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Almost had a bit of an off yesterday at Glentress.
Was going pretty hard to be fair when I was met with someone riding up the carls lane trail.
I stopped and offered a polite word that the climb for this trail is on the right up the fire road. Only to be told,
'its ok mate iv ridden here loads of times, I know what I'm doing and don't you tell me how and where to ride my bike'
Dangerous attitude and dangerous behaviour in my mind.
Had this had been some of the steeper faster sections, with someone with slower reaction times it could have been a lot worse.
Guy in his late 40s, Merida bike, Scottish enduro Jersey. Poor attitude towards trail etiquette and towards other riders.
Else where
I was riding up a trail to access my favourite offpiste trail without the boring fire road climb, with good sight lines I pulled over in good time to let an oncoming out of control looking rider pass and he started telling me where I can and cant ride on my home trails.
They are open to the public and it's not a race track. Round the corner it could be a fallen rider , a family with straggling kids or someone fixing a puncture in a silly place.
Such is life. I'd be more inclined to agree if the trail in question didnt have good long sight lines through the tree that let either rider see what's coming.
Which trail is this? Most GT trails cannot be ridden in reverse. Is this the old route that leads to peebles?
Was it on the designate trail network and was definitely a 1-way and you were going the right way? If not, I'm with trailrat, if so, then I'm slightly less with trailrat...
I was well within control hence the reason I stopped.
I was licking on due to the clear line of site. Where it is safe to do so. With time to react to fallen riders and such like.
Each to their own I suppose but in my mind a downward trail is a downward trail. Boring Fire road or not it's still the accepted method of access to the mast.
Do you access mast of zorro or cock nostril by riding round the black ?
Ultimately the direction of the trail means you have right of way and that oncoming riders should move over.
Most of the trails that dont have clear sight lines as tj points out would be pretty unplesent to ride up hence it's self policing because the trail builders are smart cookies.
Alternatively.....was he on an ebike if so burn him *
*Not really but seems to be the popular opinion (unless it was a singlespeed e bike)
So just for clarity. Is this a part of the designated and marked trail network? I ask because I do not recognise the name. " accepted method of access to the mast" is not the same as designated waymarked trail.
If he is a born and bred local then clearly he can do as he pleases.
If he is an incomer then he should be on the fire road climb to the mast.
That is written in statute in the Borders Bigotry Laws.
Tj it's the pedally twisty through the trees trail down from the mast (in boundary trail direction) to the top of truon chin/ho chi Minh .
I stopped and offered a polite word that the climb for this trail is on the right up the fire road. Only to be told
Were you on a Fire Road then? Part of the route but not a designated bike trail?
Not one I know by name. Is it part of the official trails?
Ah - had a look at the map - it is a part of the waymarked and designated one way trails so put away your pitchforks chaps - the OP is the one in the right
Is it a local bylaw?
Ah – had a look at the map – it is a part of the waymarked and designated one way trails so put away your pitchforks chaps – the OP is the one in the right
Ok. Nothing knew though it's always happened, dicks will be dicks.
As a Glentress local.... Riding backwards on a trail at a weekend is plain stupid and dangerous.
"reasonable" is the key thing with access. Is it reasonable under access laws to ride the wrong way? There has never been any court decisions that I know of about the trails at GT so its not known if they fit the " land set aside for a specific purpose" thus its not clear legally if walkers are allowed on the trails or if the one way waymarkings are legally enforceable but applying the "reasonable" test I would say the OP is right - or more right than the person riding the wrong way.
Rightly or wrongly but I guess next time I see someone riding to cocknostril from the mast I should accost them and tell them of the error of their ways even if they are riding within confines of rule number 1
There was a group of 3 yesterday doing bits backwards, I came across them a couple of times spooky wood climb coming down and later on in the day blue velvet same group, nearly took out a group of kids on the trails.
On a positive note it’s great to see so many kids and parents out on the bikes yesterday, lots of big groups very different to my normal Cannock chase ride.
riding down a climb is particularly stupid and if I saw someone doing that I would have words.
Riding down a climb and riding up a descent essentially are no different. The end result would be identical only whose fault it was would change.
Years back met a bloke dragging his mate the wrong way around Kirrochtree, it was OK he said it was Scotland you can do that.....
should have crashed into him.
Riding down a climb isn't that stupid. If I was going to do Zorro I'd go down the climb, I'd do it respectfully and if I met anybody coming up it I'd give way to them.
Devil's advocate - that makes it perfectly ok then.
In that scenario, yes. Others will be different. I wouldn't for example ride up Britney Spears in the daytime but I have pushed back up Deliverance after Mild Peril in the dark when nobody else was daft enough to be there. Only had to do it once though.
Riding down the Spooky Woods climb on a Saturday afternoon is blooming stupid. Same with riding up Carl's Lane when the fire road is just to your right.
Can understand riding short sections backwards to link trails up, as long as you're being respectful and giving way to the correct direction of travel.
The Scottish access code is great, it's just a shame most riders haven't actually read or understood it.
Stevemenmuirs example of riding down towards Mask of Zorro could easily fall within reasonable access. Riding a marked downhill trail when there's and uphill trail next to it would not.
Trouble is knobs will be knobs. Bet all those riders had inner tubes strapped to their top tubes.
Trouble is knobs will be knobs. Bet all those riders had inner tubes strapped to their top tubes.
You were doing so well at a reasoned case until then.....
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Riding down a climb and riding up a descent essentially are no different.
Not to me. If they are climbing a descent then they will be going slow uphill and me going fast downhill. Its in my control if I crash or not. If they are going down a climb they will be going fast and me going slow so its in their hands if we crash
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I do not like my safety in anyone elses hands
dynamic trail obstacle.
I did lose my shit a little coming down berm baby berm to find a bunch of 18 or so adventure scouts (16ish not children) and a leader or two pushing up the trail and both sides. Mainly because of the spread preventing any kind of avoidance if it had been required.
Jeepers BBB has a push up track beside it and IIRC signs saying do not push up the trail.
Carls lane is quite a nice climb actually 🙂
@Mikewsmith, I guess you have an inner tube tube strapped to your top tube? 🙂
Anyway, since when was STW the place for a reasoned arguement?
I guess you have an inner tube tube strapped to your top tube?
I did when I had 29" & 26" bikes, saved a lot of hassle when you forgot to swap over!
Mine is strapped to my down-tube. Is that OK?
I see from the trail map that Carls Lane is marked until it joins the link to red just above Spooky Wood. Is the other fork that comes down from here parallel to the fire road to the top of Ho Chi Minh part of the 'official trail'? I can't remember if there are signs saying descent only on this bit. Can anyone confirm? I would say I certainly wouldn't be cycling up it.
Which bit did it happen on OP?
🙋♂️ I used to tape a tube to the under side of my saddle when I was xc racing. Can I be offended too? 😁
<div class="bbp-reply-author">tjagain
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riding down a climb is particularly stupid and if I saw someone doing that I would have words.
Riding down the black in reverse from the mast is perfectly safe though as it's totally open and visible, it'd be pretty much impossible to have an Incident.
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It was about half way between the start of Carls Lane at the mast and the first time it crosses the fire road.
Jeepers BBB has a push up track beside it and IIRC signs saying do not push up the trail.
The berms are surely a give away that this is designed for coming down.
That section between the finish of Britney and the mast is a shared section with a walkers path, from memory the only bit of the park that is a shared path, so walkers could be coming along in either direction. So there isn't a "right way".
Carl's Lane is purpose built bike trail, in memory of a very nice chap who did loads for local kids and the bike club. So it's double dick points for being a tool on that path.
Riding down a climb CAN be safer if one does it considerately.
I don't think I've ever ridden a directional trail the wrong way.
A few years ago while 5-10 minutes into the upper red at Whinlatter and being in awe of the hardiness of the locals (it was very hard going) only to meet walkers coming downhill and the realisation I had taken a wrong turning (embarrassing 😀)
It’s not the case here though and I’m with the OP on this one and find it strange that some people take that attitude and are risking others safety. That particular stretch also had quite a few wet and muddy patches yesterday adding to the difficulty of avoiding a crash.
Riding up a purpose built descent trail just seems stupid and a bit of a dick move.
However given some of the things you see here, online and on the trails its hardly surprising.
Surely the appropriate action is to;
Crash into them
Dominate the stairs (roots in this case)
Hammer frozen sausages into their lawn
Bang their wife
Kill their dog
...........
99% sure that there is a 'No Entry' sign at the bottom of 'Carl's Lane', where it joins the access track to Spooky Wood. A simple 'oh, sorry, my mistake' or 'thanks, I didn't realise this was a descent' would have been normal options here IME.
I accidentally went up the descent for ~20 metres, having joined where it meets the bottom of the last bit of fire road on the Spooky Wood climb through the trees. I was following the Tweedlove Gritopia route GPX
I can't find the link, but read an article about 6 months ago from Andy McKenna about mountain bikers not respecting the land...struck a chord as it did ring true.
Anyway, this thread and posts have reminded me of it and just highlights even on a designated bike trail, mountain bikers can't stick to the designated route and argue that it is OK...
Almost had a bit of an off yesterday at Glentress.
I was well within control hence the reason I stopped.
So which one was it?
TJ - on what may seem a technicality - the qualifier in the access legislation is “responsible” not “reasonable”... you might want to work out the difference before pursuing your hypothetical court case.
I sometimes attach a tube to the bottom of the down tube (weight distribution is better, obvs). Do I get to be miss the point too?
"99% sure that there is a ‘No Entry’ sign at the bottom of ‘Carl’s Lane’, where it joins the access track to Spooky Wood."
I think there is but I'm pretty sure there isn't one at the unofficial cut-through where people ride off Carl's Lane to go up the old entrance to the Boundary.
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TJ – on what may seem a technicality – the qualifier in the access legislation is “responsible” not “reasonable”… you might want to work out the difference before pursuing your hypothetical court case.
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Oops - you are right and there is a difference. Warra numpty I am 😉