2008-10-15 - The Bridges V - East to West

Yup, that's my point:

Last docks ride we had some people ride into curbs that they didn't see because of the bikes in front of them.

So if you hear about it from the front, pass it back.

Conversely if you see people being dropped off the back, at the lights or because they are slow or having some mechanical difficulties, pass it forward so the people leading the ride know and can take steps to either wait up, slow down or go back and help them out.

You can't see because of the bike traffic, a group of us didn't know of the detour because there's zero chance anyone could've shouted it all the way back, and seriously... slowing or holding up 150 people when a puncture or incident occurs isn't the best thing, it only takes a few people to help out in almost any incident, and for the vast majority of incidents it's just going to be a case of "too many cooks".

So what I'm saying is, can we get over this idea that no-one will be left behind and that we need to ride as one huge group. It's neither practical or safe.

There's no doubt other rides started small, the Dunwich Dynamo was originally a few people who would of course have ridden together and helped each other. And now it's a "leave when you want, go at your own pace". Of course this a league away, but it shows the evolution from the "one group" to "a constant stream". We're not that big, so I'm proposing something halfway... a known start place and time, but to purposefully and deliberately let the group of riders become a stream of riders, and then to only regroup halfway-ish for a major photo/break and then to again let the group become a stream before congregating again at the end.