The Return to Soul/Sole Riding

I went on my first group ride of the year last week, and I was far from impressed.  The group I went with seemed quite established, and I got a few comments from the group bullies.  The first comment I got after rolling up to the meeting place came from a guy that was about 5’8” tall and easily weighed over 250 lbs.  He said, “Interesting wheel choice.  That is the first I have seen anyone actually ride those wheels.” (sidenote: my wheels are actually really nice).  My response was, “That is the first Italian bike that I have ever seen built up with Japanese components.”  The ride was o.k., but not great.  We averaged 20 mph over 20 miles of totally flatland and hardly any wind.  My heart rate probably never broke 110 bpm.  That is fine for a recovery day, so I had no real complaints about the lack of workout, but the riding skills of the group is still waking me up with nightmares a week later.  There was weaving in and out of the line, shaky water bottle usage, and one guy had some brakes that were about to fall off his bike.  After this experience, I had almost decided that I was going to switch back to 100% solo rides in the future.  I have small kids and a wife, and I can’t risk their future on some idiot on a Trek with a brake that was never really installed correctly.  All week I have been asking myself if I was overreacting.  Just when my mind was allowing the possibility of giving the group another chance, I heard about an incident on the Saturday ride, which I did not attend.

Here is the account from someone that was there:

 Some of you may or may not have heard about it, but we wanted to give you an upate from Saturday’s accident. During the B ride, they were overtaken by a faster group coming back over the Julington Creek bridge.  One person in the overtaking group passed a little too closely and caused an accident. Mike Hannigan, the Saturday morning B ride leader, crashed and was transported to the Shands Intensive Care Unit. I spoke with a friend of his, and as of Monday he is out of the ICU, but still in the hospital pending some decisions on his treatment.  Luckily, he is coherent and and awake.  However, he has some issues with internal head injuries to go with a broken collarbone and broken hip.  It’s going to be a long recovery.  

Was I overreacting to my experience riding with these guys last week?  I don’t think so.  It is back to Soul/Sole riding for me.  I would rather get run over by a car than another cyclist.  It is more dignified that way.

17 March 2009 | Uncategorized | Comments