just as vehemently agree with him with matching levels of vehemence and solidarity that it was utterly unbelievable that the law was such an ass.
And he'd get more and more agitated...
In The Beacons this only ever happens on Bank Holidays.
I had someone once try to argue that "The Council" had banned cycling on my local mountain. Not only could she not named the Local Authority, but hadn't been at the meeting I'd attended where it was clear the LA had no will or budget to get involved in the trail developments there and was happy to leave it to others (who have access to funding). The trails and signage are deliberately ambiguous as to who they are for, everyone is supposed to just play nice.
It’s never happened to me, I ride too fast to be in earshot of any complaint
I generally use "ridiculous, isn't it?" but I think my next one's getting "we didn't all vote for Brexit" (true, obvz).. "just for some bureaucrats to tell me what I can't do in British countryside - I'm taking back control from the elite"
We had this on occasion from a guy who lived by the Forrester's pub in Wollaston.If you entered the woods through the pub car park or up the switch back just past the you were fine But if you went in on his path lower down he would miraculously appear and give you a right rollicking.
It was a footpath for about 100 yards then opened up into the woods so he was correct that you should not ride it but he just seemed to really hate cyclists
I have come across a few walkers the simply freeze on the spot when they hear my bell. Right in the centre of the trail without even looking over a shoulder making it hard to pass whilst leaving a acceptable distance.
My favourite one recently is, while riding politely and considerately on a footpath, got the "you should not be here, it's illegal and trespass". I agreed, said it was silly and pointed out that walkers were only allowed there because of trespassers years ago. Turned into a friendly chat and discussion of which trails were better for running or riding so a win all round.
I hope you pointed out that ordinary trespass isn't illegal...but well done for turning it into a civil discussion.
@sargey
I've had a roll around on the floor with that guy after he threatened me with a hammer...
He also on another occasion swung his reving chainsaw at a mate.
He's a propper nutjob.
I still have one of his no cycling signs on my fridge 😁
Moaned at in Scotland: Twice in 17 years.
I seem to have lived a charmed life on trips down south - not had one yet. (Mind I have been told to get off *MY* land twice by randoms)
I made a point to learn the name of the council ROW officer, I know I am on a legal trail so when challenged, and you will at some point get someone with a bad day / bad attitude, you can politely suggest they speak to that person, said with conviction they often think I work there 😉
I will also offer hugs and kisses, as they look like they need one, if they persist but agree with many others, smile, wave, be happy - it really pi**es them off and makes me smile even more.
James
(Mind I have been told to get off *MY* land twice by randoms)
A friend of mine has had that as well. Once actually got threatened with "I'll report you to the landowner!" and then took great delight in pointing out that he was the landowner.
Apparently the walker scurried off rather quickly after that.
Just shout “I’m taking back control of my country” and ride off.