Potomac Pedalers Back Roads Century

I do not know anything about this specif ride, but the few PPTC rides I went on 6 years ago were insane hammer fests. Way faster than their ratings. Once I did a BB and people were flying, refusing to help each other with flats, mechanical, and considered my riding next to them or with them an challenge and took off. The worse, I stopped to help a woman and guy with her dropped chain. When I offered to help, he said something about how I could be saddled with helping her and took off to chase some perceived rival.

@Raymo853 94096 wrote:

I do not know anything about this specif ride, but the few PPTC rides I went on 6 years ago were insane hammer fests. Way faster than their ratings. Once I did a BB and people were flying, refusing to help each other with flats, mechanical, and considered my riding next to them or with them an challenge and took off. The worse, I stopped to help a woman and guy with her dropped chain. When I offered to help, he said something about how I could be saddled with helping her and took off to chase some perceived rival.

What you describe is 180 degrees from Backroads Century. It’s a huge, self-paced ride with lots of stops and lots of support.

I assume the email is just a CYA kind of thing in order to get permitting/cooperation from the localities where the rides take place. I didn’t see a single police car last year and probably less scofflaw behavior. It’s on a Sunday so you could probably count the number of cars you come across in the the low double digits.

The PP listserv is lit up about this as well. If it is the same letter ~ is was posted to the listerv. I must say, I agree with Chris, I would never ever ride on a ride that had that type of tone – and colludes with law enforcement to incorrectly state the law. If they are having those type of problems, they need to organizationally address them. But telling their membership that they have basically agreed with law enforcement that cyclists can be tossed in jail……

@Raymo853 94096 wrote:

I do not know anything about this specif ride, but the few PPTC rides I went on 6 years ago were insane hammer fests. Way faster than their ratings. Once I did a BB and people were flying, refusing to help each other with flats, mechanical, and considered my riding next to them or with them an challenge and took off. The worse, I stopped to help a woman and guy with her dropped chain. When I offered to help, he said something about how I could be saddled with helping her and took off to chase some perceived rival.

I regularly ride with a PPTC group out of Wootton High School and have the complete opposite experience. The people have been great and super helpful. I suspect that each PPTC ride has a unique culture which isn’t a surprise given the diffused and diverse structure.

If PPTC is getting heat from local law enforcement, that might be a reason to “ride someplace friendlier” that day, but not a reason to be upset with PPTC.

I don’t really care since I wasn’t planning on riding this event and am only tangentially familiar with the PPTC, but I do want to take issue with the assertion from the sheriff that those who violate traffic laws but do not have ID could be arrested and their bikes impounded. There is no legal requirement in the US to carry ID with you, even when riding a bike. A bike is not a motorized vehicle. Operation of one does not require special license like for a car. This threat from the chief pig of Clarke County is sickening. Likewise, the warning about not taking the lane is also problematic at best and could have been stated in a way that doesn’t resemble an ultimatum.

Small town LEO yahoo making his own laws. Not cool.

Zero tolerance? Enforcement for all road users? I wonder how many motorists will be ticketed for violations that day???

@sethpo 94115 wrote:

The number one action we can take towards this goal is to not ride down the road like we own it. We don’t; nobody does. Cars are bigger, they take up more room, and they hurt when they hit you. Don’t make them try to pass you in the other lane. Ride to the right of the road; don’t ride two abreast when cars are behind you. Don’t run stop signs, even when no cars are around. Don’t ride over into the oncoming lane. If there are cars behind you, even far behind, ride single file. Be courteous to drivers at all times. You are responsible for knowing and obeying the rules of the road.

The bolded part is weird to me. I rode the backroads century in 2012, and most of those roads are of the the narrow out-in-the-boonies with no shoulder variety. Its basically impossible to pass even a lone cyclist without going into the other lane if you are giving them the legally mandated 3′-0″ of clearance.

And yeah, cyclists don’t own the road, but neither do motorists. Both have equal rights to the road. It perpetually annoys me when motorists make the “you act like you own the road!” argument when cyclists actually use them. What they are really saying is “I have an imaginary right not to be held up by anything”.

@sethpo 94115 wrote:

And now I come to the main point of this letter. Sherriff Roper and Chief White have informed me that this year they will be observing a ZERO TOLERANCE policy toward riders who break the law. This includes all laws, not just some. This includes everybody- not just everybody else. You break the law, you will get a ticket. If you do not have your identification on you, you could possibly go to jail and your bike could be impounded. Do not test this. We will not bail you out. You are responsible for your own behavior. I could go on with the “don’ts” but I won’t. Know the law and obey the law.

There is no legal requirement for a cyclist to carry ID.