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The Finger Lakes Cycling Club Sunday tour component has been on a roll this year. The first ride was in glorious spring weather so one might have expected a pretty good turn-out. Still, no matter how good the weather, there is no living memory of anything close to 27 people turning out for a ride. That ride to Taughannock Falls was a sort of "Critial Mass" for our club as we streaked out Dubois Rd to Gorge Rd, whereupon we executed a pincer maneuver — some riding around the upper side of the falls and others going down to the lake level to enjoy the extra climb up to the overlook — to claim the park for cyclists. But there was no meteorological explanation for the appearance of 20 riders on the subsequent couple of weekends. Folks just kept coming back for more even when the sky was crowded with ominous clouds, the temperature hovering just above freezing. The ride to upper Treman was particularly inhospitable. Those with the legs for it kept from freezing by setting a fast pace, as was reported by Phil Davis on the e-mail list. But, things were rather different for those who fell off that pace. Bringing up the back, I was part of half a dozen or so caught in steady drizzle on most of the return trip. We got plenty chilly before finding our way back. We were fortunate to have some extra clothes and food to share. The "Enfield-Newfield" ride wasn't quite so cold, but those who couldn't maintain a brisk pace needed to be pretty bundled up. And then, the White Church ride, on a sunny morning, again brought out about 30 riders. We would have been utterly split up by differing abilities, but for the gift of getting lost. For some reason, groups of riders seemed to be continually experimenting with variations of the mapped route and then finding their way back again. Riding at what I was sure was the very back with Nick Vandam and Ami Kadar, we were several times overtaken by "fast" groups. When we got to the intersection of White Church and Coddington, most of the day's riders were reunited — for a moment. It's been really wonderful to see such large turnouts for our rides — there's nothing like being part of a large group on the road to make one feel that bikes really do have the right to be there. But it is also obvious that our club procedures are not adequate to such large groups. In the past it wasn't hard to know and remember everybody on the ride, so our commandment, "Nobody gets dropped!" could be kept without special effort. But with 30 people it becomes impossible to remember who they all are or to know where they are. So, it's clear we'll have to concentrate on this and other unforseen consequences of our success. Andrejs, for the Laughing Group |
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