had a lady tell me "your welcome" as I road in the dirt to avoid her and her dog on a long lease.

Early in the morning last week, as I was running to the track on the MUP in front of my neighborhood, I had a shirtless meathead in front of me. This dude is built like a brickhouse. As I am catching up to him, we come across a couple walking their little pocket dogs on longer leashes. The couple notices us coming & pulls the dogs in close. Pocket dog #1 starts barking at meathead. Meathead then stops in his tracks, completely freaked out by the 6 ounces of barking fur. Not expecting him to completely stop, I run right into the back of him. Remember, he is shirtless and sweaty. So now I am covered in meathead's sweat as he stands there frozen in fear, and I am just getting my workout started.

It reminded me that keeping a safe distance is not just for when you are driving your car.

My favorite was some mormons trying to stop me and proselytize while I was in the middle of a lunch-time jog.

Admittedly I wasn't pushing myself too much (9 min/mile pace, maybe?), but still -- that's just silly. Don't I look a little busy?

Dog size is inversely proportional to lead length.

I did once pretend my GPS watch was video enabled when I saw someone shirking their shit-lifting responsibilities. So there is that. 😂

Two dudes mid to late 20s running 6 min/mile. They looked like they could lay down a sub 3 hour marathon no problem. They obviously run a lot.

Anyway they were running side by side in the middle of the trail. I came up behind them going 25 mph. This is a little known and usually deserted trail so got no problems going fast. I yelled on your left and they looked over their shoulder and saw me with probably good 5 seconds of lead time. The right guy stayed where he was (more or less in the middle) and the left guy didn't move either until he looked at me again with a second to spare and awkwardly moved left just as I was on top of them. Had to hit the brakes swerve and thread the needle between him and the fence to avoid all three of us going down.

The only reason this wasn't a crash is that these sort of encounters happen all the time and I'm prepared to get out of it no matter what the other party does. Just really surprising that these two didn't know what to do. That was properly strange.

Get annoyed by the people who are walking around the walking path (Running and Biking are allowed), and smoke. First thought is there is an ordinance against it, so it is illegal on the property the path is on, also the point it to be healthy, not blacken a lung.

Oh and if you comment they say sorry then just keep on doing it. Ran past somebody that did that the other night.

not strange denizens, but more of an annoyance - people who let their dog off leash when the sign clearly says "dogs must be on leash"

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

There's a scene fragment from some old MASH episode that goes like this:

Hot Lips: "...and this is Major Burns, on my left..."
Hawkeye: "on your left what?"

Hawkeye was joking, but I've also run into plenty of folks who aren't and as far as I can tell are genuinely confused by what I mean by "on your left". I'm now less surprised by this if they are, for example, an elderly couple out with walkers or young kids who might not have heard the term but for runners to not have heard this is a bit more unexpected.

On the other hand, an old custom that I was taught is that cross country skiers (specifically experienced classic/track skiers) yell "Track" as they come up behind a slower skier in the track ahead of them, but most casual weekend I'm-out-for-a-hike-on-skis skiers don't know what that means either, so maybe your runners have never been around cyclists very much.

cyclists travelling way too fast, treating the path as if it was a raceway and not a multiple-use trail with associated hazards of pedestrians, dogs and children.. tempted to carry a bike pump just to stick in their spokes..
joking not joking

Old people and children get a bye ball.

I think the "on your left/right" call (depending on which side of the road you drive on) make sense to 95 % of people regardless of their sporting endeavours.

The ones who mess it up are the same people who think the overtaking lane is just another lane.

This!!! Had a big dog charge down the trail and jump on me once. The owner catches up and says "he's friendly". Uhhhh, I'd hope so!!!

Not an annoyance but a denizen. I saw a couple hiking while pushing their baby jogger on rocky/rooty single track. I really wonder if the kid is enjoying the ride...

The cute little 4 year old girl pedaling like a maniac making airplane sounds who calls out "ON YOUR LEFT!" as she whizzes by on your right (and looks back to see if you are watching her). She has bike handling skills, I'll give her that.

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Hillary Trout
San Luis Obispo, CA

Your trip is short. Make the most of it.
https://www.slogoing.net/

On a closed trail or sidewalk (i.e. no cars) I don't understand the people who run on the LEFT side, in the US. I, like most people, run on the right side and occasionally have to jump out of the way of these folks who are dead-set on running into oncoming foot traffic.

my usual patch has loads of meadows where dogs can play and blow off steam -- unfortunately some owners think it's fine on the trails as well, so dogs bolting out from the underbrush in chase mode happens all the time.

No clue that a dog barrelling around at top speed isn't a hazard.

Also, people with leads fully extended, face down in the phone. Navigating should be a joint effort.

On your left can confuse people IMO. I always go with "Runner Back" or "Bike back" really loud way ahead of time. They always GTFO of the way.

Two people on motorized wheelchairs two abreast that don't move over when you are coming in the other direction.

It always amazes me how 2 people manage to block a 3 meters width footpath... and not make way when someone approaches form the opposite direction.

If you are familiar with the paths in the Woodlands where IMTX course is run, you know that a good bit of the trails are cut through thick trees and bushes. Sometimes I have to run at night and it's obviously very dark, especially on those sections of the trails. I run with a head lamp. It's about 10 at night last summer and I'm running. I typically might pass one or two people at that time of night, and they have flashlights as well so coming up on anyone suddenly can be a surprise. Well, I come up on a kid (12-13) in full camo, with a skull bandana covering his face. He's on a bike just parked in the wooded area of the trail. I don't see him until I'm 25 yards or so away him and he gets illuminated by his phone. Freaked me out. Turns out someone else called the cops about it (wife saw it all over the neighborhood facebook). Kid was just playing pokemon go, haha.

Also had a lady scream at me to "use my bell" on my bike one day. I was riding just fast enough to not fall down (bonked hard on a ride and used the multi-use path to get home). We made eye contact a good 100 yards before I got to her. She moved off the trail with her dog probably 50 yards before I got to her, seemingly in a cordial manner. I was telling her good morning before she started to yell. Apparently, I needed to still ring my non-existent bell.

so what color bell did ya get?
;-)

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ΜΟΛΩΝ-ΛΑΒΕ
we're doomed

I run on the canal in Indy occasionally (only occasionally, because of the hassle it has become), and these are rampant.

Additionally:

- Groups of 3-4 people or more all walking abreast of one another
- Groups of 2 or more on bikes riding leisurely abreast
- Segway tour groups blocking the path
- Other runners who don't even pretend to acknowledge your courteous attempt to be polite and wave
- Dog walkers with the extend-a-leash that don't pull their dog close when others approach
- The kids do get a pass, but their parents don't. Keep your 3-year old out from under my feet, please. I'm trying to avoid him/her, but I can only do so much.

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Brenden Macy
Sports & Entertainment Attorney
I am Drive. I am Grit. I am Determination.

The folks who can't hear you because they are listening to music with earbuds. Then they have a big startle response when you pass them.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

The other runners that dont knowledge my slight hand gesture/wave always bugs me for some reason. We're trying to build a society here people.

And adults riding bikes on the freaking sidewalk. Like most of you probably do - I totally play chicken with them and wait to see who is going to move over first. (Obviously kids on the sidewalk is fine - but grown adults shown get on the damn shoulder or use a different road FFS)

Hmm what if, instead of yelling on your left, we make a ding-a-ding-ding sound like a bell? Hmmmm?

"People who stop you to ask for directions? "

Unless you are in the middle of a race, does it really bug you to help someone who is lost? That 15 seconds you have to stop and point them in the right direction isn't going to stop you from qualifying for Kona...think of yourself as an ambassador for whatever you are out there doing, running, cycling, walking the dog, etc.

Main one I can add is the teenager singing as loud as he can on his headphones. Oh and its death metal. I'm pretty sure something is wrong with him, but it is a bit creepy.

Now the thing that bothers me is the large cyclist groups who think they own the trail and expect everyone to get off to the side for them.

Hello Lukelzard and All,

https://www.theguardian.com/...ggers-dangerous-cars

Excerpt:



Not all villains wear Lycra – cars are literallykilling us
Arwa Mahdawi/Aug 11, 2017
Flip this into…LikeLeave a comment

Share on
‘Hogger joggers’ and mamils aren’t the only ones hurling us into the path of danger. There’s a bigger and more normalised culprit on our streets
There is – you may have noticed – a certain sort of middle-class, middle-aged man who decides he’s going to burn off the angst of advancing age through aggressive exercise. He’s going to do marathons and triathlons and so on; he’s going to muscle his way out of mortality.
Now, exercise is normally considered a healthy way of relieving stress and dealing with internal issues. However, some of these midlife fitness fanatics rage against the dying of the light just a little too hard and their rage runneth over. A recent well-publicised incident in London was perhaps an example of that. On Thursday, the Metropolitan police arrested a middle-aged man in Chelsea as part of an investigation into an incident in which a jogger appeared to knock a female pedestrian into the path of an oncoming bus.
Admittedly, this would be a rathern extreme example of middle-age runner rage. But, looking at the coverage it caused, one could be forgiven for thinking that it was symptomatic of a far greater problem. Namely, the scourge of egregious exercisers on city streets. Indeed, the past few days have seen non-stop huffing and puffing about how “hogger joggers” and “Lycra louts” are a blight on Britain. And despite the fact that no bikes were involved in the Putney bridge incident, some commentators have managed to spin the event into a denouncement of all things bike-related. On Friday, for example, Jan Moir at the Daily Mail went on a tirade about how “cyclists are the worst”, particularly the “middle-aged male cyclist”.

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

Was waiting for this thread...

Bike/run path, frequented by cyclist. Steep sections where cyclist pass by super-fast thought me to always keep my right no matter what.

So I'm easily jogging downhill when a this jerk is charging uphill at full speed. He sees me, but he keeps his left and I keep my right until he is going to inevitably hit me, while my left side of the hill is completely empty for him to pass. I get to be the chicken and jump off the path, only to be shouted by the jerk who what was wrong with me...

Who is the asshole?

The grouchy guy who rides his Segway to work, rain or shine, fully kitted out in appropriate weather protection and reflective gear. Every time I'm out, thinking I'm the only loon willing to run in this weather at this early hour, he goes toodling by in the opposite direction. This is in a quiet suburb and 5-6AM, so he must have a really long commute, made longer by his indirect path through town. It just baffles me. He *stands* to work. Is it fun? It doesn't look fun.

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http://www.extramilenutrition.com

depends on the country :)

What about countries where they stay to the left and walk upside down? Huh?

:-)

USA

On a closed trail or sidewalk (i.e. no cars) I don't understand the people who run on the LEFT side,

There are trails where this is the way it is done, e.g. American River bike trail in Sacramento.

Could also be due to trail camber. Runners with ITBS prefer level surfaces. We have several trails that run along lakes and rivers. The side facing the water is usually cambered and the other side is level. So we get runners running on the level side both ways.

I think it is fun to startle people. Apparently I am a fairly quiet runner, because I have started people that were just walking along (no headphones) when I say "Exuse me (find it works better than on the left)". I get a chuckle when they jump :-p

The trail near me you are supposed to walk/run around it in a figure 8 pattern one direction and bike around it in the opposite direction, so if somebody is running on the left they should not meet on coming walking/running traffic, but inherently people just go around it whatever direction they want and screw things up.

Agree though that I pretty much stay to the right unless I am passing somebody.

My breathing sounds like a train engine I think so they usually startle as second or two earlier. I usually yell on your left about 10 m out. But if I have passed 3 or 4 headphoners sometimes I give up and the next person has no headphones. Maybe you are nynja runner!

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I've always wanted to take candid photos of the strange happenings on the Burke Gilman multi use trail here in Seattle and publish them in a satire/humor book. Just about every method of human powered transportation is represented.

The one that honestly frustrates me the most though: Weekend warriors in skin suits riding in their aerobars when the trail is packed with runners, walkers, the elderly, kids, dogs. Seriously? There are better places to train around here! These are the same people in SUVs you're going to face on the road on your commute to work and they're going to have chips on their shoulder towards cyclists. Because you almost ran over their kid/dog/mom on your glorious KOM conquest.

Ok all done :)

Oh hell no. I see them too. Not many not often but they are there. So dumb. I ride on Sammamish River trail above posted speed limit.... but at 5 AM or at like 11 AM on weekdays when there's no one there. If there is someone coming up in the distance then slow down to pass then get on the gas again. Swerving through crowds on a trail has a higher chance of a crash than riding on roads.

Edit: besides BG pavement is so uprooted in so many places it is embarrassing. Very uncomfortable ride, and I'd never take my race bike or nice wheels out there. It's a trail for a beater commute bike to take out of town guests around the city without driving.

I always encounter the people who see me a quarter mile away, we are on opposite sides of the sidewalk/path and slowly merge into my side like we have some sort of magnet. Always leaves me last second switching sides of the path to avoid them.

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Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right!

The small group of guys doing their long run somewhere in the 6:00-7:00 mile range, refusing to give way in the early-ish morning and running a lady with a stroller off the path as they came up behind her.

A couple of years ago I was riding on the bike path well after dark. On this particular bike path there is a short wooden bridge that goes over a small stream. On the other side of the bridge is a bench. There is also a curve before the bridge so your light is not really visible from the bench until you are on the bridge. Also when you come onto the wooden bridge it is extremely loud.

Anyway I came onto the bridge at around 20 mph and the bridge made its usual loud rumbling noise and I saw form pop up from a position facing the bench, I could see that another form was sitting on the bench. Being a little slow mentally I was well by before I realized that I had interrupted a girl playing a tune on her boyfriends skin flute.

Ever since then I was glad she did obviously not have a strong bite reflex when startled. I also have felt bad because you know he never talked her into finishing.

Hello Lukelzard and All,

https://www.outsideonline.com/...311/politics-passing

Excerpt:

"How to alert walkers, hikers, and runners to your presence—and why "On your left!" needs to die, already
There is a fundamental truth in cycling, and it is this:

When riding on a trail, it’s virtually impossible to pass a walker, runner, or hiker from behind without scaring the living shit out of them.

This puts us in something of a bind. After all, the cyclist-pedestrian relationship is a fragile one, and in some communities our trail access hangs in the balance. However, what are we supposed to do when our very presence is all it takes to frighten people out of their shoes?

No doubt this has been an issue since the very first velocipedist called out, “Ahoy!” And over the years our fair warning cry has evolved thusly:
“On your left!”

---

Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

I'm not quite sure if this belongs to this "foot path" thread or is there a corresponding "bicycle path" thread?

Anyway, the path (bicycle path and next to it a foot path) goes in a park under a bridge, and I always cycle or run there going to or returning from work.

In the evening there is always (at least when I pass) a guy with a trombone. Only in winter. Does not look homeless, he is normally dressed. You hear him of course at least 100m before. If he plays. Sometimes he just steps around like he waits for a bus. I'm not an expert, but he doesn't seem to make much progress with his music, although he is there already for years.

Makes me think of a joke about a girl who had asked how to play on her boyfriends' skin flute. She was advised to say "Honolulu".
It went wrong however, since in the heat of the moment she had forgotten the name of the town and said instead "Caracas".

Maybe his wife was frustrated by his lack of progress and told him to find some place else to play because she didn't want to hear it at home.

We have some people that ride side by side on their ElliptiGO and block the entire path and refuse to move over. I think one is even in the tri club so no excuse =/

I use multi-use paths whenever I can on my bike commute.
I always ride slow and safe and ding my bell when passing and respect other users.
Few nights ago I was riding to the pool, was doing maybe 8 mph. I passed this lady, who was doing like 6mph on her mtb.
Few minutes later she is pursuing me waving a flashlight in her hand, and yelling "I know what you did there! You gangster!"
She passed me, slalomed in front of me for a while, still yelling, then stopped, ripped her earbuds out and yelled:

"C'mon, b*tch, you wanna get it on?"

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Two wheels good. Four wheels bad.

cruisin for a bruisin :>

Big ego and lots of confidence (that the rest of her can't match) make for a self-centric world, so naturally whatever you did must have had something to do with her.

Once you understand there are people like that, then their words and actions make a whole lot more sense.

Edit: or drugs. Probably of a legal, medical, variety.

Years ago, when my dog was a lot younger, I used to run with her a lot in Miami. I always kept her on a short leash and she stayed right by my side but she also used to love to startle people.

All the other runners, at least the ones I could pass, were wearing headphones and couldn't hear us coming up on them. As we'd pass my dog would love to lick their hands which would always make them jump out of their skin. She'd then look up at them with the biggest grin on her face. No one ever got mad after seeing her but she scared the ever loving daylights out of a ton of people.

So this morning, on the paved path, a guy on an electric scooter zooming downhill with a year-old baby in a backpack. The baby had a helmet. Both gleeful.

There was a parkie nearby doing some raking. She looked at me and simultaneously we shook our heads and said "Dads".