The passing of other riders was mentioned awhile back.

I'm like to ride road and a mountain bike, when I pass a slow moving bike on the road, I usually just swing out and back in front of them. I usually throw out a wave. Its a bad idea to blow by someone and say a greeting at the same time, not very safe.

I ride a 5 inch full suspension bike on the forest and one guy I ride with is about 25 years older then me. He rides hardtail with a 60mm fork and rides both up and down every trail we try. He pretty much kicks my butt at it.

I find it funny that mountain biking has offically split up into so many different disciplines that there is infighting. Back when I first started there was just mountain bikers, and mountain bikers have always been pretty much at the bottom of the barrel of trail use.

I think there is kind of a dual jealousy between the FR crowd and the XC crowd. Most XC riders would like to be able to pull of the stuff that FR do and FR wish they didn't always have to push their bikes up hill and stop to catch their breath. :)

I'd like to go back and touch on the point about free range cattle causing trail errosion. Are you riding with free range cattle? That is seriously strange. Maybe you could start encorporating the free range cattle into your "ripping stunts" I would definitly pay to see a video with free range cattle encorporated into the rippage.

I think this is what bothers many XC riders about the so-called "free-riders" . For many years we fought with hikers , equestrians , and the Sierra Club for trail axcess . Now we (XC riders) see the actions of a few inconsiderate "free-riders" , threatening the future use of these trails by building jumps and cutting new trails . Nearly everytime I kindly ask them to stay on the trails , I'm told to mind my f-ing buisness and normally get flipped off . To make matters worse , there are tons of top-notch DH trails in my local area ( www.bootlegcanyon.org ) . Why can't these few jerks realize how much harm they are doing to the the trails , and the future use of the area . The Sierra Club , hikers , and equestrians don't see us as XC riders or free-riders , they group us all together as Mountain-bikers .

Which is my point in the first place. :)

http://www.laist.com/archives/redneck.jpgHell yeah thats what im talkin bout

Ah, just like most groups of people, most are decent, some are jerks.

Whew...I'm glad I only have a 6" travel bike that I take on some of the XC courses around here! I'd be screwed if I had an extra inch of travel! ;)

Spot-on.

When I've been walking back home from my latest crash (more often that not :( ), I've had people on cheap bikes go past with out saying hello, I've had people on cheap bikes stop to ask if I'm ok. At the same time I've had people on top-spec bikes in team kits ride past without a glance and people with top-spec bikes etc stop and help.

People are people, either good or bad. What ever they ride and what ever style they ride.

You're so untypical ...
 

Everybody else wishes they had an extra inch. I applaud you for your self confidence ;-)

[Just in case anyone was wondering, this is a light-hearted joke meant to lighten the mood.]

Now that was funny.

People , they're the worst !!! :D

Haha! That's why I had to make sure I added the "of travel"!

I say we kill 'em all!

I reserve most of my displeasure for the equestrians, and that's mostly for the poop and stutter-bumps the hoofprints leave when it's muddy out. I've never had a "bad" encounter with a horse and/or rider face-to-face. Hmm, hunters on the other hand...now I don't know when to ride some trails for fear of catching a bullet. I've managed to stay bullethole free for this long, I hope it stays that way.

I think you just ran into some jerks. Some people have to put others down just to make themselves feel superior. In my experience, they have pretty sad lives. For what it's worth, I don't run into that sort of stuff about 100 miles east at Harris Lake or Crabtree. Then again, I'm one of those old, fat soccer balls wearing lycra you referred to. Maybe they're just saying something when I'm out of hearing range.