Bike trail riding

[jgillott]

Mixing it up a little. By far, this was the toughest ride recently with all of the hills.

 

[moparguy]

Interesting thread. Disclaimer first, I haven't been on a bike in 25 years. Back in the 80's early 90's I road cheap bikes I camoed and turkey hunted off them behind locked gates on Public Land. Stated a trend in some areas.

The wife and I have always had a very active rural life and are lifetime horse people. We truly love riding/hunting in the Rockies and the Ozark mountains in Arkansas. The explosion of mountain bike riders in many of the areas we've ridden for years is a truly depressing development.

Imagine this scenario. You're a grown couple (68 years young) ridding up a trail you've been enjoying for decades, sharp drop off to one side and mountain on the other. Perhaps you're on a young horse that's a bit green (or not). Suddenly a dang near out of control bike is in your face with no way to not cause a major horse wreak with possible loss of life or limb. This has happened to us more than once.

Though sheer luck and the fact we've been ridding for a lifetime we haven't suffered major injury although the wife's knee was injured when her horse jumped into a tree and recovery was a 4 month long ordeal. Did the rider stop and make sure we were OK, Hell No!

I'd like to catch some of the riders we've encountered and brand em with "Horses Have Right-of-Way". Not that long ago this was normal trail etiquette. Not sure what caused the unacceptable rude attitude we've experience several times in the recent past but it's sure be nice if we could have a reset and inject some common/good sense into the mindset of some of the young riders we're seeing.

OK, Rant over. Fortunately most riders do slow, and if they can't get off the trail as soon as they see horses they know to stop and stay still till we pass. It's the unprovoked rude behavior that's becoming more common and I guess it's as much ignorance as anything. I do see the time in our not too distant future where we won't be able to enjoy this lifestyle and then it's not a problem.

 

[jgillott]

It's unfortunate that you have that experience in your area. Thankfully, it is the polar opposite here. This is such a huge established rails to trails system (hundreds and hundreds of miles of converted rail bed) that everyone can enjoy it without issue.

It's actually kind of shocking that PA got this one right. We tend to mess everything up around here. But, they hit a home run on this one.

 

[kthaxton]

Wife and shuttled a trail yesterday, 2500 ft of descending, with a short climb near the beginning. Bliss.

 

[Wayne M.]

That Mountain View is nice. Encounter any wildlife? Bear, etc?

 

[jhenderson]

Unfortunately, my experience is the same as moparguy. I live next to the Arcadia Management Area in R.I. Things were far more pleasant before the mountain bike became popular. One bad actor sticks in your mind a lot longer than 10 good people.

 

[kthaxton]

That Mountain View is nice. Encounter any wildlife? Bear, etc?

While there are bear in the area, I have never encountered one while biking. Moose are usually the biggest wildlife concern on most of these Northern Utah trails.

 

[jgillott]

Picked up another new bike today. This is a birthday present for my daughter. This is another Trek Verve II. The 2020 models are now disk brake.

 

[jgillott]

 

[Wayne M.]

I was wondering how your trekking has been doing?

 

[jgillott]

We haven't been able to ride the trail since mid October due to the weather. Trying to ride the elliptical every day and the spin bike a couple days a week in the interim.

 

[kthaxton]

We haven't been able to ride the trail since mid October due to the weather.

Problem solver. Just one more bike.

 

[jgillott]

Very Nice. I definitely have one on my wish list.

 

[kthaxton]

One of the coolest things ever.....sun crust. Late winter, early spring, when the snow is deep and the days start to get warm....if you hit the trails early, when it's still really cold and the previous day's thaw has frozen, you can ride "on top" of the snow and go anywhere you want, no need to follow a trail. Natural terrain park.
The top picture was taken on one of those days. I'm on top of 2-3 feet of snow.

 

[jgillott]

One of the coolest things ever.....sun crust. Late winter, early spring, when the snow is deep and the days start to get warm....if you hit the trails early, when it's still really cold and the previous day's thaw has frozen, you can ride "on top" of the snow and go anywhere you want, no need to follow a trail. Natural terrain park.
The top picture was taken on one of those days. I'm on top of 2-3 feet of snow.

We haven't had a winter like that in a few years. It would be really interesting to ride in those conditions.

 

[jgillott]

Pulling this old thread back up for a minute. We've been back on the trail again over the last week or so. We got a little bit of a late start this year due to the weather and the stay at home orders. But, it feels good to be back out there again. We did two 10 mile rides this week and can't wait to get out to some longer distances.