Mountain bikers: please Share the Trail

[janet brown]

Something for all you mountain bikers out there.
I had something similar happen myself years ago while out horse-riding, and its scary.
Share the Trail
Thanks for watching.

Janet

[SPL]

How very patronising

[Yonfan]

Seems like a reasonable request but more to the point, what trail centre is that?

[buck197]

Why patronising? I think if you hit a horse at full pelt then you may come off second best. Countryside for all or just MTBers?

[Scots_Charles_River]

Horse riders should be more aware of MTBers !

Had lots of horse incidents. They also damage trails much more so than MTbers or walkers.

[Poke]

Hilarious..

[Rdscott]

As some one who bikes and has famiy who bread horses I would suggest that both can be as bad as each other.

For example i was out on the bike and slowed and made my presence known to agroup of hourse riders who were riding 3 hourses wide blocking the whole trail, they refused to move over and said that as this was a fire track i should stick to the cycle trail, (the fire track was part of this)

but then i was out walking and the new cool thing the kids are doing is apparantly looking as if theyare givingwalkers space then swerving to scare them (fucking childish pricks), haopoend a few times,last time resulted in a cyclist hitting the floor very hard.

Both should be aware of each other and be considarate to,other users.

If you cannot ride your bike sensibly you shouldnt be riding it around others. but if you canot tain and control your horse in public then keep it in its field.

Horses were used in militar situations for many years, they were used for hard labour and in high active rolls such as ranching, they can be taught and trained to deal with things going on around them.

[Rdscott]

And more to the point how did a 20mmbolt through wheelcome off a bike.having owned them for many years it doesnt happen easily

[andrew butler 101]

Seems like a reasonable request but more to the point, what trail centre is that?

Penmachno trails, Just up the road from Conwy falls.

[Rdscott]

Possibly the best singletrack in north wales, seemstogoon and on just tight winding fastsingle track. ifyou didnt know it was there you'd miss it.

[jamesl2play]

Firstly, strange to be discussing this on UKRGB but hey ho never mind.

The two guys are on single track, are we now supposed to expect horses round every corner on purpose built mountain bike trails?
That is a well dodgy situation and if that is the case it will certainly reduce the buzz for a few mates of mine.
The set up accident appears to take place at the junction of single track and fire road. In that situation fair enough the mtb rider should be slowing down and preparing not only for horses but kids and walkers as well, but horse riders should also expect to see bikes especially as these junctions are often sign posted.

I do not like the way the bikers are portrayed as the naughty boys either. Horse riders are not immune to vandalism.
Near where I live there are some fantastic sand dunes (Merthyr Mawr) where riding is permitted on designated blue routes and bridle ways. Do horses stick to them? no they don't, they go all over the dunes trashing the place and causing terrible erosion. They also ride where people go walking with small children which is totally unsafe even when they are not galloping.
So I say put your house in order before lecturing the rest of us.

I actually put horses in the same category as moto crossers and 4 x4 's the only difference is they smell worse and leave deposits which attract flies. Great when you are out for a run. Why do they not have to clear it up like dog walkers have to?

There feel much better now, rant over. See you out on the trails.

[Kayak-Bloke]

Jim,
Man that made me laugh.
You need to get back on the river mate, get rid of some of that anger!!
Will let you know when we're next out, ain't seen you on the river in a long time.

Nige

[Paul L]

I actually put horses in the same category as moto crossers and 4 x4 's the only difference is they smell worse and leave deposits which attract flies. Great when you are out for a run. Why do they not have to clear it up like dog walkers have to?

Ha Ha Ha like that. As someone who does far more MTBiking than paddling nowadays I can`t see the point in this video. I don`t like horse riders in general they`re mostly arrogant toffs. I also think its cruel especially the big chubby chicks who seem to ride them ,poor horses. Also agree that they cause a lot of damage and stink. I think horse riding should be banned and horse racing for that matter the amount that are regularly killed at race meetings is disgusting. Apparently horses enjoy it ,if that`s so how come you can keep them in a field with just a small fence and they never jump over of their own choosing only when their being whipped or forced to by someone on their backs.

Cheers

Paul

[furby]

Thanks Paul L for a considered, balanced, constructive and polite post....!

[nickbennett]

Great to see everyone has such balanced considered opinions.....it is clear to me that all horses and riders should be shot and failing that be should deliberately ride into them at full speed, preferably whilst kayaking or at the very least reading UKRGB.

In reality horses are not bad and bikes are not bad, in the very same way as fishing poles are not. I am sure that there are some riders on both sides who are idiots, but frankly there are idiots in all walks of life. I don't see what the problem is with a video asking bikes to be considerate whilst having fun.

[TheKrikkitWars]

Well, I don't think that was very well thought through at all; a simpler more direct approach would probably have been recieved a lot more sympathetically.

Definately that video raised my heckles more than informed me... and my bike was stolen about 14 months ago, so by rights shouldn't identify so strongly with the bikers.

[Chrace]

A video showing a couple of anglers out riding horses, so what?

That video is like telling kayakers to give way to anglers at the Tryweryn. And although I don't mind them being there, a one-sided depiction like that video is unlikely to help change minds.

[Wildswimmer Pete]

The core problem is there are too many of us all trying to use scarce resources. Even in the US, where capitalism is king, large tracts of Government land are set aside for everone to use without let or hindrance.

Wildswimmer Pete

[Rdscott]

surely if they hade made a serise of videos for each disaplin and loaded themalltogether tit would have been taken in a better light.due to each user seeing that there were video'saimedat the others too.

[LSmith4285]

Why do they not have to clear it up like dog walkers have to?

I was out for a cycle last night and I was thinking just that as I ploughed through another horse deposit. Poop and scoop.... they just need a bigger scoop.

I didn't think this video was very balanced, there is a duty on both sets of riders to be sensible and use the outdoors together and this made it look like it is all up to the MTBers.

[AlexC]

What a stupid and patronising video.

.... just deleted everything else I was going to say. There's just no point.

[GaryM]

Interesting how some feel it patronising.
OK, remove BHS from credits, leaving FC, replace horses and riders with guy eating Yorkie bar driving laden forestry wagon on fire road, ending with mountain biker as radiator mascot. Surely that would be Health and Safety video?
Would biker come out of side road onto main A road at that speed and not expect similar ending, or probably worse?
Or what if paddler at bottom of Ski Jump decided to play in hole just as raft comes down?

We happily quote how little of the UK rivers are open to paddlers (officially), how much of the off-road tracks are similarly available to horses and riders? Probably less.

Is sharing the countryside really that much of a red rag to a bull, makes us look pretty selfish some of the comments here.
Oh yes, and FC in England do actually charge horse riders to access the forests too - going to support other users to get free access?

[AlexC]

remove BHS from credits, leaving FC, replace horses and riders with guy eating Yorkie bar driving laden forestry wagon on fire road, ending with mountain biker as radiator mascot.
Would biker come out of side road onto main A road at that speed and not expect similar ending, or probably worse?
Or what if paddler at bottom of Ski Jump decided to play in hole just as raft comes down?

Is sharing the countryside really that much of a red rag to a bull, makes us look pretty selfish some of the comments here.

I have no problem avoiding wagons etc on forest roads. I have no problem avoiding anything that acts in a reasonably predictable controlled manner. What annoys me about horse riders is that cyclists are frequently expected to compensate for the fact that the horse rider is frequently not in control of the horse.

[jamesl2play]

I am sorry Gary but you seem to have completely missed the point of some of the posts including mine.

Interesting how some feel it patronising.

Would biker come out of side road onto main A road at that speed and not expect similar ending, or probably worse?
Or what if paddler at bottom of Ski Jump decided to play in hole just as raft comes down?

The average mountain bike rider would not, and that is why the video is patronising.

It would be one hell of a bump to snap the front axle and dislodge the front wheel. I do not think I could ever go that quick.

I quite agree with Alex and would add that in my experience it is horse riders who are the selfish contingent they seem to act as if they own the countryside.

ps @ Nige , it is not anger, the sand dunes are a special place and I just feel passionate that they should not be wrecked in the way that they are being allowed to.

[Dinoboy]

I quite agree with Alex and would add that in my experience it is horse riders who are the selfish contingent they seem to act as if they own the countryside.

People who ride horses usually do own the countryside...

[DaveBland]

Blimey it's simple innit?
No-one, should be so out of control they can't stop in time at a junction or blind bend etc if you don't know what's there.
Doesn't matter if it's biking, skiing, driving, whatever.
The fact it's horses is immaterial, could just as easy be a hiker or kid or fallen tree.

That's one sweet track though.

[Wildswimmer Pete]

The fact it's horses is immaterial, could just as easy be a hiker or kid or fallen tree.

The problem is, a horse isn't an inaminate thing like a bike or car, but a self-willed animal with a brain of its own. For as long I've known, cyclists have been able to ride bridleways (which date from long before bicycles and motor vehicles) and in return horseriders can ride on cycletracks.

I'm being pragmatic here :-)

Wildswimmer Pete

[TheKrikkitWars]

The problem is, a horse isn't an inaminate thing like a bike or car, but a self-willed animal with a brain of its own.

In this respect at least then, a motorbike would be a safer alternative... Now those are words I never thought I'd get to use.

Joking aside: Surely the onus is on the trainer/owner of the horse to acclimatise it to things it's likely to encounter during its life, so that it won't freak out and lose control; rather than everyone else to know what this unknown beast is able to cope with? Am I being unreasonable to expect people to be able to control their animals in public.

[Matt E]

Single use mountain bike trails such as Cwmcarn, Afan Argoed, Brechfa etc are single use. Just for mountain bikers, of course sharing bridleways is reasonable and all parties need to be respectful of each other. In my experience horsey types are either as nice as pie or horrible hatefilled posh gits.

[Big Henry]

I know that a lot of paddlers also go mountain biking, but this is a paddling forum, not a mountain biking, or even horse riding forum. Why hasn't this thread been deleted yet?