So I had planned a lovely day out a while back with a group of cyclists that I hadn’t spent a lot of time riding with.
Before the trip, the admin and owner of the Facebook group I had become from wanted to go to the beach and had chosen Hunstanton as the destination. They asked if I could plan a route and lead the ride, I can only assume they thought I was a competent cyclist who could get everyone to their destination safely, and also the group had 1-2 people riding 125 plates and L, It’s not a problem to plan a route avoiding highways. I can do that.
Not knowing how many of us were going, I made a post to the group about using the corner man system to keep everyone moving and avoid stopping. Sounds like a good idea and that was it.
Late the night before, I received a message that someone else is going to lead the trip and plan the route, ok, no problem, I can have fun, sit and look at the scenery, did I mention that my wife is also coming as a passenger? ? we can have a nice chat on the intercom about the usual married stuff (all you married guys. You know what I’m talking about, all you single guys will find out).
So we arrive at the meeting point a bit early and several cyclists are present then I am informed that the person driving can’t find his sat nav but he has looked at the route ok I said I’ll sit in the back anyway and I can pick up the stragglers.
So finally everyone is here and we hit the road, having programmed my Satnav with the route, we turned right instead of left and headed off, no problem I remember telling the wife as she We will end at the same point. .
After about 20 minutes of travel we are on a two lane road, all single file and all is well (we had 2 125’s with us so speeding was not going to be a concern).
We start to approach a Waitrose HGV, don’t worry I’m trying to pull out to allow the other one, in particular the 125, a chance to overtake but instead we slow to 52mph ok no It is the end of the world in which we travel. just over 50mph on a 70mph highway but remember I’m sitting in the back! now cars don’t see motorcycles at the best of times but when traveling around 70mph they don’t expect overtake a group of 6 motorcyclists at high speed. speed after a few close calls and a slip road a car had decided to force its way through the group of bikes i decided enough was enough we may have 2 125 with us but this is now getting dangerous and the smaller bikes I can pass a truck at 52mph so I move to pass everyone and gesture to the lead driver that it would be a good idea for him to follow me (I was polite, honest).
so everyone follows me and i motion everyone to pass me and get back into position at the back and this time we are doing a comfortable 65-70mph, happy days.
It wasn’t long before I noticed the guy in front of me was acting very strange, I mean in the panicked sense, something had flown into his crash helmet and it was making buzzing noises, by now we all know that feeling of panic. get every once in a while but this is real i know it has happened to me and it scared the hell out of me.
So the first chance he got he stopped and I followed him to make sure he was okay.
After quickly removing our crash helmet and waving our arms a lot we headed back on our way, this person was on a 1000cc bike just like me so catching up with the group was not going to be a problem and we headed out.
We come around a curve on the dual carriageway and to my shock, amazement and amazement, to be honest, there everyone is parked on the side of a 70 mph highway, not in a parking area or in a safe place, but at the side of the dual carriageway.
Yeah, awesome, I know. we slowed down and luckily the group caught up with us and again I waved them past and again took up position at the rear.
Ok right now I’m starting to worry about the trip, nothing major but some concerns about my safety, my passenger and the other passengers in the group, also the intercom was busy with my wife talking about how unsafe it was it was the last couple of incidents had been and how do we need to do more shopping and do something about it blah blah blah.
So we finally stop at a McDonald’s and have ice cream and pee etc and the tour leader is busy looking at his phone and telling everyone we’re almost there and it’s the A47 most of the way so no It should be like that. it won’t take us long. I am now a forgiving man and will always give someone a second chance so I decide to keep quiet about the last couple of incidents and just try to enjoy the rest of the trip and see how things go, no one is perfect right ? We all make mistakes, so we’ll just go ahead and have fun.
A little bit later in the trip, we’re all getting along very well staying together and the intercom talk is the usual stuff about looking at that car etc, you know, wife talk!
After several roundabouts and a couple of winding roads we approach a large roundabout and according to the sign it has 5 exits, I look which exit we want (it’s 2) and we all start piling into this very large roundabout with slip long. roads, and we stop at the roundabout, yes, the roundabout on the left just before exit 1, now, thinking that someone just had a problem, since I’m in the back, I turn on the hazard lights and try to see what happens later. , the lead cyclist gets off his bike and walks over to a couple of cyclists behind him and…has his phone in his hand…checking the map! I know, just what you’re thinking, not a rest area or quiet residential street to stop at, a roundabout, nothing could go wrong right? luckily nothing went wrong we all hit the road again and no one was killed or injured thankfully.
Once we got to our destination and everyone had gotten off, changed out of their gear and generally relaxed, I asked him what he was thinking when he decided to follow a truck down the dual carriageway, pull over to the side of the dual carriageway, and, of course. The parking in the roundabout? Well, apparently none of these things happened, although others among us were equally unhappy with the trip overall, with that being said myself and the now irate wife left on our own in search of food.
After a nice meal and loads of coffee we head towards the bikes and a couple of other cyclists are hanging around as apparently everyone will be back shortly.
I gave them my excuses and let them know that we are now going back alone and thanked everyone.
Once we got back home still thinking about the ride and the things that had happened I decided to rant a bit about it amongst the group that I belong to, now this group has some very experienced riders and some acquaintances but everyone on top everything else , take care of each other when we go out together, we can, as you imagine, spend many hours riding together and a certain level of trust has been built between us, well, everyone felt the same as I did, these events should not happen and there is no excuses for it. end of discussion there really are NO EXCUSES for not keeping yourself and others safe and not purposefully putting anyone in harm’s way.
Well apparently there are excuses for these incidents and some of them never happened or weren’t as bad as I think they all got home after all right? Well they all did but not together because after I left them apparently. He lost 2 of the other riders at some point, but that’s okay, they just kept going.
During the drop of my comments in a private group, this is the fun part, I was banned from the Facebook group that organized this trip and, dear, some of the members who made it home alive that day did not make friends with me. am i gutted upset? Do I feel I was treated unfairly, no, not really If you can’t take any criticism and insist on lying about what really happened so you don’t feel bad, go ahead, all I offered was advice on how to stay safer on the trails. , he is not interested? well go on and i hope you never have an accident or get hurt in any way, i seriously hope that’s true because i don’t want people to get hurt and it annoys me when you’d rather lie than admit you made a mistake.
Anyway, this has wandered off a bit, so I’ll leave it there and you can tell me what you think.
By the way, I’ve been to a few other games recently and even led a few of them myself and everyone had fun and no one was in any danger, so it can be done.
Please drive safe everyone and if you don’t ride a motorcycle just keep an eye out for us we appreciate it.