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https://twitter.com/BBCBreakfast/status/1161145857854640128?s=20
You can imagine the nick of the replies. Every NIMBY-ist killjoy for miles queuing up to chip in their tuppence worth.
Oh lordy, that R5 off the dial for this mornings drive.
The responses don’t surprise me in the slightest. Just used to the fact that being on a bike makes you the devil in the eyes of people that choose to walk or drive a car
That must have been fun sending out that tweet, please someone with twitter head over there to bait them, it'll be beyond easy.
Following the trail sabotage stuff a few weeks back a few media orgs were wanting to keep the story going, but we were keen to move it on. The BBC were happy to be talking about the dire rights of Way network, which was a real positive from a negative and full credit to Esther at peak district MTB for driving the narrative on
Cyclist don't pay footpath tax!!
Yes Esther was great.
My problem is other trail users don't realise that most Mtbers are walkers too and drive, meaning that ramblers who moan don't understand that we all need to share and get on.
We've had a few problems in our local mtb trails around Marple. As a whole the local mtbers, walkers and horse riders get on. However our area can become like a trail centre at the weekend and a few mtber treat as such. They bomb around without consideration, without realising there are families out walking, people out with loose dogs, horse riders with young skittish horses.
As Dan Walker said, it's a case of just having consideration for everyone.
It's going to be great when Wales opens up more footpaths for mtbers. However I feel it could be a long time before this happens in England.
It's a case of a few thoughtless riders ruining the reputation of mtbkers and nimbyism. But I'm surprised there isn't more outrage about people sabotaging trails and putting peoples lives at risk.
VT made good points but placing the live feed in the middle of a trail centre with riders jumping off rocks really didn’t do the cause any favours.
But I’m surprised there isn’t more outrage about people sabotaging trails and putting peoples lives at risk.
Yeah the 1980s is like, OVER, dewwwd.
I tried reading the replies, hoping to offer some reassuring support about cyclists slowing down or stopping for walkers on trails… but it was all about red lights, bells and mandatory use of cycle lanes… same old and way off topic.
Never read the comments...... apparently cyclists take stones from walls to fill in potholes...!
Yep - I also thought Esther was rather good on this morning's BBC segment ...
However, looking at the replies to the tweet, Facebook postings etc, I'm not sure that this approach by the mainstream media is actually helpful ... once again, all it seemingly does is provide the 'Disgusted of Tunbridge-Wells' with a platform to spew forth their anti-cycling rhetoric and cliches which from my perspective just seems to exacerbate the us vs them situation.
The BBC 'feature' was reasonably balanced but it felt like it was being deliberately included in order to stir up a hornets nest of anti-cycling hatred ...
I'm a member of Cycling UK and I support them in their initiatives such as the 'Trails for Wales' etc, however the public backlash from the recent trail sabotage in the main-stream/tabloid/right-wing media and this BBC feature, seems to perpetuate the idea of the cyclist (in all our various niches) as being public enemy number one and generally viewed as sitting somewhere between Gary Glitter and Jimmy Saville in terms of contribution to UK society as a whole ... I've just read a load of the social media replies and perhaps I was previously a bit naive, but crikey - these people really don't like cyclists do they? and it seems that the more exposure cyclists get in the media the more they are vilified and despised.
I knew that cyclists generally weren't that well liked, but I hadn't realised quite how much some sections of UK society actually hate us ... I mean really really hate us ...
Can't help thinking that in matters such as this then trying to change the status quo by appealing to someone who hates you and doesn't actually consider you to be 'completely human'* is perhaps not the best course of action and instead concentrate on dealing with the people who can actually facilitate change ... and ignore the Populist rhetoric (although I conceed that I am perhaps living in a bygone era ...)
*recent Australian survey reported in CyclingWeekly The Guardian etc
NEVER READ THE COMMENTS!
Also, do you care what some sad sack sat behind a keyboard thinks of you!? I truly don't
I bumped into a mate of mine on a ride home last month. He is a tradesman and drives a van (not wishing to stereotype massively). He was in his van, I was on my bike and we stopped for a couple of minutes for a chat. His passenger supposedly said after this meeting that he thought "all cyclists were ***** but I seemed like a decent bloke". People don't seem to realise that cyclists are just human beings, we have been completely dehumanised and demonised.
Also, do you care what some sad sack sat behind a keyboard thinks of you!? I truly don’t
Unfortunately those folk do venture out from behind their keyboards from time to time, some of them to drive large metal objects on the same roads that cyclists use.
I knew that cyclists generally weren’t that well liked, but I hadn’t realised quite how much some sections of UK society actually hate us … I mean really really hate us …
It's just social media morons.
Hants Police tweeted the other day that they are going to accept video footage of close passes and dangerous driving... then had to respond to every single Twitter ****ing moron who replied to just say "Can we use this to report cyclists going through red lights" "can we use this to report cyclists killing babies and pensioners?" etc.
I considered replying to them too, but that would've meant reading their retarded witterings. So I didn't bother and was over it in a few minutes.
So if the Police can warn people about abuse on social media linked to a fugitives hairstyle, how come it's ok to abuse, and in some cases actually threaten, cyclists?
Also, do you care what some sad sack sat behind a keyboard thinks of you!? I truly don’t
If they are just sat behind a keyboard I couldn't give a flying ****, but if they are sat behind the wheel of a car and subject me to a 'Punishment Pass' as happened last week then yes - my inherent instinct for survival means I do care ...
I'm not sure it's relevant whether I read the negative comments or not, but with the likes of this article and other sections of the media encouraging a 'platform' for this anti-cycling rhetoric, it seemingly 'normalises' this type of attitude and behaviour:
i.e. The following mindset - "I've just read loads of comments online about how other people hate cyclist and I hate cyclists - therefore I am not alone in my hatred of cylists, so I must be right!"
If they are just sat behind a keyboard I couldn’t give a flying ****, but if they are sat behind the wheel of a car and subject me to a ‘Punishment Pass’ as happened last week then yes – my inherent instinct for survival means I do care …
I’m not sure it’s relevant whether I read the negative comments or not, but with the likes of this article and other sections of the media encouraging a ‘platform’ for this anti-cycling rhetoric, it seemingly ‘normalises’ this type of attitude and behaviour:
Yeah I do agree with you. But, I can’t see us being able to do anything about it. We are the minority it’s OK to hate.
I’ve just accepted we live in this angry little country. I commute day in day out by bike. I get close passes and all that. (Off topic but I got doored couple weeks back too! Passenger jumped out as the traffic wasn’t moving. That was apparently my fault, they started having a go at me whilst I was picking up the broken bike and with a bleeding shoulder. I was cycling up the inside of stationary traffic – in the cycle lane FFS! Bloody hurt.)
But all that aside, I love cycling (on and off road), so will damned well carry on regardless! You’re not going to change their minds about us – f…’em
53 minutes in.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0007lnp/breakfast-13082019
Plus they go back and interview various other bods throughout the programme - easy to spot by hovering over the slider.
It's like 1995 all over again.
[i]53 minutes in.[/i]
and 1h24 - where the reporter repeats how complicated it is and the trail centre bod (thankfully) says "It's quite simple really... Footpaths are for walking on" 😆
Not watched it but usually anything related to bikes on news media involves some misinformed rant by someone which goes unchallenged by the presenters. The road tax one being common. Not one ever points out there's no such thing and they may go on to ask their audience if cyclists should pay road tax, have insurance etc. 🤦♂️
Footpaths, they'll just focus on the ramblers "concerns" who are likely very influential with the Beeb and high up types.
Never read the comments…… apparently cyclists take stones from walls to fill in potholes…!
Tbf, just in the last week there’s been a thread on one of the Sheffield forums with some riders not understanding that using stones from a wall to build a kicker on a busy and well known descent is a problem...
Wee hint to the Englandshire-ists. Your restrictions are unenforceable if everyone ignores them!
Wee hint to the Englandshire-ists. Your restrictions are unenforceable if everyone ignores them!
Yup, cheeky and considerate are your friends 👍
So if the Police can warn people about abuse on social media linked to a fugitives hairstyle, how come it’s ok to abuse, and in some cases actually threaten, cyclists?
I had a great laugh telling the police I’d seen him in Wiggston and Wigan.
Some simple arithmetic explains the amount of aggro in England and why progressive legislation won’t happen.
Area of England = 130,395 sq km.
Population = 55,620,000
Dickheads per head of population = 0.25*
*This is an estimate, but I would say a conservative one from extensive interactions with the rest of the population in 40+ years. There is another piece of polling that suggests the true figure may be as high as 52%, but more of that later.
Estimated total dickheads = 13,905,000.
Estimated total dickheads per sq km = 107 (rounded up).
Area of Scotland = 80,077 sq km.
Population = 5,425,000
Dickheads per head of population 0.25**
**The other piece of polling suggests that this should be lower than England, but kept the same here for comparison purposes.
Estimated total dickheads = 1,356,250.
Estimated total dickheads per sq km = 17 (rounded up).
Pretty damning stuff.
seosamh77
Subscriber
Wee hint to the Englandshire-ists. Your restrictions are unenforceable if everyone ignores them!
That's how we roll on the Isle of Wight. Aside from one or two deranged individuals on the Provisional Wing of the Ramblers Association, whose locations are generally known and for the most part avoided, it works pretty well. Cheery waves and after-you-Claude gestures go a long way.
they’ll just focus on the ramblers “concerns”
Completely wrong. It was all from a mountain bike point of view.
Watch, then comment, would be my advice 🤪
Cheery waves and after-you-Claude gestures go a long way.
That is also my default starting point. It seems that a growing minority really want to have a pop, though.
I’ve had two ‘episodes’ with the same tosspot round my way. I was perfectly polite, even when telling him that I would deal with the landowner or his or her appointed agent on matters of access.
He responded by shouting the c-bomb. I’m waiting for the next encounter where I will play it exactly the same, but finish by saying “Oh, and Brexit isn’t going to happen, by the way” and watch him explode.
Well that came out very well, I thought. I've no intention of reading the comments though.
Wee hint to the Englandshire-ists. Your restrictions are unenforceable if everyone ignores them!
That's the plan.
Wee hint to the Englandshire-ists. Your restrictions are unenforceable if everyone ignores them!
That's always how I play it. As far as I am aware nobody has ever been prosecuted for cycling on a footpath and it happens an awful lot so "the law" can generally be ignored. Just follow the cheeky trails rules. You will still get shouty people occasionally but they will be shouty even if it was fully legal. Our access is actually pretty good.
Oddly I find myself having problems with it. Odd, because when I move to Scotland its something I look forward to.
1. I simply don't trust my fellow cyclist not to **** it up. Currently all but the most knuckle draggy cyclist who ride cheeky do it carefully and subtly and are courteous when they do come across peds because they know they are technically in the wrong. Give them the right to do it and too many will get all entitled and ride like arses. Happens already on bridleways but footpaths tend to be narrower and twistier and riding like an arse is even easier to do. Then we'll all be in the shit.
2. If they allow cyclists then surely horses get the gig too. There are more of everything but especially horse wollopers in Englandshire and I'm fed up of them churning up bridleways already. Riding cheeky at the moment gets you away from their mess but change the rules and they will mess those up too.
3. Landowners - would they be expected to make footpaths accessible for bikes (and horses too)? i.e. make them wider in places and remove stiles and replace with gates. As you probably know already the original reason for delineation between rights of access into footpaths and bridleways was about what the expectation was on landowners to make alterations to allow access for horses rather than just people on foot not about the sort of other users you could expect to find on your travels. If all footpaths 'had' to be available to bikes (and especially if horses too) could that make some of them untenable? Or would it just be that cyclists would be expected to manhandle their bikes over obstacles?
4. A counter to 3....In Englandshire one of the positives is I can go to a new area and if its marked on an OS map as a Bridleway I KNOW it will be ridable. Some of the footpaths will no doubt be technically (if not legally) ridable too but I'm guaranteed to be able to put a ride together with bridleways and it will work. When in Scotland it is often not that easy. You just can't tell from the map. Double dashes denote a landrover track and ridable but that is very limiting. The remainder are often suck it and see.
Couldn’t resist a few replies on the twitter thread. Mainly pointing out that you don’t often see red lights on footpathsz
Mainly pointing out that you don’t often see red lights on footpathsz
Once its dark get plenty of backlights shining on some of the local footpaths.
dannyh
Member
Some simple arithmetic explains the amount of aggro in England and why progressive legislation won’t happen.Area of England = 130,395 sq km.
Population = 55,620,000
Dickheads per head of population = 0.25**This is an estimate, but I would say a conservative one from extensive interactions with the rest of the population in 40+ years. There is another piece of polling that suggests the true figure may be as high as 52%, but more of that later.
Estimated total dickheads = 13,905,000.
Estimated total dickheads per sq km = 107 (rounded up).Area of Scotland = 80,077 sq km.
Population = 5,425,000
Dickheads per head of population 0.25****The other piece of polling suggests that this should be lower than England, but kept the same here for comparison purposes.
Estimated total dickheads = 1,356,250.
Estimated total dickheads per sq km = 17 (rounded up).Pretty damning stuff.
your numbers don't really work, they are too general.
You should compare the likes of the central belt, where about 3.5million of scots live in a much much smaller area.
Be nice say Hi.
It doesn't really matter if the rules are changes to allow cyclists on FP, The arseholes who want conflict and tell you "it's illegal" will just shout something different. It's about sharing, and it's something that a good number of folks just don't want to do, If they're forced into it, they'll still resent it.
I'll carry on riding FP and smiling at them (they really hate it when you do that...)
n Englandshire one of the positives is I can go to a new area and if its marked on an OS map as a Bridleway I KNOW it will be ridable.
See, now I'd disagree with that. I often have to give up and turn around on a ride (in the East/West midlands countryside, within a few miles of a town or city, not out in the middle of nowhere) because bridleways aren't kept clear. Sometimes it's just a short section of impenetrable quickthorn combined with a fence and gate. Or, as I found the other week, it's 300m of chest high bramble, nettle and thistle. I know landowners are meant to keep it clear, but they don't.
The worst place for it are where there's a field with crops in it, then a modern wire fence then the bridleway and the original field-boundary hedge. The wire fence make it (seemingly) impossible to drive a tractor down the bridleway to clear it, plus you can't just ride out into the field to avoid the spiky stuff.
What I never understand is why seemingly some landowners remove or disguise rights of way signing.
It basically means I'll spend ages going all over your property looking for the bw that I know is supposed to be there.
Keep it well signed and I'm through quickly. Me no understand.
As for footpaths, I cycle on them all the time, but am always mindful and courteous to the primary users.
The days of bikes having to always be in the road are over imho. The roads are just too dangerous now and to expect people to risk life and limb on simple journeys is now unreasonable as far as I'm concerned.
Sadly, idiots exist on pavements as they do on roads.
convert
...Some of the footpaths will no doubt be technically (if not legally) ridable too but I’m guaranteed to be able to put a ride together with bridleways and it will work. When in Scotland it is often not that easy. You just can’t tell from the map....
That's half the fun real rough stuff... 🙂
(and why fat bikes are popular)
I know landowners are meant to keep it clear, but they don’t.
They're not allowed to block e.g with barbed wire, but its the local authority who have to clear overgrown tracks. Quite often they pay the local farmer to do the job.
but its the local authority who have to clear overgrown tracks.
Actually I think responsibility to keep the public right of way clear of vegetation lies with the land owner or occupier ...
"As the owner or occupier of land with a public right of way across it, you must:
make sure vegetation does not encroach onto the route from the sides or above, bearing in mind the different clearances needed for users of different types of route, for example by horse riders"
from the following:
When farmers ‘clear’ overgrown rights of way it is not unusual for them to deliberately use heavy plant repeatedly to churn it up ‘to keep the riff-raff out’.
Eh! **** BBC and since when the **** did we give a shite what BBC discusses!?
I do most of my mtb’ing on footpaths using my enduraaaaaabrabike 🤪
It’s all down to a bit of communication.
I was, admittedly, a bit lost and thought I might actually be riding on a footpath. A farmer in a tractor on the same track was trundling toward me, ‘Oh dear’ me thinks, ‘he might get grumpy’. He stopped and said hello, I asked if I was actually on a footpath and if it was OK to ride my bike on it. His reply was along the lines of, ‘Well, I drive this along it, be daft to stop you riding a bike, crack on.’
What I never understand is why seemingly some landowners remove or disguise rights of way signing.
I see that a lot round my way.
Cheeky tactics like letting the sign become overgrown, let it fall over beyond sight etc etc.
When the rest of the area around the sign is trim and maintained but the exact location of the sign is a bramble/nettle nightmare.
I think opening up footpaths to cyclists will just result in more bad vibes between us and the ramblers. More encounters with an already sour bunch (generalising greatly) will only make it much worse IMO.
They see us as dicks and some are to be fair and its those few who give us all the bad name.
The temptation for trail sabotage will be heightened I guess, there will be 'we were here first' feelings for years and years, sparking some inevitable retaliation from the rambler extremists.
For the most part we can get away with cheeky excursions onto footpaths if we don't come into contact with rambler or if we do, we stop/slow, say hi and just be the nice guy. Its worked for years with me with only a few minor bad encounters. Both of which I predicted correct when I saw the guy (you just know from their face, expression and demeanour) so I was armed with even more happiness and polite offerings before he started barking.