Cyclesafe

This year on the Icefield Parkway there were four separate occassions when a bicycle tourer would ask to share my campsite. All four times I was stiffed for the full cost, having already paid for it. What gives? I'm all for sharing and will do nearly anything to help out a fellow cyclist, but doesn't a request to share imply an obligation to at least offer to split the cost? I like to save money too.

imi

Yeah of course it does! (unless you find him/her particularly attractive and have other things on your minds)...

Cyclesafe

Two of the four were women, but the potential for a liaison didn't cross my mind. Getting old I guess. Likewise for the men. I'd rather have the $7-10.

Also, not everyone lets their johnson do their thinking for them.

Bekologist

ask for the money when they bring it up, i've been given the 'no money' line and then you can treat them like a pariah for the rest of the night, kind of lame but oh well.

positron

It would be pretty easy to explain your expectations for money up front.

but then I suppose you wouldn't be able to complain about the freeloaders on BF...

antokelly

oh yeah there everywhere these jack benny's ,takers always on the lookout for a free ride.two of the guys i used to cycle with are millionaire's ,and i tell you these guys would teach you how to live they would pay for nothing always on the take ,guess that's how they have it.next time you come across these lurchers Strike first it's the only way.

Losligato

When they ask perhaps you could answer, "Sure, I love to save money. There are three of us. The site costs $21. That's $7 each. Does that work for you?"

Is there a reason you have not asked for payment?

Cyclesafe

The issue isn't that I should have made payment-sharing an explicit condition concurrent with my agreement. I could have done that. The issue is that I thought I wouldn't have had to. Kind of like alternating who pays for rounds of beer. I guess I'm wrong. People will take advantage of largess if they can. I just expected that people would treat me they way I would treat them.

imi

Paying more than your share seems, unfortunately, the price for being kind and generous... I believe it's still worth being kind and generous nonetheless... but ymmv

arctos

I have met my share of givers and takers while touring. The vast majority have been givers.

I seem to have found the takers along the most popular routes and near population centers. I avoid both areas now when I can.

And I do not let the takers change my positive view of most people that I meet while touring.

spinnaker

Letting them get away with it the first time, you can chalk that up to your good nature and their poor manners. The second time, you should have asked for them to pay for the site for you (or at least giving you the money), explaining that it is only fair since you covered the first night. If they did not want to pay then ask them to move on.

Remember, fool me once shame on you, fool me a second time shame on me, unless I call you on it and it pisses you off and you come at me with a 3/4 axe in the middle of the night then shame on me still.



I imagine this guy slept free any time he wanted to.

Randobarf

I think most of the problem is the Icefields Parkway itself. The Parkway attracts a lot of people, most of whom are tourists on bikes and not real cycletourists. They are the same people who will bargain someone down five cents in a poor third world country, tip poorly and generally disgrace the country they are a citizen of. Banff is the most farcical cycling destination on earth if you ask me. I treat it as I would treat a visit to the zoo. It gets a wide variety of tourists and not all of them are well-behaved.

I would advise serious cycletourists to carry the latest model of Taser when riding on the Icefields Parkway. If some clown on a bike does not pay up front when asking to share a campsite then unmercifully Taser him several times just for the hell of it. The Tasering will be a service to reputable cycletourists and the screaming and so on will be a lesson to anyone else who is thinking of freeloading. If the Taser is not effective you can axe-murder them as Spinnaker has suggested (above).

Wogster

I'll agree with the others, if they don't mention sharing, then you should. Nothing wrong with saying, I paid $15 for the camp site, I don't mind sharing, but what can you contribute?


Personally if I was asking to share a campsite with someone, I would offer them something, probably half the cost.

nancy sv

I can't imagine asking to share someone's campsite and not offering to pay part of the fee. That sounds downright rude to me.

vik 

I've had people be so randomly generous to me on my travels that I never worry about trying to make things equitable in any meaningful sense. The cost of a campsite is peanuts in my world and for the most part I'd rather have the company if I was solo. I've been repaid by kindness so often that I don't need this particular transaction to be 50/50.

If I was running low on cash and nowhere near an ATM I might ask them to split the cost with me - heck I might even ask someone to share their site and not pay.

Ultimately I think uncommunicated expectations lead to frustration. If you want/need something say it...otherwise you are just creating a situation that's frustrating which only hurts you. It also gives the other person the chance to understand what's going on in your head and sort out the situation for you.

I once went on a motorcycle tour in Baja with a guy I knew through another friend. It was winter so we drove a car/trailer from Canada to San Diego to start our tour. We agreed to split the cost of gas by one person buying all the way south and the other buying all the way north. I bought going south. He was snarky with me for two weeks on the tour. I figured he was a jerk and finally told him I was going my own way and we'd meet at the car in two more weeks. He didn't want to travel alone and wanted to work stuff out. When we talked about the situation it turned out he had been mad at me for two weeks because we started the trip with a full tank of gas and when we got to SD after 24hrs of driving I didn't fill up the half empty tank. He thought he was getting stiffed and was mad! I was just tired from the drive and not really thinking about gas when a warm bed was calling my name and then I was excited about our tour starting. I handed him $50 and we got along fine the rest of the trip. If he had just said something back in SD we could have done away with two weeks of bad attitude. Naturally I cut him from the team and have never spoken to him once that trip was over.

Bekologist

The screams from the tasering would likely keep away the bears as well and be a service to the entire campground.

stevage

You crack me up. I'm trying to picture the fourth time. Some bike tourer comes up to you and asks if he can share your site. You think "Hmm, the last three times this happened, they didn't offer me any money and I got pissed off. I know, I'll...not ask for any money and hope that doesn't happen again!"

The "like a round of beer" thing is nice and all, but not with complete strangers - you don't have enough shared expectations. I'd raise the money straight away: "Sure, it'll cost you a beer for me and my buddy", or "Sure, how about $7.41"?"

Honestly, though, if I was the bike tourer in question, the only reason I'd be asking to share someone's campsite would be if I was expecting to get it for free. You do feel a bit shafted as a bike tourer in a camping ground: you're not consuming power, you're not using most of the facilities, you're not wearing out the road, you're quiet etc etc.

(I went through this process last night and eventually concluded that I was getting absolutely nothing for my money that I couldn't get from a quiet spot in the bush, so that's where I went.)

stevage

>I can't imagine asking to share someone's campsite and not offering to pay part of the fee. That sounds downright rude to me.

See this? A perfectly reasonable person in this forum has totally different expectations from me (Who is hopefully reasonable...)

JohnyW

Hi,

I always asked for payment. But the ones which shared the site with me refused money. Instead they gave me cold beer... (I asked the persons with cars or caravans)

Thomas

staehpj1

Anyone with even an ounce of common courtesy would offer to share the cost. That said, having been on the receiving end of so much generosity from strangers met on tour, I personally wouldn't worry too much over being stiffed for $5. If I was worried about it I would make it clear up front.

CCrew

I'll agree that it's rude, and personally I'd offer. But that said, were you not sharing the site would you be whining that you paid the $ for a site that could handle more than one person?

I guess I don't get it. Yeah, there are rude people in the world. You're obviously not one of them. That, in and of itself is priceless. The rest you can't take with you.

Nigeyy

I can see your point, but.....

I don't mind touring by myself -and the solitude is sometimes preferable. So if someone did ask me if they could share a site, I certainly wouldn't be bothered to say "no thanks, I need a bit of time and space to myself". And for some small campsites, it is nice to have that bit of extra space and not be tripping over other people's stuff. I know it's hard sometimes, but if you've paid for the site, you're under no obligation to share it and you should remember that.

Having said that, if I did feel like company, it would be nice to have a fellow cyclotourist to chat with, and that sometimes can be worth the cost of 1/2 a campsite. I'd also accept that the other person might not offer to split the cost -even though I think it's always nice to offer to split the cost, I don't think there's a hard and fast rule they should do so. I accept that. I also have to be honest and say that I don't think I'd even ask for money anyway (the interesting company or what they may provide such as food or starting a fire might be just as good as splitting the cost to me) -though if it happens 4 times straight maybe I might then -or just simply refuse them if it annoyed me that much!

As other people have posted, set the expectations up front as to what you expect -or simply decline.

alhanson

agreed with vik. I have recieved so much help in the past without asking for it. I don't think I would care if someone shared some plot of earth near me that I rented for an evening. After all, I was going to be there anyway.

Now if I knew the person and was on extended tour with them. that is another matter.

stevage

>Anyone with even an ounce of common courtesy would offer to share the cost.

Mmm, disagree. You don't think it's ok to say "Hi, I'm trying to save a few dollars, would you mind if I camped on the edge of your spot?"

I guess it's all in the phrasing. I don't see anything wrong with proposing a deal up front, which the person can take or leave, either way. You propose that you stay without paying. They counter-propose that you pay them $5. Trouble only strikes if the messages are misunderstood.

Bander

Proving once again that common courtesy is an increasingly uncommon virtue. They should have at least offered to pay, but hopefully your kindness will have some good effect on them.