Tailgated by other cyclist!!

[Python]

Sounds like the snake may have been a Kingsnake. The females can grow to be about 7ft long. They're totally harmless

[Jenn]

Yea, I did feel bad when DH said he thought he may have clipped it's tail, but he looked back and he said it looked ok.

[7rider]

You were doing 22 mph on a MUT?? Don't those things generally have a 15 mph speed limit? Most do around here. Going that fast on a trail is inherently dangerous. At that speed, you ARE safer on the road.
At most speeds, I think an experienced cyclist such as yourself is safer on the road, especially at this time of year when paths are crowded with kids, dogs, runners, in-line skaters, and folks who have no clue what they're doing on a bike. Oy. I shiver just thinking about it.

[Kalidurga]

I ride multi-use trails a lot, and we all have to remember to share the trail. Yes, most of the pedestrians and many of the other cyclists are oblivious, but if you ride trails of that sort knowing that's what you're sharing the trail with, then you can be prepared to react when necessary. And, as Regina pointed out, you cannot realistically (or logically) use an MUT for fast training rides. Most trails do have a 15mph speed limit that should be respected.

The other thing that I learned a long time ago on trails of that sort: Do NOT run over anything that looks like a stick unless you are absolutely sure that it is a stick!

[mimitabby]

The other thing that I learned a long time ago on trails of that sort: Do NOT run over anything that looks like a stick unless you are absolutely sure that it is a stick!

I'm afraid to run over sticks. and not because I'm worried about snakes!

[Zen]

Did it look anything like this


Harmless and beneficial

[Jenn]

You were doing 22 mph on a MUT?? Don't those things generally have a 15 mph speed limit? Most do around here. Going that fast on a trail is inherently dangerous. At that speed, you ARE safer on the road.
At most speeds, I think an experienced cyclist such as yourself is safer on the road, especially at this time of year when paths are crowded with kids, dogs, runners, in-line skaters, and folks who have no clue what they're doing on a bike. Oy. I shiver just thinking about it.

There were people passing us going ALOT faster, and there is no speed limit posted at all. Most people around here know that alot of people go down there to ride since it's the only FLAT place around here, that is why MOST people stay on the dirt path next to the paved path. We weren't going that fast when people were around, give me some credit, our average was 17 anyway. The POINT of my post was regarding the people that were MORE of a hazard by not looking and just pulling out in front of people on the path, then getting mad when they were passed and trying to hit ME! If you all honestly think that my husband and I are that ignorant and rude, I'm very offended.
Bye ya'll it's been real. I hope you all can keep new people coming on this board from feeling attacked or insulted, it's not worth it anymore.

[alpinerabbit]

Hi Jenn,

I have seen insults on internet forums and this was not an insult. Perhaps it is felt that giving a different perspective is not appropriate for someone who was not there but we are free to express a different viewpoint here, aren't we?

Kindest regards

Alpinerabbit

[LadyinWhite]

There is a fantastic paved bike path right near me, it runs straight out a point w/ gorgeous views of the ocean on both sides. It was created (as I understand it) to keep the cyclists off the road that travels this point. It's become a MUT - I won't go near it in the summer time. The road has no shoulder and is 50mph speed but I'll ride that before I'll ride the MUT unless I'm super organized and get up and out by 6am.

This is exactly why - way too dangerous for me (and everyone else) for me to be humming along dodging cycling and pedestrian obstacles and its so flat that speed is just too inviting.

[bmccasland]

Now that it's gotten warm and muggy - we get to watch for ....

Alligators!

Nothing quite like seeing an alligator sunning itself on the path. Now there's a road hazard to avoid at all costs

[7rider]

There were people passing us going ALOT faster, and there is no speed limit posted at all. Most people around here know that alot of people go down there to ride since it's the only FLAT place around here, that is why MOST people stay on the dirt path next to the paved path. We weren't going that fast when people were around, give me some credit, our average was 17 anyway. The POINT of my post was regarding the people that were MORE of a hazard by not looking and just pulling out in front of people on the path, then getting mad when they were passed and trying to hit ME! If you all honestly think that my husband and I are that ignorant and rude, I'm very offended.
Bye ya'll it's been real. I hope you all can keep new people coming on this board from feeling attacked or insulted, it's not worth it anymore.

No offense intended or implied.
We're all friends here, right?
I honestly don't know the bike path scene near you and I have a lot of respect (from your posts) for you and your DH as cyclists. I would never in a million years say you or your husband are ignorant or rude.
I agree completely that the biggest hazard on bike paths are clueless people. That is why I'm just surprised that anyone - you or (especially) folks going faster than you - would go so fast on a MUT (perhaps the MUTs near me are too frequently broken up by major street crossings to get up that much steam! ). Anyway, yeah...people are unpredictable and MUTs can be....um...a "challenge", as you discovered.
Peace??

[Jenn]

Of course peace! I guess my post was just a little confusing, I apologize, I should have talked more about the drunken moron that was trying to run into me, or pass me, which I might add would have NEVER happened!
Plus, I'm sure it pissed off his half naked girlfriend that he was trying to chase me down!
I was just as shocked watching those "decked" out guys out there, they were REALLY flying and it was scary because when they are coming at you, you can't jude their speed if you are trying to pass someone, you know, the people you get stuck behind and when you look down at your computer you are doing like.....5, it's hard for me to balance going that slow.

[rapid cycler]

I ride quite a lot at the Sepulveda Basin bike path in Los Angeles, where I've had several encounters with squirrels that I swear were playing chicken with me. They leap onto the trail, visibly ponder darting through my cranks—which for them must seem a challenge akin to those windmill holes at miniature golf courses, except they're the ball—then instead veer parallel with my front wheel and pace me. I slow down, they slow down. I speed up, they speed up. I really have to come to a complete stop to avoid a squirrel wreck, and I just know they scamper off talking trash about me. You gotta watch those city squirrels; they won't hesitate to throw down with you over whose trail it really is!

As for MUT annoyances, my vote goes to the folks who rent those surrey-like pedicabs—which are explicitly restricted to the interior of the park, where there's plenty of trail to pedal whilst enjoying lovely views of the park's lake and its resident wild fowl—and take 'em on out to the exterior loop, which really is intended for more fitness-minded pursuits (though when I see how underinflated those pedicab tires are, I have to admit those folks are apt to get the better workout), to noodle to and fro. Those rigs are impossible to turn with any kind of acumen, so avoiding collisions is up to anyone but the pedicab drivers.

[lph]

Hee-hee. Those squirrels sound just like our cat. She has led a sheltered and pampered life, and the idea that any human could harm her has never crossed her mind. She'll routinely lie down smack-dab in the middle of the kitchen floor right when you're making dinner, and stretch out languidly and bat at your ankles as you step over her. Yesterday I saw her join some kids playing football. She wandered out into the field, tail waving high, looked around and lay down so they had to run around her...

A little later she went over to sit and meditate in the middle of the sandbox. The fact that four 8 yr olds were practicing riding their bikes right across it didn't faze her at all.

[Velobambina]

I echo all the sentiments here. Hazards abound, usually the result of ignorance and/or discourteousness.

Doublewide baby carriages? The bane of my existence, especially when mom/nanny refuses to move to the right. Or when there's a dog on a long/flexileash and/or a cell phone involved. There are a few double-doublewides--two ladies walking next to each other, each w/a two kids on board---who also refuse to go single file. Or people with little kids who let them wander all over the trail and then give you the evil eye when you politely ask the child to stay put so you can pass.

Where I ride, I encounter the most hostility from other females. In addition to the baby carriage crowd, chicks running/walking two or three abreast who refuse to move to the right, even when there's oncoming traffic in the opposite lane. They are usually chitterchattering away.