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Letter: Whistler's Village Stroll is not for bikes

'Don’t give way or stop for them. If they have to come to a halt, fall over or crash, that is their problem'
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A leisurely walk down Whistler's Village Stroll. Not pictured: people riding bikes where they shouldn't be.

Whistler has world-class biking facilities: the Bike Park, Fitzsimmons skills park, the Valley Trail, countless mountain bike trails, etc. These facilities cater to all types and levels of biking, from beginners to experts, from road bikes to e-bikes. So why is it that bikers insist on using the pedestrian-only Village Stroll, with seeming impunity?

This is in blatant disregard to all the signage, both written and symbolic. I assume most of them can read, and the signs are easy to understand. Yet day after day, walkers have to avoid these bikers, including those with limited mobility, kids and toddlers darting about, and those with on-leash dogs. It is not limited to one type of cyclist: there are e-bikers, families, some with kids in carriers and trailers, as well as the perhaps more expected downhill biker.

Asking bikers to get off their bikes is not possible; they have passed by before you have a chance to say anything. Shouting at them has some effect, varying from abuse directed back at you, to total indifference, and occasionally the perpetrators dismounting.

So my advice to walkers encountering bikers on the Stroll is to take no notice of them. Don’t give way or stop for them. If they have to come to a halt, fall over or crash, that is their problem. Feel free to shout at them, but don’t swear or get angry; maintain the moral high ground. But be warned, from personal experience, this does nothing for your state of mind.

In the meantime, although I tell myself to ignore them, I know that I can’t, they annoy me too much. So bikers, if you see or hear a white-haired elderly man yelling at you, it could well be me, rather than some old fool, who has completely lost his mind.

Simon Goodman // Pemberton