It's a bank holiday, I live in the peaks but can't be arsed getting on the bike to ride the trails as I know it will be full of walkers, horse riders and dogs.
It's fair enough trails are for everyone, and in all honesty we bike riders were the last ones to the party.... it's mostly the dogs not on leads which are the issue. Fed up of being chased by dogs not on leads or coming to a complete stop as there is a dog running all over the trails.
As a side note, and not a complaint: When I moved here I was taken aback by the number of horses on the bridleways! I do like seeing them on the bridleways and being used for their intended purpose. I just never expected the numbers - I did a 10 mile ride last week - 21 horses in total.
Ride early or ride late.
I set off for a ride at 8.30am yesterday for a ride traversing Derwent/Ladybower valley, 25 miles the only people I saw were the usual waddlers around Fairholmes (necessary evil to ride through it). The tops were empty of people.
I think if you did the usual "MBR" route type stuff you'd encounter more people, but theres so much better stuff that people don't tend to ride/walk.
As a rule, ride early.
Ride early or ride late.
Yep, I am always out before 08:00 all year round. Very rarely see people even on Bank Holiday weekends such as now.
I feel your pain OP, I have vastly cut back on my cycling due to the hugely increased number of dogs and their owners. Unfortunately walking is little better.
You need to move to Surrey. Anywhere away from a carpark is empty.
When I moved here I was taken aback by the number of horses on the bridleways!
Where did you move from? When checking out the area, did you not notice all the stables and horses?
Weekday evening rides were always the best when I lived down there… when meeting horse riders always resulted in "aren't we lucky here" smile and hellos. At weekends it's best to leave the well known stuff to the tourists (which I'm now one of).
Ride early.
When I lived in Lancaster I'd often go up to the Lakes really early (like 4am) on summer weekdays when I was off shift. Park up, ride more or less whatever I wanted (including footpaths...) and be finished by 8.30.
Clean up and be at the cafe at 9am for breakfast.
I've done similar in the Peaks; there's a really nice footpath local to me that is only rideable after sustained dry weather and certainly not during a bank holiday weekend but if you can get onto it at 6am, it's a brilliant ride!
Really? I ride in the Dark Peak loads and apart from a day when we meet a horse event, can count the number of horses I've come across on both hands.
I went out on the South Downs Way yesterday and it was very busy especially around Ditchling Beacon and Devils Dyke. It did mean slowing down and sharing the space with everyone else but on the other hand a lot of gates were held open for me. You just have to accept it won't be the same as riding on the 99% of days when no one's around.
I love the horse riders, more power to them, there would be nowhere for use to ride without them. Always stop to chat and open gates for them.
I guess my main issue is im on the fringes of the peaks, my access routes include canals and well trodden trails. I'm also a lazy sod so getting up early is a rarity. I've done a few evening rides, however on said access routes kids like to congregate (as the police can't get out there). I had an incident where a pack of feral kids demanded I hand over my bike once.
I hit the trails in winter more, no a soul to be seen on a rainy cold day. End up heading out to bike parks in the summer.
Love walkers, love horses, love dogs... don't love dogs not on leads.
Rode up Longstone recently and Chatsworth. Barely saw anyone last couple of weekends.
Hot bank holidays aren't really a regular problem.
Go to bed early the night before and get up early, simple really.
Easter Saturday and sunny here, so knew the NIMBY dog walkers would be out in force, so I was riding by 7-30am, done by 10-45am and the whole day still ahead. Lovely.
I was proved right as the number of sour-faced gammons was reaching critical mass just as I was finishing.
I'm in Millvale over the weekend, it is rammed.
There's too many dugs now.
I live in Hebden Bridge, by now (midday) the CPs will be rammed and there will be walkers, kids, dogs, horses, cars , you name it, all over the shop, at 09.30 this morning though I had a chat with a woman I often see riding her horse, and a dad and his young son pushing up a hill on their bikes, and that was it...
Maybe just slow down smile and say hello?
I've no problem with horses and their riders. They are invariably friendly and thankful if I hold a gate open for them. Gates also have better opening facilities on regular horsey trails.
And don't get me started about jodhpurs and boots!!!
Maybe stop doing laps of the carpark and venture out a bit further! 😆 walkers are generally limited in how far they'll go!
Canny beat jodhpurs and boots... 😗
Canny beat jodhpurs and boots…
I thought that's what whips were for!!!
It all depends where you go. The only really appallingly busy trail I can think of on Bank Holidays and the like is the paved stretch between Mam Tor and Hollins Cross plus the obvious converted railway trails and roadside tracks - Ladybower for example - which get understandably rammed with families. Get more than about ten minutes from the carparks and it all quietens down nicely. Maybe you're choosing the wrong trails.
I'm not saying there aren't walkers on other tracks, but as above, slow down, be considerate, smile and carry on. I can't remember having a genuine issue with a dog, bar having to occasionally slow down and equestrians seem generally polite and considerate - mostly I just stop and wait for them to go past if they're oncoming or say hello and ask if it's okay to pass if they're going in the same direction.
I live on the Manchester side of the Peak and honestly, some of my best days have been all-day meanders from door on a BH weekend, out into the central Peak then back. Sure, you meet the odd walker, but I've never found it a big deal.
ride early or ride late.
Or ride cheeky...
We're are own worst enemy sometimes.
I got moaned at by an e-biker at Swinley yesterday! Ok so I was having a bimble on the CX bike, but the place was heaving with families ranging from kids who could shame the grown ups to those that could barely ride a bike! Definitely not the day to be trying to beat your strava times, although ironically I did on a couple of flatter sections!
I've been out local, looks like there's been a huge purge on removing bikers from one area, signs up and some nasty trail features added to the lines. Came across a few bikers/walkers and had a nice chat with all of them, non were concerned about eithers presence.
The run back on the canal was hellish though, with the usual we will walk side by side crew, I just laugh it off nowadays. I was late out so I have no one else to blame.
Came round a corner today and the trail was full of Alpacas.
East Devon here...30 mile ride today and apart from a couple of short road sections with cars (obvs!), I saw 1 other cyclist, 2 horses, and passed a grand total of 3 walkers.
That's quiet even by the standards of round here!
Quietest ride I ever went on was the evening of an England match in the last WC. 0 other trail users and 3 cars in 20 miles!
What was the question/problem again?
What was the question/problem again?
OP is irresistible to dogs, I think.
OP is irresistible to dogs, I think.
Dogs bloody love me, love chasing me. We went for a hike this afternoon... owner with 4 dogs, non on leads despite signage it was calving season and that dogs should be on leads. Saw said owner panicking 10 minutes later as 2 quads, green laneing, had spooked them. They'd run off.
The day lady Di got buried was fantastic. Nice dry trails and not a soul on them.
The day lady Di got buried was fantastic. Nice dry trails and not a soul on them.
Hahahaha every cloud aye 😉
Maybe try to change what you consider to be a trail, I only think of a trail as a track that does not normally get used for any other traffic than bikes. A bridal path I expect to have to stop and or give way to other users, no matter how idiotic they seem.
Find some quiet woods and "improve" some animal tracks...
A bridal path I expect to have to stop and or give way to other users
Like a wedding party?
I live on the Chatsworth estate (but not in the big house), so there are a few visitors pass through.....
Did a from my back door ride 6pm last night Beeley moor side, coming back via Youlgreave/ Bakewell way, and this morning at 7am heading out Hassop way coming back over Curber edge and up through the estate. There were a few walker's out on both rides, and the car's were starting to back up to Chatsworth on my way back in this morning. I have kid snizzle and work shifts, so I'm used to having to get up early to get the ride's in. But it's that, or don't ride as much. No brainer to me, riding make's me glad to be alive. I could find dozens of reason's not to bother, but sod that.
Plus I tend to find the early and late doors walker's are a lot more friendly than the 9 to 5'ers.
Dogs bloody love me, love chasing me. We went for a hike this afternoon… owner with 4 dogs, non on leads despite signage it was calving season and that dogs should be on leads. Saw said owner panicking 10 minutes later as 2 quads, green laneing, had spooked them. They’d run off.
Shame...
Had one the other day. Knew there would be trouble as I passed and then heard the owner bleating 'fenton, fenton!' or whatever. And there it was, enjoying the chase and nipping at my ankles. It was a fast bit so I slowed up just enough to keep it interested and kept going for about half a mile.
Gave the owner a bit of extra exercise and food for thought, hopefully.
The day lady Di got buried was fantastic. Nice dry trails and not a soul on them.
Yes. I remember it well. I was wishing they could bury her every weekend.
The downside was the day she died. I got up at 4AM and drove all across the country for 25m time trial starting at 8AM. When I got there they had cancelled it "As a mark of respect". I never did like the woman and liked her even less after that.
and liked her even less after that.
Liking someone less after they are dead? Stay classy!
I did the Guild Wheel in Preston yesterday. For me it's not the quantity of muggles, it's the fact that half of them seem to be brain dead. It surely must take special effort to take up the entire width of a twelve-foot wide fire road. I'm giving serious consideration to backing up my bell with an air horn.
... I also fell off twice, and feel today like I've been repeatedly kicked up the arse, but that's another story.
I live in the peaks - hope valley.
Out by 07.30, Hope > Edale > Mam Nick > Bradwell > loop round Derwent and the Ladyboy and back.
The run home was a wash with walkers but that’s par for the course. I’m a walker sometimes. In short, try getting away early and finish up by 10am at the latest.
Much of the winter none of this is a problem to be honest.
For me it’s not the quantity of muggles, it’s the fact that half of them seem to be brain dead.
Give me a herd of dozy sheep in my way over a pack of elderly ramblers any time. The former are predictable and easy to get moving, whereas the zombie-folk of a guided walk seem barely sentient.
You need to move to Surrey. Anywhere away from a carpark is empty.
Ain't that the truth.
Rode a bridleway into the peaslake area in the morning, used the same bridleway on the way out and went past a group of Walkers. Said hello, not a reply, then further down the bridleway were a series of logs and branches placed across it. The group I was with had fun bunny hopping or smashing through them.
No horses around, but loads of kids on bikes with parents along the 22.