Annoying Ride.... warning, lots o' rant.

[WindingRoad]

So maybe this is just a spoke in my menstrual cycle BUT... I let myself cool off after last nights ride before writing this thinking I was just PMSing. I live in Indianapolis and we are hosting the Final Four right now so downtown is absolutely crawling with people and festivities. One of our cool attractions downtown in the canal. It's very pretty and a big multi purpose path all the way around it. On any given day of the summer/spring/winter you will find runners, bikers, walkers, roller bladers etc on it. It's always busy in the summer.

I went on a group ride of what is normally pretty laid back and fun but last night was awful! We make a stop at the local brewery then head down the canal for a lap then go back to the start of the ride. As you might imagine the canal was packed with people last night and this group is going about 15 mph down the canal with all these people around and tons of little kids! I quickly am at the back of the pack because I'm not comfortable with this situation AT ALL. Honestly they shouldn't be either! I can only assume I witnessed a really bad case of pack mentality. They would stop and regroup from time to time and I would just keep going b/c I know the route very well. As we are heading back to the start I'm just getting pissed off in my head about what has just happened. I told one of my friends that I'm breaking off and going home so they won't keep waiting on me. One of the other riders asked me if I was OK and I said I was fine because I was really upset and didn't want to fly off the handle. (Again I know I'm PMSing, that wasn't a joke, LOL). The other thing that was totally driving me insane was that while we were still downtown they were running red lights all over the place. In fact we were stopped at a red light (I thought anyways) and I turned to turn on my blinky light, turn back around and they are at the next light, . I'm just beside myself at this point. I'm upset that they were doing this because the cops downtown are having WAY too much to deal with at this point as it is with the tournament, then insert rogue cyclists..... totally disrespectful. I ride downtown all the time so I can see how much they have to deal with. I'm a bit annoyed at myself for following them as far as I did before making the executive decision to go my own way. Please feel free to tell me if I'm just being too sensitive on the issue, I'd like a little perspective.

[ny biker]

I would have told them that they were riding too fast for the conditions. And if they usually run red lights like that I would stop riding with them.

So no, I don't think you were being too sensitive.

[indysteel]

You're not being too sensitive, but I'm not sure why you didn't just say something to the group.

[casisenyora]

You're definitely not being too sensitive. We have enough trouble with the non-cycling public, and shenanigans like that certainly don't help. I can think of at least one ride leader here that would have been screaming his head off at those other riders.