The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – trail centres

I just don’t understand how anyone can be anything other than happy to see youngsters out riding regardless of whether it may slow them a little.
There was a 7 year old at BPW the other day who we caught early on riding Terry’s Belly. Was great seeing him enjoying himself and we didn’t think for a minute of barging past.
I guess it comes down to the same old thing, just because someone rides a bike doesn’t mean they are a nice person. Shame.

There was a 3-4 year old at the highest point of the green at Glentrool today. With her balance bike!

HTF can you not interact in a positive way with a kid with that level of determination?

One of my fave wee riding moments was at glentress on the red coming to the end of one of the descents and came across a small lad a bit behind his dad. I should have let him in know I was there but just slowed a bit and let him make his way down. When I passed him on the fire road I told him he had done a great job riding down and his smile said it all. Trouble is while chatting I lost my balance a bit and nearly ended up in a ditch. That had him smiling too!

Young un’s deserve an extra bit of respect and space, you never know that kid might be a top rider one day.

I love seeing nippers out on the trails, I’ll gladly sit well back while they enjoy the trails and if they want to pull over then I’ll give them a congratulatory fist bump or high five and a ‘keep being awesome!’

Anyone that wants to gnar past sucks IME.

Very happy to encourage any kids on trails and that includes acting as a buffer* if need be and soaking up the frustration that people with time constraints might have so junior can get on with enjoying their ride…

(I don’t have kids, but will do this until I can get a clear pass if I catch up someone out with theirs…. )

You hassle, bump, or hurry any kid on the trail. You’re a dick.

TBH it isn’t a one way street if you are the parent you also need to be aware of what your kids are doing and in a lot of cases it would be better to let faster riders through.

Also if you are passing kids its often better just to come past quick without shouting, as shouting can cause then to loose focus and concentration.

Also if you are passing kids its often better just to come past quick without shouting, as shouting can cause then to loose focus and concentration.

But scare the shit out of them. But who cares, its not as if their real people!

Trail centres are for leisure riding, if you want to race, sign up for a race, there’s loads of them going on all the time…

Also if you are passing kids its often better just to come past quick without shouting, as shouting can cause then to loose focus and concentration.

Indeed everyone prefers it when someone creeps up on them announced and bombs past them startling them. Works with women late at night as well and Horses they love that sort of thing.

Unbelievable. The self centred attitude of some people is just amazing. We are talking about riding bikes off-road, not proper grown up stuff, not racing, not religion and not politics. Holding faster riders up?!? What? Up from what? What is more important in their sorry little lives than in that of the kids? Why should their fun take priority. Were these people hatched? This me, me, me attitude is spreading everywhere and it really grinds my gears (unless single speeding obviously).

Well if the faster rider lets you know they’re there, then you can find a place which you consider is suitable to let them through.

Is there a parallel universe somewhere where faster riders are complaining about ending up in the bushes because little kids didn’t let them through?

You hassle, bump, or hurry any kid on the trail. You’re a dick.

You hassle, bump, or hurry anyone on the trail, you deserve a **** smack in the pus and five minutes in the naughty corner thinking about what you’ve done. When you’re riding a sodding pushbike for shits and giggles nothing about what you are doing right now is important enough to merit being a git. If you want to go fast, stop and wait and then go again when it’s clear.

“Time constraints” my skinny white arse. Jesus.

if you want to race, sign up for a race, there’s loads of them going on all the time…

This. Pin a number on or shut the **** up. And even then I’ve seen some unacceptable bullshit from middle-aged failures giving slower riders serious grief so they can place 5th out of their category of 7 in round three of Bob’s Bikes XC Winter Mince Series or something.

You’re riding a bike in the woods! It’s a ridiculous bit of juvenile fun! Stop being a dick about it!

Never realised there was so many selfish **** on here. Kids out on trail centres are learning is it really that difficult to wait a couple of minutes FFS

I apologised once more

why did you apologise to cinnamon girl the time-constrained rider if you did nothing wrong?

having said that, as a parent, some parents need to realize that not everyone needs to share in their little darlings’ umbling and fumbling in the middle of the trail/pavement/cinema and the considerate thing to do would be to be aware of the circs and move over!

Might be not getting the gist of what you are saying but to me it sounds like you are riding in front of your little one. If you are I suggest you try riding behind. Much safer for you both IMHO.
Not only are you a more imposing obstacle for rapidly closing riders but I found that the kids were far more motivated when leading as opposed to following.
As always we try and get out of the way if we can. I call “rider” to offspring so as the following rider knows I have seen them. Offspring stops when he feels safe etc.

konabunny – Member
having said that, as a parent, some parents need to realize that not everyone needs to share in their little darlings’ umbling and fumbling in the middle of the trail/pavement/cinema and the considerate thing to do would be to be aware of the circs and move over!

We do try, but it can be quite tricky sometimes – the Beast has a habit of steering where she looks and over correcting the steering excessively. Doesn’t help when a far more awesome rider on their bridleslayer comes penking past.

If your kid can’t ride in a straight line as someone passes I’d query whether they should be at a trail centre.

Some parents are so bloody precious of their kids and don’t seem to realise they don’t own the place, and do need to be considerate to others.

Nah – not trail centre – just a normal cycleway (Prudhoe to Wylam today) – me riding behind keeping lookout, reminding her to keep over when others approaching etc.

Wouldn’t take them to a trail centre as they just get in the way.

If your kid can’t ride in a straight line as someone passes I’d query whether they should be at a trail centre.

Its the wake that your awesomeness causes as you fly past that creates the real problem. Well that and the over powering smell of testosterone
TBH they dont like crossing your bridge much
Its not rocket science riders should give some extra space and time to inexperienced and vulnerable users be it kids or noobs or whomever.
Parents/ the slower riders let the fast riders pass when appropriate.

Does everything on here need to descend to playground antics?

this sentence is just for the benefit of aracer 😉

If I see a kid on the trail, I’ll hang right back so as not to spook or put pressure on them. If I see them struggling, I tell them how well they’re doing, and how much better than me they are because I couldn’t ride a bike until I was 27. I love seeing kids out riding.

Unless they are actually better than me, in which case I scowl at them and shove sticks in their wheels. Little gits.

If I’m riding at a trail centre with my kids, they go in front of me, not behind.

That way, I keep an ear out for people behind, and any intimidation from impatient riders is born by me, not my kids.

dragon – Member

If your kid can’t ride in a straight line as someone passes I’d query whether they should be at a trail centre.

You’re talking about riding past them without warning them, ambushing riders like that can surprise anyone. Even in racing where you’re expecting overtakes you’ve got to do it right or you risk accidents, here you’re talking about doing it to a kid, for no reason at all, and blaming them if it goes wrong.

That’s all I can say because we’re not allowed to insult people, and I really really want to.

I’m so glad I don’t have kids. This amount of rage would be very bad for my health.

🙂

Agree on giving kids space. This extends to any newb though.

Also agree there has to be a sensible degree of come and go between both parties. Nobody owns the trails, we all want to be there and enjoy ourselves but you have to be mutually respectful (a bit like the roads really).

I can barely ride in a straight line.

😯 ‘Kin ‘ell. All the big hitters crawled out from under their stones today.

If you don’t like being held up by some little’uns for a brief moment whilst you wait for a convenient and safe place to pass stay off the family trails and stick to the gnarly red and black ones.

Interesting to note some of the posters complaining about kids would be the 1st to post/complain/criticise if a car/van/truck on the road didn’t pass giving adequate space.

bowglie – Member
Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed an increase in this sort of selfish d*ick head behaviour with the increase in popularity of Strava?

No it’s become more prevalent since the huge increase in cycling about 3 or 4 years ago. More people = more idiots. But there have always been idiots.

The time constraints passing a child or slowing down are negligible.

If your day is that pressing then you need to sort out your choices. A good rider will easily make up the time elsewhere anyway.

+1 fin25

If you don’t like being held up by some little’uns for a brief moment whilst you wait for a convenient and safe place to pass stay off the family trails and stick to the gnarly red and black ones.

+100

I don’t like kids. Don’t want any of my own and can’t stand them a lot of the time. But when I see kids enjoying themselves on bikes anywhere is just lifts my spirits so much, they’ve got a lifetime to enjoy riding bikes and their just starting – sweet! I love encouraging them along when I can.

These people who don’t like to be held up – on blue trails? Are you kidding me? Get a life and learn some handling skills so you can go on the red routes, they aren’t hard.

From what I can work out, most of us* big hitters who usually complain about cars not giving enough space are actually on the side of those complaining about other riders not giving kids space. If anything I suspect those who want the kids to get out of their way might be people who take the side of the motorist.

* well I’ve been accused of that more than once recently, so thought I should probably include myself

I’m not reading this thread and seeing loads of people who think it’s ok to shove kids out the way and so on, almost exclusively the opposite. Apart from CG, who I assume didn’t read the OP properly and got the wrong end of the stick before posting what appears to be a very out of character response, and a couple of others quite properly playing devil’s advocate. But I could be mistaken.

The Bad

A couple of weeks before we were riding a twisting section cue prat on bike, barely wide enough for 2 bikes, pushes past my 6 year old and causes her to fall. His girlfriend who also passes stops, not a word in communication from him before nudgng past, he stops at the bottom of the hill, I think me looking like I was going to smash him over the head with his bike may of helped. Its not as if this was a red or advanced trail just some prat trying to prove he is king of the MTB on a baby trail.

…Gnarsehole

^ good work

Gnarsehole

Could be my new favourite word