Cycle Path Etiquette - Am i doing it wrong?

Get a bell and use it properly – takes away almost all the shared path pain. FFS guys – its not hard

Then there are those walking on cycle paths or bridleways in beautiful countryside, birds are singing, cows munching grass, the wind is whispering through the leaves….but they are wearing headphones and walking head down staring at a phone and it’s the cyclists fault that they jump a foot in the air as you eventually find a section wide enough to pass after ringing a bell, asking politely and even resort to buying a hope hub to announce your approach

🤷‍♂️

Nah, bell is definitely the way forward. I've been using one of the cheapo standard issue ones and it does the job. Will upgrade to a nice crane soon.

The one I really don’t get on cycle paths is when there is a lined lane on the left hand side of the carriageway why on earth would you even try to cycle the opposite way to the oncoming cars and bikes!

Dunno, ask Glasgow City Council. Contraflow eastwards on Howard Street (vs First) and the corresponding contraflow westwards on Argyle Street (you guessed it, vs First). Not sure if it still survives but it was there the best part of 20 years.

I sort of like the anarchy of shared paths, I think the way forward is just to accept that “something” is likely to happen, and as long as one party (normally me) is paying sufficient attention it’ll mostly be OK and sort itself out.

I think this is a great demonstration of why bikes are fundamentally different to cars.

If you removed all signs and markings from the roads, bikes would still get around just fine. Car's would be absolute Armageddon. e.g. there's traffic lights near me that are ostensibly in a 40mph limit, they regularly get power cuts. On the "straight through" major road part of the junction drivers seem to believe that if they do 70+ in those conditions then no one will pull out on them 🤷‍♂️

Get a bell and use it properly – takes away almost all the shared path pain. FFS guys – its not hard

I have a bell, and it's absolutely useless for the large percentage of people wearing headphones. Better than nothing though.

I have a bell, and it’s absolutely useless for the large percentage of people wearing headphones. Better than nothing though.

As I reported on here at the time, earlier in the year I got shouted at for not ringing my bell and surprising a dopey dogwalker as I rode past. I stopped and dinged my bell several times at her saying ‘I did, you ignored me’. She shouted that I needed a louder bell. (Yes, she had been wearing headphones.)

Also, I refuse to ring a bell at people who are facing me. If they can’t use their eyes, then I can’t use a bell.

@IdleJon perhaps you could have quoted my whole post?

“From reading all the above I think there are far more important things to get angry and upset about. Sometimes on cycle paths I like to get some speed up but the thought that slows me to a crawl is “that could be you in front”. I’m quite often in my own little world when out walking – I might suddenly spot an unusual bird, a butterfly or a flower I don’t recognise and will lurch across the path for a better view – I’m often not aware of a bicycle bearing down on me to better the Strava segment for that stretch!
Shouting, swearing, muttering doesn’t help anyone. Be nice, say Hi! (I think I’ve heard that on here somewhere before!)”
Sorry I don’t know how to put it in a quote box thingy, oh yes, I forgot, I sometimes have my two dogs with me - on short leads - and soon my grandson. You bad tempered trail/path users can look out then!

I favour sticking to the left where I can. Around Bristol it's not too bad.

On the Canal du Midi however, that does not work, as I discovered heading towards a grumpy Frenchman cyclist, and my crappy GCSE French did not translate his shouts of 'droit! droit! merde!' fast enough to avoid a head on collision.

Completely my fault, he came off worse. Oops!

He might not have been grumpy beforehand? That’s made me chuckle!

I used to live with the Basingstoke Canal towpath at the end of my street and used to almost daily for 30-odd years, whether commuting by bike, leisure cycling and running so I’m highly familiar with the traits of other users. Regardless of trying to get people to go left, you’d continually encounter those that wanted to go the other way. Mrs DB used to go out with a group of friends power-walking and would regularly complain of the waywardness of other path users. I’d run with my dog in a harness, she’s trained to run on my left and down the left side of a track - we’d be running along the grass at the water’s edge and people would still step across in front - even when running at 10mph. I once has someone attempt to step across between me and the dog in full-flight - luckily I managed to stop before they got taken out. Worst were the groups of bobble-hatters who would bomb-burst in all directions, often criss-crossing in front of each other.

Rider coming towards you in the distance. He's on your right, you're on the left ?

Match him. Shift to the right and follow every time he moves from then on.

I’m quite often in my own little world when out walking

But you aren’t though are you? You are on a path shared with other people & maybe you should act accordingly.

On the Forth and Clyde canal towpath after keeping left to the point I was on the grass I stopped. As did the cyclist coming the other way keeping hard right. His friend drafting him didn't and crashed into him.

It is done better elsewhere. USA shared paths have signs telling cyclists to keep right, pass on left, and warn before passing.Everyone gets it. A few signs here might help.

As squirrelking mentioned Crane bells are the best. Lovely musical ding. And come in a top cap version if bar space is crowded

https://www.hubjub.co.uk/crane-mini-suzu-top-cap-bell-4216-p.asp

If you removed all signs and markings from the roads, bikes would still get around just fine. Car’s would be absolute Armageddon.

Only above a certain threshold. I'd like to point out that most UK roads don't have signs or markings and most people are pretty considerate on them.

The one I love is the pedestrians doggedly walking on the bike path rather than the pavement right next to it, presumably they're enjoying the pretty pictures of bikes painted on the ground.

I spent a ridiculous amount of money on a Spurcycle bell for my gravel bike and I can honestly say it was totally worth it. The sound it makes has even had compliments from walkerists.

That said, I have struggled with this.

Then there are those walking on cycle paths or bridleways in beautiful countryside, birds are singing, cows munching grass, the wind is whispering through the leaves….but they are wearing headphones and walking head down staring at a phone and it’s the cyclists fault that they jump a foot in the air as you eventually find a section wide enough to pass after ringing a bell, asking politely and even resort to buying a hope hub to announce your approach

As well as various horse riders that have requested that I both do and don't use the bell to warn them of my approach as it does/doesn't spook the horses.

I had an i-runner this morning - (headphones in, own little world) - I was keeping left, very left (almost on the grass) He's running towards me and then moves to his right (my left) - I just came to a stop, and he started mumbling. Everyone else was keeping to the left. This is when any bell is useless, they can't hear you due to the volume.

I've got a Spurcycle copy on my FS and that's a really nice 'ping' and a Planet X bell which has a loud but deeper ping.

@IdleJon perhaps you could have quoted my whole post?

“From reading all the above I think there are far more important things to get angry and upset about. Sometimes on cycle paths I like to get some speed up but the thought that slows me to a crawl is “that could be you in front”. I’m quite often in my own little world when out walking – I might suddenly spot an unusual bird, a butterfly or a flower I don’t recognise and will lurch across the path for a better view – I’m often not aware of a bicycle bearing down on me to better the Strava segment for that stretch!
Shouting, swearing, muttering doesn’t help anyone. Be nice, say Hi! (I think I’ve heard that on here somewhere before!)”

Apologies for not putting the whole of the post, but I'm not sure it makes any difference. You dither around, make other people bad tempered and expect them to be nice and say hi, if I'm reading that correctly? How about you don't dither around and don't get in the way of people in the first place? Being on a bike or not is absolutely irrelevant - if you're in the way because you're not aware of your surroundings then you're the same obstruction if I'm trying to walk past you, run, cycle, drive.

The one I love is the pedestrians doggedly walking on the bike path rather than the pavement right next to it, presumably they’re enjoying the pretty pictures of bikes painted on the ground

My local park has a dedicated wheeled sports track. It’s just over a kilometre long and clearly marked for use by bikes and other wheeled sports for training purposes and warns of high speeds.

Still get people walking around it, along with the usual dogs and small children, despite literally acres of other parkland and footpaths to use.

But anyway, I digress, I’m with the OP and keep left on shared paths and other cycle lanes. However, I also do something I don’t think has been mentioned in the thread… if someone is approaching E and it looks like we’re on the same side, I’ll also signal with my arm that I’m going and staying left. I find it’s often the lack of communication that causes the incidents, not the position one takes.

TBH, I used to just say 'excuse me' or 'morning',and tend to prefer a clicky hub you really don't need a bell when your equipped with the power of speech, it also doesn't spook the horseys and seems more polite.

TBH do cars need to beep their horns whilst on the road constantly to announce they are in the flow of some type of traffic, you walk down a shared use path you may encounter a bicyclist, its not really that unexpected.

The times I've been told I need a bell or I should be decked out in some fluorescent jumpsuit by people who have seen and heard my approach is pretty odd. Riding a bike seems to encourage people to offer real strange opinions that they would never do if you were walking down the high street.

My best ever was a runnerist running towards me with a red light strapped on his head in the dark, my brain really struggled to figure out what I was perceiving (which was a bicycle reversing whilst flying) till I was close enough that my light made it more obvious 🙂

I find shouting ‘on the fing left’ often helps (probably not, but makes me feel better).

In every XC race I've entered that has made people veer to the right.

They're funny place, cycle paths. One of my mates was told to "GET ON THE F** ROAD" by a gammon walking his dog a few weeks back and then followed up by wanting to make it a more physical encounter.

My favourite people are those in headphones, mid path - no matter how much bell, hub noise or how many "excuse me's" - they cannot hear you. And then shriek or swear at you for making them jump.

The times I’ve been told I need a bell or I should be decked out in some fluorescent jumpsuit by people who have seen and heard my approach is pretty odd.

I had this one recently on a towpath. Bloke walking towards me had clearly seen me, stepped to one side and stopped, then as I passed berated me for not using my bell.

I find shouting ‘on the f***ing left’ often helps

In every XC race I’ve entered that has made people veer to the right.

Not surprised really given you just told them [you're passing] on the left...

Bloke walking towards me had clearly seen me, stepped to one side and stopped, then as I passed berated me for not using my bell.

bizarre as it hasn't been a requirement to have one fitted to your bike since 1999 I think.

if it occured on a sunday you should enquire why he is not at archery practice (law abolished in 1960) because it makes about the same amount of sense.

Now I know it annoys so many of you I'm going to ride slightly right of centre, best of both worlds, whilst bidding you all a cheery good day 😀

I nearly had a head on collision on a cycle path as it turned to the left and an old guy came around the corner on his right (my left). Made all the worse by him riding one handed eating something.

He made some garbled complaint about me going too fast - which I wasn't. I responded by shouting "cycle on the ****ing left!" Not my best response ever.

People sometimes do stupid things, including me. 🤷‍♂️

My favourite way to announce my presence to larger groups of other path users is to do a little skid about 50m away. Gives them enough time to sort out what side of the path they should be on.

I also have a loud bell on my bike that is pretty good, especially as I ride the local canal path regularly. Doesn't always work with folk with headphones on.

Just keep riding to the left.

I mainly ride on the left but don't get uppity or in a flap if another arrives with potential to cause divergence from my dutiful but not that fussed about preference. Usually. Though on some days my mood may cause me to take a stance on said divergence and if challenged get in an uppity flap. HTHs. There is an ex-road now farm track cycle path affair I ride in the middle down. Due to very low use of said road, I can weave around from side to side with wanton abandon or just super casually ride freewheeling and no hands.

Wish there were more cycle paths as some of the roads I ride (and with a recent local cyclist death on my mind) have me near constantly wondering when or how long before a car collides with me (yes I ride sensibly when on the road amongst cars).

Sometimes I just leave my timber bell running continuously on tow paths and weekend trails. I think it’s less aggressive than a normal bell.