Ironically, last year they cancelled the Worst Day of the Year Ride, on account of weather, and this year, well, the weather was great this morning, definitely not the worst day of riding weather wise, for me at least. A fun ride indeed, although, I’ve got to be honest, I’m not entirely sure what all of my hefty registration fee paid for. I guess those honey buckets and rows of bike racks are pretty spendy. Word of advice if this gets back to any of the organizers from the ride this year, could you please take some of that registration money and invest in some better course markers? Actually, I did enjoy seeing at least a few people blow past turns on more than a few occasions. Also, I know it’s probably a logistical nightmare, but riding through downtown without a closed route, or traffic control to help out the sea of riders, it’s a bit obnoxious having to stop and wait so, so often. As the course progressed, I became more and more thankful that I ride a trike, there’s something about that sound of shoes clipping into pedals and watching the awkward, wobbly start outs from a light.
Sadly, I didn’t see many other recumbents, a couple people came up to me and said they rode them, but I just didn’t see any out for this ride. I’ve heard there’s better attendance at the Providence Bridge Pedal, this summer, and I’m hoping to start representing at a lot of these local rides. Perhaps I have become over sensitive to this, but there didn’t seem to be any accommodations or people looking out to help, well, people like me. Then again, how would anybody know if I really would have appreciated being handed a snack from the table I couldn’t get to? Thankfully, my dad and Dan, one of my coworkers was along for the ride with me, and, although I was packing the strapped on sticks (forearm crutches), I didn’t have to get off the trike, well, except for a needed rest stop on the way home, but the sticks weren’t needed for that. Guess I shouldn’t expect for other people to know, if I never speak up.
Maybe next year I’ll be ready for the challenge course, I extended out the ride to net about 43 miles, so, I’ve got the distance, but them there are some hills through the forest park route!
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