What is their job? First of all, names have been changed to protect the innocent. A week ago there were 5 of us riding; Mike was leading, Karla was second, my wife (who is new to riding) third, Rich, then me. Rich and Karla are married. I seem to have an issue w/ my sled, so I stop and shortly Rich circles back to make sure i'm ok. It takes us about 15/20 minutes, then we take off again, as we are heading out and about 6 miles from the parking lot.
On the way out, we don't catch up to anyone, and i'm wondering if we somehow missed them, which is very unlikely. We get to the parking lot, and the leader is there along w/ Karla, but my wife is not there, so I"m very concerned at this point. So I say to the leader, where is my wife? He says I thought she was with you...then he says I just gunned it and headed out.
So I'm heading to get Rich so we can head back up and look for my wife, and luckily my wife shows up via a different exit. So if we would have headed back up to look for her, we would have missed her. She said she stopped for Rich and I, waited about 15 minutes, then took off. She came down the mountain by herself! Needless to say not a happy camper.
My opinion is the leader should have periodically stopped to make sure that everyone was behind him, especially since there was an inexperienced rider.
What do you think?
On the way out, we don't catch up to anyone, and i'm wondering if we somehow missed them, which is very unlikely. We get to the parking lot, and the leader is there along w/ Karla, but my wife is not there, so I"m very concerned at this point. So I say to the leader, where is my wife? He says I thought she was with you...then he says I just gunned it and headed out.
So I'm heading to get Rich so we can head back up and look for my wife, and luckily my wife shows up via a different exit. So if we would have headed back up to look for her, we would have missed her. She said she stopped for Rich and I, waited about 15 minutes, then took off. She came down the mountain by herself! Needless to say not a happy camper.
My opinion is the leader should have periodically stopped to make sure that everyone was behind him, especially since there was an inexperienced rider.
What do you think?
here is the way I do it and if anyone in the group doesnt like it I tell them I am leading and if they dont like it to take off on there own...........I have led groups for many years, and have never lost any one yet....I set my pace for the slowest rider in the bunch and thats as fast as I go.............sure takes a little longer,but nothing kills a newby like having a bunch of go fasts take off and leave them to guess where we are.....and yes the rule of looking back and checking on the rider behind is also in effect............if we have some fast riders in with us we set up meeting places along the ride for all of us to meet........has worked good for me for many years......38 or so
