In my teenage years, I was a “skate punk” and I still get agitated by all the “No Skateboarding” signs all over the place… I think everybody is familiar with the stigma surrounding skateboarders on public and private property.
Anyway, now I’m 41 and generally a law-abiding citizen. One of the YMCA’s in my area has an outdoor skatepark. I started riding there one day and was asked to leave (nicely) because they ONLY allow skateboarders. I was the only one in the park at the time… Being a parent and an adult, I can understand the need for rules, but it still sucks.
Was just wondering how many other street/flat Unicyclists have been asked to leave by security guards and/or property managers, etc.
I had to bring my uni on the metro for the 1st time last month. I checked the times for when I could bring a bike (I didn’t feel like having the “uni is not a bike” argument) and the STM website actually mentions that it’s prohibited to ride uni’s in metro stations.
So which one of you modder pockers ruined it for me? Murde Mental, I’m looking at you!!! (if you’re still on the forums…)
It happened to me, too - at the Park City skate park. They have a skateboards-only rule. I got asked to leave by a security guard who said they were worried about damage to the structures from things other than skateboards.
Are you saying that you have been kicked off the back docks of Wal-Mart and that you honestly don’t know why this was done to you?
Or are you saying that because you honestly don’t know something, you have been kicked off the back docks of Wal-Mart?
If it is the latter what would be your guess as to what it is you don’t know that if you did know, you wouldn’t be shooed away?
If it is the former, don’t you think that as a general rule people don’t like others unicycling on their private property. Just feel lucky you weren’t on maestro8 or Harper’s property. They would have shot you.
Well considering I got to unicycle through City Hall last week, I haven’t been kicked out of anywhere But I ride on bike paths mostly, so that would explain it.
We used to unicycle in the halls of my high school. The custodial crew would always yell and threaten us, but we (being in high school) thought that it wasn’t that big of a deal, since we were an official unicycle club…
Not the best idea we ever had, but I don’t ever remember being officially “kicked out.”
That’s just a technicality. The probable intent is limit the natural trails to “foot traffic only”. While a unicycle is certainly NOT a bike it still is NOT foot traffic and the same issues caused by a bike are definitely caused by a unicycle as well. So when I see signs like “foot traffic only” or “No bikes” I fully understand the intent and stay off those trails when I’m riding. There is usually a pretty good reason to limit the traffic to “foot only”.
Actually it’s extremely rare that there is - usually it’s plain old prejudice. Cycles generally cause no more harm in any sense than pedestrians do. Hence why I’m generally quite happy to hide behind the technicality of a unicycle not being a bike.
Actually thats not really true. Have you ever participated in trail maintenance? I have and I can promise you hat wheeled traffic definitely rips up muddy or wet trails much more than foot traffic. Any traffic on wet trails isn’t good for trails but wheels really do a number on them.
Besides the wet or muddy trail issue there is the issue of insurance and trails being built up to a certain code to sustain wheeled traffic. Perhaps this trail wasn’t designed to accommodate wheeled traffic?
Lastly there is the issue that this is a “nature trail” which sort of implies a certain level of expectation that someone hiking through there wouldn’t enjoy getting buzzed by a biker who’s using the trail as they’re personal time trial course.
There are indeed lots of reasons to not allow wheeled traffic on certain trails that go far beyond old prejudices. I have no idea what the issue may be in your area but the reasons I listed above are the very reason given for why some my local trails are closed to wheeled traffic.
Yes I have, and I’ve also spent a lot of time out in the wilds on both foot and wheels and seen all sorts of damage caused by all trail users - and that’s not true at all. There have been proper studies done on this, and the erosion impact of a bicycle is in general less than that of somebody on foot (the surface pressure is lower for a start). There are certainly issues with the way wheels create linear ruts which can result in erosion channels, but that’s a pretty rare issue. I’ll bet that the trails which look like they were ripped up by wheels were damaged by pedestrian traffic first (or if you’re talking about bike only trails you’re not comparing like with like). I’ve certainly seen plenty of trails destroyed by foot traffic only.
Which might be a problem if you were doing so - not really the way I ride on a unicycle (or I’d imagine most on here do), not given I can generally run as fast or faster than I ride even if I’m trying. On such a trail I’d slow right down on a bike as well - as indeed I do when meeting pedestrians on any trail. Buzzing peds isn’t big or clever on any sort of trail - the issue isn’t the trail type but the action of those using it. Do you really ever get a negative reaction from walkers when riding a uni? Pretty much everybody I’ve ever met when riding a uni out in the woods seems pleased to see me - I don’t think the fact I’ve just ridden past a sign saying no bikes even seems to occur to them.
Well we do have several very stupid historical anomalies over here, where bikes are allowed on some trails which aren’t really suitable, but banned from others which are perfect. That’s not to mention the way trails have been misclassified, which means a bike legal trail turns into one your’e not supposed to ride on at a parish boundary - and that in the particular area where I live very few of the trails have been classified as bike legal due to local prejudice. Oh, and my favourite is that we’re allowed to race bikes on trails which we don’t have normal right of way on, but not on those we do (though motor bikes are allowed to race on those).
One of the YMCA’s in my area has an outdoor skatepark. I started riding there one day and was asked to leave (nicely) because they ONLY allow skateboarders. I was the only one in the park at the time… Being a parent and an adult, I can understand the need for rules, but it still sucks. 
But I ride on bike paths mostly, so that would explain it.
