I, as always, really appreciate your articles Mr. Ferrentino! This one hits home as the rapidly growing mountain community I live in has seen a post-covid influx of folks from generally bigger cities and the human-to-human acknowledgements have been on the decline. I agree with your stance on saying hello and I refuse to carry a bell on my bike for that reason - it can come off as a passive aggressive "let me pass" ring. I'd rather just engage with a stranger by saying hello and pause for a second to let them by. Also, it's not rocket science to add in a few minutes for friendliness to an expected ride time if I'm planning on riding a known popular trail area at a popular time.
It does seem like there is also a building groundswell of core folks who are pushing for more friendliness out on the trails, especially as mountain biking faces access limiting threats on trails around the world. One of those folks is [this fella](https://benicesayhi.bigcartel.com/) who I've snagged some patches and stickers from. I've given the patches to buds who do smile and say hello and have tossed the stickers up in a few spots that seem to have frequent high-speed bad interactions... maybe it'll help?
April 19, 2024, 7 a.m. - Zachary Miller
I, as always, really appreciate your articles Mr. Ferrentino! This one hits home as the rapidly growing mountain community I live in has seen a post-covid influx of folks from generally bigger cities and the human-to-human acknowledgements have been on the decline. I agree with your stance on saying hello and I refuse to carry a bell on my bike for that reason - it can come off as a passive aggressive "let me pass" ring. I'd rather just engage with a stranger by saying hello and pause for a second to let them by. Also, it's not rocket science to add in a few minutes for friendliness to an expected ride time if I'm planning on riding a known popular trail area at a popular time. It does seem like there is also a building groundswell of core folks who are pushing for more friendliness out on the trails, especially as mountain biking faces access limiting threats on trails around the world. One of those folks is [this fella](https://benicesayhi.bigcartel.com/) who I've snagged some patches and stickers from. I've given the patches to buds who do smile and say hello and have tossed the stickers up in a few spots that seem to have frequent high-speed bad interactions... maybe it'll help?