--- In WCCChat@yahoogroups.com, Sam Rosenthal <samiis@...> wrote:
>Theis reponse seems to be confusing and contidictory
> Thanks for all of the comments (mostly face to face) about the
articles that I have written in the newsletter about ride
classifications. Nothing is more gratifying to a writer than to find
that what he has written has been read. Here is a reply that I sent
to someone who did not understand the concept of self-paced rides and
wondered why a ride leader had to say anything about whether or nor a
ride would stay together.
>
>
> This response seems to be confusing and contradictory. On hand you
state there is not tradition of rides staying together and on the
other had you state the members have rights, which is it? In the
Newsletter you state "2/ No one should ever be dropped. Provision
must be made for the slowest person who can ride at the minimum pace.
3/ The ride leader has the right
to decide whether or not the ride will remain together. Note that the
club takes no position about
whether or not rides should remain together. The decision is entirely
up to the leader, but the leader's
Decision should be respected."

> You must not be very familiar with B and C rides in our club.
There is no tradition of rides staying together. Many people just
grab a cue sheet and fly. I have had the very unpleasant experience
of being a leader dropped by his entire ride. I have thought about
this a lot and decided that if that's what people want to do, so be
it. I do not favor imposing rigid rules on anyone. But I do think
club members have a few rights that should be protected. They should
be able to tell from the description in the ride schedule what to
expect. If the ride is likely to break up into individuals and small
groups, they should be forewarned. And anyone who joins a club ride
should be guaranteed that someone will come to their assistance if
trouble arises. Hence I would like to see it become a regular
practice for leaders to announce beforehand whether or not they
intend their rides to stay together. I also want to be able to say
with assurance that, no matter what the ride description, the leader
has an obligation to support the slowest legitimate participant in a
ride - either personally or with the help of a sweeper. In order to
make this possible, I think that definitions are needed of who is a
legitimate participant.
>
> There is one thing to be said in favor of self-paced rides.
Ride leaders are becoming harder to find and our ride schedule has
become sparser and sparser in recent years. A self-paced ride can
make it possible for a very large and very diverse group to
participate in at least a semi-organized ride at the same time.
Rides of this type can be "led" by fewer people than if the ride were
separated into individual categories and so the need for leaders is
lessened. It does not make any sense to me to call rides of this
type A, B or C. I would like to point out that we have a tradition
of doing rides of this type for many years in the Friday Fling.
>