New riding group with a slow beginning!!

Today we started a new ridin group. We used to have a cycling group at work with a bunch of riders. These riders while mostly respectful of one another, were mainly there for themselves. (not everyone, just a few...) It is the old saying "a few rotten apples spoil the whole barrel."

Our old group was not a cohesive one. Some would call it dysfunctional at best. There were people on a rides that would sprint ahead, fall back to the group, recover, and then sprint away again. All the while not helping to pull. Then there were those that would show up with an ipod and earphones. When asked to take them out or put them away, the answer was always "No"! Let me tell you, I do not want to ride with someone that is disrespectful of other riders. Then there were others who insisted on not stopping at stop signs. Now that is crazy, not only do we have the same laws as a car, we can also receive a ticket for blowing the stop sign.

A group of us decided this was not what we wanted to represent nor did we want to teach new cyclists bad habits.

Today was our first meeting :) !!

I woke up, jumped out of bed a little groggy and unsure of the time, I grabbed my phone and noticed I had missed the alarm. I then wonder at the time, as I did not want to be late! Fearing that I have overslept, I look at my phone and give a sigh of relief! It is only 5:30am. We do not have to meet everyone until 6:30!

I relaxed for a few and had some yogurt and then get ready for the days event ahead.

As my boyfriend, Shane and I ride over to the meeting place, I am thinking what a great thing this is going to be. A new group that is like minded.

As we ride up slowly to the ride start, there is one rider there. I am a little confused as to where(??) our fearless ride leader is? The guy who set this up, made this happen... Where the heck r u? I look at the guy that is already there, Alex, and he just says "I have done my lap around the build there is no one else here and this place does not open until 7:00am, I suggest meeting else where." He is concerned about not being able to have coffee or muffins... hehehehe

Shane and I ask Alex if he has heard from Jerry (a.k.a. Fearless ride leader)? NO, he has not. Shane and Alex decide that we must call him and give him grief!! My boyfriend leaves a message telling Jerry that he better be on his way, on the pot or in a casket(I am thinking that he is still in bed crashed out from the merriment from the night before!!). As we wait another 5 minutes, still not a peep from our fearless ride leader :( . Great now we have to think of a ride.

We all think of the vast possibilities and then go with the Rillito. The Rillito is the river path that runs along the Wash. It is a path for anyone and is well developed. It was a good choice.

The Rillito really keeps you on your toes, you find many perils: people to dodge, prairie dogs to avoid and lizards to skirt (there was one crazy(!!) lizard that ran between my tires all the while I was yelling "no do not go there!!")

While on the Rillito, our fearless leader decides to give us a call... he was not here with us and we all wanted to know why!! It was a girl. Wait a minute, a girl? What does that have to do with not being there? That was a Lame a$$ excuse and we let it be known!!! hehehehe we told him that he owed us and big, he was going to have to buy us all breakfast for the no show.

Our ride was a slow beginning, but in the end it was all good and so was breakfast!!