T
Tcmedara
Guest
The local city park has about 7 miles of dedicated mountain bike trail. Nothing spectacular, but fun
to ride and only ten minutes from my house. The trails consists of three loops of singletrack linked
by a fire road. All three loops are marked with entrances from the fire road, and the exits back
onto the road are posted with good-sized "Do Not Enter" signs. The intent is obviously to have one
way traffic on the singletrack portions of the trail.
Over the past few weeks, I've passed over a dozen riders coming at me from the wrong direction. The
first few surprised the hell out of me, then I started commenting on the way by, something like,
"Hey, this is a one-way loop," or "wrong direction," or "travel goes this way." Usually I just got a
blank stare in return. On today's ride, I just rode by without commenting as it seems I'm fighting a
losing battle.
I must say that most have has politely pulled off to the side to let me pass, a sort of tacit
acknowledgement that I had the right of way. None the less, it still irks me a bit. My biggest beef
is that I'm not expecting someone to be coming at me with a closure rate of 20+mph on a skinny
forest track. My assumption on a one way trail is that there wont't be any riders coming at me.
Everytime it happens it gives me a bit of a start, and several times I've been forced to brake to
make sure there would be clearance to pass. Not that big a deal, its just that I'm not expecting
other riders when coming around corners or pointing downhill.
Personally I could care less if the trails are uni- or bidirectional, I'm sure any safety benefits
are marginal as long as everyone knows what to expect. That said, as long as they are marked one way
I assume people should adhere to them or else constitue a hazard for those who expect the trail to
be clear of oncoming riders. Is riding backwards on a one way trail an etiquitte breach, a safety
issue, an annoynace, or all three? Or am I just too uptight? Intersted to hear other's opinions and
related experiences.
Tom
to ride and only ten minutes from my house. The trails consists of three loops of singletrack linked
by a fire road. All three loops are marked with entrances from the fire road, and the exits back
onto the road are posted with good-sized "Do Not Enter" signs. The intent is obviously to have one
way traffic on the singletrack portions of the trail.
Over the past few weeks, I've passed over a dozen riders coming at me from the wrong direction. The
first few surprised the hell out of me, then I started commenting on the way by, something like,
"Hey, this is a one-way loop," or "wrong direction," or "travel goes this way." Usually I just got a
blank stare in return. On today's ride, I just rode by without commenting as it seems I'm fighting a
losing battle.
I must say that most have has politely pulled off to the side to let me pass, a sort of tacit
acknowledgement that I had the right of way. None the less, it still irks me a bit. My biggest beef
is that I'm not expecting someone to be coming at me with a closure rate of 20+mph on a skinny
forest track. My assumption on a one way trail is that there wont't be any riders coming at me.
Everytime it happens it gives me a bit of a start, and several times I've been forced to brake to
make sure there would be clearance to pass. Not that big a deal, its just that I'm not expecting
other riders when coming around corners or pointing downhill.
Personally I could care less if the trails are uni- or bidirectional, I'm sure any safety benefits
are marginal as long as everyone knows what to expect. That said, as long as they are marked one way
I assume people should adhere to them or else constitue a hazard for those who expect the trail to
be clear of oncoming riders. Is riding backwards on a one way trail an etiquitte breach, a safety
issue, an annoynace, or all three? Or am I just too uptight? Intersted to hear other's opinions and
related experiences.
Tom