Re: Trail etiquette???

On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 19:35:17 -0500, "tcmedara" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

.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? 

You expect MOUNTAIN BIKERS to obey the law?????????????? ROTFL

 Intersted to hear other's opinions and related
.experiences.
.
.Tom
.

===
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