Trail etiquette and the law

So one of my more favorite rides Halsted up to Elston up to North Branch Trail to Skokie Canoe launch to Botanical Gardens to Lake-Cook road to Des Plaines River Trail to Old School FP or whatever. Lessons Learned and etiquette? trails are for sharing and yielding to others. You might be in the right, but totally lacking in class.

1) horses. Horses win. Yield to em. Don't startle em. Des Plaines has some spots. (And horse poop...horse poop laughs at your fenders)

2) deer. See horses. Also damn that's a lot of bugs on em.

3) flooded underpasses with sharp turns - if you're hulk smacking dem bottom bracket egg beaters - it's gonna bite

4) switch backs (especially round West Deer Grove FP or Old School, if you're going over 15 mph you really risk slamming into someone and these trails don't really have a lot of space.

5) dogs on extendable leashes. It's not the dogs fault it's human might be an oblivious idiot.

6) runners with headphones on a single track. You're legally supposed to yield to them. And everyone is supposed to yield to walkers.

7) call out but do it earlier than road. Folks on trails tend to be even more in their own head space than a texting tourist crossing Dearborn and Randolph jones for a do-rite. Give tons of warning.

8) THE WORST SCARE ON A TRAIL FROM ME - lady runner jumps out from bushes swinging her arms around trying to swat bees away. I fall off my bike and realize there in the middle of DPRT is a ground hornets nest she just ran on top of and there are angry bees everywhere. What kind of evil messed up bees have nests on the ground! Not really etiquette, but just another reason to ride more aware and not speed demoning.

/r/chibike Thread