English. Yeah, I had a spot of confusion once in the States asking someone if they had a rubber. (Eraser) :D

Sure there is -- stop and toss the bikes into the bushes.

Probably depends on your MUP. On our local MUP, I'd say 90% of users are familiar with proper signaling. Additionally, you can usually break them down into groups based on their behavior. Almost all runners (at least, those who run enough to achieve a decent pace) are familiar with it and often respond with a brief wave to acknowledge your signal. All cyclists moving at over 12 mph (and most under that) are familiar with it. These groups make up most of the weekday population and the entire bad-weather population of our MUP.

The only people who don't get it are people who use the trail a couple of times a year. You're talking about weekends in the spring and fall in heavily residential areas - and I avoid the MUP like the plague during those times. Other times, I usally average 1 moron per 10 miles, and I can't complain at that.

I have basically stopped using direction words, like "left", because I find that kids tend to move left when they hear the word left. That only makes matters worse. Now I tend to announce "bicycle" and everyone seems to know what to do.

I like the metric of Morons/mile.

Weekends on the MUP I'd guess I see about .1; weekday commute on on-road bike paths, maybe .01.

I usually ring the bell 3 times when I'm passing. I find that gives them a better idea of how fast I'm coming up. Usually I'll slow down a bit if there's more than one non-cyclist or they're with little children or pets.
MUPs here are about 6ft (2m) wide most of the time. Some places are really wide while other spots are slightly narrower. If there are peds or bladers blocking the entire lane up and oblivious to the fact that I'm passing I usually yell 'coming through'. Although, occasionally I've been tempted to yell 'AHHHHH! outta the way, no brakes! no brakes!'

If you're not riding fast enough for people to tell from the Doppler, you should speed up! ;)

Hee hee. That would be fun... I'm not evil enough to try it though ;)

Some of my MUP observations:


Slower cyclists with mirrors that don't know enough to stay to the right...also never look in their mirrors.

Saying "on your left" produces some strange reactions...

a couple of days ago I was passing an older couple on bikes on when I called out, the woman began ringing her bell for some reason.

One time an older man swerved his bike to the right when I called out right into his wife. They both crashed.

Last week I called out to a doofus cell phone talking/dog walking guy who was weaving from one side of the trail to another. He fliched and crouched to the side of the trail and shouted into the phone..."Holy Christ they're all over the place".

If there is room to pass without calling out I will pass silently.

A couple of decades ago I was young and stupid, I got my kicks out of hollering "on your LEFT" when I passed folks. Occasionally, I'd have to pass someone on the right, and so I'd holler "on your RIGHT." While I was doing a 50-mile organized ride from Rosarito-Ensenata (Mexico) I was feeling pretty awesome and tried to pass between two road-hogging riders. I hollered "on your RIGHT on your LEFT" and made my dash to squeeze between them. Unfortunately, they each looked over their inside shoulders, drifted together, and I ate Mexican pavement at 25mph.

Now I try to pass conservatively, without jackassery. Don't always holler, but always try to take enough room so as to avoid either surprising the other person or have them get in my way.

Oh bull crap! I am not the fastest on my loaded commuter, stick to the right when practical, have a mirror and use it. But all the more reason it makes sense to let them know you are coming.

Okay. Very, very funny image.

Yeah, imagine it. Bicycles on a bike path. The nerve!

Me too, because of foolishness just like in your stories.

If i need to pass close enough to let them know I am passing, I instead do not pass and wait for a time when there is more room.

This is something I really don't understand. Do they understand they're on a multi-use path, and that bicycles are very common, perhaps more common, than pedestrians? Once I approached a pack of peds and announced my presence. One of them panicked and yelled out "Oh my god!"

My favorite way to indicate passing is when riding at night. My commuter path is lined with those poles that have reflectors on them. As I approach a cyclist, I switch my headlight to blinking mode, and all the reflective poles ahead of me blink (as well as any traffic signs). Everyone has veered to the right when I've done this.

Always say it to pedestrians. Always have gotten a good response, the first person I did it too was a jogger and got like three feet off the path. I call out very early. The startled ones never seem to move left for me, they just jump and say "Oh my gosh." I've never passed a cyclist on an MUP, and only one on the road. No need to announce, I just took the lane as he was riding on a paved shoulder.

I've found that with a lot of people.. some bikers included... when you say "On your left" they tend to move to their left. Either looking over their shoulder and inadvertently tracking left or sometimes get jumpy and move to the left. It's not specific to bike paths an MUP's. It happens all the time on the slopes, too.

So I usually announce "Passing". I seem to get a better reaction that way. And I always say thanks as I pass. I think anyone over 16 is used to cars passing on the left as a standard in a vehicle on the road, so the idea isn't complete foreign, but "on your left" may very well be.

LOL. "We cant stop here, this is Bat Country!"

I need to work on my ped-freak technique.

My bell usually causes them to start looking around for the source of the sound. They often think they have kicked something on the path. Saying "passing left" seems to work best and is less ambiguous than "on your left". However, many people are seemingly lost in thought or plugged into their personal sound systems and either startle randomly or totally miss any warning unless it approaches the threshold of pain in volume. Avoiding a collision and/or injury to all concerned is my first priority followed by a reasonable level of consideration for fellow beings.

I usualy holler "Bicycle from the rear" and watch what they do.... Yell loud and well in advance. Seems to work

For safety's sake, I rev my straight pipes and fire my pistol in the air. Oh, sorry, wrong threads.

I have a bell, I mean the kind you'd hang from a goat, swinging from my handlebars. I just let it ring softly the whole time. People seem to hear it gradually from the distance and move to the side. Maybe they think a goatherd is catching up to them. Less scary than a bicyclist, apparently.

oooooh. I like that one. I don't yell "left" much for the same reason. I'll try "bicycle" next time.

And to the OP, I don't say anything to someone with mirrors. I can see them from pretty far back and so I already know I've been seen; especially when the rider moves to the right.

Of course you should announce. In my park system, it is required to announce any passing. Of course the iPod users can't hear you, but most do. I also usually get a wave and a "thanks" when I pass someone.

This idea of "if there is enough room I don't announce" is just wrong. You are startling people for no reason other than you don't want to be polite. Yes, I do stay to the right and expect others to do also. I will even say something to people that don't. But I also use this path when I walk my dog to the dog park and do expect others to pass me. I am staying right but a biker zipping pass me with no warning is startling.

Depending on how fast I am going and who I am about to pass determines how far away I will announce. Typically, this means about 4 or 5 seconds before I get to them. The path I ride the most goes through the woods with many blind turns. I do not pass anyone in these situations. I will tail the biker in front of me until I am at a spot where I can see it is safe to pass, then even if they know I am there, I will announce my intentions. This really helps with families with small children out riding.

One time, I was on a MUP and saw a lady sitting on a bench and a dog on the other side of the path. Something didn't look right to me, so I announce my intentions to pass a sitting person. Luckily I did because she had that dog on one of those long skinny leashes. I would have rode right into that leash if I did not announce.

Oh, and I say "Passing Left" seems to work most of the time, but some do get confused. But with my 4 to 5 second warning, I have plenty of time to make an adjustment.

I too found "On your left confuses a lot of pedestrians". So now I slow way down, Calmly in a soft voice announce "Steady as you go, Passing on your left". Nobody jumps anymore, most thank me, and after I pass them I get to break into a sprint from very slow speed.

I ride a mountain bike or a hybrid most of the time, so even going of the trail a
little bit if they are taking up the entire width is no big deal.

Happy Trails

Maybe it's ok should you have like an extra 6 feet to pass by to not say passing on left . But to not indicate, passing on the left or whatever is as simple as do you have to use turn indicators when passing other cars. Its the law. To me , same principal holds to cyclists. And, I think it's rude not to. I do not alwasys adhere to a totally straight cycling when riding on bike paths. There have been a few close calls since I was not told they were passing.
And I regretted once having spat on a passing cyclist. He was really pizzed. Don't blame him and I regretted it. But, I did not know he was was there. I would not have spit on that person had he said passing on left. Luckily I think I hit him on the leg.Guess, I should have spit to the right. Just thought I was alone.

On busy MUPs do y'all yell on your left every 5 seconds?
I sure as heck am not. It makes more sense to slow down or relocate to the street. On my route I have a MUP that is one of the busiest in the city and the alternative street routes are insanely slow. I slow down and occasionally yell on your left to the aimless. Unfortunately, even with yelling on your left or going slow I still have close calls from time to time. I really wish I had a decent alternative to that MUP.

In some cities, I have found laws requiring bikes be installed with bells. What else might they be used for. Guess, I have never been on an MUP all that busy. Yelling out every five minutes. Is that really all that difficult.

It's a pity carrying a big jousting-lance would be frowned upon. Punting the gormless out of the way would be such fun.

Some of you who are comfortable yelling "on your left!" must ride on sparsely-used MUP's. If I did that on the paths here, I would have lost my voice by the time I got home. I use the bell, and if that doesn't work, I just slow down and pass as safely as possible. If you aren't prepared to have to slow and even stop occasionally, you should think of riding on the road instead - which is both faster and probably safer on days when the bikepath is really crowded.

probably a bell is an easy solution . and all know what it means. Even tho they look and sound funky.

Sounds to me like you're judging based on your local experience. Not announcing isn't "just wrong"; it might -- might -- be wrong on your local path at the times when you ride, but it's not categorically so.

I'm of the radical opinion that every single user on a Multi Use Path must take into account all other types of users who might be there. That means that, just as cyclists must expect slower-moving users, other users -- pedestrians, skaters, dog-walkers -- must expect that there are bicycles on the path that will be traveling quite a bit faster than them. All users need to be aware of their surroundings and on the lookout for other users. If that means that you, a (dog-)walker, have to turn your head to look behind you every once in a while, well, that's just part of your responsibility as a path-user, as I see it.