Mixed feelings about today's club ride

[ny biker]

I see plenty of jacka$$ behavior on century rides. Some clubs around here have to send out notices to the registered riders telling them that there have been lots of complaints from residents during past rides and if they don't behave then the local governments won't grant the required permits to hold the rides in future years.

[marni]

did the Katy challenge today on the 68 mile route, after riding the first 20 with the SAG guy and saw a lot of asinine behavior similar to what was described even in those distances. Apparently the pace line and the Hammer heads also consider themselves oblivious to warning about passing, speeding through stop signed intersections and around corners cutting off people and cars with or without the distance or the intermittent rain showers. The SAG guy got driven into a ditch by three hammerheads who cut inside him on a left turn and instead of staying out a bit(very quiet road)immediately cut him off and forced him into a ditch. He ended up extra wet and with a water logged cell phone. My own personal feeling is that since they always give out registration numbers, they ought to also make each rider sign a obey the rules of the road and road ride rules sheet when they receive numbers. That way people could report riders violating the road rules and report them and hopefully the ones that are members of team or bike clubs could be publically shamed or at least reprimanded.


My ride could have ended at the door but thanks to the Sag guy, it was rescued and the rest of it although wet was pleasant enough aside from the usual idiots who ride up on you, draft for a while and then speed off so you can't catch up, pass in a long line on a narrow shoulder without warning and run the stop signs especially when the corner is only equipped with a volunteer and not a policeman as well.

I walked out to the garage to start the ride and discovered that the bike had a flat tire. The SAG guy came out and fixed it in 15 minutes whereas had I been doing it, it would have taken and hour and a half at which point I would have called the ride. So SAG guy was my hero today.

So aside from the rain, the rescued start and the fact that my garmin computer leapt off of my bike just before Pattison and it took me a while to find it in the weeds it was a good ride.

Will I do the ride again, probably not unless it is specifically to do the century on familiar roads since there are other local rides which are more about supporting a charity rather than a bike club that also offer centuries and are not quite so big.

SAG guy and I are both content with our ride, a bit tired and a bit sunbit but glad that we did it.

[Crankin]

This is why I don't do charity or big club rides. On the few i've done, chosen very carefully, I've seen a little of this behavior, but not too much. About 5 years ago, DH and I did the spring metric of one of the clubs I belong to. Two guys who we were riding in close quarters with stopped short and turned into a driveway, saying,"Oh we though this was the turn, and we did the same thing last year." They thought it was hysterical. Really, it was a smaller suburban road. The driveway did not look like a road. They caused me to crash into another woman, in an evasiv move, who was really banged up and her bike was jacked. DH fixed her bike and I gave her first aid, while the 2 azzholes rode off.

[Owlie]

The one organized ride I've done had some of that behavior. One guy even went so far as to tell me that stop signs "aren't for us." We were on rural roads with lots of cornfields, so very low traffic, but low visibility at cross-streets because of all the corn. I found a different group to ride with!

Hopefully the injured cyclist makes a full recovery.

[luvmyguys]

I was really surprised at the outrageous behavior of some of the cyclists today. I don't remember it being that bad for the other century I tried.

I remember talking to a cyclist that dh and I ran into at a park when we went riding on the 4th. He said that there are quite a few cyclists who like to do Katy Flatlands because they treat it like a time trial or race, rather than a ride - they want to beat their best time since they've been riding all spring. That probably plays into some of the antics we saw today.

I will say that after we split onto the century route, most of the crazies had already gone ahead of us, and most of the cyclists we encountered were courteous. (I couldn't stop, Karen, but did you recognize me?? I called out!!)

I do want to say that compared to the other organized ride I did, though, this one was really well supported!!! (Granted, my scope of experience was small . . .) The club did a fantastic job!

We had one guy draft off of us for at least 10 miles. I never got a good look at him, since he stayed in back (I learned a new term! "Cadillacking"). Understand that neither I nor the person I was riding with are huge people - this guy, when he broke away, was a behemoth! As in, way over 6 feet tall and of a football player build! I'm thinking that had he taken his turn pulling, he would have blocked the wind for at least a few people!

I was thankful for the rain - it was either that or the heat!

And I made my 100 - woohoo!!

[thekarens]

FWIW I told the board members about the stuff I saw. NWCC is big on safety as a club and it's one of the things we're known for. I don't know what, if anything, can be done.

Erin, after I got to that spot I was thinking to myself that there's no way I would want to stop there and wished I had told you not to stop if it was inconvenient, so I totally understand. I did hear you call out and then I wondered to myself....who is that? I assumed it was someone from the club.

I'm glad you made your century. I was really impressed!

[smilingcat]

Years ago, some of the rides I've been on have had warnings that highway patrol will be cruising the route to cite anyone who were not obeying the law. Car drivers and cyclist were fair game to them. And yes I saw bunch of guys getting a ticket for running a stop sign. Those tickets went on their DL and it doesn't differentiate whether it was a car or a bicycle. Ticket was expensive I'm sure and increased insurance rate too.

You could ask local law enforcement to protect the cyclists and car drivers and to cite anyone breaking the law. That will put a damper on the yahoos!! Organization needs to put the warning onto the registration that police will be out to enforce the law and that they can be ticketed.

[jsjcat]

I know you were doing a good job. There are just so many different personalities and egos in this sport. My wife and I have met some very nice people and we have met some a$$#@&s. We have not gone on a bike ride yet where we haven't encountered a jackass(es). Either riding or in a vehicle. We even had a car with two young men come all of the way across the center line into oncoming traffic to try to run us off the road. At first we thought that maybe they were texting or something by the way they just drifted across the centerline right at us but the hand gestures and yelling they gave indicated otherwise. Now the bike riders are all different types. All I can say is stay alert to stay alive.