Minneapolis Pathletes Opinion Piece

@Raymo853 127136 wrote:

Not the best written article, but coins a term for people riding too aggressively on crowded bike paths. Pathletes. The author, like me, may a sliver too quick to judge riders.

http://www.citypages.com/news/pathletes-the-douchebags-of-minneapolis-bike-paths-7787845

I’ve heard the term “pathlete” used before (not very common, but it did make it into the Urban Dictionary http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Pathlete ), but I think there are intricacies to the definition that are important to remember.

people riding too aggressively on crowded bike paths (emphasis added)

This is the important word to consider. Pathletes are people who ride aggressively and fast on a MUP, passing anyone and everyone at full speed with little to no room, yelling to get others to move out of “their way,” and generally disregarding the needs and safety of all other trail-users. An athlete on a MUP who rides fast yet slows down, calls their passes for other trail-users, and passes them at a safe distance is not a pathlete.

A related term to pathlete that I’ve heard used on this forum (I think) used to describe cyclists who do not call their passes (or impatiently continually ring their bell DING, DING, DING, DING, DING until the people in front of them move out of “their way”) and pass in unsafe manners: Passh**e.

When you start swearing at kids on a trail you fall into that special category known as “asshole”. I’ve seen that before, and have wondered why someone thinks scaring the heck out of a wobbly kid on a bike is a good approach. If you can’t muster the patience to deal with people, a MUP is probably not the best place to be.

I got yelled at a few weeks back for not signalling a pass. It was on the road in Rock Creek, and one of the numerous large running groups had one runner hanging about 70 feet back, running on the center line. As I came up, I slowed and went to pass on the right. The tail runner screamed at me and tried to cut me off.

It’s not a bad idea to signal even there, but I think the rules on Beach Drive, whatever they are, are not trail rules.

@mstone 127143 wrote:

When you start swearing at kids on a trail you fall into that special category known as “asshole”. I’ve seen that before, and have wondered why someone thinks scaring the heck out of a wobbly kid on a bike is a good approach. If you can’t muster the patience to deal with people, a MUP is probably not the best place to be.

True, I don’t cuss at kids ether. I have dealt with plenty of assholes over the years and I found that they are evenly dispersed, come in all shapes, sizes and follow no reliably identifiable dress code. (My Dear Wife even married one)
I ride what would be described as an expensive racy bike and I wear activity appropriate clothing while riding. The author of the article seems to think it is OK to “Yell cuss words at me” simply based on what I look like. His kernel of a message is lost in the noise of his wide dislike of an entire class of cycling.

I have also found that there are plenty of people that disregard or don’t understand the basic rules and manners required of all that use MUPs. Just today my daughter and I watched a wobbly little one swerve right across the trail in falls church and into oncoming cycling traffic. The oncoming expensive type bike ridden by a spandex wearing type slammed the brakes and just made the required aversion maneuver. Kid’s parent acted at best annoyed seemingly clueless of how close her kid came to being hit. Why people think it is OK to bring a 3 year old on a training wheel equipped first bike to learn on the W&OD is beyond me. That is akin to first time behind the wheel on the beltway. I can see why some of the more frequent trail users get a bit short with people after a while. You see the same thing over and over and it looks to me that 99% of it simply a lack of knowing the rules of the road. The guy that yelled at the special needs rider did not know he was special needs. The rider might have simply seen yet another group that was taking their 1/2 in the middle.

More education, more “Dirt”. Less finger pointing, less group blame.

I avoid trials and bike lanes because I like to go fast and if anyone is going to get hurt, I want it to be me. But when I use 4MR trail to walk my pre-K son to the park I keep them on a shorter leash than I do when walking along any road. Roads look dangerous to children and keeping them on the sidewalk is intuitive for them (cars are loud and scary). Trails do not present as dangerous to children or inexperienced parents (bikes are quiet and faster than you think). I’m constantly shepherding them to walk the extreme right 3″ of the bike trail so they’re as far away from cyclists as possible. But if you have kids you know how difficult it is to make a 4 year old walk a line invisible to them.

We need to be slow around unpredictable children. Parents need to understand the dangers to their children on the trails.

I see this as an infrastructure problem. We simply don’t have enough safe places to ride a bike fast. But we also don’t have enough safe places to learn to ride a bike, or to take a learner on a slow bike ride. We don’t have enough safe places for an uninterrupted, nature-based run or walk. Add this all up, and you have lots of different groups trying to use the W&OD (for example) for different, and at times, the demand exceeds capacity. There’s no easy solution, but I see dedicated bike infrastructure as a part of any attempt. In a way, the trails are cyclists’ beltway. But there aren’t bikes or cars on the real beltway – it’s strictly mode separated. Not so for our trails.

I ride the Greenway and River Road pretty extensively here and the number of clowns looking to set records on CF with aerobars and bumblebee helmets I’ve encountered over the past two years here I can count on one hand. Even the Wednesday night hot dog guys (paging Dickie) know when and where to push it during the summer months when the Greenway is a touch crowded so this is really a lot of handwringing over nothing. Besides, everyone here that wants to really push it can go to the velodrome in Blaine or out to Minnetonka and really light it up with no fear of running into the warm weather crowds.

The really cool thing about MPLS (I can’t and won’t speak to St. Paul) is that regardless of where you are in the city there are a ton of public parks and miles and miles of protected to semi-protected bike lanes and bike paths to ride on year round. In my neighborhood (down by Lake Nokomis) I can ride a bike blvd down to the Minnehaha Trail and then ride on the relatively empty bike-only lane to Lake Nokomis where, again, there are separate paths for pedestrians and cyclists. Nothing like the nonsense you encounter on the MVT and, to a lesser extent, the W&OD, which this article all the more comical.

@Vicegrip 127800 wrote:

Yes this exactly. Thank you. The W&OD at 10 am on a sunny sat is not a good time to learn to pedal a bike. for those that live on busy streets here are 1000s of cul du sacks, school and church parking lots and many other places in the area which could be great places for the first rides. My kids learned to ride the bike then learned the rules of riding with care then learned the rules of the trails. One step at a time and all the steps were Fun. Kids need to be in control and be controlled enough so as not to be in danger or be a danger. I see plenty that are nether when the time and weather is right. How much fun can it be for a wobbly on a Mup anyway? Parent giving directions, only able to go in a line and one way and people zipping around you. Kid in a cul de sack can zoom around drawing spirals should he or she like.

Kids like to go places just like other people. Maybe they’re going to get ice cream or have a picnic, or have some other “excuse” for being on the MUP–not that they actually need one. Sorry, but the only danger a kid poses at 10am on a sunny Saturday is the possibility that someone else is going to be a jerk and not adjust what they’re doing to account for conditions. Complaining about kids on a MUP seems quixotic at best. [ATTACH=CONFIG]10076[/ATTACH]