Monday again, after a busy weekend. Spent all of Saturday morning down in the Joe Pool lake area serving as a volunteer ride marshal for the Red Hot Chili Pepper ride, the request of one of our fellow GDB members. The organizers of the ride have come under fire in past years for poorly-marked routes, insufficient intersection control, and the like; they were hoping that getting a few experienced riders out on the course to encourage safety might help.
How well we succeeded is debatable. Suzanne and I partnered up to ride the 40-mile course, and from the moment we turned on to the first major boulevard we could see that our fellow travelers were unimpressed with our advisory role. It was a downhill of half a dozen blocks with traffic lights at all the intersections and no police to stop cross traffic. Despite all our best efforts most riders blew right through multiple red lights, ignoring our cries to stop and nearly ramming us when we did. It was pretty scary and I'm still astounded that no one was killed.
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. Suzanne and I occasionally pulled alongside a rider to remind him or her that the rally's rules prohibited wearing headphones, and the rider invariably ignored us. Probably the only useful thing that the organizers got from us was the four pages of comments that Suzanne compiled as we had a bite to eat after the rally. The ride has a lot of potential, but it's developing a bad reputation that will have most riders crossing it off their schedule if they don't figure it out soon.
Came home, showered, caught a nap, and then headed over toward Ft. Worth for dinner and to take in a play with some friends from church. Then yesterday (Sunday) morning it was sweeping, dusting, mopping, and vacuuming in the morning; mowing, trimming, and weed eradicating in egg frying temperatures during the afternoon.
How well we succeeded is debatable. Suzanne and I partnered up to ride the 40-mile course, and from the moment we turned on to the first major boulevard we could see that our fellow travelers were unimpressed with our advisory role. It was a downhill of half a dozen blocks with traffic lights at all the intersections and no police to stop cross traffic. Despite all our best efforts most riders blew right through multiple red lights, ignoring our cries to stop and nearly ramming us when we did. It was pretty scary and I'm still astounded that no one was killed.
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. Suzanne and I occasionally pulled alongside a rider to remind him or her that the rally's rules prohibited wearing headphones, and the rider invariably ignored us. Probably the only useful thing that the organizers got from us was the four pages of comments that Suzanne compiled as we had a bite to eat after the rally. The ride has a lot of potential, but it's developing a bad reputation that will have most riders crossing it off their schedule if they don't figure it out soon.
Came home, showered, caught a nap, and then headed over toward Ft. Worth for dinner and to take in a play with some friends from church. Then yesterday (Sunday) morning it was sweeping, dusting, mopping, and vacuuming in the morning; mowing, trimming, and weed eradicating in egg frying temperatures during the afternoon.
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