Chris L

Here's what happened yesterday. I was the official "ride leader" for a ride with Bicycle Gold Coast around a section of the Tweed Valley. It was only about 80km or so, no problem for someone who's comfortable riding 180km+. All seemed to be going OK until this headwind came up just outside of Murwillumbah. Naturally, being me, I jumped to the front and decided I wanted a piece of it.

So I'm setting a comfortable pace at the front, when someone calls out to me "Chris, there's nobody with us!". Well, I was a little surprised, as I wasn't setting a cracking pace or anything, but lo and behold, she was right. So we waited.... and waited... and then it dawned on me, I'd zoned out in the wind, and missed a turn off!

So back we go toward Cane Road and the bridge over the Tweed River, and get back on the Tweed Valley Way. Here's a problem: we'd discussed the possibility of diverting to Cabarita Beach over coffee in Mur'bah, but not concluded anything. So I don't know whether they've gone there, or just straight to Kingscliff. So I explained the situation honestly to my companion: "Um, Claire, how do you feel about a ride to Cabarita?"

Well, after cresting the 5km climb up the Condong Range through the rainforest, it became clear to me that the others probably would have waited here had they gone this way. "Um, maybe they didn't come this way after all, we better go this way (Farrant's hill road)". Great, and I'm the one supposed to be "leading" the ride.

Well, eventually we all re-grouped in Kingscliff (where a couple of our regulars made comments like "Thanks for 'leading' the ride, Chris") and found our way back to Coolangatta as a bunch. The scary part is that I've voluteered to lead five rides on our next calendar (including a century and a couple of mountain climbs).

NZLcyclist

:lmao:

Brendon

Malvern star

What's a ride without a few 'dramas'?

A: Not much of a ride!

ChipRGW

Hey Chris,
You lead 6 group rides with MY club, and the club buys you breakfast!!

It's always something on those group rides.

joeprim

Oh well they got a laugh at you, no big deal. And I'll bet you pay attention the next rides. I guess I don't understand if you were leader and in front why they didn't follow you even when you went the wrong way, or at least holler at you. You said you hadn't run off and dropped them. Maybe they were playing with you?

Joe

Dannihilator

Hey it was a mistke, I've made that mistake, and others have made that mistake.

shaharidan

could have been worse, you could have been leading in a race

Bobatin

You need to lose the gorilla and put up Homer Simpson for a while.

SipperPhoto

sounds like the ride leader I had on last thursday nights ride... the middle level ride I went on switched routes about 3 times before we left the parking lot... we got out there an most of the group had one ride sheet... but the leader had another.. they were similiar for the first half, and no one said anything.. then he tries and takes us up this killer hill, jsut after we came down another killer hill we jsut went up... needless to say, we figured out what happened, and didn;t string this guy up... but went the easier route instead :-)

Jeff

gonesh9

I had a similar experience during my first mountain bike race: I had started out hard, and a few miles into it I had broken away from the majority of riders, but there were a handful of riders who were ahead of me out of sight. The trail was not marked very well, and when I got to a fork in the path, I had to make a quick decision, so I took the very steep uphill route. Half way up the hill I noticed there was another rider following behind me, so it made me push even harder. When I got to the top, though, the trail just ended. I told the other rider I was sorry, that I had taken the wrong turn. He just assumed I knew where I was going, and followed me.
So we turn around, and ride the rest of the way trying to catch the 20 minutes we just wasted. We both ended up finishing close to last, but he talked to the judge who subtracted 20 minutes from his time for the poor trail marking. The judge told me he would do so for me, but I was only racing for the fun of it, so my time didn't really matter to me.

Since then I've been trying to be more aware of where I'm going, but it sure can be hard when you're in the zone!

Scooby Snax

Honestly, how can it be a group ride if you dont loose somone?

montlake_mtbkr

Our ride leaders get lost so often it's a running joke in the club. So don't feel bad about missing a turn, at least you knew where you were!

Swimjim

Had they been able to keep up with you they could have informed you you missed the turn. Don't sweat it mate.

Jim

Chris L

Ummm, they did call out, apparently. I didn't actually hear anyone until Claire (who only followed me because it was her first ride with us and she didn't know about the turn off at Cane Road) called out to me when she realised there was nobody following us. I did mention that I had zoned out.

Oh well, a lesson learned, and I gave someone a few laughs. I even made a lame attempt to pass it off as "deliberate", but nobody fell for it.

khuon

I always manage to miss or almost miss a turn on every ride. Last year, I was riding the Trek Tri-Island and came screaming down this one long downhill at about 45MPH. I knew there was supposed to be a turn near the end of the hill and figured it was at the light at the end of the flat just after the sweeping turn. The person I was riding with had let me go down as fast as I could so she was far behind. I got to the light and made a right turn to cross the valley. It was then that I noticed the lack of riders... and more importantly the lack of pavement markers. As I rode along across the valley, I was also aware of a parallel road about a mile to my right... with a lot of riders on it. D'oh! I backtracked and there were some people at the spot I was supposed to have turned... including the person I was riding with. They clapped as I showed up. They told me they had screamed and waved and tried to get my attention but I just went right on past.

Just yesterday, I took the lead after ngateguy repaired his flat. Unfortunately I started out leading during one of the more confusing portions of the route and nearly led us the wrong direction and under the road we were supposed to take. Luckily I was quite aware of my frailty in following directions so I kept turning around and asking the rest of the group if I was going the right way. I guess us men can evolve.