Re: [CR] Upcoming peril at Cirque: Horses and bikes are a poor mix! A ride through Hell

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In-Reply-To: <BAY102-W371C4FA1EE96232C880CFBAC8D0@phx.gbl>
References: <010101c9b175$c5f445e0$51dcd1a0$@net>
Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:31:58 -0700
From: "Steve Valladolid" <svalladolid@gmail.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: Re: [CR] Upcoming peril at Cirque: Horses and bikes are a poor mix! A ride through Hell


I never had any problems with horses, but I did have an interesting situation with a bull once...

In my carefree youthful days while mountain biking near Pinnacles National Monument after doing some work at Soledad prison, I spotted a nice looking trail on the other side of a cattle gate that looked too good to pass up. I hopped over the fence and was having a great time hammering away. I turn the bend and startle a bunch of cows and calfs on the left side of the trail. I hear a noise to the right and see a very large bull jump up, menancingly wave his horns at me and charge! Of course, my Specialized mountain bike was bright red which didn't help. I turned and high tailed i t out of there as fast as I could. Thankfully he was just trying to run me off as I'm sure he could have easily caught me if he had really tried.

-Steve Valladolid San Diego, CA

On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 1:59 PM, Rick Peoples <rickpeoples@hotmail.com>wrot e:
>
> I had a similar experience with (a) horse a few years ago, riding down a
> mountain fire road with another rider. We were going downhill at a good c li
> p (add horse sound effects here).
> On topic here, riding nearly identical early 70's Motebecane Grand Tourin
> ging, I wish I had that one back.)
>
> We hear a real clip clop, a woman on a horse behind us, closing fast. W
> e slowed, and tried to let her pass. Nothing. We stopped. She stopped. No
> thing. We started, she was on us again. It finally occurred to us, she
> was trying to run us down. Let off the brakes and flew. She came close en ou
> gh at one point we actually felt the horse breathing down our necks. Neve r
> did figure out what her problem was, was the horse spooked or was she try
> ing to claim the trail, and didn't want to stick around to find out.
>
> Bikes and horses sometimes do not mix on these trails.
>
> Rick Peoples
>
>
>
> > From: tesanders@comcast.net
> > To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> > Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:26:13 -0400
> > Subject: [CR] Upcoming peril at Cirque: Horses and bikes are a poor mix !
> A ride through Hell
> >
> > A few years ago I was riding a Rails to Trails trail near Hell Michigan .
> It
> > was a lovely summer day and I was rolling right along. Soon I noticed th
> at
> > I had to use some caution to avoid big lumps of horse manure on the tra il
> .
> > A bit later I came up behind a half dozen or so young women riding thei r
> > horses. This was allowed on the trail, of course. They filled up the
> > entire trail and even though they were going considerably slower than I w
> as,
> > I felt I couldn't very well pass them. I lingered about 40 yards behin d
> for
> > a few minutes and suddenly one of the horses in the group noticed me be hi
> nd
> > them and panicked. This threw the rest of the horses into a real panic
> ,
> > too! Pretty quick they were out of control and going off in all direct io
> ns
> > while their riders tried in vain to control them. One particularly fai r
> > maiden was being carried through the woods at an amazing clip. It occu rr
> ed
> > to me that if I were truly gallant I would pursue and rescue her. Then
> > better sense prevailed. I already had one fair maiden awaiting me at h om
> e
> > and God knows this was all the complexity I could comfortably deal with .
> It
> > was with a sigh that I watched her disappear through the trees but now th
> e
> > trail was nicely clear. One or two horses were settled down by their r id
> ers
> > beside the trail so I just cycled on through ,sorely tempted to make so
> me
> > sort of smart Alec noise like a roadrunner honk, but my semi-gentlemanl
> y
> > nature prevailed and I just smiled and said "Hello" on my way through. N
> o
> > returned smiles seemed to be coming my way, however.
> >
> > I am guessing that during Cirque there will be horses on that great tra il
> > through town that is so nice to ride. If anyone one has any hints on j us
> t
> > how to pass such equestrian groups in such a situation, I could sure us
> e
> > some instruction.
> >
> > Tom Sanders
> >
> > Lansing, MI USA
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
>
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