Walkers on mountain bile trails

Bumped into a group of about 30 of them on way marked singletrack MTB trails this morning.

When I told them they were on a trail I was met with the usual “Where is your bell?”, “It is up to cyclists to be cautious” and the best “I know, but it doesn’t say you can’t walk on it like it doesn’t say you can’t fly a plane on it.”

Common semse would dictate that they were in the wrong but they wouldn’t have it.

Moan over.

I have encountered walkers on follow the dog at Cannock… I stopped and explained that they were probably best to leave by the shortest route for their own safety as it was a dedicated bike trail. I got a similar response to you.

Do you ever ride on footpaths?

Knobbers aren’t they? They have the whole sodding countryside they can walk on and they choose to hog the trails, Selfish.
Not all walkers are like this, obviously.

wait for them to give you a cheery hello, then give them the rambler stare in return

Do you ever ride on footpaths?

Yes, & if Im caught then Im in the wrong.

But for a walker to deliberately put themselves onto a mtb specific trail & ergo into danger & then act as if they are are the ones being wronged.

The arrogance & stupidity is beyond words.

My sympathies are with the OP.

The arrogance & stupidity is beyond words.

My sympathies are with the OP.

he’s encountered walkers on a trail, not had his child mutilated by a dangerous dog FFS! 😆

Hang on a second yunki.

Hes been given sh1t by a walker on a trail made for mtbs yet somehow you sound like you sympathise with the walker?

Think about it – your hooning down a trail (made for mtbs) & then pop round a corner comes a walker & you ping off into the bushes (as a direct result of the that walkers presence). How are you going to feel?

I for one would be plenty p1ssed off about it.

You can laugh about it but I dont think its all that funny…the consequences could be very nasty indeed.

If you cant either live & let live or respect one anothers space then Ive little time for you. Not you personally but that attitude.

I nearly crashed into a walker on the North downhill at Whinlatter, he didn’t see me coming because he was going in the same direction as me. When I confronted him he said he didn’t think anyone would be using the trail that late in the day!!! 😕 😯

Is it OK for me to ride my unicycle on MTB trails?

Think about it – your hooning down a trail (made for mtbs) & then pop round a corner there’s a unicyclist who’s just fallen off on a tricky bit & you ping off into the bushes (as a direct result of the that unicyclists presence). How are you going to feel?

Or should you maybe back off a bit so that you can cope if you find something unexpected on the trail?

Not that I’m defending people walking on bike trails – they’re fools – just a little concerned by the attitude which always seems to crop up on these threads that bike trails are for hooning down so fast that it’s impossible to stop if you come across a rider down.

sorry Lebowski..

I was just poking a bit of light hearted fun at your comment on this dull Saturday afternoon.. sorry to have offended you, I can see that you take life very seriously indeed..

FWIW I imagine a glut of walkers getting similarly upset by the actions of MTBers on a weekly basis

Think about it – your hooning down a trail (made for mtbs) & then pop round a corner there’s a unicyclist who’s just fallen off on a tricky bit & you ping off into the bushes (as a direct result of the that unicyclists presence). How are you going to feel?

Acceptable risk plus the unicyclist has a right to be there.

The walker doesnt.

Note: Ill ride at the speed that I think is applicable for the conditions.

I was just poking a bit of light hearted fun at your comment on this dull Saturday afternoon.. sorry to have offended you, I can see that you take life very seriously indeed..

No worries SIr, Im bored sh1tless too. There are just some things I have little time for – deliberately endangering yourself & others is one of them. Its the height of bad manners!

We encountered militant ramblers at Gisburn a few months ago. Nearly hit them on the singletrack. We warned them they were on marked bike trails. they asserted their right to walk “wherever they like!”Debs came off after nearly hitting them – they were walking up the boards on the north shore section. After she binned it off the boards so as not to hit them, they carried on walking. Never even stopped to see if she was ok! I’m assured they received a well deserved volley of abuse for this. And she’s from Wigan. She can swear, that girl

Harry it sounds like you started off by being a bit of a knob and got a cold reception, instead of just ‘morning’ which is what I would normally have done.

So what if it’s a waymarked mtb trail? We are all people out enjoying the countryside and you go and give these people the wrong image of bikers as arrogant and shirty types.

Did they cause you to swerve and crash? Doesn’t sound like it.

Harry it sounds like you started off by being a bit of a knob

Were you there or are you making a judgement from about 200 miles away as your name would suggest?

I just told them that they were walking on designated bike trails and ended up getting a load of flak off them.

Hes been given sh1t by a walker on a trail made for mtbs yet somehow you sound like you sympathise with the walker?

Lets reverse the situation who do you sympathise with
And really calm down its a little light debate/discussion wher ehe rightly pointed out that the phrase though in glas houses .. FFS we ride footpaths everywhere – what exact rght would we have to then get uppity when walkers claim our bits?

It is starling piece of hypocrisy [ it part of the human condition and I apply it to all the users here walkers or MTB er [ yes i ride footpaths]

Its amusing to see us get all hollier than though whilst chuckling at the cheeky trails rule

Walking on a mtb trail is probably quite dangerous but do you think a walker has never been hit on a footpath by a bike?

Apparently we dont like them doing what we are happy to do

FFS now we are calling each other names I am oot
OP I dont think you would have been rude to them

Does everyone have to be so bloody grumpy?

They were only out looking for some “cheeky footpaths”

Can’t see the issue, nobody got hurt.

They are probably on a Walking Boots forum complaining that some “Holier than thou Ankle Socker” gobbed off at them for walking a cheeky footpath even though there was no risk of anyone getting hurt.

I hit a jogger, jogging up the fort bill WC course, earphones in, looking at the ground at 2 in the afternoon.

I hit him so hard he fell to the ground and broke 3 teeth from the impact. I could possibly have avoided him by steering off course but I would have been in a real mess had I done so.

They are not being grumpy, they are just being more right than each other. Rather like the op’s walkers.

Encountered a group of 8 french people walking up the fort bill downhill this summer, i nearly took out 3 of them. I tried to explain they shouldnt be there and how much danger they were in, all i got was blank stares and a merci

Pfft walkers, a few weeks back I met 2 horses being ridden the wrong way round the red/blue at kirrougtree – they had made a right state of the trail.

I wonder what the legal position is if you hit someone who is eg. jogging/riding a horse the wrong way round a waymarked trail?

Andy

Just be polite and move on, life’s too short

You should ride within your limits and be able to stop for whatever’s in the way. Yes, it’s daft of them to do it, but if a someone wiped my kids out while they were riding their bikes on an mtb trail, because they were assuming they’re able to ride flat out regardless, I’d be pretty annoyed. We ride footpaths and complain when walkers claim them as their own.
Live and let live – what yunki wrote

Lets reverse the situation who do you sympathise with
And really calm down its a little light debate/discussion wher ehe rightly pointed out that the phrase though in glas houses .. FFS we ride footpaths everywhere – what exact rght would we have to then get uppity when walkers claim our bits?

This is the thing.

Live & let live BUT some just cant.

Its a shame.

What was it Frank Zappa said: “Do what you want, do what you will – just dont spoil your neighbours thrill..” I could be wrong..

Its not holier than thou at all either. Its a case of being deliberately irresponsible, I’d be just as annoyed if someone went down Snowdon on a bank holiday August & ploughed through a load of walkers..

You should ride within your limits and be able to stop for whatever’s in the way.

Agreed.

If it’s a closed trail race, go for your it. If it’s anywhere else, ride within limits which would allow you to avoid any unforeseen obstacle. Even at a trail centre. Many of them are in shared access areas, and it’s quite possible that people would get lost, get it wrong etc. Just the same as any of us have “got lost” or “got it wrong a little” when we find ourselves on a footpath.

Reading threads like these makes me disgusted to call myself a mtb’er.

I would have greeted them, passed pleasantries and went on enjoying my ride.

It doesn’t sound like the OP was overly rude. A pleasant “be aware” message would have been in their interests, especially if they were actually lost and didn’t know what they could be facing.

Some of the other posters need to have a word with themselves though. That walker coming up the trail could be another, fallen rider. If you can’t see far enough ahead to be able to stop for an obstruction then you are simply going too fast.

There are a few bits of GT and Inners that are shared use trails.

I’ve run into walkers on the ‘Simon’s Swamp’ section at Gisburn before now, both times i’ve stopped and pointed out (politely) that they were on the wrong trails and putting themselves in danger from fast moving bikes on a one-way trail.
Both times the walkers were polite and admitted they were lost, trying to get to the Hall from the Crag.
Personally i don’t think they were actually lost as the signposts are perfectly clear and make it ver obvious that it is a cycle-only trail, but i don’t think they wanted to admit they thought they could walk it without risk to themselves of others.
Everyone was nice and friendly, but i do wonder how pleasant they would have been had they been hit by bikes heading down the berms on the other side of the swamp..

I would have greeted them, passed pleasantries and went on enjoying my ride.

I hate hippies

The bare basics are its just plain unsafe to be walking on trails meant for riding … sucks the OP gets abused for offering some advice on ‘safety’ not a lecture on rights of way.

Most ride on footpaths and I would assume that when you do you exercise the degree of caution required for the potential of slower moving walkers on the trail as you have made the assumption that there will be walkers on the paths … when I ride dedicated mountain bike trails I am no way expecting people to be walking on them.

Again I don’t think the issue is rights of way just safety … what if it was a mountain biker riding the wrong way round a way marked trail .. he would get offered the same ‘safety’ advice.

Walkers can be testing – but horse riders are just kinda special ..

I had a puncture this afternoon. So kneeling on side of fire road pumping tyre up …. when an approaching woman on a horse shouted for me to stop pumping my tyre because it would scare her horse …

If her horse is that sensitive. Then its best kept in a field out of the way I thinking.

Acceptable risk plus the unicyclist has a right to be there.

Screw that, it’s a bike trail not a unicycle trail. Just take the standard issue Strava stance (plough through)

I came flying down ‘Falla Brae’ at Glentress this summer to find a chinese family walking up It 😆

I tried to explain it was a mtb trail only to be met with vacant stares.

If her horse is that sensitive. Then its best kept in a field out of the way I thinking.

Ever been kicked by a horse…

Just be polite and move on, life’s too short

Preposterous

general good manners to be nice to walkers/other trail users be it footpath/bridleway/BOAT/road/canal – they genuinely might be lost or not know the consequences of their actions. if they are a bunch of nobs so be it, karma will hunt them don’t and own them with bombers. much worse things happening in the world to worry about tbh

I’ve been lucky enough not to encounter walkers on any downward sections of trail. Normally I’ll politely point out they’re on an MTB dedicated trail and on the downhill sections they’ll be putting themseleves in danger. If I’d been Binners friend however I would have gone nuts about the walkers on the boardwalk, it’s very difficult to stop on parts of it and there’s a couple of foot drop to the ground, plus Gisburn is one of the few trails where the signage actually prohibts walkers and horses from the trails.

I do like it though when they ask what right I’ve got to tell them not to walk the trails I point out I built them 😈 (many sections go through dense woodland you wouldn’t have been able to walk through before).

Most walkers though are just ignorant (i.e. they don’t realise they’re not supposed to be there rather than nasty), politely pointing out the issues gives them the chance to take it on board without feeling backed into a corner.

You’ve also got to be careful, many FC trails aren’t dedicated to mountain bikes like Gisburn is and even then there’s at least one section that follows the route of a ROW footpath for a couple of hundred metres so the walkers have every right to be there.