Decent attendance at last Friday's Critical Mass ride. The weather was nice at 60° and we faced little wind. Unfortunately the front of the group appeared to be going too fast towards the beginning of the ride and caused the rest of the group to spread out. Not only were they unintentionally splitting up the group, most were not corking. These large gaps between riders causes safety issues for stragglers and places added pressure on the corkers. I want to remind people that Critical Mass is not a race, it's a moderately paced community ride. Ideally, the average speed should be 12-14mph.
Overall the ride was good, and I think the route was excellent. We went through various neighborhoods though we were forced to take a slight detour due to the Carnaval Miami 8k Run on 8th Street. We took SW 1st Street as an alternative to the closed off Calle Ocho missed riding by Viernes Culturales.
On this month's ride we tried something new and it turned out to be great. We made a stop at towards the end of the ride at BAR (formerly PS14) for BBQ & beers. They welcomed participants to bring their bicycles inside and offered drink specials for cyclists. This may become a recurring theme for the group since Bar Black is only 1 mile north of Government Center and most seemed to enjoy having a place to socialize after Critical Mass.
Next Critical Mass is March 26th. RSVP here.
Daylight saving time will be in effect!
Below is a video from the ride courtesy of Eddy.
Overall the ride was good, and I think the route was excellent. We went through various neighborhoods though we were forced to take a slight detour due to the Carnaval Miami 8k Run on 8th Street. We took SW 1st Street as an alternative to the closed off Calle Ocho missed riding by Viernes Culturales.
On this month's ride we tried something new and it turned out to be great. We made a stop at towards the end of the ride at BAR (formerly PS14) for BBQ & beers. They welcomed participants to bring their bicycles inside and offered drink specials for cyclists. This may become a recurring theme for the group since Bar Black is only 1 mile north of Government Center and most seemed to enjoy having a place to socialize after Critical Mass.
Next Critical Mass is March 26th. RSVP here.
Daylight saving time will be in effect!
Below is a video from the ride courtesy of Eddy.
how square would it be for there to be a pace setter? someone with a speedometer who makes sure the front doesn't generally go past some certain speed
ReplyDeletenothing wrong with a speedometer in the front.. but the same would have to be done for the back, letting them know they are going too slow if necessary
ReplyDeleteSomehow it needs to be drilled into people's heads that there should be no gaps. In the back it's hard to judge how far ahead/how fast the front is going. Then I catch up and see a big gap.
ReplyDeleteI think a couple of strong riders could serve as 'pacers' to monitor the length of the mass and alert people to bridge the gaps.