Venom in an unexpected place...

[IFjane]

At least for me.

The thread below is from a well-known equestrian magazine discussion board. I was contacted by a friend who has horses & hunts with the local club because I am a former equestrian-turned-cyclist and she wanted my perspective. When I read it, it was much shorter than it is now (up to 8 pages when I last checked). I responded to her directly after reading the thread and she asked if she could post my comments. I told her yes & she did, not that it did any good. There are a few folks who defend cyclists in there but they are mostly being shouted down. Sad.

For some reason I never expected this kind of hatred coming from horse owners. I must be naive but I thought they would be more ally than not. *sigh*

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=265218

If, for some reason that link does not work and you want to take a look, go to their discussion forums and look under "Off Course". The title of the thread is "Train Wreck of the Day: Cyclists".

[ny biker]

I only read the first post because I have a general policy of ignoring things that make me mad. This person is factually wrong and just plain pissed off and is highly unlikely to change. They also have a serious case of what I like to call "The World Revolves Around Me and Everyone Else Can Go **** Off" -- e.g., my horses are special and cannot be delayed so everyone else must get off the public road when I want to use it.

Best to just let them fester on their own.

[Eden]

Agreed.... sure there are times when there are cyclists who tick off drivers, there are also plenty of times when other drivers tick off drivers...

She seems to be unaware how threatening a trailer can be. If there she couldn't move over to pass the cyclists, it is unlikely that there was room to pass them safely even if they had singled up.

She also spews some pretty bad misconceptions -paved roads are only for cars etc.... Sadly most drivers have no idea that cars got their foothold because of the nice paved roads that *cyclists* agitated the government for and got. Paved roads were originally made for bikes......

[Dannielle]

And that is why I'm scared to death to ride on the roads (I ride on a MUP). Non-cyclists are not aware that cyclists are to use the road like any other wheeled vehicle. They don't understand that "riding four across and blocking the road so I can't pass" is what cyclists are SUPPOSED to do when passing isn't safe. It's how they prevent impatient people from trying to pass when they shouldn't and possibly endangering their life...and it's completely legal.

Amazing that some suggest calling the police. To report cyclist following the rules of the road while preventing you from killing someone??? Crazy. And sad.

I've been in the car with people who were complaining about cyclist riding on the road instead of the sidewalk! Yeah, by the time they got out of the car they had been informed that cycling on the sidewalk is illegal and cyclists are supposed to be on the road with the other wheeled vehicles.

I also call BS on the person saying she was following the 25mph speed limit down a hill but cyclist were holding her up with their slowness. We all know a road bike has no problem managing 25mph downhill.

[zoom-zoom]

We have neither the protection of pedestrians nor the right of motorists.

This is the crux of it all. Around here the same drivers who want us off the roads feel entitled to park their cars on the MUP, making it unridable.

[tctrek]

If we paid attention to everyone who doesn't like cyclists, none of us would ever ride. I choose to ignore... at least my bike doesn't poop on the road.

[IFjane]

...at least my bike doesn't poop on the road.

LOL, tctrek! I agree. I also wonder about those who say we need to register our bikes and pay road use taxes for them. Ok....I will do that, but do I also have to register my running shoes??? And then there are horseshoes....shouldn't they also be registered? :rolleyes:

[colorisnt]

Personally, as an equestrian and cyclist, I don't see why equestrians who don't cycle get all up in arms over road riding. We pretty much want the same.damn.thing -drivers to be smart and not kill us and for those who use the road to do so PROPERLY and SAFELY so they don't ruin it for the rest of us. Both take some common sense. If you are riding in traffic, be safe. And I don't even LIKE road horseback riding because of the lack of safe roads here. It is a pretty urban area to be riding a horse in. In many of these places, I don't even ride my bike because the area has proved very dangerous to fellow cyclists and there are better routes to take. And to me, even riding a bike in a congested area is different - mainly because if I get hurt it is *my* own problem, but if my horse and I do, that isn't fair to the poor animal carting me around. My show horse was road safe as they come and could deal with bikes, cars, motorized scooters, etc, but I did not take her out on our roads. Many, many here give me hell for riding by the local arena going 20 mph or so - the speed limit is 35. In fact, one mother actually stopped me and demanded to know why I was "spooking the horses" She actually CHASED after me and flagged me down.

Now, I stopped and talked to her because I thought there was an emergency or something, but I was out of the area too quick to see really,so she had to have been LOOKING for me specifically. This is the same family who rode their horses in the city and almost KILLED me previously this year. 5 cars could have been in an accident. Two horses were riding on the SIDEWALK (they aren't allowed that here) and one got caught up in a utlity line coming off a pole. The horse started to flip out and spooked the other who went up in the air rearing an flipping out in the intersection (he almost flipped over).

While I don't ride on the roads, I think any equestrian should be allowed the same rights as I am. So I don't understand the cycle hate. I brought up a topic on this a couple of months ago when my accident happened and people didn't understand why I was angry at these people. They attacked me. After all, I am one of those terrible cyclists. No bother than I have been riding a horse for about 15 years.

[JennK13]

As a former Rodeo Queen who grew up with horses AND bikes, that thread just pisses me off!! Some real holier than thou people there. The one that really got me was the person who said "they don't know how horses can spook". Well, I had horses who could stand next to a bomb going off and not even flinch, and others who would freak if a butterfly came near them, and you know what, it was MY RESPONSIBILTY as the rider to control my horse, work with him to get him over that fear, and know what would set him off so I could prepare for it. Just like that OP who claims she was taking precautions to move her tempermental horse, yet was upset that cyclist happen to be there. What if it had RAINED on her??!?!

[Owlie]

While I've not been around horses much at all, even I know that horses can spook. You don't encounter many horses here (very urban), except for perhaps a police horse in training, or an event that is likely to have mounted police present...and that's a different sort of animal.
On the MUP I ride on at home, horses are allowed. I've only ever encountered one once. The rider was very polite and let us go by. Trail rules say that you need to yield to horses--and I get that. What these people don't seem to get is that--and this goes for any animal--it's their responsibility to know how it reacts to stress and to control it accordingly, including avoiding those kind of situations as much as possible.

[marni]

What these people don't seem to get is that--and this goes for any animal--it's their responsibility to know how it reacts to stress and to control it accordingly, including avoiding those kind of situations as much as possible.

amen to that owlie.

Oh how I wish people who use the multi use trails in the local park would learn that with their dogs. Yes they are on leashes, but when you have a 20 foot retractable leash that runs out in two seconds when your dear dog runs out to attack the biker or runner passing by then yes, you have a problem and yes, your dog will get yelled at or kicked at and yes, if your dog had made me crash I would have come after you for medical expenses. If you know your dog "doesn't like bikers very much" then it is your responsability to keep him on a very short leash and perhaps even consider moving off the path a bit when you hear me or the two runners who were also attacked call out that they are passing.

just saying- you don't let your dog lunge at me and I promise my bike won't lunge at you. I can't speak for the runners but I would imagine that they are capable of controlling their running shoes in an equal fashion.

marni
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[channlluv]

...I also call BS on the person saying she was following the 25mph speed limit down a hill but cyclist were holding her up with their slowness. We all know a road bike has no problem managing 25mph downhill.

Ha! A lot of us on this board could manage 25mph going up the hill. (I wish I were one of them.)

There was an awful lot of vitriol on that board. I thought horse people were supposed to be nice.

It seems like we need a national education PSA campaign to teach people about the correct way to accommodate cyclists on the roads.

Roxy

[zoom-zoom]

Actually, I was thinking about this the other day. Michelle Obama has the 'end childhood obesity' campaign as her term goal. Couldn't we write and give her access to comments like those in that horse thread? Plus share experiences with traffic problems? Point out the attitudes and that pushing cycling as exercise and lifelong transportation would go a long way towards attaining her ending obesity in children goal?

If she included a public education campaign on how to drive around cyclists and the history of cycling in her work life could be a lot safer.



Hmm. Maybe I should start a thread in general cycling. If we could get it together and have a lot of us write to her, it might make a difference.

I like this. She could even talk to Ray LaHood...their combined forces could go far, I would think.

[Melissa71]

Reading some of the responses from the other forum, really made me sad and disgusted. The," I hate ALL cyclist" garbage, absolutely nauseating.