You are hereSocial Cycling's polite practices get a good review from the public.
Social Cycling's polite practices get a good review from the public.
Keith forwarded me a message posted to the Social Cycling ATX facebook page this morning:
You know me, I stop at lights and mass up probably more than most like. Here's a message on our facebook page that validates my decision to do this:
"My first encounter with you guys: I was driving a car down 7th, and stopped at a red at Pedernales. You guys start crossing 7th, and I think to myself "oh dang, gonna' be stuck here for a minute" but then the light changes and to my surprise and delight you stop for the red light! And you let the cars go!
And that's when I knew I wanted to join you. See you on Thursday!"
I think the ride is doing a lot of good for a lot of people, but this is one of the most important things I hope to accomplish... bicycle awareness and goodwill to the drivers that can be won over by some courtesy shown by the riders.
Just thought that I'd share that.
KB
I know a lot of us (myself included) sometimes complain about the staccato nature of these rides due to shuttling 200+ riders through the downtown light cycles legally, but following traffic laws DOES build goodwill with the general public, and pisses them off a lot less than the Critical Mass-style owning the road. I know several riders have gotten tickets to or from the Social Ride, but I don't think one has been given out yet for the ride itself. It's a different style for sure, but one that has a place and is much appreciated. Thanks for doing what y'all do, Keith, Brooks, Clif, and the rest of the Social Cycling ATX crew.
Beginners to cycling feel free to join us we will try not to laugh if you fall.
Social Cycling ATX - a facebook group encouraging social cycling.
"We"? I'll always laugh when people fall, and expect others to return me the same courtesy.
We don't just laugh. We take pictures of you falling! :)
(And similarly, I expect you and others to return the favor!)
As long as nobody is hurt, it's worth laughing about! But laughing at something isn't the same as making fun of it. Riders usually aren't made fun of ...
This video is instructional, showing two common pack riding behaviors that will send you to the pavement.
I thought by naming a bike ride "The Thursday Night Social Ride", people would assume that this is just a fun group of cyclists who wanted to get together and meet new folks(and party with them). There is no trophy at the end, as far as I know. I ride slowly and chat with loads of different folks, so I might have missed the trophy part. This is a very large group of riders. We meet each Thursday night. If some of the riders feel that they are not getting their needed exercise, perhaps an additional ride or two each week between Thursday night rides would do the trick. There is no reason to fragment the entire group. With regards to traffic laws. If we do not follow the traffic laws, how can we expect any respect or consideration from motorists or law enforcement? How cool is this; to have a local see us riding around town with such respect towards others that he wants to join us? Now THAT'S cool!
BB
www.flashbakonline.com
Hey Brad! (It's your bud Heather, so you know I'm not hating on the Social Ride!) With our size, I don't think following the law to a T is going to work. I don't mind riding slower, it's just the stopping for five minutes, then one minute of riding, stopping for five minutes, etc. is getting more and more tedious the larger we get. Keith said he was looking into some changes, and it's much appreciated!
The worst part about the ride is the constant stopping. We never get to stretch our legs before the next light hits. It was feasible when we only had 20-50 people, but now it's really, really difficult. I wish there was a way to resolve this (maybe even smaller groups broken up so we don't have to keep waiting on the many groups to go through the light?), but I can't complain about us having a good reputation.
It really was difficult last week, and now I'm thinking of just doing my own ride and meeting up with y'all at the bar, which sucks. Torn on this issue I am!
I am planning to break the group up into groups of about 75 in the future. 300 is just too cumbersome at that hour. I need some volunteers to help out first though. I'll be sending out an email about that later today. Things are about to change a bit.
I'll help in any way I can. Let me know.
ditto