worst day ever

[Ayleen@GoodSport]

Hi maria123,

The Worst Day of the Year Ride more than doubled in size this year - from 750 riders last year to around 1,525 this year. The ride started with only around 200 riders five years ago. It is now the fourth largest single day ride in the state.

Sorry to hear you were so disappointed with the ride and consider it a bust! The 40-mile loop was originally conceived of as an extra challenge through the hills for people who just wanted to ride a little harder. Last year was the first year for that loop, 60 hearty riders rode it and pretty much stayed together or knew the route. We were simply overwhelmed with the 300+ people who signed up late in the game to participate in that element this year. We never wanted it to be a fully-supported route because of the logistics involved with that and the Community Cycling Center wanting to keep costs down and fundraising for programs up. We also didn't expect riders to want to ride the loop if they weren't going to be able to finish it in three hours since this has always been a short event.

HOWEVER! After this year and the extreme growth of the event, we've realized we need to do something about that.

We learned a lot from the phenomenal growth spurt we experienced this year and we have plenty of ideas for improving upon the ride next year. It's pretty amazing that the ride grows so much every year. That certainly says something about the quality of the event and the participants' admirable interest in supporting the good work of the Community Cycling Center.

Thanks to Jonathan to tipping me off to your comments, now I can forward them on to the entire WDYR team at our wrap up meeting and we can give them serious consideration. I don't usually peek in on these forums (sorry Jonathan) so I wouldn't have seen your comments otherwise.

maria123, please feel free to contact me directly if you'd like to comment further on your experience at the event, and we sincerely hope you'll give it another shot next year (like the overwhlming majority of riders do).

Thanks,
Ayleen Crotty
Good Sport Promotion, Worst Day of the Year Ride coordinators
Former CCC employee of 5 years

[maria123]

Hi Ayleen,
Thanks for the explanation, sorry I'm such a whiner. = )

Wow, did anyone actually finish that ride in 3 hours? That's pretty impressive. I'm in good shape, train & commute a good amount and average around 18mph - the 5 hours for me was due to the climbing and the continual "where are we?" state of mind. I did watch a lot of people finish after me - each face sadder than the last that the food & tables & parking were gone.

Anyway, I'm glad CCC received such a huge turnout this year and hope it continues! Next year I'll do the short ride so I can have fun and save my challenge rides for training days.

Rubber side down,
Maria

[PeteJacobsen]

I really enjoyed the ride last weekend - it was my first organized ride. The thing that really threw me off, however, was that the large, changing group that I was riding with just blew through stop signs all the time. I think the group ran three lights as well, after comments like "I don't think it knows we're here". Is this normal for these rides?

The brochure talked about obeying all laws, and I actually usually do when I ride by myself. It was...unexpected! I guess I could get use to it if that's just the way it is done, but I'm curious if it is considered normal.

Still, I had a great time and I thank the organizers!

[peregrine]

Originally Posted by PeteJacobsen

I really enjoyed the ride last weekend - it was my first organized ride. The thing that really threw me off, however, was that the large, changing group that I was riding with just blew through stop signs all the time. I think the group ran three lights as well, after comments like "I don't think it knows we're here". Is this normal for these rides?

The brochure talked about obeying all laws, and I actually usually do when I ride by myself. It was...unexpected! I guess I could get use to it if that's just the way it is done, but I'm curious if it is considered normal.

Still, I had a great time and I thank the organizers!

The group I was with admittedly did not stop completely at stop signs if there weren't any cars around but did slow down to 2-3 mph. I think there are cyclists out there that don't obey the traffic laws but from my experience as a bike commuter, most of them do.

Unfortunately a lot of the traffic lights don't seem to 'detect' when a cyclists is waiting at an intersection (and there are no cars), so you could just stand at that intersection until a car finally shows up or you could wait for a clearing in traffic and just go for it. It's happened to me late at night or on Sundays and I'll admit that once I see that the traffic light is not going to change for me, I just go.

The rest of the time, however, I do obey the traffic laws. If I'm going to 'share the road' with the rest of the traffic, might as well share the rules too, eh?

[Matt P.]

Originally Posted by PeteJacobsen

The thing that really threw me off, however, was that the large, changing group that I was riding with just blew through stop signs all the time. I think the group ran three lights as well, after comments like "I don't think it knows we're here". Is this normal for these rides?

The brochure talked about obeying all laws, and I actually usually do when I ride by myself. It was...unexpected! I guess I could get use to it if that's just the way it is done, but I'm curious if it is considered normal.

I don't know if it's normal or not. They also asked everyone audibly at the start line to obey lights and stop signs. I and my riding buddy did so, except in one or two instances where we had a LOT of cyclists around and closely behind us who weren't stopping.

Personally, I believe it's important to obey the laws for vehicles. Drivers expect consistency, and inconsistent behavior causes confusion, which contributes to accidents. 80% of the drivers out there are courteous, another 15% are kind of jerks, and the last 5% are real a$$&@^$#. The same is true for cyclists. If we could take the cars away from the maniacs and stop the cycling minority that wears headphones and no helmet, has no lights or reflectors and rides the wrong way on the bike path or (worse) on the sidewalk, I think 90% of our problems would just disappear.

Sorry for the mini-rant.