shiz702

*long rant*

So I am visiting my parents in Sacramento, CA and I've been riding quite a bit on the American River Bike Trail which is a gorgeous 32 mile MUP which goes from downtown Sacramento and ends at the top of Folsom Lake. Today on my ride I witnessed something that was truly amazing. Here is my story.

I was somewhere in the middle of my ride and there were two riders ahead of me about 30 yds or so. Behind me 3 riders yell out, "on your left," and before I even had a chance to realize what they said they flew by me taking up both lanes of the MUP (divided by yellow lines.) I was cruising around 17-18mph so I'm guessing their speeds were at least 25+mph. This didn't phase me at all but then I saw them do the same thing to the guys in front of me. This time they did it around a blind left hand corner.

Well sure enough as I come around the corner there is an old lady on the ground, she had fallen from her bike. When the two guys in front of me pass her they yell out, "Are you ok?" as they fly by her, never even hitting their brakes. I'm completely dumbfounded. This lady is at least in her 70's if not 80's and shes completely tangled up in her bike flat out on the ground, so no, she was NOT ok. I stop to help as does a lady coming from the opposite direction as me. The old lady states that the 3 guys taking up both lanes had come around that corner so fast (opposite direction as her) that they forced her off the road and caused her to crash. The lady that stopped to help said they did the same thing to her.

WTF!! I'm so angry at this point I could barely talk. We help the lady up and everything seems ok. No serious injuries and the bike is fine, she is just a little shaken up. I hop on my bike and take off. At this point I'm so furious that I just put it in overdrive and haul ass. I manage to catch up to the two guys that were ahead of me.

I ask them if they happen to know the 3 guys or the club they were from that were yelling at everyone and taking up both lanes a few miles back. They weren't even sure what I was talking about. I say, "you know, the 3 guys that caused that old lady to crash back there?" They say, "Oh they didn't cause that, she was only going like 2 miles an hour, it look like she fell on her own, we asked her if she was ok.."

WTF!! AHH!! At this point I'm pretty much yelling at them. I say, "Are you kidding me?! She was flat out on the ground, what makes you think she'd be ok?! And she told me that it was because of the guys coming at her in HER lane that caused her to go off the path and crash!"

Now I wasn't sure who I was more mad at. The three A-holes who decided the MUP was their own personal race track and felt the need to take up both lanes and caused this poor old lady to crash or these IDIOTS who were too stupid or caught up in their own personal business that they couldn't even stop to make sure she was ok. This isn't even about cyclists looking out for each other, this is about BASIC RESPECT FOR ANOTHER HUMAN BEING! If you see an old lady sprawled out on the ground from a fall, YOU F**CKING STOP TO MAKE SURE SHE'S OK!!

I seriously wanted to just push one guy into the other and as they were toppling over each other and eating asphalt just look back and say, "Are you ok?" as I ride off.

Ralleh

Cycling attracts a metric ****ton of type-A *******s.

urbanknight

Sorry but not surprised to hear that. The anonymity that comes with a densely populated society make it easier and easier for people to be blatant a-holes in public.

photonick

In So-Cal we have this long strand that runs for 25+ miles up the beach and in some parts it's terribly congested in others it's wide open, either way you really should only cruise on it. So sometimes after really hard efforts I like to take off my helmet and just let my legs stretch out by riding through the strand along the beach never topping 10-12 mph.

Every time I see some jerk-off on a high end road bike, usually between 35-60 hauling ass doing his whole training ride on the strand. Frustrates the hell out of me, I always feel like telling them "to grow a pair and ride on the road, your not impressing any bikini clad girls by hauling ass on the strand in lyrca". There's nothing scarier than seeing someone weave in and out of 5 year olds on bikes at 18 mph.

What's even more alarming for me is that my local MUP in Burbank has a nice long stretch of road running parallel with it, I usually hit 20-25 on this road and almost every time I do it I look over and a fred on a road bike on the MUP sees me and starts to match my speed, weaving in and out of people on the MUP till either he can't hold it or drops me.

Keep it on the road, jesus.

tekhna

Real cyclists don't use MUPs. It's that simple. They're not safe for you or others at the speeds we tend to ride, and especially not in groups.

chipcom 

So you've met the California Muppets.

chipcom 

Fixed that for ya....anyone on a bike is a 'real' cyclist, and any 'real' cyclist can toodle down a mup safely, at safe speeds, when the urge hits them without worrying about their penis shrinking. But I agree with what I think you were trying to say...you wanna race or train, get on the road.

paimeii

MUPs are serious business.

mattm

speed belongs on the road, not on the MUP..

OP, you did the right thing at least. but don't let it ruffle your feathers too much... or else you'll have a stressful life ahead of you!

photonick

What does MUP stand for by the way lol, i know what it means but not what it stands for haha.

mikesdca

Seems to me there`s not anything exceptional about your experience. Maybe that it happened on the bike path is a bit odd but I`ve seen entire group rides cruise past somone laying on the ground (from an obvious crash.) Someone falls in the middle of a group and riders swerve around rider in question and sprint back up to speed. Must be quite a bit of prize money on these weekend rides?

Wested

multi user path, at least that is what I call it

CharlieWoo

Adrenaline is a hellofa hormone.

photonick

I was thinking it was municipal something, that makes sense.

MadCowMoo

Well why the hell did you not hit them!

caloso

It wasn't me! But seriously, we have an issue on the ARBT with people going way too fast in way too large of groups. It's an awesome bike highway 90% of the time. The other 10% it's a zoo.

Were these guys wearing team/club jerseys?

photonick

Well I'm going running on my MUP tonight so I'll shove over any biker who gets in my way and honor of that old lady.

shiz702

really? even if the person on the ground is an elderly lady? I'm sorry, but this experience just appalled me. I guess I just have more faith in mankind than I should.

Ya, they were yellow but I couldn't catch the name. When they passed me it wasn't a concern to me so I wasn't paying much attention. That's why I asked the 2 guys ahead of me if they knew which club they were from.

Other than this incident, I've had a great time exploring Sacramento via the bike trail. A definite change of pace to my usual rides in Vegas.

Laplacian

That's not a MUP, it's a dedicated bike path. There are signs every 50 feet or so that say "Bikes only" or No Pedestrians. For most of it, there is a parallel paved pedestrian path right next to it. Still people choose to walk, sit, loiter, etc. on the bike path. Very frustrating for those of us who are trying to do a training ride. However, I've just accepted this and I never go fast on the congested stretches on the weekend. I do sympathize with the old lady in this thread, though--that's not cool.

mikesdca

Shiz,

You missed my point. I`ve seen numerous occasions of such ******* behavior from cyclists. People racing down bike paths, nearly running into pedestrians, leaving fallen cyclists by the side of the road because they don`t want to get dropped by the group, etc.

I think this kind of ******* behavior is the rule, not the exception.

photonick

Dude, in Hermosa it's all one path as well as in much of redondo, and thats where everyone goes to show off other than Samo/Venice. It's not till Manhattan it splits, even then it's still made for people cruising, not training, that's what everyone does it. It's too sandy, slick and congested to be used as a training path.

Avalanche325

I have ridden on that MUP in Sacremento. IIRC the speed limit is 15MPH.

I avoid MUPs like the plague. It is safer being on the road with Hummer drivers on cell phones.

MrCrassic 

I don't care about people who decide to TT the greenways, since I do this myself (often). I do, however, make sure that I don't try and topple anyone in the process of doing so. Last time I ran into a situation like this, I stopped and stood there until he was ready to get going again.

Then again, while you do have the a-holes in this sport, I have been in situations where there were SEVERAL cyclists willing to get me going again. In fact, the last time that I had a flat and had problems mounting the tube, two cyclists went WAY out of their way to help me get riding again. They helped me out for about 10 minutes! They weren't the only ones to help me either...

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JoelS

Shiz, it happens. Real shame too.

How much longer are you in town? Send me an e-mail and we can maybe do another ride.

seb1041

And how can you be sure that the 5 years old kid in front of you will not take your left lane as you pass full speed???

Just ride the street.