While on the whole, I was quite impressed by the majority of cyclist during the ride.
There were a number of glaring and dangerous errors made though and they compromised safety and angered motorists.
When riding in confined quarters, an effort should be made to hold a line and maintain a speed. Be consistant as was announced during the start.
When passing others, pass on the left and announce your intentions. Even the experienced paceline riders ignored this and passed some wobblers at very close proximity at very high speeds.
Never overlap the wheel of riders ahead of you. This will cause an accident when the wheels make side contact.
Obey the rules of the road!! I was astounded to see the number of riders that occupied all lanes of traffic with complete disregard to motorists. This is dangerous and fosters ill feelings toward the cycling community.
Several people rode straight through intersections that had no police presence and didn't even slow down to check for traffic. That just defies common sense and is a good way to get injured or worse.
Be mindful of yourself and of others and next years ride will be even safer.
Thanks to all for a great ride and sorry for the sermon. Somebody has to say it!
Great rant, I have to agree with you about the announcing your intentions when passing on the left. A lot of very fast riders with very quiet bikes would suddenly appear passing you.
Also, I heard a lot of people thanking the Volunteers and police who were stopping traffic, awesome, they did a great job. But lets not forget to thank the drivers of those cars who have been waiting for us to ride through.
Well Said! As a training ride leader for this past ride, those that joined my rides were first and foremost taught the rules of the road. Why? For these safety and those around them.
As much as I was happy to see the last e-mail go out to everyone about joining a training ride the last few weeks before the ride it also freaked me out. I had a very good group of riders that followed the rules of the road, that held there line, called passing on the left, pointed out pot holes and debris on the road but once you bring new riders in the mix errors will start happening, accidents will happen.
Riders for 2010, please come out to the training rides early and often, learn how to ride in a group, learn the proper rules of the road for cyclist. These rules will not only help limit crashes for yourself but also fellow riders. These same rules will also help our image with vehicles sharing the road with us.
