Hey, my first group ride ... at the back of the pack ... turned out to be lots of fun and very encouraging.

The group ride starts in spurts of 4-6 riders to space on the trails, so I rode cleanup in the group led by my 'mentor' and 3 newer-than-me newbies... we were the last group out. One of the girls was having a terrible time, so it was very slow going and she was getting very frustrated. At one point she had a bit of a temper tantrum, so I checked her bike, she was in a total granny gear and had no control (we weren't climbing) So I get her in the right gear and we caught up to the others. This girl still frustrated, my mentor (DD) told me to lead the others while she stayed back and helped this girl along. I didn't do too bad leading ... was able to call out upcoming obstacles for the first timers and only a couple that took me by surprise. The 3 of us kept a pretty good pace and made it back to the cookout just fine. When we got there, the DD and the young girl were there and the girl was in great spirits. She just needed a little extra hand-holding from a more experienced rider in a one-on-one manner and it put her in a great positive frame of mind. And, I felt good with the confidence booster of leading a couple newbies ... it was a great night.

Now tonight, if the rains hold off, it will be my first ride at MoMBA where they said I should be able to ride the easier trail by end of summer ... not quite end of summer yet, but I will be in a very small group again just in case I need the hand holding this time. lol

PJ