Re: Fw: Ten Commandments for Trail Riders

["Whitney Bass" <bass@bigsky.net>]

"away from the noise of horses and bicycles"??  Neither ever seem to make
much noise in the areas where I ride!  Maybe some of the hikers are getting
a bit too selfish.  I ride in about 5 completely different areas (all about
1/2 hour from where I board my horses), and I run into all sorts of
recreators.  And here in Missoula, MT, a large % of those people are
college "kids" (like me!)-- and they go REALLY fast on their mountain
bikes.  I ride in constant awareness of what may be coming around the
corner at about 60 mph -- my horses and I have definitely had some close
calls, but nothing major has happened yet, (knock on wood!).  But, almost
without exception, the bikers slow down, or get off their bikes as soon as
they see me -- of course, sometimes I wish they'd "see" me a little bit
sooner!  But, I've talked to a number of other people who use these same
areas, and they generally feel that the mountain bikers tend to be rude and
unthoughtful.  Well, that got me thinking as to why the difference in
experiences, and this is what I came up with:  first of all, the  majority
of the mountain bikers tend to be fairly young "guys" (do you see where I'm
heading?!), who are generally not scared of "checking out" women.  And why
wouldn't they be overly polite and nice to a younger woman, dressed in
tight spandex and a sport bra (my usual summer riding attire), riding a
spectacular =-) horse?!!  They're guys. . . they can't help it,  (please
don't take offense, men -- I'm only having fun!) !  So, ladies, I guess the
trick is to wear as little as possible while riding -- not only will those
mountain bikers "see" you that much sooner, but they'll smile and say hi as
you go by!! =-)

Whitney B
----------
> From: BMcCrary27@aol.com
> To: jfhr@inetworld.net
> Cc: ridecamp@endurance.net
> Subject: RC:   Fw: Ten Commandments for Trail Riders
> Date: Tuesday, January 04, 2000 3:59 PM
> 
> In a message dated 01/03/2000 10:36:20 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
> jfhr@inetworld.net writes:
> 
> << >   4. Blessed are the hikers and bikers, even though they fear horse
>  manure,
>  >  they will be allies in trail legislation. >>
> 
> 
> In our area, only the bikers are our alies; some of the hikers want
trails 
> for their own special sanctuary where they can meditate away from the
noise 
> of horses and bicycles.  And I worry about bikers frightening the horses,
but 
> I keep hoping they'll be careful.  Read the recent post from Bob Morris
about 
> Arlene's accident.  It's enough to cause concern.
> 
> Barbara
> 
> 
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Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=