A plea for reason
 

I'm so frustrated by a recent event, that I just have to post. I know that I'm "preaching to the choir" for the most part, but really need someplace to let all of this out.

On Memorial Day weekend I wanted to ride on the Schuylkill River Trail to see how many folks were out. I also like seeing families cycling together and am a people watcher by nature. So this was to be a casual ride to enjoy the weather. Well, as one might imagine the trail was packed with people, many that looked as if this was their first ride in a long time. In the midst of all of this was a group of four riders in full team kit out riding a pace line at speeds well above what was reasonable for the conditions. They passed me in one direction early in the ride.

I made my turn around to head back home and eventually saw the four riders heading my way again, as they had also made a turn around at the other end of the trail. This time, however, things got ugly. A mother and daughter were also riding toward me when a squirrel ran into the front wheel of the daughter. This brought the daughter down and the mother on top of her. The pace line also got caught up in the mess, in part, because they were trying to squeeze past with riders coming toward them too. One of the four riders jumped up and started screaming at the mother and daughter that they should stay the hell off bikes if they didn't know how to ride. Both mother and daughter were stunned by this outburst. I stopped to see if everyone was OK while this rider continued to rant and rave. I quietly suggested that his outburst was doing little to help the situation, and he made the mistake of grabbing my arm while yelling for me to stay out of his business.

I've been trained to teach law enforcement personnel in the use of non-pain compliant techniques, and found myself restraining this guy while his riding buddies tried to calm him down. It only took a few minutes before he gained enough control that I could release him.

I'm a pretty peaceful guy, and this event has had me upset since it happened. It just doesn't seem reasonable to me that a team would go out for a training ride on a bike trail during a holiday weekend. They put everyone at risk with such behavior. Are people really that unaware, or perhaps that self involved? BTW, mother and daughter seem to have recovered. I saw them a few nights ago and both had a few bruises and scrapes that were still healing, but for the most part they were fine.

I ride the SRT every weekend with my girlfriend and I wonder about the teams using the trail for speed runs. The recommended "speed limit" on the trail in Montgomery County is 15 mph and my GF and I regularly comment about how fast pace lines are riding. We can judge how busy the trail is by how many times we get passed.

Congratulations on your remarkable restraint.

I'm afraid some people are just that arrogant and self involved:(

I think you handled the situation exceptionally well and I'm glad mother and daughter are doing fine.

Our cycling club strongly discourages members from using the local trails for training purposes. Maybe a note to some of the local cycling clubs could help in this situation. I'm sure any club or team would appreciate knowing their members are involved in this type of behaviour.

Good job. :thumb:

Not only was the group wrong to be riding so fast and trying to maintain a pace under those conditions, the rider who yelled at the kid was way out of line.:mad:

Too bad your restraining technique was "non-pain".

You did good.

The clubs or groups in my area, do not ride the paths for any reason, remain on the road and use country low traffic roads for this type of purpose.

Glad mother and daughter also observed out and about after such an event.

All the best

Well done!!

Here's hoping the a**hole remembers the pain you inflicted upon him. IMO, a MUP is no place to train.

Our local gendarmes have bicycles, and they do patrol our trails.

Perhaps a word to the local chief or sheriff would assist in getting this dangerous pace-line practice stopped. Also, perhaps a couple of more directive signs along the trail,

"No Pace Lines"

"Trail Not to be used for Training"

would assist.

A letter to the editor?

A local TV spotlight on the problem?

Do you have a local advocacy group in the state or city?

Our state advocacy group has been very effective in situations like this.

http://bicyclecolo.org/index.cfm

And we have had TV coverage and spotlight of dangerous situations.

Good on you for your EXCELLENT method of handling this on the spot. Did you report the incident to the local police? I mention this because don't be too surprised if the rider you were restraining DOES report it, along with a claim of injury from your restraint.

Incidentally, this squirrel thing is one more reason for wearing a helmet, even on trails.

You did Good. I would have put the squirrel in his mouth .

Such an unfortunate incident. I hate that type of confrontation. You go out for a peaceful ride, experience something like this, and come back a wreck. This type of thing stays with me for days too.

I'm glad to read that the mother & daughter went back out again so soon. This type of thing can drive people away permanently.

Good thing you happened to be there at the time. Who knows how long that guy would have went off on them.

When I rode the SRT recently with The Historian we had a few discussions about those riding the trail with aero bars... a couple of them without helmets were the ones that especially caught our attention (helmetless missiles I believe Neil called them), but as I recall we were passed a couple of times very quickly by solo riders and small groups.

While I do recall seeing at least one group that seemed to be pace line riding, there were far more of the solo riders that seemed to be training for triathlons/biathlons... either type of rider was probably going too fast for a MUP.

While I understand that some of the same things that make a trail like the SRT attractive for a casual ride also make it attractive for a training ride... no cars, no stops, shaded area, no big climbs, limited sharp turns... it is definitely not the right place for a training ride.

I am glad that you were there to help that rider's friends get him in line before he made it even worse for the little girl.

Maybe we should each firmly call "slow down" when we see people training on a MUP... it might not do any good initially, but maybe the trend will catch on, and when they start to hear it three or four times every time they ride it might start to sink in. But, let's remember... it might be OK for someone to do a brisk 18-20 MPH on a MUP to get their heart rate up if they do it safely. I think we can usually tell the difference between an obvious training ride and a joyful spirited ride with someone paying attention to the trail instead of their heart rate monitor, watch or computer. I don't mind being passed, in fact I can rarely help it, but I hope that people do it safely.

>I know that I'm "preaching to the choir"<

Yes, you are. You acted appropriately in the situation in which you found yourself and I'm glad you could unburden your feelings.

Most people know the rules of behavior. It's all the more shocking, then, when a serious rider seriously breaches etiquette. For the most part, it's casual, rather than serious bike riders, who break the rules.

No, arrogant behavior isn't limited to people who wear bike shorts made of lycra, anymore than it is to those who wear cargo shorts made of cotton. Come to Venice Beach, CA, on a Sunday afternoon, and note how individuals and groups (friends and families) of casual riders meander dangerously all over the bike path.:mad: And there are plenty of pedestrians who walk on the bike path, too.

That's why many "serious" bicyclists only ride that path early and late in the day - but that takes all the fun out of people-watching. ;)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/82/20...08bc8d60_o.jpg

On a congested MUP? What the hell were they thinking?
I see this type of behavior more often than I should. I think the polite term is "inappropriate riding formation and poor comportment on the road," although I have a better description for them.
It's remarkable what kind of "group think" mentality can be created when a bunch of guys put on the same jersey.
I agree you showed amazing constraint. Too bad you didn't accidentally break his arm "defending" yourself...

I'd like to think that this is an isolated event but......................

When I come up behind the pedestrians on my trail and annouce myself they thank me and tell me that I am one of the very few who do so. My peds are of the opinion that the cyclists on our trails are rude, arrogant and dangerous. They may be right.

On the other hand, there are also rude, arrogant and dangerous pedestrians.

Perhaps we just live in a rude, arrogant and dangerous world. Its certainly different from the world I grew up in.

I use a bell, but I'm not so sure that it's worth the trouble. There are so many people wearing iPods and the like that I doubt that most of them hear my bell. It's rare that anyone acknowledges the bell by moving, or a head or arm motion. Besides that, in Boston driving there is a deep seated urge to maintain the element of surprise by avoiding signaling of any kind. ;)

Speedo

I get thanked several times daily for using my bell. The very fact that they thank me is telling of the situation, I think.

I think you got your punctuation wrong. It should be "What the hell?? Were they thinking???"

IME, the honest-to-God racers stay as far as possible from MUPs when they're training. The ones who pull that kind of nonsense tend to be cat 5's who honestly belong it cat 10, if there were such a thing. They were probably banned from official team rides for terminal stupidity, and that's why they were on the MUP in the first place.

SP

The OP describes an ugly scene handled well.

Racers do not have to be a problem.

The are fortunate around here in that the top racing top is lead by a rider and trainer who is also a bike safety fanatic. The attitude seems to be catching. I see many fast riders and pace lines riding smart on local trails, hitting it hard when the way is open and shutting down when congestion or other conditions make it wise. This gives racer wannabes an excellent example.

You are under arrest for posting into the wrong thread. Please make another donation of $10 to BikeForums.

Makes you wonder if he's under the influence of something:D:D

If you remember the team they were riding with, you might attempt to contact their sponsors and let them know how their 'rolling billboards' are acting. My guess is, the offending rider will be looking for a new team quite quickly.

We have a few MUP's round here and there is no way you can safely get up speed on them. You get seroious riders like me that have done a ride and just use the Mup's to get home on. Why? I don't know as it is hard work trying to negotiate all the I-Pods and "Deaf" users that do not have reagard for other users of the MUP. You never get a serious rider trying to get and keep speed on the Mup's.


Now offroad we have plenty of Trails. Plenty of fast downhills and obviously slow up them. There does seem to be a new breed of Mountain bikers with Top rate bikes that come down the hills fast. Normally no problem but the written rule is that you give way to all other users of the trails- so as not to upset them and get bad reports-And it is also a regulation that has a priority of Horses- Ramblers and then bikes. And the unwritten rule is that you also give way to any MTB coming up the hills. This new breed don't. They give way to no-one.

Bad cyclists are everywhere. Unfortunately it is the Bad cyclists that give all of us a bad name.

Racers should know better than to mix with the unlubed masses.

As I remember, someone recently got off with my personality.

Thanks for fixing that.

For some reason I feel like starting a silly poll thread.

I vote with Bev, "I'm afraid some people are just that arrogant and self involved"

I made the mistake a couple years ago to ride the SRT from Oaks on a holiday weekend. Never again. Way too crowded. I'm a slow single rider and even had trouble doing that. Have no idea what those guys were thinking. I did get on the SRT in Berks County on Memorial Day and never saw that as crowded as it was. Lots of families, lots of people stopping in middle of trail. Was able to do a few off road excursions to get around, figure thats why its called a trail bike.

You did good, shame you don't have the power to send him to anger management class.

Too late, some nut case already started a helmet poll in the 50+ forum.

We have some very nice MUP's around here as well as quite a few rails-to-trails. Normally, the serious cyclists who are trainng stick to the road in the Metroparks or country roads. Everyonw and then you get as soloist that likes to zoom around on the MUPS---a deathwish, perhaps? My last incident was on a rails-totrails path this past weekend with weekend with what I call "weekend warriors." They are the types that look outside, see how nice it is, and go for a ride regardless of how little they know about the etiquette involved in a bike trail. They may ride once or twice a year.

If ignorance is bliss, a few of them were happier than pigs in slop.

You did a great job; I agree with what somebody else said---a letter to the editor or a phone call to the local po-po might get some results to.

Tim C.

A little late to add my ditto on a well done BSL - but here it is. So when can we get a 50+ training session together for you to teach us these restraint techniques? :)

Now the boys in the Roadies Forum are really going to be complaining about what Bad*ss*s the 50+ forum members are. Thanks a lot!


;) Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink.