I thought that the etiquette was to ring a bell! Believe it or not I have one on my cross bike and it works every time and mostly I get looks of disbelief as well as many thank you's!
Our cycling group regularly use the towpath of the Lancaster Canal and the Millenium Path alongside the River Lune. My usual ploy when approaching a pedestrian from behind is to slow to a speed where I am keeping station with them, maybe 3 yards behind and shout something of the order, "If you keep to the Left ( or Right, according to their current position ) then I'll pass on your Right ( or Left ). Thank You."
The problem, as I discern it, with a bell is that it merely indicates your presence / approach; it does not communicate your intentions.
A couple of years ago, on the canal towpath, one elderly lady turned to me, "Oh how lovely, a cyclist has actually spoken to me; rather than just ringing his bell at me!"
A small minority claim that my shout has startled them; but I guess they would have been equally startled by a ringing bell?
The real bug bear are pedestrians / runners (& cyclists!) using headphones, who are oblivious to any attempt at communication.
I was a bit of an oddball until I was abducted by aliens; but I'm perfectly OK now!
Headphones are an absolute pain and so prevalent these days. I commute along canal towpaths and a disused railway line and come up against them on an almost daily basis. There's not much you can do about it other than try and squeeze by without causing too much distress to either party. When approaching any pedestrian, I will always slow to a speed where I can easily stop if necessary and then a ring of the bell usually does the trick though I have had some bizarre reactions including one elderly gentleman who practically threw himself in front of my bike which very nearly ended in me taking a dip in the cut.
Another bug bear is pedestrians walking down cycle paths but these are fair game surely? ;-)
I walk a mile each way through Birmingham city centre, between the station and the office. It's hard work, particularly in the evening. People are just so inconsiderate.
Admittedly I wear headphones, but most of the time I just have the silencing function on them, to take out the sound of buses, traffic, people preaching, shouting at you to sell you crap, people begging for money, etc. But doesn't necessarily cancel out all the background noise so I can hear traffic when crossing the road.
The main problem is people who have no spatial awareness, dawdling down the street, stopping randomly, and worst of all, can't even get down a staircase in the station without stopping to look at their phone. it's pretty depressing to see the percentage of population who have absolutely no consideration or manners.
Certainly wouldn't use headphones on a canal run or similar.
Looking back to yesterday, and having read others thoughts here, it seems that his greatest fault was that he didn't slow down at all. He had every right to be there but was reckless in approaching and trying to pass at that speed. I simply wasn't aware of him until too late and his warning shout didn't give me adequate time to respond.
On shouting: I have perfectly good hearing and never wear headphones but I still didn't hear the actual words shouted, which were a command to stay still. Is this command fair? How should I as someone running down a single track and moving all over from side to side to jump stones and avoid potholes even understand that command. Also, it is perfectly fair for someone who is hard of hearing or deaf to be out for a run. The only safe way that the rider, who can see the whole situation before them, can proceed is to slow right down.
After we had exchanged a few angry words he did actually apologise and I took that as an admission that he hadn't behaved quite correctly. My leg feels quite bruised but doesn't seem to have a problem bearing any weight so I'll give it a run out later this afternoon and see how it feels.
Thegnigma, there's no accounting for tw@ts who behave like this on a shared route. The old established rule is Steam gives way to Sail. The bike needs to give way to the ped. Of course its tricky to judge which way someone may jump when you approach from behind....which is why you have to slow and be prepared to stop if there is no clear route past. As with others here, I cycle along a shared towpath on a daily basis and this is the only way to cope with vagaries of people wandering, stopping and being oblivious to sound. But some cyclists are absolute [email protected], I had slowed to pass a gaggle of peds and got shunted from behind by another cyclist who was not going to slow for anyone. Fortunately, he came off worst and hit the deck. I just had a bruised leg.
Simon Blease
Monmouth
I only managed half a mile yesterday but I've run 6 flat miles today with nothing more than a bit of discomfort to get over to begin with so seems like it won't be too much of a setback. Midegely Moor isn't going to be my comeback race tomorrow, as planned, though.
It is very difficult to understand something that is said from behind you, not reasonable to expect somebody to under a specific command.
And the proof of that is what happened itself.
After calling me a nob, and a ****ing idiot a few times, the biker asked me why I hadn't just stayed still as he'd told me too. I replied that the last thing I want to do is hurl myself under the wheels of heavy mountain bikes descending at speed and risk injury to myself (his main concern was his new bike not my old an only legs) and that perhaps I hadn't therefore heard him or should've been expected to. He did accept this at least and then apologised.
There didn't seem to be much wrong with his bike when he flew past me again on the road on my long walk home!