I was on a trail I had ridden many times. The trail I was on merges with another trail. They run along side each other with my trail about 8 inches lower than the other for about 30 yards (meters) before my trail narrows and ramps up to merge with the other trail. When I got to where they start to run along side each other I looked back up the other trail to see if anyone was coming. There was no one back to the corner about 50 yards back, so I focused my attention on the people in front of me. I figured anyone coming fast from behind me on the other trail should be able to see that I had no place else to go but merge onto their trail and they would have time to deal.


About 50 yards after the merge I heard a rider announce he was passing me. When he was by me he looked back with murder in his eyes that made me flinch. He then slowed down obviously to force me to pass him back and I knew I was in trouble. I eased up next to him to let him have his say and he yelled at me that I merged right in front of him. I apologized, said I looked back when the trails became parallel and didn't see anyone, apologized again and finished passing him. He then passed me back, yelling at me more as he went by and I apologized again.


He continued to yo-yo me. Passing me, then slowing way down to force me to pass him back and yelling at me each time. He was extremely dramatic about it, saying things like I almost killed him, he almost was paralyzed for life, I almost wrecked his bike, I would have just left him to bleed to death in the wreckage of his bike... The first few times I apologized. Then I tried to ignore him. A few times I yelled back things like "I already apologized several times. What more do you want from me?" "You should have seen I was going to merge. It wasn't entirely my fault." and finally "If someone merging onto a bike trail ahead of you is the worst thing that's ever happened to you, you must have had a dang good life so far!". After about 3 miles of this I latched onto the back of a group of very slow elderly riders. He started to yell at me some more as he passed me again, but the other riders looked at him and he shut up and continued on ahead. I stayed with the slow group for a good long while to let this guy get a long way ahead of me before speeding back up to my normal pace.


The next mile I didn't see any sign of my new buddy. I stopped at a red light and there were several other riders there. Just as the light turned green he pulled up along side and a little behind me. Across the road the trail splits with one going to the right and one going straight. Everyone else went right. I went straight with my BFF right along side me yelling in my ear. Saying I am a menace and shouldn't be riding a bike, I almost killed him... After a few more blocks of me ignoring him he turned around and rode off.
I've ridden 1000s of miles on these trail over the years. Cyclists, runners, walkers, dogs and even an occasional free range chicken popping onto the trail right in front of me happens all the time. Other than a reflexive "whoops" or "watch it" on a few close calls I've never thought about yelling at anyone for that, let alone hound them for 6 miles.


I'm thinking the MUPs might not be the best riding environment for this guy's temperament.