Ride Leadership
By The Observer

People often comment, "That was a great ride" without stating what made it great. With further reflection, one may identify what makes a ride great. Great rides start with great ride leaders. A great ride leader has put some forethought into where to start and stop the ride. (Presumable, the ride starts and stops at one location, however, your Observer recalls a ride that ended seventeen miles from its start.)

On a great ride, the ride leader has chosen a start / stop point with restroom facilities. Some riders will have biked for nearly an hour to the start; others drove there after imbibing a pint of coffee. Sure, we can revert to our prehistoric nature and squat behind a dumpster, but a restroom or porta-john is the civilized answer to nature's call, and a great ride leader will have considered this.

A great ride leader counts how many riders are on the ride, and recounts often. A great ride leader leads the pace he signed on for, not the pace pushed by those who ‘belong on the A ride in the first place’ nor the slow pace of those who ‘never should have shown up for this ride.’ A great ride leader will deal with both the stragglers and the off-the-fronters. Great ride leaders give the stragglers a map, give them a shortcut, or give them a route back to the start. Great ride leaders explain that the disparity in ability will only become more apparent, that both the leader and straggler have obligations to the rest of the riders, and that the leader's obligation to the straggler is to instruct a bailout. Great ride leaders also encourage the off-the-fronters to split off and do their own ride. In both cases, great ride leaders are able to lead the ride signed up for, the ride most club members showed up for, by dealing with those who cannot or will not do the pace.

Many rides will have a rest break, and many great ride leaders build the ride around the break. A good rest break has a place to sit, with shade in summer, sun in winter, energy drinks, carbo snacks, and of course, the restroom. Your Observer is amazed that the Wheelmen continue to frequent establishments that will not allow use of a restroom. If they will not take our impolite business, than why give them our polite fare? Sometimes, it is necessary, as there is only one establishment in the area, but rarely is that the case. (Peacocks – without a restroom, is not far from Ringoes where there is one; likewise on either side of the Milford Bakery are rest stops with picnic tables or restrooms.)

For those who have never led a ride, consider that you can use these points and become a great ride leader the first time you try. And for those who lead rides regularly, fathom how one could make a few changes and hear "That was a great ride!"