Glentress – Did everyone forget their manners?

😆

Indeed.

Seriously though, if I see someone in any trouble, mechanical or physical, I always stop and I’ve always found others do the same but today was a real eye opener.

You expect more from the mountain bike community. 🙁

I pinch-flatted on the Cannock FtD last week. 5 of the 10 that passed me stopped / slowed to ask if I was ok / needed anything.

Sorry to hear of your ladies bad experiences mate, I’d never ride past anyone in trouble. In fact the sight of a lady in peril would positively bring out the Lesley Phillips in me…[greasing imaginary moustache right now]

Sorry to hear about your experience with Newcastle MTB lot. We’re most definately a friendly lot. Probably too knackered to talk. Wasn’t there that weekend by the way.

On a personal note we’ve stopped in the middle of running a course at GT with paying punters to help a lass that had had a bad spill and face planted. Fixing her up and finding her bike (must have been some spill)then helped get her off the route. Lads that had paid for the weekend were also very understanding and once we had got her down I took them through rest of the ride to cafe while my mate helped out. Haven’t seen too much bad stuff at GT for all the rides there. And always makes me smile too see so many young, not so young and novice riders there. Sure it’s just the volume that brings the occasional inexperienced or arsey person.

I had a wee bit of bad attitude off people the first time I went to glentress as I was still on my cheap carrera, it got some smart-arsed comments, but by and large I’d say people there are fine- generally folks are quick to pull over if you’re fast, and say thanks if you’re fast, and when we’ve had mechanicals or crashes usually people do stop to check. There’s always going to be knobs but I still reckon they’re in the minority.

The Newcastle lot were probably preoccupied contemplating relagation from the premier league 😉
Seriously tho’ its a sad day when some-one cant be arsed to ask someone in “distress” (no matter what it is) if they’re ok or need a hand, but karma ‘ll get’em!

I’ve had this a couple of times when I’ve pulled over to let faster riders through. Not a murmur of thanks so now, if they arent mates with me I ride how I want- after all theres no sign saying let ignorant day-warriors through is there?

If any complained I’d put them through to my Customer Services dept 😉

The only time I’ve crashed at Glentress was a different experience. I pulled off the trail to get my breath back, sort the bike out and tidy up a small cut on my leg. After 3/4 minutes I moved further away from the trail as nearly every rider was stopping to see if I was ok and to make sympathetic “ooo” noises over my leg.

We went out riding in the dales yesterday and no miserable basyard MTBer ignored us or barged us out of the way mainly because we met precisely zero Mtbers. Where is everyone these days a couple of years ago round the Settle area on a sunny saturday we would have met dozens of MTBers.

Its been the same everywhere we have been for the last year or so. Does everyone go to trail centres these days if you do thats fine by me but seriously your missing out on some brilliant riding.

Go on get the map out and experience the great outdoors not the inside of another bloody pine forest.

This reminded me of Cwm with my GF.
We were sessioning the airstream as she is a beginner and she held up two sets of riders- mixed sex groups.
she pulled over for both sets and the lads in the first group all said thanks, but the girl called her a bitch!
The second group came past- the guys said thanks and a girl tutted at her and told her not to hold people up…

I guess there are idiots everywhere, and since GT has so many visitors you are bound to meet some idiots there. As for pushing slower riders off, that’s well out of order.

Jesus, talking about getting your righteous indignation up. If I can play devils advocate for just a second – perhaps these three heartless bastards who blazed past your wife in a cloud of smug radness actually witnessed her crash and saw that it was a totally innocuous fall and despite her horrific cuts, scratches and tears she was actually okay?

When I ride with a group, people crash a lot. I ride past them. I crash, they ride past me. If there is time I’ll shout to ask if they are okay, they usually afford me the same courtesy. Lacerations, bruising, fractures, broken bones, broken teeth, sprains and dislocations have been suffered by myself and my riding buddies and they’ve responded they are okay only to limp home and to the hospital.

If someone is knocked unconscious or suffers a serious injury it’s instantly obvious and I’ll stop. When I’ve suffered serious injuries people have come back up the trail to help me down. Often when beginners crash it seems serious to them, but little more than slapstick comedy to others, this sounds like a perfect example.
Honestly, who the hell hasn’t waited after a difficult technical section to look back and watch the carnage as other riders bin themselves? Imo that’s a tradition as old as mountain biking which is enjoyed by young an old, slow and fast regardless of their preferred discipline.

A few scratches is a laughing matter, you need to lighten up. Or perhaps you and your wife should choose another sport.

Flame away.

How do you know its an innocuous fall unless you stop and check I fell off at about 2 miles an hour a few years back and broke my collar bone everyone who saw it said it was the slowest softest landing I had ever made

Jesus, talking about getting your righteous indignation up. If I can play devils advocate for just a second – perhaps these three heartless bastards who blazed past your wife in a cloud of smug radness actually witnessed her crash and saw that it was a totally innocuous fall and despite her horrific cuts, scratches and tears she was actually okay?

When I ride with a group, people crash a lot. I ride past them. I crash, they ride past me. If there is time I’ll shout to ask if they are okay, they usually afford me the same courtesy. Lacerations, bruising, fractures, broken bones, broken teeth, sprains and dislocations have been suffered by myself and my riding buddies and they’ve responded they are okay only to limp home and to the hospital.

If someone is knocked unconscious or suffers a serious injury it’s instantly obvious and I’ll stop. When I’ve suffered serious injuries people have come back up the trail to help me down. Often when beginners crash it seems serious to them, but little more than slapstick comedy to others, this sounds like a perfect example.
Honestly, who the hell hasn’t waited after a difficult technical section to look back and watch the carnage as other riders bin themselves? Imo that’s a tradition as old as mountain biking which is enjoyed by young an old, slow and fast regardless of their preferred discipline.

A few scratches is a laughing matter, you need to lighten up. Or perhaps you and your wife should choose another sport.

Flame away.

😆

What a fanny

Hmmmmm, there is a case that if you stop everytime you see a fall at a trail centre you wont actually get much done at all.
I’ll stop if I see it or if they are obviously injured, but not for every fallen person I encounter.

MisterGnar

sorry – you are 100% wrong. The minimum is to slow down and shout “you all right?” as you pass and if they don’t say anything or say “no” then stop and check.

Its about do as you would be done by.

TandemJeremy

sorry – you are 100% wrong. The minimum is to slow down and shout “you all right?” as you pass and if they don’t say anything or say “no” then stop and check.

Going by that I’d say I’m 75% right.

Its about do as you would be done by.

Yup. Thats how we do it. Everyone crashes. No one gets molly coddled. As above, if everyone stopped every time anyone crashed then you’d get very little riding done.

STW.

Never fails to amaze me.

A girl lying crying on a trail with a bike on top of her and you wouldn’t stop to see if she’s ok…

It might have been a trap?

Nae bother Admiral Akbar

Hope that she is ok. The people who didnt stop are ignorant and so is the girl who barged her out of the way (or out of control)

When I first started mountain biking, people would always stop if you had a puncture/mechanical or had come off. I still find thats the case but a small percentage don’t. TBH stopping to help someone who’s injured doesnt quite fit with the “look how cool I am and how fast I can section this downhill on the latest most expensive bike I could buy” crowd. I first encountered this type on my one and only trip to the Alps where there were some prize c***s (including a guide who didnt want to wait for me when I punctured!). Saying that there were some really nice people out there as well so it takes all sorts.

I do think that when a sport/past-time becomes more popular it loses that inherent friendliness that comes from being part of a small group/subculture. Stopping for someone when I first started was often an excuse for a chat because it was quite rare to see anyone out and about on an MTB. A similar thing has happened with surfing – years ago you would go up to someone and chat to them if you saw a board on their car because it was so rare. People would always look out for each other in the water and very rarely drop-in on one another. Now when I travel I actively avoid “surfer types” because of the type of X games idiot attracted to surfing. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of nice people who still surf but as in mountain biking a fair few who in my opinion miss the whole point of the sport.
Hope it doesnt put your girlfriend off mountain biking. We’ve all had bad crashes at one time or other – the best thing is to get back on and work up to it slowly.
Good luck 🙂

Gnar, I stop at the bottom of difficult technical bits, but only to make sure that the people who come down after me are safe. Nothing wrong with laughing at a crash AFTER you’ve found out they’re ok. Laughing before makes you come across like a ****, but I guess you knew that.

BoardinBob
STW.

Never fails to amaze me.

A girl lying crying on a trail with a bike on top of her and you wouldn’t stop to see if she’s ok…

Was she wailing in agony or was she just having a wee sob ’cause she scratched her knee and felt a bit sorry for herself? Did she start crying before they past her or did she start crying after they passed because she didnt feel special?

Was she facing them so they could clearly get a good enough look at her face to determine that she was crying as opposed to just wet or sweating?

Does your wife look like a bloke? Maybe the other riders did realise she had breasts and obviously that implies that everyone should make a big fuss over her if she topples over….on a bike…..and scratches her leg. Serious accident.

Maybe you shouldnt have taken her down a trail that was beyond her, or perhaps she hurt herself because she wasnt wearing enough/any appropriate armour.

Nothing wrong with laughing at a crash AFTER you’ve found out they’re ok. Laughing before makes you come across like a ****, but I guess you knew that.

Yes, that’s right. Because it’s impossible to discern the difference between a low speed stumble and a 40 mph shunt into a tree so I just automatically burst into laughter regardless of the context.

Ah the Glentress mincers……ive never met so many people at a trail centre so far up their own arse! Its laughable! I wouldnt mind if they had the skills to back up the arrogance! Next time get yourself down the road to innerleithen, better riding, empty trails and just as lovely views. 😉

I’m with Ferris. Us Adonis-riders, who are even better than the fearless 16yr old kids on £99 bikes getting lots of air laugh down at you mincers. We ride ontop of clouds and mtb DVD makers study our skills for their next film idea.

Muhahaaaaar. We are elite/superior to you mere-minnons. Please don’t even try and introduce your friends to riding, lest they to get in our way. After all its our trails NOT yours….muhaahaaahaar

As I said in my previous post Bob, the world is full of ignorant people and unfortunately one of them appears to be on this thread.
It amazes me how hard people try to prove over and over what nasty pieces of work they really are! 😉

Wow – well down the 2nd page before we got a “Inners is brill, GT is shite” post.

FoxyChick
As I said in my previous post Bob, the world is full of ignorant people and unfortunately one of them appears to be on this thread.
It amazes me how hard people try to prove over and over what nasty pieces of work they really are!

Yes and it amazes me that despite any details as to the context of the accident, so many people are desperate to prove how they ALWAYS do exactly the right thing in any situation.

I came of at Glentress first time i was there, nothing major and more of a dumbass fall than anything serious, 3 guys who were behind me all asked if I was ok.

Sometimes it’s just your Donald Duck and sometimes there’s a lot of Fannies around

MisterGnar post a pic of yourself so i know if i ever see you after an accident i can give you a taste of your own medicine.

It doesnt matter if it was a small or large accident.. you see a lass has crashed you stop and check shes ok. And any fella for that matter. Idiot.

It’s not just MTB’ing, typical of modern day society. Could be an off on the trail could be a granny tripped over a kerb, could be a walker slipped on a stile.
Any person with a respect for life in general would stop to ask. That is’nt to much too ask is it?? or don ‘t we have time anymore.

What goes around comes around, on the trail/road/ or anywhere else.

:S ive never had any problems….mind you only ever been twice…n it was raining on both occasions so not many people about….or maybe i was just toooooo speedy, everything was a blur, i never noticed anyone 😛 lol

RichieBoy
MisterGnar post a pic of yourself so i know if i ever see you after an accident i can give you a taste of your own medicine.

But that would make me cry

richieBoy

It doesnt matter if it was a small or large accident.. you see a lass has crashed you stop and check shes ok. And any fella for that matter. Idiot.

So let me just get this straight…if anyone, regardless of age, sex, or situation falls of their bike YOU MUST STOP even if it’s obvious they are fine.

Stop being such an ass licker, and while your at it stop making huge sweeping generalizations. I love the way so many of you seem to have a rigid list of rules in your head and when presented with a hypothetical situation with a bare minimum of information you state that you absolutely would act in a certain way without hesitation. Who the f*** are you trying to impress.

The possibility that a given situation may not be as black and white as you’d like to imagine seems beyond you.

Some guy takes his wife down a trail that is too difficult for her. Instead of riding along with her and showing her proper technique to negotiate a technical piece of trail he’s 30 seconds ahead.

She falls, and three people who may or may not have seen her have what may or may not have been a bad crash ride past her.

These three then ride past this guy pretty fast. Fast riders = young, ignorant adrenaline junkies who don’t do the sport for the right reasons. They are fashion victim scumbags who, despite being good on a bike actually dont like bikes, they dont like the outdoors, they hate mountains, they litter, eat their young, start forest fires, rape polar bears and melt the ice caps. Probably. So lets criticize them.

Later, this admittedly inexperienced rider is apparently barged of the trail by an ignorant woman who rides on. Or perhaps her inexperience and relative slowness made her a hazard on the trail and the woman who pushed her off the trail had no choice. Perhaps she was completely oblivious to the fact that boardinbob’s wife fell off the trail. Perhaps it was a completely reasonable pass but bb’s wifes complete lack of experience led her to panic leading to her crash.

Anyway, lets not imagine any other possible explanation for what happened, lets just believe that boardinbob has given us all the details (he couldn’t possibly be biased) and lets get angry at “those” types while we congratulate ourselves on how perfect we all are.

Hey Bob, I’ve ridden with you,and I ride regularly at Glentress. IMHO you got a bad experience, not typical of the reasonably normal people who make up the majority of the folks who ride there. Notwithstanding it must have been very not nice for your missus, and there is no excuse for bad behaviour.

Unfortunately this has turned into a regular flame GT thread, which is simmply not far – good trails, good set up, good people (and a few t&$$ers).

Hope her confidence is ok – maybe time for another STW Mugdock ride ????

I’m not surprised that some people think it’s okay to ride past somebody (and I’m sorry for all the senstive types, but especially a girl crying) and not stop.

I wouldn’t go for a beer with any of them. Inconsiderate f**kers.

EDIT(!): What happened to the swear filter?

Hope the poor attitude of some jerkoffs doesn’t blinker your other half to the positive aspects to cycling.

MisterGnar you are taking this all very much to heart.

There are always lots of silly people on here, riding their high horses, but such strong negative feelings can’t be good for your chi.

Or do you read a bit of STW, get all riled up, and go and knock some old ladies over…?!

well i don’t really know the rights and wrong of what happened to your wife but it sounds pretty heatless for people to cycle past someone in distress……’IF’ they knew.

Just in case anyone thinks it’s just trail centers what do you think of this..

A lady was brought into my surgery. Late 70’s walking up a dirt track 3-4 k leading to central lakeland mountain. Two bikers having finished their day on the mountain came around the corner and collided with the women.

Smashed glasses, open fracture to nasal bones a fractured forearm, lots of abrasions and bruises, but what was worse totally traumatised by the event.

Did they stop?

Of course the f’in did.

Long enough to give her verbal about walking on the wrong side of the single lane road/path, before riding off. I find it hard to believe that they didn’t know she was injured.
But who knows, i wasn’t there.

Pah. What’s the point

MisterGnar you are officially the man! How are you so wise?

It must take years of riding everything the world of mountain biking has got to throw at you to have such an all emcompassing knowledge of our sport. Makes me wonder how you find the time to write all these pages of pish?!

Descent World would chase him.