I got ran over by a mountain biker

Bummer, get well and heal fast.

 

I hope you get well soon. Keep us informed of how you are doing.

 

Get well soon!

 

Hope you heal soon Karen. Sorry to hear of something like this happening. I think mountain biking has grown alot in the past 5 years with aspects of it becoming more "x-games" like and having a "cool" factor. Which is good for the sport in ways, but unfortunatly I think there are alot more people on the trails now and a greater percentage of those that are either totally clueless about proper trail use or just ignorant and don't care because they havent been around the sport long enough to respect others. As someone else mentioned, when I was growing up as a kid and mountian biking was relatively young as a sport I didn't see this type of recklessness toward others attitude nearly as much.

 

Sorry to hear you got hurt and i agree with all the people here who think the guy is an idiot both for riding as if he has right of way and the blaming you. It is people like that who put our trail acccess as mountain bikeres in jeopardy.
Thanks for posting this and lets hope the person riding reads these posts sometime.
I must admit that from time to time I feel the urge to print a pile of copies of IMBA trail rules and post them at the tarils I ride. Problem is that this type of rider would probably never stop and take the time to read them.

 

I have hiked many of the trails I ride and it definitely gives you a different perspective.

I do not consider a sprain and minor concussion a small injury if it causes you to be out of commission for a week or while... but I am not that tough. Heal completely and rest well.

 

Sorry to hear this. Yeah, it happens and luckily you're relatively ok, but the fact is it's a reckless accident that shouldn't happen if common sense was there. It's not like you were walking down the middle of the road or something. I also hike the trails I ride and have actually been told to get out of the way by bikers. Like Dusty said, it definitely gives you a different perspective to be on the other side and because of it I'm a lot more aware of bikes than I used to be 10 years ago. Hope you heal up quick.

 

Karen and her husband mtnbikedanny are my friends and riding buddies. I was naturally really pissed off and concerned when she told me what happened. What really got my attention though, is one thing she said to me about the incident. "I didn't even hear him coming." She heard the guy yell "get out of the way" when it was too late.

The last thing I want is to hurt someone on the trail. I'm sure that all of you and even the guy that hit her feel the same way. I really am not surprised this happened though. I've had close calls myself. You don't have to go fast for the possibility of being surprised by another trail user. I'm certain a lot of people on this site have had similar experiences. Trail etiquette aside, we are responsible for all other trail users safety. This includes other mountain bikers. It's one thing for hikers to think we are A-holes, it's another for us to hurt them.

Some of us ride with hikers being a mere after thought, just another trail obstacle that we might be able to get around when the time comes. We are all guilty of this when we ride our favorite trails like silent guided missiles following a path that we KNOW might be occupied by someone else. A collision could happen to any of us with the right set of circumstances.

On to my point..... I have had close calls. One was with mtnbikedanny, Karen's hubby, on the same trail where Karen got hit. We got close to hitting a pair of hikers. They obviously didn't hear us coming. What is the answer to this problem? There isn't one answer. But I tell you what. Ever since I started using a cowbell hung under my seat, riding trails with other users has become a different world.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! COWBELL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When other trail users hear you coming, they tend to stop and get out of the way. This is before you even see each other. Often times they will enthusiastically thank you and tell you the bell is a great idea as you pass them. How often do you get such great attitude from hikers? I'm not saying it's their responsibility to get out of our way. But, when they do, we have more time to react, slow down and cruise by them with a greeting and a smile. I'm saying it's our responsibility to warn others we are coming their way.

It is ironic Karen got hit by this biker. After the earlier mentioned close call, Karen's husband Dan put bells on his and Karens bikes. They did the responsible thing.

Karen is lucky she got hit the way she did. Imagine the damage that could have been done if she got hit from the front or back. How about the fiasco of the fire department having to retrieve her? Imagine your favorite trail being closed to bikes.

Spend a couple of bucks on a bell and you could save someone a lot of pain. It wouldn’t hurt your wallet either if you can avoid having to pay someone’s medical bills. As a bonus we get to keep our trails!

http://www.bell-outlet.com/cowbells.htm
I use a 2 inch bell.

 

So sorry to hear about this Karen. MTBing, hiking, being outdoors.... it's supposed to be fun. We share a responsibility as trail users to be safe and make sure other people are also. I would hate to hurt someone going unnecessarily fast on a high traffic trail. I think this is a good reminder to me (though I never go "fast" :lol to be conscious that I'm not the only one out there.

Hope your injuries heal well and quickly. I hope Ed recognizes his responsibility and helps with the bills. Good healing vibes are being sent your way.

 

Sorry to hear you were hurt, so may you feel better soon! It is situations like this that brought me to buy a little cow bell and installed it on the neck underneath my bars, I had a few close calls like that and didnt like the idea of hurting or being hurt and thats what gave me the idea AND IT WORKS!!!! People hear a bell ratteling and start looking up the hill by the time I come around the corner there heads up and ready. all it takes is a little bell and a ziptie so you dont have to take your fingers off the grips! you get use to the chime after a while it just sounds nice. Hopefully this will incourage other rider to do the same....
get well soon!!!!!

 

Sorry to hear about your accident. Hope you heal soon.

 

I will chime in on this. X-mas day early in the morn riding San Juan figured I was the only rider and just did not worry about it. Had a head on collision with another biker. You get the point? Rode with the guy a few years months later and had a good laugh.

 

Karen glad to hear your okay for the most part. back in my race days I hit a full size Chevy truck while racing the truck had come to a stop before the impact...and still I totaled said truck! My point is we as Mt bikers have the potential to KILL someone if we ride like butt heads. No mater what, it IS our fault if we hit someone. WE are the ones that are suppose to yield the right of way.

anyway glad to hear it was not worse...heal fast
BTW...this was not an accident it was negligence and most "accidents" are.

Cheers from Prescott AZ
Billy

 

If I heard a cowbell I would have had more time to move out of the way.

 

I hope you heal up fast and I'm sorry you had this happen to you. Take Care.

 

Sorry to hear about your injuries Karen. Heal fast. While we all have occasional laps in judgment, it sounds like this a**hat was just plain reckless, then thoughtless. Yesterday, I saw some dude in a full-face on a dep't store bike rolling down the ridge road at Aliso. I was climbing, the trail was ride and this jerk was yelling "watch out" as he rattled down the trail. No wonder we get trails closed.

Oh, and because it has to be said to those who chimed in...MORE COWBELL!

 

sad, but not surprising. healing vibes, karen.

i think fred nailed it. as someone who was a hiker first, you really have to think about where you are are and what the worst case scenario would be.

i was cruising into an entrance to my local park--canyon/talbert--yesterday with a little too much speed and just about took out a dog (or myself) that was off leash. i've had my dogs off leash in the same section and should have known better.

clint said it best: "a good man always knows his limitations."

 

Thanks for sharing Karen and I'm sorry about your accident.

 

I worry about people screwing it up for others when they do stupid things like that guy did to you Karen. I have however been been the rider that got yelled at because of anothers riders stupity. I had ridden down the switchback trails (which for hikers, they think they and only they own it) and I got screamed at by some old lady for no reason other than I was on a bike, even after I annouced I was behind her, several times. I crawled past her on the narrow trail and she continued to yell that I was going too fast and I was dangerous on the trail. I was confused until I ran into another guy and told him as he was hiking up about the crazy lady hiking down, that he told me that some crazy mountain biker was bombing down the hill recklessly and almost hit his dog and yelled at him for having his dog on the trail. (HIS DOG!!!) I joked with him and said, I guess where he must be from people don't take their dogs hiking with them.

Anyhow my story, maybe a good metion or a good read.

 

I like to run when I'm not riding and I've trail ran most of the trails I've ridden. It is amazing how steep some of the hils we go down are and you won't notice that until you have to run up it. The fancier the bikes, the more skilled the rider all equals more speed on the trail. We as riders really do need to be more aware of everything around us.

Hope you heal up quick!