50 posts tagged “cycling”

It's probably best I catch up to present time...

I left Shenzhen by subway, arrived at the border, got through about four clearances. I had an easy time getting to Hong Kong Island itself, though it was about four transfers in all. A little practice with subway maps in general helps, I think.

I'm in a hotel in Wan Chai, which is about as central as you can get, on Hong Kong Island. I'm on Wan Chai road and about two blocks away from the famous trams, as well as the subway etc. The room's pretty nice. Problem is, there's no elevator and I'm on the "third floor" which is really about the 4th, or 5th since the street floor is about 20 feet below the "first floor".

First day I bought about four or five maps, for bicycling and future reference. There's a lot of parks and hiking paths. There's basically three, maybe four types of land in Hong Kong: Fully developed (or nearly so) land filled with skyscrapers or condos; park land; (poor looking) villages; and shipping industry. And roads, of course, full of red taxis, double decker busses, mini busses, commercial/construction vehicles, and expensive cars. I've seen more Mercedes, Ferraris, and Bentleys than anywhere else I've been. Not that many cyclists, a few motorcylists, and no car that hasn't been washed in the past week.

I also bought a cell phone, which was a lot less painful than in the U.S. You buy the phone, you get a sim card, and about two minutes later you can start talking. Unlike the U.S., in that you basically sign your life away, and forget about getting an unlocked phone.

First day I visited Victoria (?) park, a temple, and walked around endless shops and restaurants. Sidewalks are crowded with people everywhere. I'm not much into shopping but I was curious to poke around. I spend some time trying to get my bearings straight but in the maze of buildings and twisty roads, I can't tell east from west or actually any compass direction really.

I did manage to find a bicycle shop, to by a lock. I needed one, I thought, for the bit of eating (really) I would do during my rides.

So, early on a Saturday I start out on the ride around the island and inevitably go the wrong direction. I attempt riding some side streets but they're often one way and turn me around. So I decide to use only the main roads, which are actually pretty empty around 7AM. (Do Asians sleep in more than we do?)

I came up with a cue sheet for all the turns: Roads change names all over the place and I suspect the maps don't always match the (often hidden) street signs. But I make serious progress and I'm quite pleased. The views from the road are almost always amazing: If you're not surrounded by buildings, you're often exposed on a hill looking down on buildings and water. Given the scale and height of the residential villages, it's almost like seeing something from a science fiction illustration. Especially the actually named "Cyber Village". There are little cut-outs in the floors that appear to be common areas. There's something cool about holes through buildings.

Difficulties arise arriving in Aberdeen, where the traffic volumes grow and I'm on the road, quite confused sometimes understanding how to continue my trip. Very few side roads go anywhere at all, or worse, turn you around. But I have a quality map, so it's just a matter of finding where I am. Again, the road signs are often tucked away, which makes it tough to navigate in the midst of traffic.

I do a side trip to one of the south islands by bridge. And then I make it past most of the big roads, and there's more climbing as I go into the sparsely populated southeast area. It feels great going downhill, but the uphill sections I sweat profusely as now it's midday. My gloves are soaked with sweat and start to chafe.

I stop at a beach (Recluse Bay) and consider a swim, but I have no suit.

I start heading east. There's a bit of thinning of traffic as buses can't go the way I'm going, which is over the reservoir road. I see another rider and he points out where I need to go, which is Shek-O.

Shek-O is probably the best road for a cyclist on Hong Kong Island, because it isn't terribly steep, has great views, and has less traffic.

I head down to the peninsula, on a closed to non-local traffic road, and it's like being in a different country. I go through a village of mostly one- or two-story houses and then end up in a land of radio antennas and underground cables--their endpoints anyway--and I get stopped at a guard house by a man who waves me back to where I came. Supposedly there is a marine preserve, and it's well preserved since there's no road to it that I could go on.

Next stop was Big Wave Beach. I park my bicycle, walk down, and see lots of surfing and ex-pats. A lot of shops in the area but very little business it seemed as it was the off season. Who goes to the beach in winter? Waves didn't really compare to Hawaii's, but still not too bad. Bought soy milk (Vita Soy, unofficial drink of Hong Kong cyclists?), and headed to lunch at Shek-O Village.

Saw a couple of high-end ($5k+) racing bicyclists and a couple of HK'ers who, as it turned out, looked quite casual, at this very casual Western joint. This is where I ate lunch. Lemon Coke (with real lemon), and an egg sandwich. Could have eaten more but I still had a lot of riding. There was a hiking route off to some island, which I wanted to see, but got confused by the map and street name correspondence, as usual.

Headed back to town: Lots of hills again.

As an aside: Every few miles, you'd pass (or be stopped at) a construction site where they were working on erosion protection. Every tiny road had tons more concrete pored to stabilize the up and the down side of the hill you were on, lest it simply wash away. Still, I suppose they needed periodic replacement. Construction crews all looked like immigrants from poorer countries.

Heading into town was exciting, as it was just a fast downhill from the south to the north, and you were plunging into a maze of skyscrapers and roads. In the thick of it, though I was trying to make it back up again, as I wanted to get to Victoria Peak.

Forgetting it was Saturday: Lots of traffic to the peak as incidentally, there was a huge mall built up there for all the rich tourists to enjoy. And I was getting really overheated as, hey, it's afternoon. Eventually once I reached the tourist spot, and headed up to the actual top in a park, I experienced some extraordinary cramping. It wasn't a hydration issue, I suppose, but the result of too high a gear for the riding I was doing. (And as I would soon discover, to ride in Hong Kong, granny gear is definitely required. Mountain bike gearing is not a bad idea.)

Post-cramp, I headed up for a picture at the viewpoint. You go through another mall to get up to the top, by the way. View was good but definitely hazy at the time of day--or polluted?--so I was a bit sad. I had another lunch (pre dinner?) then cycled the remaining 100-150 meters to the actual top, almost cramping again. I rode down spinning the whole way so I wouldn't seize. My legs were shot, so I decided the next day I'd rest.

Nintendo this year is a sponsor of "Tour de Cure", which is a bicycle ride to "benefit the American Diabetes Association."

Ironically, not too many people at Nintendo ride bicycles and video game companies in general don't tend to attract athletic people. At least in the programming departments. Still, the ride was more about fund raising than bicycling, I guess. Hitomi and I happened to get in because we weren't required to raise the requisite hundreds of dollars ($500?) to ride the event. And as a bonus, I got a coveted "Nintendo jersey, or actually Hitomi didn't receive her Small so received a Large she gave to me.

I planned to do about 100 miles, even though I still haven't fully recovered. I did ride on Thursday and Friday, about 30 and 20 miles respectively. But my upper respiratory system's been fairly congested so maybe taking it easier would have been smart? Hitomi was obviously not so well, so she decided on 45 miles.

The route was hilly. Nearly 6000 feet of elevation gain, and thus a serious climb every 10 miles or so. I paced myself at around 18-20 miles per hour on the flats but had an increasingly difficult time at the end, thanks to the heat and reduced energy. I looked at disdain at my odometer.

I started the ride late and therefore no Nintendo BBQ party at the end for me, just leftover sandwiches. It felt like I was slow but there were not so many 100 milers who left when I did. Hitomi waited for me, obviously, as well as Chris, a co-worker who also did 45 miles. They had BBQ.

I did enjoy the route, which went through a lot of mossy trees and around lakes and had views of snowy mountains. No jerk drivers. The route was well planned and avoided most of the busy roads which seem to be always widening and gathering more traffic as development and population spreads eastward towards the Cascades. There's still plenty of farm country to enjoy. The stops had simple food and friendly local volunteers. (I would have liked it if they used coolers rather than bottles of water. Most of us use reusable bottles and bottled water isn't much tastier.) Other riders were friendly and rode safely, for the most part.

Hitomi might have a few pictures up later, and I'll update this post at that time.

Until then, it's off to eat dinner.

I received an email request to leaders to help out with the Cascade Training Series, sponsored by CycleU.

The ride was from Marymoor Park to Issaquah, about 65 miles and plenty of hills.

I was assigned to help with the "Blue" group which averages 16-18 miles per hour. (There is a slightly faster Purple and fast Orange group as well, but Blue was the largest.) Until the first stop, I basically hung out in the middle. I didn't know the route. Later on around mile 30, I got ahead with a number of riders and was asked to lead the faster riders of the Blue.

I had no "sweep" (someone in the rear to monitor) so I couldn't really keep track of people who were hanging on with me. Plus I wasn't aware of any regroup points or rest stops and I didn't see any reason to stop to wait. But there were people without cue sheets (directions) and people stuck behind traffic signals in Sammamish or slow climbing hills, as I found out later, who got dropped. (I had assumed Pat, the real leader, would pick them up, but Pat had been a lot slower, so those dropped had a long time to wait or went off on their own. I wouldn't even see Pat after waiting about half an hour back in Marymoor.)

Good news was more than a few riders thanked me for helping with the ride. A few who somehow made it back on their own were unhappy with me.

First day was spent getting to the hotel, the same as last time, Dormy Inn in Akihabara. Traveling from the airport was hard with our bicycles, both suitcases being difficult to get through the train stations. Still, we managed a good dinner, in the UDX building, and made trip to the rooftop bath before bed.

Second day was the Halko Momoi trip, starting in the famous resort town of Atami. Hitomi explained it as a hot springs tour, but the style, as stated by Momoi, was more similar to a school field trip. There were about 140 fan club members there, obviously all big fans of her. Most fans were 20-35 year old males (otaku), though a few older and younger. Maybe 20 females? And somebody's parents. And there was actually a fan from Seattle, Anthony, who I had never met, but who had met Hitomi at Anime North (Toronto).

Schedule: Meet for orientation in the lobby. There were a number of "Momoists" who Hitomi had met from different international conventions Momoi performed for in the U.S., Toronto, Canada, and Kassel, Germany. Online they meet and collaborate on fan events and materials, such as call books, some of which I've translated. Hitomi brought a present from her international fans, which was a photo book put together through the internet and she painstakingly assembled prior and during the trip.

Dinner was an enkai, a traditional Japanese style of banquet where you sit on zabuton (on tatami) and eat an elaborate meal off of multiple trays and drink a lot. Given what I read, I thought we might just eat, listen to a couple of words from Momoi, and call it a night. But Momoi talked throughout, discussing how her 2008 went, various funny and frustating events throughout the year. I should have taken notes, but we were told not to post anything online.

When dinner wound down, there were a couple of contests. First was a karaoke contest where fans were asked to come on stage and sing on the karaoke box loaded with her songs, without looking at the lyrics. Of course, first up was a tricky song (from her early days) that even Momoi herself couldn't always remember the lyrics for. And it turned from less of a concert into just people having fun: Momoi helped out a lot and the otagei folk gave their assist. It turned into something fairly reminiscent of her performance in Hawaii where Momoi with her wireless microphone wandered around and a friendly crowd with glow sticks surrounded her and did their calls.

Winding down was a bingo game. Unlike most bingo games I've played, just numbers are read off, not both letters and numbers. Effectively, there was less probability a of bingo per number called. Prizes were handed out. Hitomi got bingo and she forced me to the stage. Winners were asked (by the audience!) to sing or dance. I wasn't quite up for that. I guess I should have memorized some songs. I asked them politely to leave me alone. Momoi was a bit sympathetic as her fans are demanding. I got her signature on a picture frame and a "Thank you!" A hug would have been nice but would have made her fans mad.

Third day: We had breakfast on our own in the cafeteria, enjoying the "Viking" (all you can eat) selection of Japanese and European breakfast food. Around 10 or so, we all boarded buses, which were to take us to Hakone for BBQ. It was less of an American BBQ and really just yakiniku, meat grilled on a gas stove. Momoi ran around making toasts and stealing off of hot plates. We got to see Hakone from the bus, as well as Mount Fuji, but had little time to walk around.

We went off for bowling. It was a good choice of game for 140 or so people on the tour. (Compare to, say, baseball or some other team game.) I'm not good at bowling and neither was our team, but eventually I got the hang of it. A lot of others wore out physically, but I managed to not feel worn out at all. Prizes were handed out for highest team and individual and lowest scores. I felt like I should practice back in the U.S. With a bit more consistency I wouldn't feel as pathetic come next time.

On the bus, we watched a video of Momoi performing in Taiwan. The concert was during a typhoon, but yet her fans made it anyway. Her fans were singing along and doing their calls. (Though as the evening went on, people toned it down.) We were taken to Shinjuku station and made our farewells.

It's hard to choose where to eat in Tokyo since there's literally hundreds of places around the major train stations. We found some sort of "back alley" section near Shinjuku station where restaurants had somehow escaped urban renewal. While wandering around, I found a place run by, literally, a mom & pop, who might have been pushing 70+. And evolution suggests that any highly competitive environment produces species adopted to that environment. Given that, and how Japanese are also obsessive about food (see: Japanese television) and fastidious otherwise, we were in prime territory for a good meal. And cheap as well.

Fourth Day: It was prime weather for bicycling. I set our bikes up in the small room somehow and we set off for a short ride in town. Hitomi wasn't too keen on riding in the city streets, but like Taipei and Seattle downtown, traffic is fairly forgiving, since drivers are more attuned to stopped cars (on the side), pedestrians, and frequent stops.

Eventually we made it from Tokyo to the Emperor's Place near Tokyo station. Initially I was going to find some back roads, but given the number of bridges and odd angles to the streets it was simply easiest to navigate on the major thoroughfares. We road around the palace grounds, took a few photos, and headed toward Tokyo Tower, off in the distance.

Tokyo Tower was overrun by tourists, so after our curry rice lunch, it was back to Akihabara. (We were going to make a bigger route but since I dropped the map from my guide book, we cut the ride fairly short.)

Akihabara is the place of Maid Cafes. The one we went to is located on the top of some building, with gashapon and figures and premade cosplay clothing on lower levels: A layer cake of otaku-dom.

Hitomi bought tickets to angela's concert. They were one of the first bands to come to Sakura-con and perform back in the Hilton at Sea-Tac and since then Hitomi's been a fan and even had attended a concert earlier in the year. Masaki and his new wife, Chiho, as well as Mr. Nagahama, director of several anime were in the same section. We briefly said hello before the performance.

Since we were all late getting tickets, we were in the back but since those in the main audience were on their feet (and jumping) for the entirety of the 3 hour performance I was fairly happy to be in my seat. I guess I haven't gotten into atsuko's singing style in the past, but she's mellowed her voice a bit and I liked her "Domestic Love Band" voice even more. (Band members perform in both bands, which really are just defined by the style of music. The alter-ego band members mawkishly play in a crass, rowdy, hard rock style that simultaneously makes fun of itself and the straight-laced, poppy angela.)

Post concert we were invited backstage and talked a little bit with Masaki, Chiho, Nagahama and were briefly introduced to atsuko herself, and Yui Horie, who I didn't immediately recognize. (I think being tall changes the way people look.) Hitomi helpfully explained we did come all this way to Japan for the concert; a bit of a white lie.

Obviously we were in the midst of a lot of industry people, e.g. producers and performers and the famous, and I was the 190cm tall foreigner so I might as well been a celebrity.

We said our goodbyes and it was back to the hotel, and the rooftop bath before bed.

Fifth Day: Comiket (Comic Market.) Hitomi wanted very much to by Momoi's (first) dōjinshi, which was a collection of articles and pictures and thoughts she put together and left early in the morning to fight the throngs of otaku. Given the crowds, I had considered skipping it entirely and making my way out of town on a train for a bike ride but I hadn't been in many years and felt: Why not?

I took a combination of subway and train to Big Sight, and given I was riding around 12PM it was not crowded at all. Hitomi left me money but I had forgotten it and thus had arrived without any cash. Not a good thing in Japan. Still, eventually I found a Post Office ATM and later Hitomi and was okay. Crisis averted.

What I later realized was the place closed around 4PM and most of the "good stuff" was gone by the afternoon. Still, I had fun wandering around and given how much of a battle it is in the morning perhaps arriving late was for the best. Given the time limit to meet back with Hitomi, I only managed to see one half of the convention area, though I had spent a few hundred anyway. Heading off to the commercial section, I bought my first dakimakura, a body pillow cover from DLSite which will be soon sandwiched between Hitomi and me. (Hitomi's nice to sleep beside but not right next to since she wiggles.)

Dinner was okonomiyaki at UDX, followed by shopping at Tora no Ana, Tachibana Shoten, and back to bed.

Sixth day: To Aomori!

I had a fitness test at Cycle U today.

Over 5 minutes and 15 minutes, your average output wattage is measured and provides the zone ranges (goals) used for training.

Ideally, it increases over time. I'm not exactly sure where it eventually (must) will plateau but my numbers went from 280 to about 315 for 5 minutes and from about 240 to 270 for 15 minutes. That's about a 13% increase after 5 weeks of training, so I'm pretty happy. It puts me in the range of 3.5-4 watts/kilo. Wikipedia has more on bicycle performance.

What is a watt? Putting "watts" it in caloric terms, my 5 minute "sprint" was: 315 watts * 300 seconds, or 22.6 kcal. Not a whole lot of energy I guess. Compare this to a car that produces 25,000 watts: Cars are very inefficient!

And I weighed myself and I've gained about 4-5 pounds the past 3 months. Which is great news, but I'd like to gain another 5 or so.

I have friends on Facebook, from many former jobs and friends going all the way back to my high school days. My sisters are on there and their friends and so on.

It's an interesting thing to see the world through the peephole that is Facebook. Yet, it makes me both overwhelmed and unhappy. I'm overwhelmed since there's so many people out there and unhappy because I seem to have little interest in developing any relationship with those people. Is it just a factor of time?

It's not a personal slight, I hope. I rarely call my father, (older) sister and I only see my friends maybe once a week.

As we're planning to return to Japan for New Year's, Hitomi was wondering if she'd see her friends. Obviously she hasn't kept up either. We won't be staying with her mother, as she doesn't have a spare futon for us to use. It's kind of sad.

Hitomi and I spent the day together, bicycling from home to Golden Gardens.

An incident: En route to Sunset Park I was honked at angrily by some old guy on 80th NW in Ballard who wanted me to pull over or more room to pass. I caught up to him at the light, got my camera phone out just in case I wanted to call the police, and there he stopped in the middle of the road. The old guy probably wanted a word with me. I decided I didn't really want to talk to a crazy old guy. But as I was "getting away", a nice lady drove by his car and shouted at him to "share the road". It makes me feel better about the world--there's drivers who sympathize with cyclists.

Putting that aside...It was nice to stroll the beach at Golden Gardens. I don't know why, but there's lots of cyclists that come to the north beach and hang out on the benches. Hitomi took a few pictures. Wind was from the north and a lot of sailors were out in the sun and chop. I picked up a strange looking piece of driftwood floating in the waves. I put it back in the water not sure why I picked it up at all.

As per usual, Ballard's farmer's market was wrapping up just as we arrived. It was late in the day to find lunch, but we had breakfast late. I haven't really kept to a consistent schedule since daylight savings ended. There's a bar called "King's Hardware" which opened up in the old Ballard Hardware building. It has a early-eighties, blue-collar dinginess to it which I like, yet its menu and beer selection is surprisingly gourmet; Hitomi likes the sweet potato fries. But to try to be true its image, they have Hamm's for only $2 during happy hour and "tall boy" Rainer beers.

Returning home, we stopped by the Dutch Bike Company, which is near the public boat launch on the ship canal. From its doors you can see people trailering in their powerboats. They sell Dutch Bicycles, which would work really well if you were communiting near a canal, but it would be a feat to climb any of the hills of Seattle, even with the internal geared hubs. Hitomi bought a colorful Dutch shopping bag that hooks on to her rack. Everything fashionbly Dutch or German seems overly cheery. They had some German lights I was interested in installing on my road bike and Hitomi's and I suppose I will once we get some wheels built.

I plan to get some Shimano dynamo hubs in Japan, the newest model they do not yet sell in the U.S., probably due to the low dollar or bigger demand from Europe. Plus a lot of pornographic comic books -- I already have a list! -- and possibly videos. And we're actually going to be going to Comike as well. I imagine I'll get a stack of dojinshi again. I'm not sure what customs might think.

And tonight I watched Code Geass, an excellent anime series. I haven't been this impressed at an anime in such a long time. The character designs, animation, style was great and the story was top quality. I'm actually thinking of buying the DVD... I haven't bought any anime DVDs in some time, either. Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2nd series has been great as well ...

And speaking of videos, we watched Kisaragi. Thank god it was subtitled at least in Japanese, since I might have had a hard time of it. I felt like all the Gyakuten Saibain I played on the DS has helped my vocabulary when it comes to murder trials, which was great for this "whodunnit" movie.

What an amazing fall weekend! Although cold, Hitomi and I went out for the weekend to Lopez Island. It's known as a premier cycling destination in Washington, due to its low traffic, amazing views, though admittedly not so big and the somewhat recently chip sealed roads make it a bumpy ride for those with skinny tires.

Lopez Island has some pretty amazing off-road exploration potential. There's cliffs on the south end of the island. Although I've been there many times, I've always found someplace new to hike to. In the photo, I'm overlooking Hughes Bay: If you bicycle to the end of Huggins Road and through someone's private gate, there's a road that leads up to what's probably BLM land, but who knows? There's a number of fire rings and what looks like an old road at the top. I'm not sure who owns the land but it's not developed.

I wish I got some pictures of Hitomi, but she's usually at the other side of the camera. This time she just had her phone camera, which has high resolution but fairly poor quality.

We stayed at the Lopez Resort and I'm guessing only one or two other guests were there with us. It was the off season, but still I don't know who wouldn't want to be out cycling.

At the last minute, Hitomi and I got into this tour. We did this tour last year and were attacked by goat heads. This year I had my singlespeed with its sturdy Continental Contact tires and a little more sense to stay far away from the shoulder lane, so I had no flats. Neither did Hitomi. And as an experiment, I ran "fixed" the first day. It was fun, but given the amount of decent, I did come down with Severe Ass Trauma (SAT), making Sunday's 65 mile return difficult.

There was a lot less wine drinking and buying this year, in fact we bought just a few bottles. We still have some from last year.

The tour coincided with a balloon "rally" in Prosser, hence the picture of a balloon.

I rode to Vancouver Canada from Seattle Washington on the RSVP bicycle ride.

Kevin did a pretty good job and we managed a steady to moderate pace the whole way. He really got up the hills surprisingly quickly on the single speed bicycle I built, so much so, he pretty much passed everyone who then in turn passed him downhill.

I got quite sore in the arms from such a slow pace; my road bike bars are a bit lower than the seat so my hands get numb unless I'm moving quickly. Add in a bunch of chip sealed roads and (still on Monday) my left arm and hand is numb. Otherwise, it wasn't too hard, really not that much harder than STP.

We did have record temperatures Friday and Saturday. I could have done without the heat. At one point we both ran out of water. I imagine anybody without two water bottles would have been in serious trouble. I probably drank three or four gallons on Friday.

Like the STP, I was witness to several accidents. I honestly don't recall seeing any accidents on rides with Cascade or Seattle Bicycle Club during the week, and never on Gary Strauss's long rides on the weekend. I suspect accidents are mostly rider-rider or rider alone accidents. Are the riders not experienced? Since they are likely caused by bad passing or people not paying attention, are riders not familiar with riding in stay-together groups?

I would like Hitomi to do this ride next year, but we'll see. We're discussing riding in Maui. The rides are shorter but hilly and I worry a bit about tourist drivers.

Since I got my bicycle(s) last year, I've done dozens of Free Daily Rides with the Cascade Bicycle Club (CBC.)

Most of my bicycle mileage so far has been on these rides. More so in 2008 since I haven't been back to California with my bicycle since the end of 2007. And I haven't done a whole lot of event rides like I did last year.

With all the CBC daily rides that are out there -- some 1,200 a year -- there's usually some ride I'm interested in joining. But not always. And the ride leaders out on the weekday rides have been saying they're tired of leading or want a break. And the popular rides often have so many people that extra leaders always help, especially for those wanting a faster or slower pace.

Becoming a ride leader is quite easy. Ride three times with CBC. Then go to a 2-1/2 hour orientation. Then co-lead 2 rides.

So what does a leader do? Aside from filling out paperwork so we can call somebody in case of emergency, track and help with accidents and problems; mostly it's group cohesion and safety issues you worry about. Seattle Bike Club pretty much treats every rider as a leader, but with the 10,000 or so CBC members they are after a bit more organization.

Interesting things: CBC wants to have more ride leaders lead beginning riders, kids, and slower riders. They want more weekend rides. (I'm apparently not that necessary.) Biggest complaints are from ride leaders not following the posted pace of the ride. Serious accidents are quite rare. (Most accidents are due to people riding too closely; when a front tire touches a rear tire an accident usually results.) It takes six months to "earn" a bicycle jersey. Ride leaders often call participants after the ride if they had problems.

Once I co-lead a couple of rides I get to schedule my own rides through the website. I'll mention what those are on the blog. Maybe this fall I'll do night rides with my singlespeed?

Most other people there had very specific scenario questions and I think most of the responses from the teachers came down to either "use your judgment" or "this isn't adult daycare". Most concerns were about those riders who can't take care of themselves on a ride. CBC ride leaders don't have any responsibility to resolve mechanical issues or rescue sick riders. In an emergency, a ride leader is expected to stay with the cyclist but mostly we were told to delegate, if possible these tasks, since very often there's a lot of things going on at once: make that 911 call, call their emergency contact, deal with the person's bicycle, keep the ride going or turn it around, fill out reports, deal with traffic, get first aid, etc.

One other thing to note: Practically anybody can lead a ride. We had fat people in that "didn't like hills" and wanted to lead 10-12 mph rides. There's a lot of newbie fatties interested in rides as well.