The topic of mountain bikers and hikers gets brought up in different media outlets every now and again. This week I picked up my local newspaper and found the thorny subject mentioned not once but twice!
One article describes an incident on a trail very close to my home where a group of hikers made up of some disabled people and able bodied helpers were walking up a path alongside a stream. A group of bikers passed them descending the trail, failed to give them any sort of right of way or slow down and when the group of walkers complained the bikers responded by giving the finger! With incidents like this happening it’s easy to see why some people may have a problem with mountain bikers.
It’s very easy for us as bikers to say that walkers need to show a bit of tolerance towards us, but for this to happen we also need to show some respect and tolerance towards people who choose to enjoy their outdoor activities on two legs rather than two wheels. It takes very little for us to slow down, pull to the side, smile and say “Gruezi mittenand”, “Bonjour” or “Bongiorno”. Quite often this goes a long way towards creating a friendly relationship between bikers and hikers. Blasting past hikers and sending them jumping out of the way or making them feel unsafe while out and about will only lead to the privileges we enjoy being revoked.
Which leads me to the second article in my local paper… The community is now requesting mountain bikers to not use the trail where this incident took place. If things like this keep happening all we have to look forward to is grief and further trail closures. As a mountain biker it disappoints me to see restrictions on trail usage, however with incidents like the one described I can understand it. It’s up to all of us to act responsibly when we are riding trails shared by other outdoor enthusiasts.
At the end of the day we share a common love of being in the same places. Let’s all get along.
