Riding on Footpaths .

[Two Tone]

IMG_0372 by Tony Lacey, on Flickr

Fairly new to EMTB , lots of footpaths 80% of the ROW network are footpaths , what's the feeling generally about riding them , obviously respecting walkers and their dogs .

 

[Nicho]

It is illegal in England and Wales and gets bikers a bad name!

 

[Supratad]

Its not illegal in criminal law and is not a criminal offence, it is the tort of trespass against the land owner. However, it does giver bikers a bad name and is a sure fire way to get into an argument with a bunch of ramblers, thus ruining everyone's day out. Some walkers are absolutely fine and if you're gonna do it, then as the biker you should stop and give way as if you were on a BW, but some walkers are reet buggers.

Back in the 90's I did a lot of footpath riding as there were some very good singletrack rides that way but some FPs were best avoided on busier days for the above reasons. Mind you, shouldering a 11kg hardtail and clambering over a rickety stile back then would be a lot safer than doing it today with a 23kg bike and double my earlier weight also.

 

[Gary]

Move to Scotland.
English land access laws are retarded

 

[iXi]

Some states in Australia it's an offence to ride on foot paths (most notably the rubbish states) but in sunny QLD it's all good and as long as you give pedestrians right of way then everyone's happy. It's the dicks on bikes, mainly roadies that go hammering past on the shared paths at 40+km/h with no warning that give bikers a bad name.

 

[wepn]

Some states in Australia it's an offence to ride on foot paths (most notably the rubbish states) but in sunny QLD it's all good and as long as you give pedestrians right of way then everyone's happy. It's the dicks on bikes, mainly roadies that go hammering past on the shared paths at 40+km/h with no warning that give bikers a bad name.

You're probably referring to that rubbish state south of the border where I live. On share paths, even at low speed, I often see people with looks of terror on their faces, rushing to shield their children as I approach. Must be the Kenevo.

As soon as I see any pedestrian I slow to a sub-walking pace crawl. It’s interesting to see their reactions once they realise I’m travelling slower than they’re walking. Most smile and say thanks and I always say hello & cheers back. Never had an issue.

 

[TheRealPoMo]

I'm in QLD and while I'll never be a "roadie" (no lycra and I don't ride line abreast with other budgies while blocking the road), on shared paths with the road bike I only bell and/or slow down if children or animals are a factor. Most of these Sheeple have ear buds in anyway and if they can't be aware of their environment then it's natural selection time. With Covid, the Sheeple population here exploded....hence me getting an eMTB so weekdays I could use the mostly empty state forest tracks.
Never knew what I was missing. I think I'll leave the great unwashed to their footpaths from here on.

 

[iXi]

Haha so true with the explosion of people on the paths. Holy shit I've never seen so many people out and about. With that said my local trails have been inundated with family's on their bikes. Come tearing down the trail to beat your strava PR and there's mum and 3 kids casually riding along at walking pace. All good but, it's nice to see everyone enjoying the trails, maybe it'll make the local councils invest a few more dollars into maintenance and facilities.

 

[RedTed]

I’d be lying if I said I’d never ridden footpaths but in general I try and keep off. A lot of footpaths here (especially peaty moorland) see heavy use and to see them get mashed up with mtb tyres is not great and only strains relations. I won’t get into inconsiderate walkers and runners on bridleways...

 

[steve_sordy]

With reference to walkers getting shirty about mtbs trespassing on footpaths.

Riders must ride safely on shared trials and be polite, yes of course. But for walkers to get shirty about mtb trespass is the rankest hypocrisy! If it hadn't been for the organised mass trespass of Kinder Scout on 1932, then none of us would have the access we have now.
Kinder Scout mass trespass walk

 

[Fivetones]

I hold out hope that we’ll go the same way as Scotland in England in response to C19.

 

[ImSundee]

I ride on them. We dont have much bike trails around Oxford. I get out of walkers way and let them through first always and never had a problem yet. A smile and a thank you go a long way.

 

[steve_sordy]

........I get out of walkers way and let them through first always and never had a problem yet. A smile and a thank you go a long way.

I have discovered that now I have a white beard showing, people don't give me a hard time any more.
I was once accused of being a "young hooligan!" by a woman, who with her two kids had decided to picnic on a bike trail. She was lucky she didn't get tyre tracks across her tablecloth! I stopped and went back to advise her that her choice of location was not safe. When she saw the white beard (obviously not a young hooligan) she came over all embarrassed and readily agreed to relocate 20' to one side.

As an aside, riding in the forest I once found a bleached deer skull complete with antlers and decided to take it home. After trying various methods, I wedged it into the cables on the bars. As I was pedalling into the car park, a young lad said to his Dad "Cor! Look at what that boy's got!"

 

[Fivetones]

White beard, smile and basic manners. Goes a long way!

 

[Supratad]

With reference to walkers getting shirty about mtbs trespassing on footpaths.

Riders must ride safely on shared trials and be polite, yes of course. But for walkers to get shirty about mtb trespass is the rankest hypocrisy! If it hadn't been for the organised mass trespass of Kinder Scout on 1932, then none of us would have the access we have now.
Kinder Scout mass trespass walk

Hypocrisy indeed. I once got harangued by 20 walkers about the damage my tyres were doing. Any attempt to argue with them that 40 boots were doing far more damage than than I ever could was just shouted down en masse. You can't make salient points against a baying mob, some of whom were waving their hiking poles about. Militant ramblers just want it all for themselves, campaigning against bikers, horse riders and any form of motorised outdoor activity. Even with so much footpath available to them, they still want to stop others using legal ROWs and also have right-to-roam as well.

 

[Shifty]

Nooooo.

 

[mak]

Hypocrisy indeed. I once got harangued by 20 walkers about the damage my tyres were doing. Any attempt to argue with them that 40 boots were doing far more damage than than I ever could was just shouted down en masse. .

You cant outprick a prick, you can only stand back, breath and think to yourself " what a prick"
It would be nice to have punched the main entaganiser in the throat though and then carried about your Dailey business without a care in the world lol.

Seriosly since owning my emtb I've come across some right ignorant cu^ts, nothing boils my piss more than being polite and making people aware I am approaching only to get an ignorant reply , my reply after passing is usually one word "Prick"

Incidentally there's a lot of signs about in the forestry land thats says No Motor vehicles , I think push come to shove we could be considered in that category

 

[Jackware]

I stick to the bridleways and permissive tracks. If I meet any walkers or horses I always slow down and make it obvious I'm moving to one side of the track. This has always resulted in a friendly acknowledgement and at worse a 'you're cheating' which I always laugh at and respond with 'but lots of fun'. Why get angry with others enjoying the outdoors?

IMO having bikers especially emtbs which are perceived to be faster, on footpaths is not going to help us and we don't want to give the authorities an excuse to introduce legislation against ebikes.
This reminds me of the militant Peak District climbing fraternity in the '80s who felt they were entitled to trespass and outraged by the idea that they should respect the law and peoples property when trying to get to some routes, regardless of the existing ROWs.

 

[KennyB]

Yep, keep to the rules and use a bell.

 

[towzer]

Yes, be sensible and considerate and try to give bikes a good name Also suggest adjustIng to the conditions - ie if it’s somebody’s immaculate lawn riding it in sopping wet and leaving huge grooves Is not imho being sensible or considerate.

 

[Fingerpuk]

I ride them all the time, no issues. I’m always polite and compliment their dog or something. Seems to work.

 

[Russell]

I often ride on footpaths and have not had a problem yet. The worst point as I see it is the styles and kissing gates. I one got moaned at by some fat woman on a horse for riding In a woods (not really a footpath or bridle way) but I think she must have had some underlying issue (retarded or selfish).
Kill them with kindness.

 

[steve_sordy]

Yep, keep to the rules and use a bell.

I always found that a bell seemed to upset people, so the first thing I removed from a bike was the bell (when it was compulsory to sell them with one). Then I discovered the Knog Oi!. Its single penetrating ping has not upset anyone, so far. It also has the great benefit (in my eyes) of not looking like a bell.

 

[Waynemarlow]

There's a bit of history with footpaths, back in the 90's we had RUP's which could be ridden by bikes as well as bridleways. By memory some 10k miles of official and semi historical routes in England. The local authorities decided to make all the RUPs official and asked all the off road clubs to submit their known routes, as a cheap way of surveying what was being used.

The clubs all got together and dispatched all members to log and map all the routes they were using and shock horror but over 40K miles was found and that figure was still climbing 2 weeks before the cutoff date. The Blair government could see a right kicking coming from the ramblers and horse associations so using a bit of political chicanery, used a " guillotine " at 2.00 in the morning, 2 weeks before the cutoff new law, to downgrade all recently found and all historical routes not designated as RUP's as footpaths. Only some 1.4K of official Rups were left.

The biggest moaners were the horse fraternity where a lot of the routes they were now going to lose were shut off and the biggest winners were the land owners who previously had had to maintain the paths were now able to only maintain a walkers path, hence you see a lot of wide open Roman road and access tracks now designated as footpaths only.

There's a petition up and running right now if you want to change things and yes probably 75% of my routes are footpaths and as long as I'm courteous and polite to walkers I don't really care if I do ride on them as 90% of rides I do, I never see a walker.

 

[KennyB]

Can you post a link to the petition?

 

[KennyB]

Found the link immediately below this thread. ?

 

[7869hodgy]

I have been thanked for using a bell (I always ping way before approach). I think people react badly if you make them “jump”. If they know you’re coming they are less likely to get stroppy.

It’s the w@nkers in headphones where you end up right behind them pinging the hell out of the bell.....only to make them “jump” and get pissed off.

 

[SquireRides]

I don't have a bell, I always think a cheery 'hello' is enough.

One guy who was walking down the middle of the road, i said 'hello!' to and he jumped out of his skin (like he was surprised there was anyone using an actual road). He then told me I should have a bell because there's a lot of deaf people around here.

I'm sure I looked incredulous at this idea.

But he went on to claim that people who are hard of hearing are more likely to hear a high pitched ping than someone's voice.

True or false? I don't know...

 

[KeithR]

Its not illegal in criminal law and is not a criminal offence, it is the tort of trespass against the land owner.

Not necessarily:

Cycling Offences – Cycling on the Pavement and other Pedestrianised Areas | Cycle Law

Under the Highways Act 1835 s.72 (as amended by s. 85(1) of the Local Government Act 1888), cyclists must not cycle on a footway (pavement) and must keep to the cyclists’ side of a segregated cycle track. The maximum penalty for cycling on the pavement is a £500 fine however, in most cases, the police will issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (On-the-Spot Fine) of £50.[1] The maximum would only ever be imposed if the Fixed Penalty Notice is contested and taken to court.

 

[Two Tone]

Not necessarily:

Cycling Offences – Cycling on the Pavement and other Pedestrianised Areas | Cycle Law

There is a difference between pavements beside roads that are owned by the Highways Agency or the Council and Footpaths that are owned by whoever the landowner is and which there is a public right of way over.