I've done the ride a lot of times, always experiencing the mass start. I've also been almost blown into the weeds by groups coming by me at high speed. How can I get to 80 miles and have a paceline going 5 mph faster still end up behind me. I've also wondered how I can get to 80 miles at a good pace and find someone in front of me pulling a trailer at half my speed. But they all have the right to do the ride. They also have the obligation to be as safe as they can be, and I have the obligation to be as safe as I can be. If they want to start early and know that there will be 10,000 people passing them, they need to ride on the righthand side of the road and hold their line. And if I'm passing them I try to do it safely and not belittle them. I still think a slow rider should consider what they are doing and start later to minimize exposure to faster riders.

The worst things I've seen on the ride were people that were going slow and refused to hold their line when faster riders approached. There are a lot of kids that do this. They don't understand about riding in a straight line but their parents could help them with it. I've also seen adults weave back and forth a lot. This year there was one guy that cut from the righthand shoulder all the way over to the lefthand shoulder right in front of me.

Before the ride I usually drive partway into Wichita Falls on the old Iowa Park Rd, the part of the route that is from about 7 miles to 11 miles. It is dark at that time but I usually pass at least a dozen riders heading west with lights on. I always wondered if they just wanted to get a 1.5 hour head start or what.