Good motorbike riders

[carthorse]

We get a lot of off road motor bikes on the byways around us, fortunately most of them are pretty good if they come across horses. Even allowing for that the fairly young chap I came across yesterday was excellent.

We were on our own, which sometimes seems to make bikers think they can get past if the horse isn't turning itself inside out. This guy stopped as soon as he saw us though, put his bike as far to the edge as he possibly could then turned off the engine, put up his visor and called out asking if we'd be ok to pass. Now Luka, appearances to the contrary as he grows a hand and steps, is actually pretty cool about bikes and with a pat was quite happy to pose his way to it then stop for a brief chat during which I made very sure to say thank you. We then carried on and he waited until we were a good distance away before starting up again. What a gentleman!

I've posted on the local fb page and hope he's a local who'll see or hear about it.

 

[Jessey]

We get a lot on certain tracks here, some are great, some are absolute ass£0|€$. I always make a point of saying thank you profusely to the good ones. I’ve faced off (turned her to go straight at them) with a few coming at Jess at speed!

 

[Bodshi]

All the motorbikers I've ever met, both on and off road have been considerate. I like to think we have a mutual appreciation of the passion each has for their hobby, the vulnerability of the rider and the fact that it's increasingly difficult to find places where we can enjoy our sport safely.

I go with Raf to a reclaimed colliery/pit stack which has been turned into a community woodland and nature reserve. You're allowed to ride a horse there but not a motorbike. On rainy days I sometimes meet a group of off road bikers. They deliberately go in bad weather to try and avoid folk, and if we come face to face we have a bit of a chat and try to work out which direction each is going in so we don't clash. I know they shouldn't be there, but as a horse rider I completely understand what it's like to have nowhere safe to ride, so I just hope they get to enjoy their afternoon.

Wish the same applied to cyclists - leisure cyclists tend to be really good near us, but those riding for a club, in a group or doing a time trial, seem to think they own the road.

 

[Jessey]

Most of the forest here motorbikes aren’t allowed, I wouldn’t mind if they were nice about it like yours @Bodshi, but the ones here know the police monitor it (with cameras and on their quad), so they wear masks to cover their faces and if they see anyone they just go as fast as possible, and that includes at you on a horse or on foot. The police regularly impound bikes here but people still keep illegally riding despite having loads of options of motorbike tracks locally.

A mountain biker in all the gear and a full face helmet met me on a little village road yesterday and said “wouldn’t you be better off on the tracks” (meaning in the forest), he seemed surprised when I said “absolutely, but I have to get there, what’s your excuse?” His girlfriend behind snickered

Both of these are the rarity, most people are brilliant, there’s just always that one to$$€r who let their team down.

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

We have several byways near us which carry many motorbikes. There used to be 4x4 drivers too, trying to do the impossible (some of the tracks are barely navigable by a neat footed horse) but the council have recently barred the entries to 4 wheels.

The scrambler bikes are the worst - noisy, hasty, revving and in large rude pods. Adventure bikers on their big heavy machines are more careful and courteous. There are always exceptions of course!