Trail Etiquette Question

[OldSloDoggie]

What is the proper trail Etiquette in regards to right of way to oncoming bikers? Large vs small group? Uphill vs dowhill? I reckon there are many factors involved, but some general rules of thumb for beginners like myself and a refresher for the more expierenced riders.

[CouchingTiger]

I live by uphill riders get the right of way. The thought is that riding uphill is harder than down and stopping on a technical uphill may be tough/impossible to get started again. In general, yeild is given to those having the tougher task at hand (IMHO).

-Couch

[turch]

Couch's perspective is dead on in my opinion. Also be considerate of our trail users and yield to walkers and equestrians.

[AZ Chick]

I think that is pretty much the consensus. Yield to uphill is what I learned from 4-wheeling, and should transfer to all sports. Definitly yield to hikers, walkers and equestrians and if you see them enough in advance, you should get off your bike and walk around horses. Bikes freak horses out.

[OldSloDoggie]

Thaks for the quick feedback. The yield to hikers/horses is well know, but some tend to forgot.
I asked the uphill / down hill situation because of past bad expierences with fast oncoming downhillers ending any chances on making some climbs.

[Big Game]

I think Miss Manners would agree:

Smaller groups yield to bigger groups. That way, less people have to stop.

Downhillers yield to uphill. I would say another reason is for safety. Someone ripping downhill may not see additional riders coming up after he

Now what about a smaller group going uphill meeting a larger group coming downhill? I would say the larger downhill group should yield. But the problem is, if you are climbing like me sometimes, you may just yield to the downhill group to give yourself a rest for spell, which can be nice.

But there are probably other factors as well. And I'm not even sure how many times I really follows these rules myself. I think the bottom line is too just be consdierate and friendly and someone commits a trail faux pas, don't take it personally, just let it go and continue with your ride.

[OldSloDoggie]

Thanks for all the feedback. Since there are millions of posibilities, the general rules of up yield to down, and easier task yield to more difficult task sholdn't be too much for my old senile memory .

[huff'npuff]

I agree with the rest. Makes sense to yield to the uphillers. About horses ...I've been thanked many times for stopping and asking the riders if the horses were okay with bikes. Even had a riderless horse follow me going back to the parking lot at Borderland once. The owner and he were on the lawn as I rode by. The owner said he liked bikes.The horse coming up behind me made me hope he didn't have amorous thoughts for bikes! :o

Basically i yield to everyone(thing), cause most of the time i could use the rest.