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 cli 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 enou gh at one point we actually felt the horse breathing down our necks. Never 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 trail
.
> A bit later I came up behind a half dozen or so young women riding their
> 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 behind
for
> a few minutes and suddenly one of the horses in the group noticed me behi
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 directio
ns
> while their riders tried in vain to control them. One particularly fair
> maiden was being carried through the woods at an amazing clip. It occurr
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 hom
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 rid
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 trail
> through town that is so nice to ride. If anyone one has any hints on jus
t
> how to pass such equestrian groups in such a situation, I could sure us
e
> some instruction.
>
> Tom Sanders
>
> Lansing, MI USA