4 posts tagged “seattle bicycle club”

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.

I've been keeping up with my cycling. Hitomi was gone to Anime North (Toronto) and the weather's been fine. I spent Saturday riding to five different movie theaters for five different films at SIFF: A personal record for movies watched in one day? Sunday, I got Kevin to ride sixty miles, some of it quite hilly, and he did an adequate job. Monday I visited my parents and went to the Kubota gardens for the first time.

Tuesday, although Hitomi had just returned, I went out (again!) to my usual Tuesday night ride. The weather's finally gotten good. And I went to another movie that night.

I led a Seattle Bicycle Club ride last Wednesday. I was asked by the ride coordinator to lead, although I hadn't been on more than a few rides, and actually wasn't a member. (I did send in my dues a few weeks back.) The ride was a success. Here was the route. Our club did an interesting thing I think Cascade should do as well. At every corner, we had the rider behind me stay behind to make sure the remainder of the group made a turn. I would shout "Corner!" (actually I politely asked somebody) and somebody stayed behind. Usually what happens is the ride leader has to wait after every light and turn for everybody else to arrive, but instead I could keep going without concern.

Thursday was a day of rest. Plus, I wanted to actually see my wife before she left on a trip. Unfortunately, Thursday for Hitomi was mostly packing.

Friday, bought an oyster knife by Dexter Russel. Dexter Russel makes commercial-grade kitchenware. I have one of their knives I bought at a fishing store for my kayak trip a few years back. Hitomi wanted bought an oyster knife for her trip for consuming oysters on the beach, obviously. And later that day, I looked at Santoku Knives by the same company. For some reason I want to buy some new knives, though the knives I have are still adequate (actually Henckles), there's something exotic about Japanese-style cutlery. And I really like the utilitarian look and quality that goes into commercial products.

Saturday was another movie day, though this time I only went to three movies. Maybe sometime I'll write a couple of reviews? For foreign movies, I really like Asian movies the best. Even if an Asian movie isn't so good story-wise, it's usually aesthetically pleasing. I got back early to cook dinner and prepare food for an ambitious ride Sunday.

The initial plan was to ride about 80 miles inside of Mount Rainer Nat' Park, for a total of 8,000 feet of climbing. The weather unfortunately did not cooperate, so we turned back earlier. Most of the group ascended just the first 4,000 feet, from outside of the park to the Paradise visitor center. The visitor center was just a few hundred feet under snow level, under fog, and under rain. Although the ascent was surprisingly easy, the descent was difficult in the cold. Downhill was steep, requiring careful control of speed while maintaining muscle control of the hands and legs. Speedy controlled descents require leaning, which are difficult cold. Under a rain jacket and knit hat, I was listening to music which kept my morale up. Eventually, it got less steep and warmer and less rainy.

We all had a slice of pie and returned home.

I had originally planned to ride with the Cascade Bike Club on Saturday, but somehow the description of their ride put me off. They were planning an 80 mile bicycle ride with no food stops and the post further explained that your bicycle should be in good condition (has had a tune-up in the past two years) etc. and the ride leader wouldn't leave the group to fix your flat. Also carry your own money and be prepared to get yourself home. And so forth.

I think it's fine you have common-sense rules, but once you start reminding people to be responsible over and over, it seems a little condescending. And it certainly is not fun to assume if something goes wrong to you or someone else, they're simply abandoned.

Seattle Bike Club's rides are less popular and so less people show up. We had about 10 riders. They say that 2-10 riders is best since: It's easier to remember people's names. Less frequency of mechanical trouble. It's easy to keep track of each other.

The ride yesterday was a 75 mile loop from Fall City to the city of Snohomish through the Snoqualmie Valley. The ride was mostly flat an on mostly low-traffic roads. I saw about 100 other bicycle riders out, mostly people on club or group rides.

I'm definitely going to be doing this ride again, hopefully with Kevin, to get his riding mileage up.

The Seattle Bicycle Club (SBC) has a weekly ride from Gasworks Park at 6PM. Since I wasn't having my regular Wednesday night game night, why not go for a ride tonight?

It's been about 40 degrees and clear at night these past few nights. Add 15-20 miles per hour of head wind and you have cold extremities. Luckily, I have a full array of warm gear, so no problems there.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I was at Gasworks at 5:50PM and nobody was there yet. A few more riders show up, it's now 6PM and we are waiting for a few more to join. Seems like the group is pretty serious, from the looks of the frames I'm sure some bicycles were in the $5,000 and up range. I had my singlespeed Salsa Casseroll CroMo frame with 30mm tires. I was outclassed, bicycle-wise.

However, I've been riding some serious hills and knew I'd be capable of sustaining the 16-18mph advertised range.

Rides don't always go as advertised. Right away, most of the riders took off faster than this, and at the beginning I had a tough time keeping up the pace on the flats. And on downhills, I would just spin uselessly, where they could crank it up. But I would close the gap on the uphill sections--and there were more than a few of these. We got to Discovery Park and I was fine.

There were 5 of us, one of them a person I knew from prior rides, named Ken. He was probably the most serious of the riders. Before the ride, he talked about having done the Death Ride. He obviously does difficult rides. He took over the lead position and sent us on a couple up and downs. (He also rode from Bothell -- about 20 miles -- to join the ride, and he had talked about another 30 mile ride tomorrow. Tomorrow's Thanksgiving. Admittedly, I considered a morning ride as well.)

We rode from the top of Discovery Park down to the lighthouse/sewage treatment plant on the water, and then back up again. The road is about 18% grade, according to some other riders. I have to walk the middle section on my singlespeed. We do a couple more descents and climbs in the park. Then from the top of the park, we ride down Perkins Lane to the water again, then back up to the scenic Magnolia bicycle road. Since the return climb is not as steep I don't have to walk my bicycle, luckily. Then we ride down on Magnolia Bridge, down Elliot Avenue, Nickerson, and the ride ends.

Ken rides home to Bothell. One rider ("Bob") is MIA, he runs marathons and apparently got his leg messed up recently and couldn't complete the ride. I share some beer and nachos with the remaining riders. Then, it's up Fremont Ave to Greenlake and home again.

[* Regarding the title: SBC doesn't hate single speeds, but let's just say, they don't coddle the weak.]