#207 / #34
Today was another ride around Lake Natoma, where Red Leader and I herd a gaggle of assorted Meetup casual bikers around the lake.
Today was a low attendance day, it was around 50 degrees F, a bit cold for all but the most diehard of the casual set.
We had 2 repeat offenders (folks who've been on the ride before) and two newbies. No mechanical issues and a nice pace for the ride.
The pace of this ride is determined largely by who shows up. I always hope that I don't get a sharp division between rabbits and tortoises. One of the folks today, by no means a tortoise, worried that she was too slow. She was fine!.
I swept, so I got to hang out with her. We will call her Ms. Green, since her bike is a lovely pastel green Trek. Ms. Green had been off of her bike for a while, and when she'd gotten it back from the shop from a tune up, the shop had raised her seat for her.
This is a common thing with the casual rider. The seats are almost always too low. Ms. Green's seat was just right. She didn't like the tipped forward posture the higher seat gave her, so I told her that she could have the shop see about raising the handlebars a bit.
Ms. Green's bike is a 27 speed, and she was not sure about shifting the front derailler. So we got to talk about gears and hills and I encouraged her to shift down to her littlest ring when a hills was coming up. She got a little more confident as the ride went on
My work here is done.
One of the jobs of a ride leader, in my opinion, especially of a group of casual bicyclists, is to be there to provide information if it is desired. I'm always happy to do this, as I think if someone is going to bicycle, they might as well be as comfortable as possible. Mentally and physically comfortable.
That's how I roll, bellowing useful advice from my rolling lounger.
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