I know that ideally this would go under the regional forums, but since nobody ever visits those forums, it would certainly get better exposure here.

Let me start by saying that I am no one to do a lot of organized rides. Actually, I ride 99% of the time solo and prefer it that way, but I do sign up for 2-3 organized rides/year. Mostly as a social event as I meet up in those with a few friends that live far from me and don't get to see often. It has always been a good time until yesterday.

The ride above is organized by the Everglades Bicycling Club in Miami. To say the least, this is a large, old, and very well run/organized club. I have nothing but praise for them for the good work they do in the community, and for how well they work as a cycling club. In my mind, the get an A+ at least, so this criticism below is not directed at them specifically in any way, shape, or form.

FL is not the ideal place for cycling, but the further south you go from Orlando the worse the conditions get exponentially. Both, geography and people altogether. I have done now several rides, metric and regular centuries in the Miami area. I am very aware of the area, the people, their attitudes, the terrain, etc. Yesterday was certainly the worse, and certainly closed the chapter for me personally of ever riding down there again.

This century had over 1000+ people signed up. Typical for them for most years. However, thanks to the popularity of cycling increased by one Mr. Armstrong, now there are 1000+ more dangerous people in this and most centuries. But like all things Miami, it is bigger, more colorful, and louder! Knowing all this, I placed myself to the front 10% of the group in hopes of not having to fight the ninja weekend warrior riders that in their minds are riding the most decisive tour de france stage. We get out without major incidents. 5 min into the ride, I am at the front of a very large group. I notice there is a "team" at the very front of probably 15 people all dressed from head to toe in their team kit with matching bikes, helmet, and even nail polish! There is one particular guy screaming and yelling at anyone around to get out of their way on the front, not to get in their paceline, not to draft from them, to move away from their riders, barking directions at "his" riders when to get in and out of their double paceline, etc. It was ridiculous as it get as we are doing 18-19 MPH at best at that point. Even more so by the fact you can tell 90% of the people in that "team" were "working" at that speed in flat terrain with cool weather, no sun, and NO WIND YET!!! I laughed it off and just moved on. The next 15 miles were extremely scary because you could also tell clearly that 95+% of the people around has never ridden with people around them. They were weaving in and out of lines, speeding up and slamming on brakes, overlapping wheels, etc. I had enough, so I decided to get to the very front and take off in hopes that a few more experienced people would follow. I was not after going extremely fast as much as diluting the danger zone. So, 25 MPH and 5 min later I turn to see there is only 4-5 people behind me. I can work with that. We continue to go and pick up people along the way that had dropped off from the very front group that is now about 2-3 miles ahead. Come to realize within a few min. of riding with those that they were just as scary as the group I had left, but they can just go a bit faster. We finally get to a rest stop at mile 38 or so, and I decided to wait for my friends that were now pretty far behind. As I was getting tot he rest stop, I saw a bunch of people that had obviously crashed. The 1/4 mile getting in and out of the rest stop had a bunch of wet grass on the road that seems had sat there for days turning that section of the road as slippery as a bar of soap.

As we are heading out of the rest stop, we were maybe doing 12 MPH going around a slippery curve when my friend slips in wet grass and falls very hard despite the slow speed. I also slipped/fell as I was coming to a stop. Nothing happened to me or my bike, but my friend was not so fortunate. He cracked his brand new helmet in about 12 pieces. Think of Jens Voight in his tour crash as far as mechanism but slower speed. Massive road rash in elbows and knees, shaken up, but OK. After a few min. gathering composure and examining him, we take off. Every 1/4 mile, he stops and asks what happened, how did he fall, is everyone OK, etc. The typical concussion symptoms. About 3 miles, new complains of nausea/headache, and several stops/re-starts, we decided it was prudent to stop altogether. We called the SAG number in the cue sheet 4 times over the next 45-60 min, but ultimately they never came. Every time we called, we were told to be patient because they have had so many accidents all over the place that they were very overwhelmed and short of resources. We finally hitched a ride with some guys that stopped and took us to the starting point where his wife had come to meet us. He was then taken to get a CT of the head and X-rays of his hip where he had a football size hematoma forming. 8 hr later, he was released with the same thing he came, a concussion. He is much better today and even went to work. I never thought it was imminent enough to call 911 and get an ambulance of worse yet a helicopter, hence the reason we waited for ground transport.

In any case, YMMV. But as far as I am concerned, I am done with the idiotfest for a while. Beware of those around you, and be careful where you ride and who you ride with. It does not take much for you to be seriously injured.

PS: I may do this ride next year anyway ONLY if patentcad comes down for it. He will have enough material for the next 6 decades for 10 threads a day of at least 20+ pages each!