Pedestrians <again> - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

10-04-2003, 09:54 AM

Never overestimate the alertness or intelligence of the bike
path pedestrian.

Last week I had two fun encounters.

The first one, a young lady was walking her dawg on a leash,
and was standing in front of a small opening in a log fence
leading to the park and the bike trail. I hollar 'bike', and
proceed to the opening. Her dog leash is on the ground, but
she's on one side of the opening, and doggie is on the other.
She tenses up when I holler 'bike', stretching the leash taut,
and looks dazed and confused. At this point I'm in full pedal
for the opening. She tries frantically to reel said pooch back
to her, and poochie, of course, struggles to go the other way.

Sheesh. Finally when collision seems imminent, light dawns and
she steps -into- my path heading towards the dog. Huh? What
timing, what panache. I barely miss her, have to jump off the
pedals, and flintstone, and manage to squeek by narroly missing
getting impaled on the wooden fence.

Earlier, on a narrowed section of the woods trail, due to the
hanging debris from H. Isabel, I see a mother with three small
children. I holler 'bike'. She turns to see me coming, she and
her brood being about 3-4 feet from the narrowed opening.

Does she wait a second or two for me to get by? No! She gets
confused and ushers her brood into the opening, as though the
gates of heaven are closing for last call, and as I get about 6
feet from her, she gets in the opening as well, and turns to
look at me, presumably to see me sail off into the shrubbery.

Realizing that two objects can't occupy the same space, I
flintstone again, and get entangled in the brush. At which
point, she says 'oh, sorry'.

I'm thinking I need an air horn, a bell, a grappling hook, a
boxing glove on a spring and a cow-catcher attachment on the
trail bike.

Just another fun aspect of trail biking! ;-)

Instead of muttering obscenities at the pedestrians with no
earthly clue, I think from now on I might get an air horn and
honk it at them when they say 'oh, sorry', and follow it up
with a smile and a slightly startled look: 'oh, no problem,
oops, sorry, that pesky airhorn keeps going off by itself'. ;-P

-B

--
Email Replies to johnson<nospm>01j <att> ntelos <dott> net

10-04-2003, 10:10 AM

"Badger South" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].Virginia.EDU> wrote in message
news:blmu0m$2kq$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].Virginia.EDU...
> Never overestimate the alertness or intelligence of the bike
> path pedestrian.

<snip>

> Instead of muttering obscenities at the pedestrians with no
> earthly clue, I think from now on I might get an air horn and
> honk it at them when they say 'oh, sorry', and follow it up
> with a smile and a slightly startled look: 'oh, no problem,
> oops, sorry, that pesky airhorn keeps going off by itself'. ;-P

From what you have written, it sounds like you need to realize that "bike
paths" are almost always treated as multi-use trails which are hardly better
than a sidewalk. Just like you wouldn't ride fast on a sidewalk, you should
ride fast here either. Save the spped for the roads where all of the traffic
is expected to be moving faster than a walking pace.

-Buck

10-04-2003, 10:29 AM

Badger South wrote:
> Never overestimate the alertness or intelligence of the bike
> path pedestrian.
>
> Last week I had two fun encounters.
>
> The first one, a young lady was walking her dawg on a leash,
> and was standing in front of a small opening in a log fence
> leading to the park and the bike trail. I hollar 'bike', and
> proceed to the opening. Her dog leash is on the ground, but
> she's on one side of the opening, and doggie is on the other.
> She tenses up when I holler 'bike', stretching the leash taut,
> and looks dazed and confused. At this point I'm in full pedal
> for the opening. She tries frantically to reel said pooch back
> to her, and poochie, of course, struggles to go the other way.
>
> Sheesh. Finally when collision seems imminent, light dawns and
> she steps -into- my path heading towards the dog. Huh? What
> timing, what panache. I barely miss her, have to jump off the
> pedals, and flintstone, and manage to squeek by narroly missing
> getting impaled on the wooden fence.
>
> Earlier, on a narrowed section of the woods trail, due to the
> hanging debris from H. Isabel, I see a mother with three small
> children. I holler 'bike'. She turns to see me coming, she and
> her brood being about 3-4 feet from the narrowed opening.
>
> Does she wait a second or two for me to get by? No! She gets
> confused and ushers her brood into the opening, as though the
> gates of heaven are closing for last call, and as I get about 6
> feet from her, she gets in the opening as well, and turns to
> look at me, presumably to see me sail off into the shrubbery.
>
> Realizing that two objects can't occupy the same space, I
> flintstone again, and get entangled in the brush. At which
> point, she says 'oh, sorry'.
>
> I'm thinking I need an air horn, a bell, a grappling hook, a
> boxing glove on a spring and a cow-catcher attachment on the
> trail bike.
>
> Just another fun aspect of trail biking! ;-)
>
> Instead of muttering obscenities at the pedestrians with no
> earthly clue, I think from now on I might get an air horn and
> honk it at them when they say 'oh, sorry', and follow it up
> with a smile and a slightly startled look: 'oh, no problem,
> oops, sorry, that pesky airhorn keeps going off by itself'. ;-P
>
> -B

Yeah. I used to ride like that too. Before I got strong enough to get back
to speed again once I'd slowed down to share the path with someone.

--
Perre

You have to be smarter than a robot to reply.

10-04-2003, 10:31 AM

In article <BaDfb.56396$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].com>,
Buck <s c h w i n n _ f o r _ s a l e @ h o t m a i l . c o m> wrote:
>"Badger South" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].Virginia.EDU> wrote in message
>news:blmu0m$2kq$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].Virginia.EDU...
>> Never overestimate the alertness or intelligence of the bike
>> path pedestrian.
>
><snip>
>
>> Instead of muttering obscenities at the pedestrians with no
>> earthly clue, I think from now on I might get an air horn and
>> honk it at them when they say 'oh, sorry', and follow it up
>> with a smile and a slightly startled look: 'oh, no problem,
>> oops, sorry, that pesky airhorn keeps going off by itself'. ;-P
>
>
>From what you have written, it sounds like you need to realize that "bike
>paths" are almost always treated as multi-use trails which are hardly better
>than a sidewalk. Just like you wouldn't ride fast on a sidewalk, you should
>ride fast here either. Save the spped for the roads where all of the traffic
>is expected to be moving faster than a walking pace.
>
>-Buck

Yeah, I know that. I was just offering a humorous, but true
anecdote. Surely you can tell by the comment that I was able to
jump off the pedals and stop with my feet that I was not
traveling quickly at all.

What is puzzling is the daft actions of the people walking.
There are several ppl that ride bikes on this trail, but the
walkers all act like 'OMG, it's a bizarre unknown contraption,
what on earth should I do now?' In addition all the walkers are
supposed to have their dogs on a leash, and none of them do it.
When the dog jumps up on you and knocks you back, or jumps in
front of the bik, they say, 'oh, he doesn't bite, he's just
being friendly'. I say, that's nice, but I don't want him to
jump on me and be friendly right now.

One should be able to expect that the pedestrians would just
calmly move to the side and let a biker through, with
sufficient warning; and most of them do. It's the few that
don't seem to know left from right, or seem to consider the
best response to be jump in front of you for a better view! ;-)

Lighten up.

-B

--
Email Replies to johnson<nospm>01j <att> ntelos <dott> net

10-04-2003, 10:53 AM

In article <dsDfb.31506$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>,
Per Elmsäter <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>Badger South wrote:
>> Never overestimate the alertness or intelligence of the bike
>> path pedestrian.
<snippage>
>> -B
>
>Yeah. I used to ride like that too. Before I got strong enough to get back
>to speed again once I'd slowed down to share the path with someone.
>
>--
>Perre
>
>You have to be smarter than a robot to reply.

Hmm, not sure if you're seeing it as humor, but I do travel
slowly when approaching pedestrians. I'm coasting, and am
prepared to stop.

Just thought fellow trail bikers would appreciate a couple
funny diatribes. Oh well. ;-)

-B

--
Email Replies to johnson<nospm>01j <att> ntelos <dott> net

10-04-2003, 11:03 AM

"Badger South" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].Virginia.EDU> wrote in message
news:bln04p$3aq$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].Virginia.EDU...
> One should be able to expect that the pedestrians would just
> calmly move to the side and let a biker through, with
> sufficient warning; and most of them do. It's the few that
> don't seem to know left from right, or seem to consider the
> best response to be jump in front of you for a better view! ;-)

You're thinking about it. They aren't. You expect too much.

And they have the right of way, and you have the obligation to yield.

RichC

10-04-2003, 11:18 AM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>,
Rich Clark <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>
>"Badger South" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].Virginia.EDU> wrote in message
>news:bln04p$3aq$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].Virginia.EDU...
>> One should be able to expect that the pedestrians would just
>> calmly move to the side and let a biker through, with
>> sufficient warning; and most of them do. It's the few that
>> don't seem to know left from right, or seem to consider the
>> best response to be jump in front of you for a better view! ;-)
>
>You're thinking about it. They aren't. You expect too much.
>
>And they have the right of way, and you have the obligation to yield.
>
>RichC

Point taken; and I do realize this. I'd have thought the post
would have provoked light-hearted replies or tales of similar
ilk, but you guys are just too durn sensible and level-headed.

I kinda expected a biking group to be on the side of the
bikers. I guess it comes from long experience and the
inevitability of the issue.

Best,

-B

--
Email Replies to johnson<nospm>01j <att> ntelos <dott> net

10-04-2003, 11:45 AM

"Badger South" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].Virginia.EDU> wrote in message
news:blmu0m$2kq$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].Virginia.EDU...
> Never overestimate the alertness or intelligence of the bike
> path pedestrian.
>
> Last week I had two fun encounters.
>
[snip]
> At this point I'm in full pedal for the opening....
[snip]

Therein lies the problem.

Pete

10-04-2003, 12:03 PM

On Sat, 4 Oct 2003 16:54:46 +0000 (UTC), [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
(Badger South) wrote:

>Never overestimate the alertness or intelligence of the bike
>path pedestrian.

There is no such thing as a bike path, as you probably now realize.

--
Chris Bird

10-04-2003, 01:13 PM

"Badger South" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].Virginia.EDU> wrote in message
news:bln2to$48q$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].Virginia.EDU...

> Point taken; and I do realize this. I'd have thought the post
> would have provoked light-hearted replies or tales of similar
> ilk, but you guys are just too durn sensible and level-headed.
>
> I kinda expected a biking group to be on the side of the
> bikers. I guess it comes from long experience and the
> inevitability of the issue.

By your posting history and general attitude, it is obvious you haven't been
around this newsgroup for very long. You will find help on just about any
cycling issue, but the actions you describe are the kind that drive a deeper
wedge between us as cycling advocates and the general public.

Now, if you were in a bike lane or on a public street, or perhaps if you
were riding responsibly on a multi-use path, you might have had a more
sympathetic reaction. But the way you described it just made you look
irresponsible in your actions. You did say that you were "in full pedal for
the opening." If you said you were full onto the brakes when the dog ran
across the path, then the reaction would have been more to your liking. But
what you described is something that reflects poorly on all of us. That's
why the response wasn't positive.

-Buck