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RR: November 2003

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Well, it happened again. We had 15 riders, and we had a very nice ride on a
cold and windy Friday night. We stuck around until 5:45, hoping that a few
of you were delayed by the holidazle brewhaha. We covered a pretty long
route, but the cold took it's toll so our riding time was about an hour.

It was an elite group of riders, and it showed as we DOUBLED the speed of
the typical mass ride. Then again, we needed to ride faster to generate
some heat. Riding Westbound was pretty harsh.

As a group of 15 and shrinking, we rode in 2 lanes on 3 lane roads, leaving
a lane for cars to pass on the left. This had been discussed earlier as a
safety measure, as a small group it was just about necessary. Unfortunately
this did not diminish drivers' road rage, it just gave them an opportunity
to express it. Many vehicles (about one in three) would speed by at unsafe
speeds then swerve across in front of the group as they would pass.
Personally I am in favor of leaving a lane open for cars and allowing buses
to pass. I think we should try the open lane strategy a few more months and
get more experience with how drivers react to us as a group.

Another suggestion would be to have a large sign at the back of the group so
that drivers can read about who we are and what we are doing. This is a
frequent question, and drivers may calm down once they know this. Last
night we did not have anyone flyering, which always helps.

The last thing was that as a fast group, we caught a lot of cars at stop
lights. The group would envelope cars, then as the lights changed we would
have a car or two in the middle of the group. As a back-of-the-pack rider
this was very unsettling because we would have to try and pass the cars or
make room for them to merge out to the free lane. This happened about 12
times! I say stuck together as much as possible, it's a hostile environment
out there.

That's it from my end. CM lives on in glory. See you next month.

~Wilbur