My respect for all ride leaders has greatly increased
Yesterday was the first time I lead a ride. It was quite a learning experience.
I thought it would be just Sandi and myself, so I got the bright idea to find one of the geocaches in Big River while riding out near Carr pond. An area I am NOT familiar with. Turns out 7 people showed up. My brain told me to take them where I was familiar, but the geocacher in me said “Find it!”. The riders seemed to think it was an interesting idea as they had never geocached. So we headed out. We got to the turnpike with no incidents.
However on the way I realized I have no sweeper. And when someone stumbled and fell, I realized if they get hurt, I’m in charge of getting them patched up and home. Ok..sure… I can handle it. I’m also always wondering, “Am I going too fast for the slow guys, or too slow for the fast guys?” Gaaaah!
So now the fun begins and we are getting off west of the turnpike on a trail with no name that I have never been on. Opens up into a BIG sandy area. This is the reclamation area and we need to travel .19 miles thru the sandy hell. (Near the Shoot the moon extension) We find the geocache, but it took about 30 minutes total. Now I plan a route thru the maze of tracks near Carr pond and we set off.
15 minutes in I realize how technical these trails are. I also realize that two of the new riders have no suspension, and that one doesn’t even have a helmet! How I didn’t notice that is beyond me. So now I’m getting a little worried, and pulling my map out at every intersection.
Then we get a mechanical! The slowest rider’s derailer got smashed. Thankfully we had an experienced roady and mtn biker (They were both new and had no knowledge of Big River). They pulled the derailer off, shortened the chain, and created a single speed. Its now about 8:15 pm, we are between Hopkins hill rd and “The wall”, its getting dark, and the slowest rider just got a brand new single speed! All 7 people turn to me and ask “Where to next?” Good grief!
Weighting the options I opted to double back and catch the turnpike, to sweet sawmill,to burnt saw mill. I’m thinking, “Great…more sand!” We head out, and pretty much road burnt saw mill in the dark. I made a mental note to buy a light! We hit the parking lot at 9pm.
I was exhausted! Not from the ride, but from the stress of trying to make sure everyone had fun and made it out safe! I tip my hat to all ride leaders. You are much more then just the “Guy in the front”.
Thanks,
Chris
footnote: This was an email to me last month that I had to share (obviously with permission from Chris). Bart suggested we submit it to Single Tracks as a perfect example of the issues that come up “leading a ride”.
best wishes
huffin & puffin pete