(gutted I couldn't get organised to go to Wales)
Do we (we? who's this we, white man?) need to look at handling of Big Roads? The exit from the layby on top of Reigate Hill onto the A217 was similarly chaotic.
Just, as User10571 puts it, sayin...
there's a point at which you have to trust people. We've done the rolling road block thing on the A23 underneath Gatwick when one lane was coned off and it involved me at the back yelling at people to keep up because a rolling road block is no use if it's 100 metres behind the bulk of the group. Despite briefing the riders at the front it just about held together for about three quarters of a mile........ Four miles down a lightly used dual carriageway is beyond anybody's ability to organise, given the range of speeds.
I can illustrate this without too much difficulty. Twenty or thirty miles from the beginning of the ride (there are variations, but, in general, just about any ride) we get in to a set routine. Stop and wait for the tail-enders to catch up. I set off at a moderate speed, trying to keep the ride bunched. This works for about two miles. Then some of the faster riders go past, then some more, but they don't break away - for another couple of miles. Then they simply go for it, and, after a while, I think 'they'll miss the turn' engage the big gear, get to the front, and call a halt. Six miles for the entire cycle. give or take. What I try and do is to call the stops at points where I think I can control the ride a little - Lindfield is a good example, and one that happens now almost automatically. The T-junction at Wivelsfield is heaven-sent, but the days when we all gathered at the greenhouses are long gone. And, on the roads east of Gravesend we sometimes get very strung out, and people will sail past the left turn.......but, then I think that if they look over their shoulders after a mile or so and don't see any lights, they'll return just as the tail end comes in to view.
As for the take-off at the top of Reigate Hill - it's far better to have the speedier riders at the front. The greatest risk (and I think we've done exceptionally well never to have a crash, other than the one which I am not going to dwell on) is bike-to-bike. The less overtaking you have the better. I know I make a speech about keeping the speed down to 25mph - but I know that you lot are beyond listening. What does give me some comfort is that the speed merchants are all at the front, and unlikely to be taken out by a slower ride moving right to overtake an even slower rider. And, for what it's worth, when you gather at the layby you're all at a standstill, all able to look to your right, and all able to make a decision. My worry is that somebody will go left after the roundabout and wind up in Merstham....
Where we did have to improvise last Friday was on the Wayfinding side. I found myself surrounded by people who didn't know the system, and didn't give the impression of being able to work it out (but then again......) so poor Charlie got picked on time and time again (apologies), and, on one occasion, asked to do one roundabout moments before he was hauled off to do another roundabout, me reasoning that, since the first roundabout was a straight ahead, we'd be unlikely to lose anybody.....then, a bit further down the road, not spotting anybody practiced in the system I started going round and round the roundabout to compress the front end!
In a general way it doesn't matter that the
slower riders are slow away. It only matters that the
slowest rider gets away in good time. You'll see me checking the slowest rider, seeing if he or she is fit to continue (and taking advice from the TECs and then resuming when they're in shape. If some people are dragging their heels the TECS can shepherd them along, and, in time, they'll overtake the slowest rider.
The whole thing can be summed up this way - we have a system that is perfect but doomed to fail. It's all about how one copes with the failure.......