I shout “RIDER” or “RIDERS” from 100 or so meters away. This gives Albert , Stanley and Gracie about enough time to stop , turn round , see me bearing down on them at totally innapropriate speed for the track im on. I then witness the discussion between Albert and Gracie about young men on bicyles these days, whilst Stanley steps to one side. Upon seeing Stanley step to one side Gracie and Albert then step to the other side. Gracie decides that a game of Mike Reads “RunAround ” in now on, so She decides to switch back to Stanleys side of the track. The track is now being zig zagged by the other coffin dodgers who now need to hurl all sorts of insluts. None of which I can hear as I have Bring me the Horizon turned up to 11 on my MP3 and I leave Gracie and Stan in a cloud of dust as I fly by at a little over 7 mph.
Repeat all over the SDW any Sunday from Feb – Oct.

To be honest Cinnamon_girl, if I was out riding and ramblers kept stopping me and asked me 21 questions It’d annoy the hell out of me. I mean just imagine if people in cars did it..both drivers stop and wind down their windows and have a good old chinwag. I can’t see it happening really but if you’re friendly and polite I see no reason why a rambler should be annoyed with you, after all taking a step to one side to let someone pass isn’t that taxing a task, even for an old aged pensioner (which not all ramblers are.)

I must admit, whilst being impressed by PeterPoddy’s bell two years ago, I have resorted to shouting “Ding Ding” as I approach walkers. No-one has complained so far, and a few people have, surprisingly said “Nice Bell!” which kind of makes me think it works. I shout it respectfully and in an appropriate manner obviously.

Mind you, I’ve trained both my children to respond to a whistle rather than shouting their names, so either I’m a pioneer, or a weirdo.
Works a treat though!

Edric 64 – Member
Can we all walk across your garden when we feel like it then?

Trolling? Maybe the concept of good manners has been lost with your access rights, but the way it works in Scotland and in most Scandanavian countries is you avoid going close to residences and respect crops etc. I won’t quote the laws – they’re on the web for all to see.

I know where theres heaps of spare bells. I plan to carry a few on every ride from now on. If i ever get asked where my bell is, i will scatter a few at the walkers feet and carry on with the ride.

Ding ding.

Loving it!
“I shout “RIDER” or “RIDERS” from 100 or so meters away. This gives Albert , Stanley and Gracie about enough time to stop , turn round , see me bearing down on them at totally innapropriate speed for the track im on. I then witness the discussion between Albert and Gracie about young men on bicyles these days, whilst Stanley steps to one side. Upon seeing Stanley step to one side Gracie and Albert then step to the other side. Gracie decides that a game of Mike Reads “RunAround ” in now on, so She decides to switch back to Stanleys side of the track. The track is now being zig zagged by the other coffin dodgers who now need to hurl all sorts of insluts. None of which I can hear as I have Bring me the Horizon turned up to 11 on my MP3 and I leave Gracie and Stan in a cloud of dust as I fly by at a little over 7 mph.
Repeat all over the SDW any Sunday from Feb – Oct.”

It can be pretty much the same in the Beacons too.

I often offer to show ramblers my bell when they ask me where it is….well, I did do until PC Plod decided to pay me a visit. In that visit, he explained that it is actually illegal to show your bell to ramblers (or anyone in fact,) no matter how shiny and nice it looks.

Since my stern telling off, I’ve simply been parping once or twice when going past ramblers…It doesn’t have quite the same shock value but the look on their faces when the smell becomes apparent is still jolly amusing!

😆
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtv2_-2mHck[/video]

avoid bells. get a big car horn instead. arrrwoooogaaaah

You get one chance to make a first impression (on behalf of all us mtbers) so make it a good one and just be as polite as possible and then ride on. Conflict solves nothing 8)

i managed to read through the first three or four TJ responses then decided that untill the STW Killfile can be made to fix IE6, i wont bother.

I realise that teh pr0n and teh swears offend some people, so they report the relevant posts. Im offended by TJs tripe, should i report it, or just remove STW from my faves?

I have seen the Trool of the week has given my earlier posts a bit of abuse and I see no reason in arguing OR SHOUTING!!!

I feel ramblers and walkers near me (generally older folk) expect a cyclist to ride with a bell. It may not be the same with more modern walkers, but in a day and age where we all share the countryside i will show fellow people on the trails the same respect I would like them to show me.

A bell from a distance, then a polite nod or thank you, Possibly a chat if there is an opportunity.

Singlespeed_Shep – Member
…we all share the countryside

Says it all really.

Don’t spoil the other person’s share.

A bell from a distance, then a polite nod or thank you, Possibly a chat if there is an opportunity.

I find that cracking out the tea set works a treat, but only if you have a decent supply of shortbread to boot.

cubemeup – Member

i had a case the other week with rambblers standing in the middle of the briddle way about 15-20 of them. did move or attempt top move. one stood there with his hands on his hips so i stopped and had a little word only tyo find out he was and english man telling a welsh man i shouldnt be riding there!! it was my local ride and on common land, i think of he wasnt 50+ i might of given him a swift lefty!!
please note nothing against english but im sure an english man wouldnt like a welsh lad to say to stop riding in his land!!

Well, to be honest, until I lived in Wales for 10 years I had no idea how small minded some of the ‘locals’ can be.

You already admitted it’s not your land. I don’t really have any land either, but if I did, I’m not sure their nationality would come into it, more their attitude. I’m sure I’d have taken your post more seriously if it wasn’t full of thinly veiled hatred of another nation with no good reason, but hey ho…

Now cae dy geg! 😉

I was hoping that was Welsh for NIMBY. Nevermind. 🙁

Seems to me that this is just an english problem, I never get any hassle up here at all, infact it’s pretty friendly, is it a cultural thing or is it just purely becasue the law is different down there and people thinking they have some legitimate claim to the land? dunno, but this walkers/bikers conflict that i read about on the forums is completely alien to me…

Happened to me not too long ago in France.
Ironically, the woman in question was standing right next this sign nailed to a post. It had a triangle and two little circles on it. The mind boggles.

Not reading 5 whole pages of this but I think what everyone here would like (apart from peace, harmony, love thy fellow trail user, etc) is for walkers to hear you coming, move out of the way and you all get on your merry way. Best thing for that is a bell. Airhorn wil get their attention but they’ll turn around wondering WTF was that, hearing “ting ting” most peopple automatically start moving out to the side. “Excuse me” from a long way off works ok but still not as good as a bell. Excuse me from right behind them startles them and you then get grief, there’s nowt wrong with this startling business dunno what TJ is getting his knickers in a twist for, if you were walking in the same direction but slightly faster than the walkers in front you’d have to say something and you wouldn’t do it from a long way off would you? It’s caused by the walkers being in a world of their own, nowt wrong with that but they shouldn’t complain (but they will) when you politley intrude on it. But I’d recommend against it coz listening to grief from walkers about a bell is not as good as riding.

Well away from bells; the Ramblers Assoc. were moaning at weekend that the spending cuts were going to cause footpaths to deteriorate/fall into disrepair. Not quite sure how that happens unless it means overgrown for which there is a simple answer.. campaign to get the footpaths open to horses and bikes. Job done, stop moaning.

I rang my bell behind some walkers who didn’t hear it, so I kept pinging it as I approached nearer and nearer, louder and louder then it broke. I then said excuse me at which point they jumped out of their skin and almost jumped in the canal! As I passed one said I should have a bell to which I replied I just broke it cos I was ringing it so hard! I wanted to tell her to get a hearing aid.

I don’t bother with a bell anymore and find my hope pro2 hub and misaligned front mech do the trick!

sounds like you just came across your common, average sanctimonious d**c*head. They live among us. It’s shocking, but some may even ride bikes.