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I knew with the recent article in the Inlander's Annual Manual, we were going to have many new riders. I did not know that it was going to be such an issue with behavior on the road. Even with my rather loud requests to maintain a single lane, riders were all over the place. There were several that decided to sprint ahead, not knowing where they were going, just to run right through many red lights. What's even worse is the few that stopped in the intersection in front of cars, and directed several other riders through a red light. The new riders, not knowing any better, followed suite and dashed right around them and turned at the wrong street. I did my best to tell them not to, but mob mentality took over, and the line of bikes continued to flow the wrong way. My usual stop at the fountain turned into a passive aggressive refusal to stop, and I led the ones that followed on a pretty swift trip down Centennial trail to Jack and Dan's.
Look guys, I can't stress enough that the FBC has worked hard to maintain quality relations with the city and they have been top notch about our little monthly ride. If there are those of you that don't care about that sort of thing, I'd rather you didn't come out for the rides. I'm counting on those of you that know how we do it to tell those that don't. I can't instruct each and every one of almost 200 riders every month.
If you have any questions, please refer to The Rules.
As for our destination bar, Jack and Dan's was a kick ass destination. Life got a little busy, and I neglected to find a destination. With a lot of help from Mark of David's Pizza/Famous Ed's, we secured the bar. There were plenty of people on staff, and plates of nachos were too big to finish. We will go back.
150+ riders; 65ยบ and clear
El-Jefe-For-Life, I think you need to let go of the pub-to-pub concept and embrace the single destination-pub concept.
ReplyDeleteAs Jesus said, let assholes be assholes. On their own sweet dime.
Awesome Cosby sweater (not seen at the ride):
ReplyDeletehttps://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-REHMIE37O_E/TnPvZ-ky8hI/AAAAAAAAEWA/zMpbGjA_DCk/w285/82ee017c73625575823f3fb0a01eece540420cac.gif
Sorry to hear that you had to deal with this kind of behavior. Thanks for organizing great rides that encourage civilized riding while having fun.
ReplyDeleteThe FBC is a really important part of our local bike scene. As Elly Blue of Portland said when she came to town in 2010, any city that can routinely turn out 100+ riders for a monthly ride has enough political base to make a difference for cyclists.
Keep up the good work & don't let the asshats get you down.
barb
"asshats" lol
ReplyDeleteWord up. With that many people going together, it is extremely difficult to lose the crowd. If some of us miss the green light, which is inevitable, just watch for where the lead pack turns and go to that street. They will have likely missed the next light our the one around the corner. And if you do get lost just ask anyone you bump into if they happened to see fifty our so bikes go by here. Most people are either down, or are so amazed that we're doing this that they just blankly point and say "that'a'way". I've lived in this town my whole life and something that is definitely a constant is that if something appears to be a nuisance, the stuffy types will make it extremely difficult for us, if not impossible.
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