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Rant: General etiquette when passing another MTB rider


Reden

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Posted

This weekend race at Legend I was totally disappointed by the behaviour of other riders.

On the rocky decent there were a man and women in front of me while going down this decent.

 

The male rider shouted "Track" as we should be passing safely was not possible.

After a short while he got so upset that he started to shout again.

The female rides then pulled over and almost fell. Seriously???

We were riding C batch in the Marathon so a "Winning" result does not matter at all.

No patience at all.

 

Then it was my turn but by now we were in the switch back turns,

 

A rider shouted "track" but after a short while also got upset of not being able to pass.

This are is not a place to pass. Said rider then took a shortcut at one of the corners and I had to brake when he entered the track again. This rider behind me might have crashed due to this.

Again, no Patience at all and no regard for safety of other riders.

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Posted

The friendly MTBers again....

 

This is a 2 way street, both the riders; passing and being passed should try and make the pass as quickly and safely as possible.

 

I suck balls at going down hills. I know this, therefore I take it upon myself to ASK riders that I hear coming up behind me if they want to pass. First thing that this does is that it makes them more patient. Secondly, it buys me time to find a safe spot to pull over. When I see a wider gap, I will shout back telling the rider that I am about to pull left or right. This has never been met with anything but gratitude.

 

When going uphill, I tend to pass more people again. It also means that the tables are turned. So I take it upon myself to ASK the rider in front if I can pass right or left. There is no point asking this on a rocky/technical/switchbacky climb, no point asking when you know that they cannot pull over. If done at the right time and politely, they usually say sure and pull over.

 

As with SO many things, and as per my sig the answer is: "Show more consideration to other people"

 

f29eae4c83ca909de8d64791c672fac6.jpg

Posted
  On 8/29/2016 at 5:09 AM, HappyMartin said:

Oh dear. This will never go away. One of the reasons I will never do another another MTB race. Either someone is shouting at you or you are stuck behind someone.

 

I blame a large part of this on the race organisers (actually our, as they just service demand) obsession with this stupid thing called single track.

It seems to be this thing, "we have more single track than before", "we now feature 60% single track".

 

Now I know lots of other people LOVE it, but maybe its not the best thing for a race/event?

If you want to smash single track at your own pace, maybe its best done on normal rides. But when you put several hundred people on a same piece of single track, traffic jams are going to happen. Its science and has been proven by science test!

 

Single track is awesome, apparently, but dont do it for endless KM and KM,

Posted
  On 8/29/2016 at 6:23 AM, Patchelicious said:

The friendly MTBers again....

 

This is a 2 way street, both the riders; passing and being passed should try and make the pass as quickly and safely as possible.

 

I suck balls at going down hills. I know this, therefore I take it upon myself to ASK riders that I hear coming up behind me if they want to pass. First thing that this does is that it makes them more patient. Secondly, it buys me time to find a safe spot to pull over. When I see a wider gap, I will shout back telling the rider that I am about to pull left or right. This has never been met with anything but gratitude.

 

When going uphill, I tend to pass more people again. It also means that the tables are turned. So I take it upon myself to ASK the rider in front if I can pass right or left. There is no point asking this on a rocky/technical/switchbacky climb, no point asking when you know that they cannot pull over. If done at the right time and politely, they usually say sure and pull over.

 

As with SO many things, and as per my sig the answer is: "Show more consideration to other people"

 

f29eae4c83ca909de8d64791c672fac6.jpg

Snap. I just shout 'wanna pass' and the speedy downhiller sorts normally say 'when you can'. I have only ever had one person shouting 'track, track' and he was about 14, light, fricken fast and clearly leading the shorter race.

 

As long as it isn't two numpties riding two abreast chit-chatting and oblivious of other people, normally just announcing your presence and giving them a few secs to choose a place to stop works fine.

Posted
  On 8/29/2016 at 6:43 AM, Patchelicious said:

I blame a large part of this on the race organisers (actually our, as they just service demand) obsession with this stupid thing called single track.

It seems to be this thing, "we have more single track than before", "we now feature 60% single track".

 

Now I know lots of other people LOVE it, but maybe its not the best thing for a race/event?

If you want to smash single track at your own pace, maybe its best done on normal rides. But when you put several hundred people on a same piece of single track, traffic jams are going to happen. Its science and has been proven by science test!

 

Single track is awesome, apparently, but dont do it for endless KM and KM,

It is not only the inclusion of single track, but chasing more numbers than what a trail is suited to handle by orginisers. But in saying that, the community then b!tches about high entry fees when orginisers limit the entries. You simply can't please all the people all the time. Being shouted at, and dealing with riders that causes danger to you and others is all part of racing, and not only mountain biking. Ever been in a sprint finish on a road race? Even for C batch? If screaming and shouting is not for you, start in the last batch and simply enjoy the access to areas that are usually off limits to us. Or if you are roadie-inclined, enjoy the marshalling, safe crossings and medical support, should you need it.

Posted
  On 8/29/2016 at 6:23 AM, Patchelicious said:

The friendly MTBers again....

 

This is a 2 way street, both the riders; passing and being passed should try and make the pass as quickly and safely as possible.

 

I suck balls at going down hills. I know this, therefore I take it upon myself to ASK riders that I hear coming up behind me if they want to pass. First thing that this does is that it makes them more patient. Secondly, it buys me time to find a safe spot to pull over. When I see a wider gap, I will shout back telling the rider that I am about to pull left or right. This has never been met with anything but gratitude.

 

When going uphill, I tend to pass more people again. It also means that the tables are turned. So I take it upon myself to ASK the rider in front if I can pass right or left. There is no point asking this on a rocky/technical/switchbacky climb, no point asking when you know that they cannot pull over. If done at the right time and politely, they usually say sure and pull over.

 

As with SO many things, and as per my sig the answer is: "Show more consideration to other people"

 

f29eae4c83ca909de8d64791c672fac6.jpg

This.
Posted

By the virtue of it being a race, people will switch off their brains and do super stupid sheeeet all in the name of feeling like they are racing, irrespective of whether they are only going to place in 200th position! They paid money to race and racing they will go!

 

If you are looking to simply have a chilled day out riding in an event, as suggested, join the crew taking up the back of the event! This dynamic will never change! Make your peace....

 

(P.S. This very item has been discussed at length every 18 months for the past 9 years! There is never a winner in them.)

Posted
  On 8/29/2016 at 8:02 AM, Oufy MTB (Roadie) said:

If you want flow in an mtb race, get started in the first batch, be first on top of the climbs and you will get all the flow. If you can't do that, then take a chill pill

Exactly. And don't try and race like a bat outta hell when you've got people in front of you. Tell them calmly "I'll pass where I can, you carry on" 

 

9 times outta 10 they'll just pull over 'cos you weren't a dick. 

Posted
  On 8/29/2016 at 7:56 AM, Tubehunter said:

By the virtue of it being a race, people will switch off their brains and do super stupid sheeeet all in the name of feeling like they are racing, irrespective of whether they are only going to place in 200th position! They paid money to race and racing they will go!

 

If you are looking to simply have a chilled day out riding in an event, as suggested, join the crew taking up the back of the event! This dynamic will never change! Make your peace....

 

(P.S. This very item has been discussed at length every 18 months for the past 9 years! There is never a winner in them.)

n pomp is n pomp ou pel  :clap:

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