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If we talk about this issue here, does it come to the attention of the organizers and planners of the ride? Or does it disappear into the ether?

I am talking out my neck here, because I didn’t witness any of the 3 crashes I had to stop for, but I doubt the first two most severe crashes were caused by people in the “wrong spot” according to their pace, but instead caused by the high speed and overcrowding around the head of the race. If a bunch of amateur riders are going that fast and in such dense formation, the smallest thing like catching a wheel or whatever can cause a pileup and I’m guessing that’s what happened to crash #1. The second crash at the bottom of the AF monument hill was because several of the front 20% of riders lost control on potholed and gravelly conditions on the turn at the bottom of the hill. I don’t think there’s much to do about that organizationally outside of rerouting the course or having someone check the course before hand and set up like warning zones about dangerous areas that the “racers” are made aware of beforehand.

Setting up pace zones at the start of a ride is good, but those zones also need to be limited occupancy. If there were several first come first serve leading zones of say 30 riders that released once a minute or so to spread the lead-out, that seems like it would help to me. With a ride like this, it seems like the “official start” should matter less and people should be timed according to their individual start and finish times. Why have individual tracking chips if they aren’t used? I didn’t see any evidence that my laps were counted or timed by the event itself. There were a ton of people crowding and filtering into the start for the first 20 minutes or so. I was one of only a handful of people that I witnessed who saw that starting crush and just said “Nah, I’ll wait till this clears out before I start”

Edit: I wanted to add that, as a newbie to big cycling events, I’m really surprised that 2/2 rides I’ve been on around here have started with 4-8 Lane wide starting areas that immediately lead into a turn and 2 lane wide stretches within the first 1/8th to 1/4 mile. That seems, on it’s face, like a bad way to start a high turnout cycling event.

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KWL is official Best Dude status.

I’m sad we don’t get to meet the late shift. See you all on Hains Point some afternoon?

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I can’t speak for everybody but if you don’t happen to be on a bicycle you probably also would be welcome, for example if you were on a broom, or a carpet, perhaps a log, maybe an inflated hefty bag, or a tractor, hell a 1988 pogo ball would do, anybody ride a giant racing snail to work? There should be enough bikes around you could be kinda vague about it for a little while.

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Trees or no trees, I’m really glad this area is getting some attention. I commuted across it for years and it was always in miserable condition. I could write a novel length post. Here’s to hoping that whole stretch gets redesigned to make it somewhere remotely near safe and accessible for e v e r y b o d y. And to some new trees!

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I was absolutely sure they would leave the stretch closed through the night, but by 5ish or whenever Andrea and I rode through, it was open, no detour! Nice work! Hope they finish the second stretch tomorrow as planned.

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@Subby 140717 wrote:

If you do a wheelie *through* the intersection I think that international law precludes the officer from stopping you or writing a ticket. Something to consider.

i KNEW my desire to learn to wheelie this year must have some kind of practical application

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@Terpfan 140684 wrote:

By 9am, they really meant anytime this morning.

Haha, yeah, I went by at about 7 thinking I’d be fine and it was very closed. The detour is pretty minimal anyways though. Navigating people disconcerted by hills and curbs is the hard part.

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Painted on no passing zones approaching blind corners really does seem like the right balance to me. It’s a good reminder for the ignorant yet impedes nobody in any way. You can’t ever stop all bad actors in safety or in security, you can only foster a culture that appreciates and encourages good behavior. I don’t like structural solutions that treat me like I’m a dangerous asshole by default because of the actions of a few actual dangerous assholes, not that I don’t make mistakes and bad calls sometimes too.

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]11863[/ATTACH]

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Hmm. Our team’s points dropped from 130K for the month as of this morning, to 77K for the month this afternoon… Huh? Wha?

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Well that’s just terrible news for any clubs wishing to shore up their banks sometime in September.

May looks like it was WAAS’ lowest mileage month this year, are we really more afraid of unending gloom than snowbanks and ice?

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@KWL 140317 wrote:

Please stop.

Careful, cause calling cessations could clearly close comradely comedic capers, crushing certain cautious colleague’s caring conviviality.

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@komorebi 140297 wrote:

I’m sure that sjclaeys will have more ideas, but here are a few more Cs for your consideration:

Cosi Crystal City Cycling Coffee Club & Consequent Convoys: committed commuters convening cheerfully at cockcrow for caffeinated conversation. Certifiably crazy.

Small addition^

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Yeah I “start work” at 7:30.
Our group left the waterpark at about 7:50.
Sorry there wasn’t any continuity, but there’s a chance if more people start coming!
I stole Komorebi’s picture to post here:
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@consularrider 140189 wrote:

Yeah, no one is riding in that bike lane anyway.

You mean the wedding photographer limo and minibus parkinglot along the front of the waterpark? Just wear a white dress and nobody will blink an eye :p

*Ian if you are an xbox dealer I may have a working first gen Japan/Hong Kong zone 360 to consign

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