Great weather again for us on both evenings. On Tuesday i led a small beginners group, myself, Siobahn, Adam and new girl Karen on only her second ride with us. I decided as it was a small group to raise the bar and by the end of the evening they had done some old and new red, some tricky singletrack and just to keep them on their toes, Jingleby Junior, a descent on the old black, cleaned by all, wee done. On Thursday Pete Blood and i led the slow group again on a very similar route, Lizzy literally flew down everything, everyone else was a little slower but another successful evening. Bickley car park was full on Thursday, with 7 in the beginners, 13 in the intermediate and i similar number in the fast group so over 30 riders! I got some feed back from the other two groups, but would be great to have someone from those groups to let us know how the ride went. See you next week.

Dan Joyce said:

Post edited 5:25 pm - September 4, 2010 by Dan Joyce

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The intermediate group did a fair bit of the old black route - boardwalk descent, rocky gulley, that climb up the another valley (is it the grain slack or tom milner's grain or something like that?), that raised rooty bit through the trees. Not long after that we veered off onto the old red, but in reverse. After that I don't know, as I lost the group then - having stopped for 30-40 seconds.  But up until that point it was going well. No offs. A few very minor mechanicals like lost chains. 

After I came out onto the the fireroad (where you used to go left on the old red, and over a bit off ground level North Shore - which is still there) I was at a loss. Saw some bikes in one direction but it turned out to be the beginners' group. Went the other way and couldn't see anything or anyone. So I tracked alongside that new (?) fence and dropped onto the new black route, then took the red back to Bickley. 

I didn't want to take too long, because I figured that if I got back first and left, you'd see my car gone and realise I'd got back fine. If I'd gone out on a really long ride and you all got back before me, you might have thought I'd crashed and was lying in a gulley or something. 

I think Mark's walkie talkies would help prevent (and fix) any group splits. And maybe we need some kind of protocol for stopping (e.g. deciding in advance on next stopping point to regroup, or pausing at a junction if there's a choice of routes)? Not trying to put a damper on fun, but the more of us that are up there, the more likely it will be that someone falls off the back of the group. We don't want to lose anyone.

hi dan, good to know you got back ok and a great desision to take your car asap to let us know you were back ok. thanks for doing your best to make sure all riders were ok. the radios and a better protocol b4 we set of would be a great improvment though am sure all envolved are doing their best. many thanks to ride leaders and assistants who make it possible 4 all of us. see ya soon. Mike

Checking you can see the rider behind before you make a turning and stopping at major junctions both sound like good ideas. Headcounts by the leader(s) too, maybe? 

I'll have a play with the walkie talkies Mark gave me the other night. It is easy to lose someone in a place like Dalby. But we want to avoid losing someone on any given ride, and also to avoid losing them from riding with us in future if that happens and they feel 'abandoned'.

As you say, the more that people ride, the more they 'find their level' and end up in the right group etc.