I am going to get flamed for this but I am going to post it anyway.

Due to family commitments etc, I ride trail centres more often than I want for quick thrills while still having most of my weekend with the family.

To avoid hold ups, I normally go very early in the morning doing most of my ride in the dark this time of the year. However, I did a 20 hour shift on Thursday and is still recovering from that so went out a bit later than usual.

It was quite wet and a riding group decided to wait in the middle of the fire road chatting away oblivious to what’s happening around them (beginning of Swinley Red if you know the trail, I just finished the Red and heading for the rest of the blue) and leaving only the puddles on the side of the fireroad for me to get past.

In a moment a red mist, I decided to speed up, ride through the puddle (I’ve got no other routes to ride through anyway) as fast and as close to the front rider as I would dare hoping I would make him jump and splash him with muddy water at the same time.

Very stupid and anti social but I felt better afterwards.

If it was anyone from here, I do apologies, I probably didn’t ride fast or close enough to make you jump as I am a bit of a mincer.

Rant finish and run away.

I think that was quite reasonable behaviour. People who stand around on the trail are real pain in the arse.

thegeneralist – Member

I think that was quite reasonable behaviour. People who stand around on the trail are real pain in the arse.

Posted 12 seconds ago # Report-Post

THIS .

Is there still a massive clearing at the top of Red1?

If so, they should have been in it, not in the middle of the trail.

Yes, still a massive clearing at the top of Red1 but it was a bit muddy. Probably why they decided not to wait there.

At least I feel better now.

Don’t think you’ll get flamed,I’d have done the same. It’s just common sense to wait at the side of the trail,maybe they were a bit thick?..

probably had orange 5’s lol

Try riding in Leogang, the Germans love having a 5 minute meeting on the start platform and block anyone behind from getting through. I just hammer at them shouting vorsicht now.

Should’ve bunny hopped in to the puddle! Sometimes people can be a bit mindless without any bad intent. Don’t worry about it we all lose our rags a bit from time to time.

I have ridden over bikes.In my defence I was still flat chat as exited the singletrack for the steep uphill fire road section (not Strava….33/17 ss momentum is everything) and had the choice of that or exit stage left into the trees.
Proof that 29er DO roll over bikes better than 26.

Bit like skiing/snowboarding – nothing boils my p1ss faster than a group stood in the middle of a run..

Didn’t they hear your bell …

Happens at busy places. Just about to hit the jump after the corner on red 15 at Swinley and some Arseclown had left their bike on the landing. Luckily they managed to shift it before I landed on it.

Don’t need a bell, I have Pro II hubs on my bike which they should have heard.

Not unique to MTBers, roadies do it too. Wait at the top of a hill to regroup and they’ll be milling round all over the place, bikes at various random angles into the road.
Or the first rider will pull into a layby then everyone else will bunch up around it, spilling out across the road.

But then people do that at the supermarket too, stand obliviously in the middle of the aisle chatting, their trolleys blocking everything.

Must be some sort of human grouping thing. Crap design, whatever it is.

to be fair I thought the complaint was going to be about catching a stationary group who then all desperately set off seconds before you reach them in a bid to stay ahead of you, despite the fact the reason you’ve caught them is because you’ve been riding more quickly than them.

If I get caught like that I’ll invite them to pass; last thing I want is someone getting frustrated behind me, spoiling their ride and distracting me from mine.

Bit like skiing/snowboarding – nothing boils my p1ss faster than a group stood in the middle of a run..

isn’t the term for parked snowboarders a seal colony?

I am always staggered at the general lack of spacial awareness and respect for others in this country sometimes.

Dont knock yourself out over it bud , i find it happens a lot at trail centers these days. when i ride i like to flow through the whole section not stop and have a debate about it halfway. ok there are times when you might get a flat tyre or whatever but you pull over out of the way , its all about good trail manners.

I ended up having a bit of a rant at a group in Cannock for this exact reason… caught the back markers up the climb, but it was near enough the top so didn’t make any attempt to get past, rest of group stop at the top just before a big clearing and the back markers stop in the middle of the trail.

Yes I ride a Santa Cruz, no I don’t drive a black audi 8)

Yes a number of the group were on a mix of Fives and Alpine 160s 🙄

I read something once about a study into groups of people and how many had to be in the group before they became oblivious to their surroundings and their impacts on other people. It wasn’t many, 4 or 5 I think was enough in many cases.

Don’t think it’s bike related. It’s just people being selfish / not considering others / being oblivious to their surroundings.

As has been said, supermarkets are a good place to observe this, as are train stations (why stand on the stairs or stop at the bottom to gawp at the signs – move forwards to let others get off the stairs!), pavements (phone zombies! They’re everywhere), roads (middle lane hoggers anyone?), bridleways, etc, etc.

The only common denominator is people.

Si

Notice this all the time working at a train station. 22 doors open on a Pendolino and everyone gets in a queue for one or two doors.

Trail centres are a bit like marked snow pistes IMO. So you can expect people who don’t perhaps know or think about the correct conduct/behaviour. Though I can sympathise with the OP I think would have reacted along the lines of live and let live.

Though it does remind me of a situation last winter when a woman started screaming at me in the local forest becuase I had ‘splashed’ her boots with mud as I rode past. I started complaining back at her saying that she should look at the state of my boots and tights. Her bewildered reaction was a joy to behold!

I’ve missed this site while I’ve been away riding.

crashtestmonkey – Member
to be fair I thought the complaint was going to be about catching a stationary group who then all desperately set off seconds before you reach them in a bid to stay ahead of you, despite the fact the reason you’ve caught them is because you’ve been riding more quickly than them.
If I get caught like that I’ll invite them to pass; last thing I want is someone getting frustrated behind me, spoiling their ride and distracting me from mine

Talking of which, had a hilarious one the other week. A group of riders saw me approach, they scrambled to get in front of the middle aged man on ratty old hardtail. To try and stay in front on the climb they shortcut the switchbacks.

I read something once about a study into groups of people and how many had to be in the group before they became oblivious to their surroundings and their impacts on other people. It wasn’t many, 4 or 5 I think was enough in many cases.

This is it really. Pretty sure it’s not intentional just a facet of human behaviour.

I read something once about a study into groups of people

does seem that the collective IQ shows exponential decay with increasing group size. Most recent encounter like this was an airport parking bus – I opened the trailer with all the bags in as the driver was busy doing f– all and people just stood and stared like it was the Ark of the Covenant. Oh that’s not my bag right in front of me I couldn’t possibly lift it out and pass it to the person next to me, I’ll just stand here gawping until somehow my bag which is buried 10 deep appears at my feet.

It happens in the Summer all the time in the South Wales centres and BPW – the hairpin just before the very last part of The Wall is a favoured spot for a full on Granny Meeting – judging by thier accents they’re not local, I always assumed they’re down for a weekend and are more used to riding in local woods and having the place to themselves – they always move if I ask/shout/plead – depending on how fast or out of control I am at the time.

Back in the dark ages I used to ride the DH at Cwmcarn a lot, the XC used to pass the DH track right at the point of a decent sized drop off a fireroad – you’d be heading down at warp speed (or my level of warp speed anyway) into a sea of lads stood at the edge of it, either peering down mouthing “fuuuu that” or looking at you to entertain them – I was always scared to death of that drop at the best of times and having to shout to be able to see it didn’t help!

They’ve moved the XC now thank bawls.

airport baggage reclaim. stand a foot or so back from the line around the belt, then more people can easily see, and fit, at least if we all did it, and just step forward and grab the bag as it goes by. but no. stand in front of me, i’m just passing the time of day, after all…. 👿

Human nature when it comes to flying and airports in general utterly, utterly baffles me – from the fight / queue to get on the plane to your assigned seat first, to the fight to get off the the hateful thing first and yes the ruck to stand with your shins resting on the carousel just in case some bandit steals your bag or as if proximity will will your bag off first.

The maddest thing is the worst culprits are on package holidays when however quickly you manage to get out of the airport you’ve got to wait for the slowest, can’t-go-three-hours-without-a-fag muppet to get aboard the ‘come and see what you could have won’ bus anyway.

I’ve been on my one and only package holiday, I don’t want to do that again.

Trail Etiquette – people really struggle with it

I was riding with a big group in the alps last summer and when we’d stop (….lots in a group of 16) people would just stop on the trail

I became quite vocal on several occasions, reminding people that there are riders hammering down the trail

After about 3 days it started to sink in with people (and i still get ribbed about it!!)

I share your pain fella!!

Did you not think to say “excuse me” on the way up to them before getting angry?

A group of friends having a nice day out enjoying themselves are bound to be oblivious to what’s going on outside the group.

We’ve probably all done it but at least you’ve felt the shame 🙂

I think it’s fine.. We all need to stop for a chat, drink whatever sometimes but you don’t block the trail.. You need to allow people to pass through so you take your bikes and bodies off to one side to allow people to pass.

I suppose the exception would be if someone has had an equipment failure that’s just happened so they and thier company might not have had time to move off the trail. Depends on the circumstances really..

I’ve had it a few times, I tend to shout out in good time a polite warning ‘excuse me chaps Comming through!’ generally seems to work.

I’ve had exactly the same experience at trail centres. Worst one was when a group of maybe 8 or 10 are stopped, covering the entire fire road. Despite a polite hello and excuse me, not one of them acknowledged my presence and I literally had to ride off the road to get round them. 5 minutes later they overtake me, I say hello…..not one hello in return, excuse me…nothing. Slightly further up they’re stood in the middle of the road again. There’s at least a little bit of space to get round, but after two attempts at speaking to them and being blanked both times I sail through silently deciding not to make any further effort. It’s only after passing that I hear a very loud and sarcastic hello – I’m actually getting heckled for not acknowledging THEM.

If I was a tough guy, I would’ve went straight back and lamped him. But I’m not, so I just rode on in a quiet rage.

Two gnar lads smirked at my new fully rigid sspeed today and raced off to keep ahead of me. I’d already been round on my proper bike and as it was in the van, thought I’d have a quick blast as it was delivered only yesterday. I felt a bit bad when they had to let me by. We’re all there to have fun….

Two gnar lads smirked at my new fully rigid sspeed today and raced off to keep ahead of me. I’d already been round on my proper bike and as it was in the van, thought I’d have a quick blast as it was delivered only yesterday. I felt a bit bad when they had to let me by.

Swoons

Hands off…..he’s mine ,you harlot.

Not too unreasonable, it gets pretty annoying. Last time I was at Woburn there was a large gaggle of neon-clad middle aged enduro-ers who kept gathering at the top of the dh trails. All got in the way when people were waiting to take runs, didn’t affect me luckily so I kept my nose out but would have been annoying if they kept getting in the way, seemingly oblivious. Perhaps they can’t see our tiny 26″ wheels.

Swoons

And so you should 😉
I did ride back after that though as I was all gnarred out. Also I couldn’t feel my hands due to the shaking 😆

On a road ride last year I accidently got onto a Sportive route – didn’t even know the event was going on until I saw some signage.

Coming down a tiny lane with a sharp dogleg bend in it and, right on the exit of the corner was a rider with his bike upside down fixing a puncture. I missed him by inches – simply couldn’t see him until you were on the corner exit taking the obvious line and he was right on it.

I stopped a few metres further up where there was a small layby and suggested he might want to move his bike into there but he just said he was nearly done and carried on. As I turned to ride off he bent over double, his arse sticking right out as he started pumping his tyre up.

I rode off and next thing I heard from behind me was a soft thump and a crash as the next rider came round the corner and went right into him. Total idiot – zero spatial awareness of what the road was like and what a dangerous position he’d put himself into.