I had to do a dinky little ride today because I had a dj gig tonight, so I did El Prieto around 2. There were tons of riders as usual so I had to park my wreck down the road. Anyway, nothing out of the ordinary, up Brown Mtn down El P. But as I was coming back on the asphalt road I noticed this poor sap walking his bike back to the parking lot. I asked him if he had a flat and he said no his chain broke. I told him that I had a chain tool (its cheap but works) and volunteered that I'd fix it in the parking lot. Well it took like all of 5 minutes and he was good to go. His name was Joe, looked like the skinny guy from "Office Space" that was doing the layoffs. He told me his wife and kid were riding and that he was going to catch up with them. He got back on his old K2 hardtail and I mentioned that its probably time for a new chain, he agreed and thanked me a million times. Meanwhile in the parking lot there were tons of bikers with $$$ bikes shooting the sh!t that most likely bombed down El P. and passed this poor SOB and didnt say anything. Most members of this site would never pass a fellow biker walking a bike and say nothing.:beer:
me and my buddy got back to JPL at 9:25am and did not see anyone having any problem... umm on 2nd thought I saw 2guys at the bottom of El. P and Brwn Mountain fire road fixing a bike... was that you guys? If it was both of you, sorry if we passed you... we just figured 2 guys to fix 1 bike is more than enough :?:
we always ask if people need help when we see people at the side of the trail - it's the right thing to do. How many groups/people pass you by when you are the side of the trail? i'm thinking it's about 50-50
Nothing new bro, it's like when we do rugged trail work or spend a whole Saturday sitting through boring volunteer training. Lots of people talk, but only the same handful are the ones who step up and get their hands dirty.
I truly wish I could do some volunteer work, but with 3 boys (3-10), soccer, little league and a wife, I have a hard time finding a few hours a week to ride. I do feel like I need to give back to the MTB system.I will get around to some type of payback. I try to ask every person I pass if they are "alright", that's the way my buddies are and the way I hope other riders are. Some people won't even acknowledge me, but whatever, I'm not going to force myself on them. :beer: And a big "THANK YOU" to the people that do maintain our trails, a truly thankless,un-selfish job!
I don't think I have ever in my life been on the side of the trail broken down and not have the passing riders ask if i needed help, even when I have 4 buddies there with me.
i usually ask people stuck or walking if they need any help... most of the time, they just need the right tool... i had a few times where i came across people with road bikes get stuck and i didn't have anything to help them...
I always ask too and have sacrificed a few tubes, patches and lent out tools to fellow riders and if stopped myself, usually get offered help. I am sometimes amazed though by people riding their bikes and apparently travelling light, ie few or no tools, no pump, and only a single tube and 1 CO2 cartridge and no patch kit. I guess it´s lucky for some riders that a lot of us carry just about everything apart from the kitchen sink. Well, that and enough food (Thanks Joe and Dave for feeding me when I ran out of energy on more than one occasion):clap:
