The pass

1Look

The corner you cannot see round

There is room to go past that walker right now. What there is not, is anywhere to put yourself if something comes round that bend while you are out in the middle.

2The idea

A pass is three moves, and riders do one

The instruction is specific.
Slow down.
Give an audible warning — a bell, or your voice saying something like “Excuse me, passing left”.
Wait for a reaction.
Then pass on the left.

Most riders do the middle one and skip the two either side. A shout at full speed is a shout that arrives at the same moment you do. The person hears it, and it tells them a thing has already happened to them rather than that one is about to.

3The idea

What a reaction actually looks like

A reaction is something you can see. A head turning. A step towards their own edge. A hand going up. An arm going out to bring whoever is beside them across. Any of those means the message landed and the person now knows there is something behind them.

Nothing happening is not a reaction. Earbuds, wind, a conversation, a bad ear: there are a dozen ordinary reasons your voice did not arrive. If you get nothing, you are still behind them, and the answer is to slow further and say it again from closer.

4Your turn

Run the pass

Run it once the way you actually ride and once the way the three moves say. The gap between those two is the lesson.

5The idea

You need to see the end of the pass before you start it

The rule from the path guidance is flat: do not pass unless you have a clear view of oncoming users, far enough ahead to judge whether it is safe. A bend, a bridge, a hedge, a dip, a parked van at a path entrance — each of those hands you a pass with no visible finish.

A blind corner is not a hard pass. It is a pass you have not got the information for. Waiting eight seconds behind somebody until the path opens up costs you eight seconds, and it is the whole of what the decision is actually worth.

6Decide

You are behind a slower rider, the path bends left behind trees, and there is room to go now.

7The idea

Voice or bell, and when each one works

Either is fine and the guidance names both: give an audible signal with your voice or a bell as you approach, to communicate before passing. The word doing the work is approach. It goes out while you are still well back, not as you come alongside.

A bell says something is here. A voice says what it is and which side it is going. On a busy path a lot of riders use both — bell from further back, then the words as the person starts to turn their head.

8Find them

Which of these mean you can start the pass?

Tap the ones that count.

9Say it

The second call, from closer

This is the one for when the first call got nothing back. It works because it is unhurried, it says which side, and it hands them the timing instead of taking it.

10Do it

Before you leave this page