Etiquette

Posted by PeterD Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:31:00 GMT

We had a great Wednesday night ride tonight. For a change, we had a singlespeed variation of the regular ride. 5 true single speeds showed up, along with one guy with a singlespeed chastity belt (a zip tie placed such that he couldn’t shift) and 2 shifty guys.

The ride did make me think of trail etiquette. I am sure most people have seen the share the trail signs (such as the one to the right). It basically says that we are expected to yield to horses and hikers. But what does this really mean?

In general, I stop for horses (even on fire roads) and wait for the equestrian to tell me when it is safe to go by. In general, horses in the Bay Area are not trained as well as they should be, so we need to do so for both our safety and the safety of the equestrian (and thankfully there are not that many, so I don’t find myself stopping too often). Work horses are trained so well that they don’t care about bikes at all, but the weekend warrior horses we have around here may jump at a leaf falling.

Hikers, I usually stop on singletrack, and slow way down on fire roads. There are lots more around here, so to keep this from being an issue, I avoid trails where there would be lots of hikers – plenty of other choices out there.

Of course, in both cases, I call out way in advance (even just saying hello is enough).

But what do we do when we encounter other cyclists? The general etiquette I have heard of that someone riding downhill should yield to someone climbing. This is based on it being much harder for a climber to restart after a stop than someone pointed downhill, so the downhiller should yield.

Now, how did tonight’s ride make me think of this? We had a climb where I wished another piece of bike on bike etiquette considered. Singlespeeds don’t climb slowly well- we have to keep our cadence up, and this requires a relatively fast climbing pace. Singlespeed riders generally dread hearing the sound of a geared bike in front of them shifting in to their little chain ring, as this means either a painful slow cadence or forced dismount. If you are riding with singlespeeds and start climbing slowly, it would be nice to ask if any singlespeeder behind you wants to get by.

Ok, time to step off the soap box…